Wastelander

Maybe his way works fine for what his student want--if you're just training for the culture/experience of it, or for fitness, or just for fun, then it's not an issue at all. I wouldn't be terribly happy with it, if I were his student, but that's my own opinion--your training should not include anything that is useless, or that has only intangible benefits that can only be applied years down the road, when you are training for self defense. Bad people don't check what rank you are before they assault you to make sure you know how to defend yourself properly.

I agree with Kuma 100%--awareness drills, crowd escape drills, environmental navigation drills, and memorizing where the embassy is, how to get there, and how to call it. I might throw in some training against grabbing attacks--body grabs/bear hugs to pick her up or drag her away, grab around the neck from behind, and arm grabs are all common attacks on women.

I'm afraid this is a bit tough to answer, since it depends on what I'm striking. I suppose I prefer palm heel strikes and hammerfists, as a general rule, but there are definitely exceptions.

Welcome to the forum, and congratulations!

Congratulations!

Shorin-Ryu has plenty of applications for the kata beyond block-punch-kick karate--especially when you work with instructors who have cross-trained. It sounds like your instructor was never taught anything but block-punch-kick karate, and so he is passing on exactly what he was taught. Any student contradicting that is going to seem like they are insulting not only him, but his instructor and all of the years they dedicated to their training. That makes it a pretty touchy subject. All-in-all, it doesn't sound like you and your instructor are really on the same page. It may be time to find a new instructor.

I was originally taught to completely overlap my belt in the Japanese manner. As I've transitioned to Shorin-Ryu, I've started crossing my belt in the back--the senior members of our organization in Okinawa cross their belt, including the head of the organization and his teacher (Chibana Chosin) before him. I've heard the "back support" thing before, but I don't believe it because the fabric just isn't stiff enough. I think it is simply an aesthetic preference.

Yes, we do, but I think that if I ever branch out to teach on my own, I will take them out of the curriculum. There is plenty of great stuff in Naihanchi, Passai, and Kusanku--and even Chinto and Gojushiho, although I'd probably take them out, too--that I just don't see the need for the Pinan kata. Most of the techniques found in them can be found in other kata, or the situations they address can be addressed with techniques from other kata, and they are so widespread I don't feel obligated to preserve them simply for the sake of tradition.

We have some women in our dojo that wear KI brand, and I haven't heard them complain. That said, just try and find a middleweight or heavyweight gi that fits your shoulders and hips, and you can have it tailored to fit better if you need to. There's just not much sense in getting a lightweight gi tailored, since it's going to get destroyed pretty quickly.

Throws and takedowns are most certainly present in karate, but many karateka don't practice them or try to improve them. The kata contain placeholders for throws more often than they have you perform the actual throws in the air because it would be awkward to do so, and Okinawans regularly competed against each other in tegumi (a native Okinawan grappling system). The kata told you when you could employ a tegumi technique, but being effective with that technique required tegumi practice. Today, we have access to all sorts of grappling arts to cross train in and plug into our karate, even if tegumi isn't around anymore. For myself, I studied judo for 4 years, and have since been constantly integrating it into my karate practice. Thanks to judo, I can see throws, sweeps, takedowns, locks, and chokes in kata where I didn't before, and thanks to judo I can actually perform the techniques properly. I also recommend watching videos of shima (Okinawan sumo) which evolved from tegumi, to get a sense for what kind of throws the kata might have originally contained. I've added a few to my practice thanks to that research.

I'm with Danielle on this one--I don't see asking a dan grade to spar as being disrespectful, and it happens all the time at my dojo. In fact, I'm a kyu grade at the moment, and I ask dan grades to spar just about every time there is sparring being done. I'm respectful to dan grades, but asking people to spar is completely normal to us, regardless of rank. If I were the chief instructor in your scenario, I would be having a talk with the dan grades about humility and mutual respect.

He shouldn't have gotten to the rank he has to begin with, in my opinion. That said, we really aren't going to be able to do anything about this situation--the only person who can do that is your instructor. If disciplining him isn't working, talking to him doesn't do anything, and talking to his parents doesn't help, I would be immediately kicking him out of class every time he was disruptive. Either his mom will get mad at him for wasting her money and discipline him as well, or she will get mad at me for kicking him out of class and take him somewhere else.

At my dojo, brown belts and higher can teach private lessons, and the students seeking private lessons pick who they would like to teach them. The private lessons are done for additional, one-on-one training to supplement normal classes. Students who do private lessons are typically either capable of progressing faster than the rest of their class and want to push themselves, or students who are wanting extra preparation for a rank exam or tournament.

The quality of the belt really doesn't matter too much, unless you compete a lot. I believe that Tokaido belts are fairly standard for WKF competitions, though: https://www.tokaidojapan.com/ntokaido/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=262

No, building strength in the gym will not be bad for your karate. I'm not sure when that idea came about, honestly--Okinawans have always done strength training with weights to improve their karate. I also find it surprising that this idea would have found its way to India, because your culture has a rich history of fighting arts that incorporate strength training. Just do your lifts quickly and stretch when you are done working out, and you shouldn't have any issues at all. As JusticeZero and your brother said, you will get used to the training after a few weeks, but it isn't fun. You will also get stronger, certainly, but it's easier to get stronger, faster, if you use weights. We recently had a rather lengthy discussion on the topic of strength here, if you are interested in some reading, but it can be a little hard to follow if you weren't participating: http://www.karateforums.com/building-muscle-that-directly-applies-to-fighting-vt44731.html

Congratulations!

Welcome to the forum! What art/style do you practice?

I second the warning that stretching machines are dangerous, but I will also add that more stretching injuries occur from partner stretching than just about any other stretching method. Communication is VITAL to stretching safely with a partner--you must NEVER let them push you too far, or too hard. Also, I recently read a study that found that holding a stretch for any longer than a maximum of 1 minute resulted in muscular deterioration. I never hold a stretch longer than 45 seconds, and usually not more than 30.

Practical karate is any style of karate that is taught and practiced in a way that teaches practical self defense and fighting techniques. It doesn't really matter what style or "type" (traditional, sport, etc.) of karate you practice--as long as you teach karate techniques in a practical way, then you are practicing practical karate.

Welcome to the forum!

Changing things up like that is good for the mind, both from an understanding standpoint and from a morale standpoint. As OP mentioned, doing things like this can really make you think about your martial art differently, and critical thinking is good! As mal103 mentioned, many people get bored of the repetition required for karate, so changing it up helps make it a little more fun and interesting. I like to have students occasionally run through kata as if they were in a mirror (if they normally start on the right side, they start on the left, etc.) and that tends to be both fun and interesting. We will also sometimes run through kata with tension (like Sanchin), totally relaxed (like Tai Chi), or as fast as we can.

Congratulations!

Congratulations!

When I met my current instructor, I found him to be friendly and accepting, even though I cam from a different style, and he was open to hearing what I had to say about things from that perspective. That open and relaxed atmosphere really sold me on training with him.

We are part of an international organization that is headquartered in Okinawa, and I imagine we will probably continue to be part of it unless something drastic happens. The Shorinkan is really pretty relaxed when it comes to how you run your dojo and what you teach, as long as you include all the kata of the system and the yakusoku kumite sets, and the association fees are low. If they were to increase the fees too much, or become too strict, we might leave, but as it stands they aren't really stopping us from doing what we want to do. I will be honest, I probably won't be part of an organization if I ever break off on my own to teach. Even with the Shorinkan being as relaxed as it is, I don't really see value in the yakusoku kumite sets (as a whole--they have some good parts, but those could be short drills) and I feel that there are too many kata to really facilitate a deep study of their applications. I would like to completely cut out the yakusoku kumite sets, the Kihon kata, Fukyu no Kata, the Pinan kata, Passai Sho, Kusanku Sho, Chinto, Gojushiho, and Go-Rin. That would leave me with the Naihanchi kata, Passai Dai, and Kusanku Dai. I might also include Seiunchin, because I feel it compliments Naihanchi very well, despite being a Naha-te kata. That would still leave me with a very large amount of material, but not so much that you would have to skip over entire kata in your application studies. In the end, I think you can get away without being part of an organization as long as your lineage is still able to be confirmed. If any student or potential student of yours can call up your instructor or look on their website and confirm that you earned the rank you claim from them, and that can be traced back through a legitimate lineage, then I don't think you'll have any trouble. The only time I think you would have a problem is if your instructor were to "disown" you for leaving the organization, and start telling people you never trained with them or never earned the rank you claim.