Wastelander

I'm in a similar situation, but not quite the same. One of my goals for this year is to earn rank in Shorin-Ryu because I have just been wearing my brown belt from Shuri-Ryu (I don't own a white one anymore and my Sensei didn't have any for me to borrow and said it was fine for me to wear my brown belt). Well, I asked him on Monday, since I am spending a little Christmas money on sparring gear online anyway, if he would like me to order a white belt since I don't have any rank in Shorin-Ryu. He quietly said no, and gave me the "end of discussion" look. The reason my situation is different from yours is that all of the basic techniques are the same, with only very slight changes (blocks are held a little higher, rear foot points to the 45 in zenkutsu-dachi, etc) so I am really only adapting my basics slightly and learning new kata. It is a different style with different methodology, and I expected to start at white belt but my skill level is technically higher than that, so I am in the same sort of situation you were in at your Isshin-ryu school. I will be wearing my Shuri-Ryu brown belt until I deserve a Shorin-Ryu one, and I always tell people that my rank is in Shuri-Ryu so I am not hiding it. I feel kind of guilty, though.

If the bruises spread beyond the areas of impact or last longer than a couple of days without starting to fade then you should see a doctor. Other than that you're fine and over time your body will become more accustomed to the body conditioning you are receiving. I can't remember exactly how long it took for my arms and legs to stop bruising when I first started training, but I know that by the time I tested for brown belt in Shuri-Ryu I was thrilled to actually get a bruise or two because even though the intensity of my training increased my body was just becoming more durable. A 2 year break in karate that was filled with Judo made me more accustomed to hitting the ground instead, and now that I'm back in karate I get bruises again, so I'm working on it, too

I would like to earn rank in Shorin-Ryu, spar more (I'm not really all that fond of sparring because I'm not very competitive, but I'm trying to get more into it), and just keep training, learning, developing and getting better. Lol

Earn some kind of rank in Shorin-Ryu (my Sensei lets me wear my brown belt from Shuri-Ryu since I don't have any other belts but he hasn't actually tested me for any rank in Shorin-Ryu) and start going to sparring classes more often. I'm really not all that big on sparring, usually, but it's important and I know I need to do it more than I currently do. Other than those two things my goal is just to keep training, learning, developing and getting better

Don't worry--about 4 years later I still suck at Judo . As far as the assistant instructor goes, just talk to the head instructor about your concerns. For practicing at home, set out two pairs of shoes spaced out like someone's feet and practice stepping in for your throws. Your footwork will become fast and natural after doing this a few thousand times. You can also work your throws in the air or, if you have access to a pool, underwater. The underwater throws are good for mild resistance training and since it slows you down you get to feel where you need to make adjustments to your throws.

I agree with the above posts--start training kali. The two arts are likely going to be quite similar as far as the basic techniques and methods go, it will probably be more advanced concepts that differ. Get a good grounding in kali and then study up on the Irish stickfighting as much as you can and see if anything you read/watch can be incorporated into what you already know from kali. I could be wrong but I believe that Bataireacht is a reconstructed art that was mostly lost to time, anyway, so much of what a class in it would teach is probably largely pulled from kali anyway.

Agreed, and I wear my seatbelt every time I get in the car and make everyone who rides in my car wear theirs.

I understand your concerns with the grappling, but I really think that this is a very individualized decision and should take the opinion of both potential training partners. For example, I have seen girls who refuse to work with boys and vice versa, but I have also seen girls refuse to work with girls and vice versa. If you don't take into account the individuals involved then you may have more problems than if you simply don't let them interact. I regularly stay after classes and work on my kata or basic techniques on the bag, but I also like to work on my judo groundwork if anyone else feels like working it after class. One night after class about 4 years ago one of our female students stayed after and worked groundwork with me for 25 minutes straight (she was 17 and I was 18 ). Basically we rolled around on the mat with each other for half an hour, but during that entire time we were both focused on the techniques we were working--there wasn't a single second of that 25 minutes where I had an inappropriate thought and I don't suspect she did, either. Later it occurred to me that if it had been anyone but the two of us (both very serious about our training) that situation could have become inappropriate and I wondered if our instructor (who was still there, but in his office most of the time) had any concern about it. When I thought about it a bit more, though, I feel as though he trusted both of us because he is the kind of person who will not let two people work together if he does not believe one or both of them can be trusted to do so. I will also add that I was learned more during that 25 minutes of newaza randori than spending twice that much time working with guys my size and bigger because, while she was certainly strong, she was very technical and used good technique instead of strength like those guys. She also mentioned that she liked working with me because I was stronger than her but fought technique with technique.

Really, just about any judo gi will do the trick--I have both a cheap generic Chinese-made gi and a Datsusara MMA hemp/cotton gi for judo and both have held up very well. If it doesn't come in black just pick up some RIT dye and MAKE it black

Depends on how significant. I'd probably get it as a tattoo or etch it into a metal plate to make into wall art. Shirts are nice, but they wear out eventually, and jewelry is nice but prone to breaking. A tattoo stays with you as long as your skin does, and a properly treated brass or steel plate isn't going anywhere for a very long time.

Congratulations!

I have never practiced your style of karate, but I don't believe I have ever met an instructor who will not pass you on self defenses if you try to do what they taught, fail, and do something else that succeeds. I think you should definitely talk to your instructor about this situation, however, because a white belt trying to show off strength and bellowing kiai is not going to be detrimental to both partners. As for my first time grading, it was not very interesting. I knew my material, I knew that I knew my material, and I treated the review as if it was a normal class (it was really just everyone lined up as normal performing their material and breaking off into smaller groups when certain students needed to work on something in particular, so it was pretty much like normal class). At the end of it I was double-promoted from white through orange to gold belt in Shuri-Ryu (the orange and gold belts are pretty much in there for the kids, so most adults end up being double-promoted through orange). My first grading in Judo was a little more nerve-wracking because even though I knew my stuff, I was afraid I would mix up the names or have a partner that was a little too resistant. I ended up mixing up one technique, but after I was sent to another area of the mat to work on it for a while and I was called back up I passed and earned my yellow belt. My first grading in iaijutsu was one that concerned me quite a bit because it is a very precise art and I was worried about dipping the tip of my sword in kata or stepping to the wrong angles, but I did end up passing and earned the right to wear a hakama (we didn't do belt ranks, we just went from wearing a gi, to a hakama and gi top, to a hakama and keikogi).

Ninjato did not exist as actual weapons, they were invented by theater (along with the entire ninja uniform) so that the audience could distinguish good guys from bad guys and eventually made more popular by Hollywood. Japanese swordsmiths utilized a heat treating method called 'differential hardening' which will cause a sword to curve along the spine, so creating a straight blade and still using that method would have been very difficult and unnecessary when the wakizashi already exists. ETA: If you want to study fighting with straight-bladed swords you need to look into European fighting arts related to the longsword or rapier.

Why would anyone teach one or the other instead of both? In the very first class of Shuri-Ryu karate we taught a punch, a kick, a block, and a fighting stance, and we developed all of them from there with repetition and drills, slowly working up to partner work and more advanced techniques and concepts. I guess it just never occurred to me that someone would say "Okay, I am going to teach you to attack. This is how you punch" and work on that for the next month before saying "Okay, I am going to teach you how to defend. This is how you block"

In karate I have sparred Shuri-Ryu, Shorin-Ryu, Kyokushin, and Tae Kwon Do practitioners so I don't have a wide spread since I was in Shuri-Ryu when I sparred Shuri-Ryu people . Sparring other styles is a great way to not only test your style but to adapt it because the things you have learned may not work best in certain situations that you will come up against. The same is true for grappling--when I was doing Judo I would have to grapple with people who practiced Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Japanese Jujutsu, collegiate wrestling, freestyle wrestling, Pankration, etc.--and you have to adapt. From my experiences, Shuri-Ryu people tend to be very solid and like to be counter-strikers. Shorin-Ryu people tend to be very evasive and like to dodge and strike from odd angles. Kyokushin people tend to be very direct and like to lead with kicks and follow with a flurry of punches. Tae Kwon Do people tend to be fast and like to switch techniques mid-strike to confuse you and get a strike in where you didn't expect. All of these methods can work, but sometimes you will need to change it up--for instance the Kyokushin guy had trouble sparring us when he joined our Shuri-Ryu dojo because we would counter punch him off the kicks before he could touch us, and some of us had trouble with a couple TKD people because it's hard to counter-strike against something that switches mid-technique. Adaptation is the key to effective fighting, in my opinion. There is no perfect style and no one person is perfect, so being able to change and adapt your fighting style on the spot can help you tremendously. Congratulations on your learning experience and hopefully you get many more open sparring classes. ETA: Thanks for bringing this topic up, by the way, as it gave me some inspiration for a post on the OKI Blog.

Bassai (we call them Passai) kata's last moves are not "cooler" because they're done slow, they have bunkai, just like every other move in a kata. The final movements in the Bassai/Passai kata are techniques done in the dark where you can't see your opponent, and are "feeling" with your feet, then reaching out with one hand and grasping your opponents wrist and applying either an arm bar, or attacking the nerves in the neck with your other hand. No moves are done in "traditional" kata because they're cool. They all have a purpose and an application. I certainly did not mean to offend--I don't think any traditional kata should be changed to "look cool", I was simply stating a theory as to why those techniques were done slowly. What you explain as techniques done in the dark does make some sense, and go along with my theory of applying an arm lock while explaining why you would apply it slowly. Thank you for explaining that

Thank you. Maybe "sedentary" isn't the right word, what i meant was "even-tempered", "calm", if that helps. Thank you. Thank you. I'm planning to do so(after this "research"). Been to MMAs classes(just watched), not my cup of tea.(just too brutal) Thank you. There are a few : Ju-Jutsu, Aikido, Shotokan, Wing Chun, Wing Tsun, Wudang Tai Chi, Kyokushin, Muay Thai, Taekwondo. Given that list, go check out the Tai Chi, Aikido and Jujutsu (I'm assuming this is a Japanese Jujutsu school and not a Brazilian JiuJitsu school) dojo, as they are probably going to be the most "calm" martial arts in the bunch

Just about any martial art will meet all of your criteria except for that "sedentary" part. Martial arts relieve stress, they don't cause it, so I'm not sure why you would want something "sedentary", especially if you want to improve your fitness. Tai Chi is "sedentary" and will improve your strength, flexibility, balance, and muscular endurance but won't do much for your cardiovascular endurance. Aikido will get you moving around more and help the cardio, but you'll be throwing people around and getting thrown and working joint locks. Again, just about any martial art out there will meet all of your requirements but that "sedentary" one

My theories: somebody somewhere along the line thought it looked cooler slow, decided to make it symbolic, or they are used for slowly applying an armlock in the bunkai, although I don't know why you would do that slowly if you're being attacked.

I'll be honest--I've NEVER seen that happen. When my instructors have asked students to attack them they have always blocked it, even if the student attacked with a left haymaker instead of a straight right punch. That said, I definitely agree with you that you need to train yourself to identify and utilize the correct "tools", as you put it, for the job. I haven't really seen it happen that much, either, but that because every time I've seen this set up, its been rehearsed, and a ready-made partner is used. Now, if these kinds of demos are done with random people, and a more random attack, then it can definitely happen. That is why the KISS principle applies; keep it simple to deal with a diverse number of attacks. I do agree that training the proper tools is the right idea. Being prepared, as in being in a stance and having the hands in a position to facilitate a faster blocking/interecept motion is a key to success here. I haven't seen it done at demos at all, but my Sensei have all at some point had brand new white belts attack them to demonstrate some thing or another and the new white belt usually doesn't "attack right" but that hasn't caused any trouble with my instructors. That said, I've only been in the martial arts for about 4.5 years, total, at this point, so I have plenty of time to witness it

I'll be honest--I've NEVER seen that happen. When my instructors have asked students to attack them they have always blocked it, even if the student attacked with a left haymaker instead of a straight right punch. That said, I definitely agree with you that you need to train yourself to identify and utilize the correct "tools", as you put it, for the job.

I just had to work on this with some kids last night. I ended up just sparring with them and locking my eyes with theirs so they didn't have much of a choice

In both karate dojo that I have attended board breaking is entirely voluntary and done for fun or demonstrations. My last dojo had a "Break Day" once a year where everyone gets to break a board, which was just to build confidence more than anything else, but was not mandatory, and breaks are not mandatory for rank. Once you earn brown belt in Shuri-Ryu at my last dojo they will all tell you that before you get your belt you have to break a concrete slab. I was actually disappointed when it wasn't there because I'd been working up to that

In Shuri-Ryu I had some friends who had to write a paper on "Does Chi/Ki Exist? Why or Why Not?" for their black belt tests. Some really interesting thoughts came out of that, but I heard they were tough to write and I can understand why

I have looked into Weapons Connection and Master Carbone in the past, but I really prefer octagonal staffs and Ipe is an excellent wood for them, and Kyoshi Pratt's work is fantastic and affordable while Master Carbone's work is fantastic and expensive. Thanks for the suggestion, though.