bassaiguy

I like the no-cross in the back. Although I've seen traditional people do it both ways, so I'm not sure it matters much. Length is something that gets my goat sometimes. I don't want my belt flopping in my face when I kick. I keep my belt a bit on the shorter side (more like judoka and old-style karate do it) rather than at mid-thigh. The trade-off is I can't get any cool embroidery on my obi. Not sure how to attach in image.

I'm a little over na hour away so I can't do the classes, but if you guys ever do a seminar or event let me know. A few of us from "up the road apiece" might be able to make it down.

My biggest challenge is teaching students that when they hear "No" it doesn't mean I'm mad at them of that I don't like them, it just means that there are boundaries in the dojo. Many kids today don't seem to hear no very often so they think that being given limits is personal or vindictive. This isn't only true of martial arts, however, it seems to be a cultural phenomena. I actually had one mother say, "NAME doesn't like to be told no, so we try not to use that word around him."

Maybe an alternate would be either an uchi deshi program such as exists for some aikido organizations in both the US and Japan, the senshusei course if you are determined to live in Tokyo or a college program in the United States that offers a concentration in martial arts like the ones at Naropa University or Indiana University Bloomington.

http://karatejka.com/

C.W. Nichol said brown belt is the most dangerous rank. Your technique is strong, but you haven't yet mastered the control of a black belt. I, also, find sparring brown belts tough. What is it with you guys wanting to kill anyone with a black belt around their waist ?

Classical Fighting Arts was (is?) a high quality print magazine. I haven't purchased an issue in a few years and I haven't seen it in my local bookstore in awhile. After the demise of the Journal of Asian Martial Arts I thought it was the best around. Also, if you can get your hands on old copies of Budo Dojo published in the 90s to the early 2000s there are some gems in there.

I do think that in many dojo the sparring is lighter and contact is more limited today than in the "old days". No one needs to get hurt to enjoy a hobby so this is probably a good thing, but I don't think this is a development or evolution as much as it is a reaction to commercial pressure and potential litigation. In other words, it's a reaction to the market rather than a well-thought out change to the curriculum. I think if you go to some backyard dojo or advanced classes you might find that traditional karate is as hard as it has always been. Also, this isn't the first time martial arts have evolved for commercial purposes. For example, in the late Tokugawa era (1700s to mid-1800s, e.g.) many bugei were modified to attract commercial clients from outside the samurai class who could pay impoverished samurai instructors in Japan's cities. The training while probably heavy by today's standards was certainly less intense than had been the norm during the early Tokugawa when martial arts were restricted to the professional warriors class. This sort of safety consciousness was a direct influence on the creation of judo, for example. When my grandfather trained in karate in the early 60s he trained four hours at a time because they conditioned so much. When I began training in the 80s cracked ribs and other injuries were commonplace. Today, it's hard to get a decent set of push-ups out of some of my classes. That's certainly training lighter, but I'm not sure it's training smarter or better.

You make an excellent point about students being the living legacy of masters. I try to remember this every time I step onto the floor as a teacher or student and whenever I have faced confrontations. My actions are a reflection of my teachers and lineage. So the next time someone says, "Style X guys can't fight." or "Style X guys are all jerks" I know they won't be talking about me.

Good luck! Go hard!

Removed my post due to weak attempt at humor...

Takeda Sokaku, Azato Ankoh, Funakoshi Gichin, Only an hour, though. That's tough.

I'm lucky in that people can sign up for my classes through the local Rec program and I get paid quarterly - no book-keeping on my end. For those who want to pay as drop-ins I have a box at the back of the class. For private lessons it's pay as you go. I've lost a few bucks here and there, but I've also been "paid" in barter (traded kids lessons for some backhoe work, e.g.) and once in moose meat from a guy who was down on hs luck, but wouldn't take "charity." Then again, as my wife says, I'm good at a lot of things, but making money isn't one of them.

I'm pretty psyched for this movie: http://lrmonline.com/news/birth-of-the-dragon-trailer-features-young-bruce-lee-vs-shaolin-master-wong-jack-man , even though the stereotype of the "ancient Chinese sage" is way over done. It looks like a fun movie as long as you don't take the history too seriously. I'm actually sort of a Wong Jack Man fan - I think he's gotten a bad rap because of the Bruce Lee-philes. Here's an interesting piece talking about the mystery behind the famous duel: http://freebrucelee.com/bruce-lee-fights/bruce-lee-battle-wong-jack-man/ .

When I was practicing competition karate back in the early 90s I was asked to do this for a brown belt test, as well. It caused me to think about what I was really doing and I ended switching to traditional karate. That was my choice, I'm not criticizing schools and students who feel otherwise, but I couldn't figure out how I was supposed to construct a meaningful kata when I didn't even know the entire syllabus of our core style. My suggestion if you want to tackle the challenge of designing a kata is to practice what in education is called "backwards design". Start with the end result in mind, you have defeated your opponent, and work backwards from there - what techniques would you have had to employ to defeat the specific attacks an enemy is likely to confront you with? Then, you can reverse that process and go from the initial attack to the conclusion. This is probably tougher if you haven't ever been confronted under pressure. I have not designed a kata even though I have fought in and out of the ring. Like you said, it's a pretty daunting task.