Wastelander

Welcome to the forum, Mike, and congratulations on your tournament success!

We have a requirement to spar once you get to 5th kyu, if I remember correctly, but we allow people to spar before that. It's a combination of whether sensei thinks they are ready and if they think they are ready, and they always have their first sparring match with a brown or black belt to acclimate them to the idea.

Zentokukai is a great group--check out One Minute Bunkai on YouTube and you will see Sensei Lemus demonstrating some of the basic kata applications of their system. Good find!

All of our classes are an hour long, with the exception of our class for students 6 years old and younger, which is only 45 minutes long. Typically we will do about 10 minutes of warm-ups and general exercise before getting into the lessons, but we don't have a regular breakdown beyond that. In the adult classes there is usually not a warm-up because the adults come in early and warm themselves up in advance. Again, we don't have a regular breakdown of how lessons go--they are at least a little different every time.

I completely agree that you should have a style that you call "home" and should have a "solid base" in that art before you cross-train, but I think it is a mistake to put a rank on it. Everyone has a different idea of what shodan means, and what is required of someone in order to become a shodan. For example, I know someone who won't test you for shodan until you have been training for a minimum of 15 years. Similarly, I've known people who earned shodan in one or two years in Japan. Every martial artist is going to have different levels of skill, knowledge and comprehension, as well as different levels of dedication. Because of those factors, I don't think we can't even really put a time limit on it. A martial arts prodigy may be able to start cross-training after two years and do very well, and someone else may not have any success with cross-training after 8 years. I suppose that what I'm saying is that what constitutes a "solid base" in an art is subjective, whether you base it on rank or time. When I say "solid base" I think of it like this; you understand the basics of how your art work and can physically demonstrate them naturally (without thinking about it), and you are able to filter new martial arts experiences through the lens of your base art to determine what is useful to you, what might be useful to others, what doesn't fit your style, etc. I realize that my description somewhat goes against the "empty your cup" mentality, but I suppose I have a different outlook on things.

Cross-training or changing styles can be a very valuable experience for a martial artist, but I highly recommend developing a solid base in one art before you start dabbling in others. How strong that base should be depends on your skill level and ability to learn, as well as on how similar the arts are. For example, I started training in judo after only training in karate for 6 months, but I didn't have any problem with that. On the other hand, if I had tried taking up another striking art, it would have been much more difficult because I was still just learning the basics of my style of karate.

Hello Phalanx, I don't know how many members (if any) we have from Delaware, but according to Google you do not have any Okinawan karate schools in your area: http://lmgtfy.com/?q=newark%2C+de+martial+arts There are, however, other martial arts available to you. I notice that there are a couple places that teach kickboxing, although that isn't a particularly "traditional" art like karate would be, as well as a couple places that teach kenpo, and a couple that teach Taekwondo or Tang Soo Do, both of which are related to Japanese karate (Shotokan). I highly suggest that you visit some of the schools in your area and get information on the school itself, the style, and the instructor, and also get a feel for how the classes are. The style is not nearly as important as the instructor and the atmosphere of the school, when all is said and done.

Sweeps are great, and I love using them in bunkai drills and sparring--they can be quite effective in both! In addition to the advice you have received so far, I would recommend that you seek out a judo instructor if you really want to improve your foot sweeps. One neat little trick I will throw out there for sweeping someone when they have weight on the leg you want to sweep actually comes from Okinawan tegumi/shima--knee the leg you want to sweep and then sweep their foot from that motion. I recently learned this little trick, and it works quite well, although it's a little painful to practice for any length of time without thigh or knee pads.

I was actually talking with someone about this yesterday in regards to some people I know who train somewhere else. It brought to mind something that I read from someone on a martial arts forum--I can't remember which one, though it could have been here--that said something like "when you look back on your training 20 or 30 years down the road, will you be able to say that you were learning that whole time, or were you just practicing the first 3 years over and over again?" Technique is obviously very important, as it gives us a foundation to build upon, and it should never be neglected. That said, I wholeheartedly agree that there is so much more out there to be learned and if we do nothing but perfect the foundation then we will never get our house built.

I had wanted an Earth Gi back in 2007 but couldn't afford it, and in 2008 I was able to get a hemp gi from Datsusara (made for BJJ but I used it for judo) and that one is still going strong. About 2 years ago I decided that I could afford to finally get my hemp karate gi, but by then Earth Gi was out of business, so I ended up contacting someone on Etsy to make one for me. The person who made it makes a lot of clothing items, had good reviews and claimed to be a martial artist, but he used the wrong hemp fabric (a very soft hemp linen instead of the 14oz hemp canvas I requested) and he didn't reinforce the lapel at all. I have never heard of Gassho, but I really appreciate you posting about it! I would love to replace my floppy, flimsy hemp gi (which is still plenty durable and isn't showing any wear-and-tear, despite being abused) with one that looks nicer and is made of heavier fabric. I think I will send them a message and see what it would cost to buy just the top of their heavyweight hemp karate gi and have it shipped here, and I'll have to ask what the difference is between the "Karate Standard" and the "Karate Tokaido" versions.

Replace it with a natural-fiber rope (I like hemp rope for this) and it will stay tied MUCH better than the flat draw strings.

Glad it's working out well for you! As for turning the BOB to mimic body positioning in different stances, I completely agree with you--for self defense combinations you really don't need to turn him much, but for sparring combinations I usually have him turned to an angle like an opponent would be. Now if only he had poseable arms!

It definitely sounds like the pants are too large for you, so when you tighten the drawstring the waist is bunching up and, because the fabric is stiff, it is causing irritation. I am not an expert in gi alterations, but I think if you can get a tailor/seamstress to widen the vents at the top of the pants then you can probably fix that problem--just make sure they don't make the vents longer!

I did judo for 4 years, and both styles of karate I have trained in include breakfalls in their curriculum, and I have NEVER been taught to put my hands down as shown in Roll 1.

We wear white or unbleached karate gi, although the cut is up to the student as long as the sleeves go below the elbows and the pants go below the knees. Once we reach brown belt, you can wear a black gi instead, or some combination of black and white/unbleached. Alternatively, the uniform color for our kobudo system is brown, so a brown gi is also allowed if you practice kobudo. Personally, I am fond of the just-below-the-knees/just-below-the-elbows look, and I have only ever worn a white or unbleached gi, although I've been considering trying out a black one.

Well, my dojo has an after-school program with a van to pick those students up from their schools, so I wouldn't say that, in and of itself, is a bad sign. If an instructor is teaching for a living, the youth programs are what keep the doors open and the lights on. What is important is that they teach what they say they teach. I'm more put off by the outlandish claims of teaching secret "tactical systems" and ninjutsu, and by the fact that I didn't see anything on the site about who taught the instructor.

I can't watch the video you linked to, since I'm at work right now, but I remember hearing about someone saying that they never learned kata bunkai from Miyagi. This is interesting to me, because I recently read an interview with another Miyagi student that included old photos of his training, in which you can clearly see them practicing bunkai. The same interview alluded to practicing bunkai, but didn't call it such. In addition, Toguchi Seikichi explains in one of his books that Miyagi taught him kata application and outlines the rules for breaking down kata. I think that part of the problem of discussing these things is that the Okinawans didn't call it bunkai (ti-chi-ki, or just ti, was more common if I remember correctly), so they may very well have been teaching bunkai and calling it something else (or not calling it anything at all) and teaching it differently than we would expect. From what I have read about the way training was conducted back then, explanations were not often given, so it was up to the student to connect the techniques they were working to the kata they came from. Did any one karate master know all the applications to all of their kata? With the possible exception of Sakugawa Kanga, I doubt it. There is just too much to learn in kata to truly know every application to every movement of more than a couple of kata, and so when people start learning more and more kata they are bound to miss out on some of the applications. We know from several accounts of various Okinawan masters that bunkai was most certainly taught, and was an integral part of their training, but the amount of bunkai knowledge varied from teacher to teacher, as one would expect. As I understand it, some of those karate masters of old simply admitted that they didn't know an application to a movement and let that be the end of it (Chibana once said that Itosu admitted to not knowing applications for everything and so he just didn't teach any applications for those movements) while others sought to learn the applications that they didn't know by cross-training and experimenting (Motobu and Mabuni went this route). If being able to apply your kata is important to you, then you will find a way to learn practical applications for it. I think that Itosu was more concerned with being able to teach a wide array of kata to fit a wide array of people in the hopes of growing karate, and so he was less concerned with learning and teaching applications for every single movement, figuring that dedicated students would cross-train and experiment enough to fill in the gaps for themselves. ETA: Regarding Japanese vs. Okinawan karate and the prevalence of kata bunkai, I believe that many branches of Japanese karate do neglect kata application because it doesn't fit with their concept of "do". Some people in the Japanese karate community certain do practice practical kata application, but it seems to be the exception rather than the rule.

I think that, for the most part, the techniques in kata aren't "hidden" so much as they are simply not understood. Given the history of karate, I suppose it is certainly possible that some things were hidden, but most likely they were simply hidden by the fact that it is hard to tell what someone is doing when they practice movements in the air, as well as through the use of "shorthand" in kata--the fist touching the arm of your gedan barrai in Passai, for example, can be an indicator of where you are applying the gedan barrai. To illustrate the difficulty of determining what movements mean, I like to perform a tight mawashi-uke and ask the beginners what I am doing with my hands. Most of them say I'm blocking, and I tell them that I was envisioning turning the steering wheel of my car, since the movement is virtually identical. We do a lot of kata bunkai (analysis) to break down applications for the movements, and sometimes they can be simple enough for a new white belt to do and sometimes they are difficult enough that only the more experienced students can do them. The nice thing about breaking down kata is that it grows with you! While I agree with Sheephead, in principle, I think it's important to remember that not all instructors know or teach kata application because it isn't what they are interested in. We may think it is vital, but many people don't, and that's fine because it's their karate. Normally, I take most of my kata application drills from the Naihanchi kata--they are simple, powerful and effective. That said, lately I have been playing around with our Passai Dai (Tawada Passai) and recently found an application from it that I can actually apply to nearly any attack originating from my attacker's upper body. The funny thing is that this versatile application comes from a section of the kata that a lot of people think is there to just look pretty

Vince Morris is often mentioned as one of the people responsible for reviving kata, along with Iain and Patrick McCarthy, so when I saw that he was going to be teaching a seminar about 30 minutes away from me I decided I had to attend. My first impression of him is that he is a friendly but rather rowdy person with a bit of a strict streak (which probably comes from teaching military, police and government organizations?) and he has a very direct and practical outlook on karate. The seminar was supposed to go from 1pm to 3pm, but instead went from about 1:15pm to 4pm, and we covered quite a lot of ground, I feel--I did a full write-up here, if anyone is interested. Has anyone else attended Mr. Morris' seminars, or watched his DVD's, and what did you think of his applications? Overall, I did like a lot of what he taught, and much of it was similar to things I have seen and done before so it shouldn't be difficult to work into my training. There were a couple things I wasn't thrilled with, and a few historical things he said were a little off (primarily, he mentioned Okinawan bodyguards carrying daisho, which I don't believe was the case, and said "No one in the world was teaching this stuff 25 years ago when I started doing it," which doesn't seem right to me, either) but otherwise I was quite happy with the seminar.

5 years ago I was 1.5 years into my martial arts journey and a freshly tested brown belt in Shuri-Ryu with a green belt in judo. Since then, I spent 2 years training judo at a dedicated judo club while only practicing my Shuri-Ryu on my own and doing a great deal of research online, which opened my eyes to a great many things I had never considered before. From there, I joined my current Shorin-Ryu dojo and kept building my personal style and my knowledge, which I continue to do now. In 5 years, I will likely be a shodan in Shorin-Ryu, and possibly a nidan if I am skilled enough. I hope to continue teaching at my dojo training as much as possible, including going to as many seminars as I can. In 10 years, I might make nidan if I didn't in the first 5 years, and I would like to be teaching some of my own students somewhere, in addition to teaching and training at my instructor's dojo and going to seminars to keep expanding my knowledge. In addition, I would like to get some cross-training in another stand-up style--probably Goju-Ryu or Silat. In 20 years, I hope to be running my own dojo, but otherwise the same things as above are true. My instructor is constantly learning and cross-training, so there is no reason that I shouldn't be able to keep learning under him. I would still be going to seminars and cross-training, as well. The general theme is that I plan to keep training and learning! Teaching is an added bonus because I enjoy it and learn from it, myself, but mainly I want to keep training and learning.

I'd agree with that. Also I think in a way it'd be a poor investment of your time. You'd end up having to constantly correct all the subtle differences back and forth and your progress in either style would be hindered because you'd confuse yourself. Probably ok if you wanted to create a hybrid style for yourself but even then, how many alternative ways do you need to kick and punch? IMHO better to invest that time into something that offers a different focus, like a grappling art, to cover the gaps in your current training. I agree with some of this, but it is like this: I'm taking two styles at the same time. The first couple of weeks, I had some issues with the differences in the basics. It quickly got to the point where now I can switch back and forth between styles seamlessly. It just takes a lot of focus. One thing to remember is "When in Rome, do as the Romans do." Don't bring the chamber to the inside like in one style when your instructor wants you to bring it up to the outside. I did that once and got yelled at. Never did it again, though. You would be the first person I have known to be able to do this successfully. I transitioned from one style to another, and know several others who have done the same, and that is difficult enough to keep straight. I know of a couple people who are trying to train more than one similar style at a time and they are still having issues nearly a year down the road--it's holding them back more than it's helping them, honestly.

I agree with you that all of them are important, but I picked "learn a skill" because I feel that it encompasses several of the other features listed. That skill, in my mind, is self defense, but in the process of learning that skill you need to be disciplined or you won't learn it effectively, and you need to try to become a better person as part of avoiding conflict so you don't have to defend yourself, and those things are challenging .

Changes are made to kata for a wide variety of reasons. Here are some I can think of off the top of my head: - To make a movement "fit" the way they think the style should work - To make a movement "fit" the way they think the style should look - To make a movement more interesting-looking for competition - To make a movement easier to do in their old age or with their injuries - To make a movement easier to teach to large groups - To make a movement safer to practice - Because they forgot how it was supposed to be done - Because people in the organization disagree about how it was supposed to be done and had to compromise

Welcome to the forum and the wonderful world of cross-training! Since your profile says your area is Ashford and you said "uni" I assume you are in the UK? I believe judo is fairly popular in the UK, so you should be able to find a judo club in your area and there you can learn throws, locks, chokes and groundwork (although some instructors don't do much of it) to supplement your training. Karate and judo fit very well together, in my opinion, but I am biased since I train in karate and have cross-trained in judo. BJJ would also be great to train in, although it may have less of an emphasis on standing grappling and throws. Sambo is a great option, but I'm not sure how common that is in the UK.

Wow. I went philosophical with it and here everyone is answering based on actual bunkai--man, did I read that question wrong! Good answers, everyone!