kensei

Few things that bug me about WKF is the drama and show of it all. If your Kata looks like a silly dance the judges need to know good and bad Waza and the tricks to make it look like some kind of play! I hate them. For Kumite the whole "I hit him so I turned and ran" should be a DQ or a full total win if the other guy gets a point when the guy turns to run. I also think that what constitutes a point should be focused on good waza not tip tap stuff....I'm not a fan of WKF stuff.

I'm in the same position now as the author of this thread. Been doing Karate 37 years and never wanted to do it for sport. Now I am in an regional organization pushing sport. Not sure if I want to stay because the EGO issues are coming back again. I find with sport comes ego.

The "ULTIMATE" aim is in the development and growth of the person...other aims will be self preservation, better health and fitness, distressing....but the ultimate aim is in perfection of character.

Most people don't actually know the history of Dan ranking and belts. First off the original martial arts used the Menkyo system, of which I wont get into here. Jigaro Kano took the belts used by swimmers in Japan to denote levels of proficiency and started using them in Judo. Funakoshi Gichin took this practice and implemented it in Karate. At the same Time Kano began giving out a Dan level to support instructors in his style, Again Funakoshi followed suit. Funakoshi actually only gave out up to the Fifth Dan ever, that was the highest he felt anyone would ever achieve. After he died the ranking went NUTS. we now have 10th Dans which was originally reserved for those that had run an organization and contributed a lot to the arts...and had died! It was an honor level only. Now you go to a Martial arts expo and you have guys that have six or seven 9th dan levels and perhaps a 10th Dan level as well...its stupid already! My instructor told me once that if I ever tested up to Godan that would be the spot to stop, why bother going farther. He was asked to grade for Rokudan and that was the last level he tested for and then he said no more. its a silly ego trip that needs to stop! Personally I don't care much about rank but others are so darn concerned with it that when Im asked about my rank I say I shower...I should not be so rank!

I have a healthy respect for Goju ryu, being a Shotokan person I have watched their Kata for some time and thought it was very interesting. I know that other styles exist and that other Kata exists outside of Shotokan Kata. This just smacks of ignorance and being kept in the dark by a instructor who probably suffered from the same. We call it the mushroom effect here in Canada...kept in the dark and fed....well you know!

actually, this is a fairly new idea of ranking. When Karate first started using Dan ranks they only had five levels. I am told that the first level showed you understood Kihon or the core of the system, the Second showed you could apply it in Kumite (Back then it was more like Bunkai Kumite mind you) and the third showed you understood Kata and its dynamics. Fourth and fifth were simply teaching levels. Funakoshi, the first real instructor to adopt the Dan levels never gave out past Fifth Dan. I don't consider anything past fourth Dan as anything but political. My own instructor has never graded past sixth as he felt that it was all about politics and he said he wished he had stopped at fifth as the sixth felt like it was more about political pressure to test and the test was decided before they showed up to start with. Far to many systems, Serious systems, use testing as a form of punishment to keep people in line, like a threat that is held over someones head. And I have seen instructors "Strip" people of rank when they don't do what they want them to do or they are upset with students. If a rank can be stripped so easy then what is the point of working physically for them? perhaps they should be purely political if you can just snap your fingers and all that hard work means nothing. To me once you earn a black belt your understanding of Karate and your ability to pass it on are what counts.

I feel bad for the group of them, the whole system is set up for a fall. The head instructors don't know good Karate and if you ever watch them doing Kata or kumite they are basically not even Shodan level in any Karate org that has decent Karate. Now aside from Karate skills, which I see as lacking, the whole group of the leadership are incredible business people. Im not kidding. If we all had the business skills they have and the ideas (granted lack of morals in most cases) that they have then good Karate would be like 7/11 stores in the states!

I write a lot about Karate history and dig deep into the written literature myself and all I have found is contradictions, fantasy and fable along with questionable historical account. Most of what we know is kind of dogma that has been created to "market" the arts to us round eyes and most of the Okinawan information I get is different than what we were brought up in the martial arts to understand as truth...and some fight to keep the Dogma so much that I end up giving up after being attacked. The truth is that we probably will never accurately go back behind the Matsumura line of knowledge to see past that. even some of the stuff that you have is not accurate. I think you would be better off finding out WHO introduced WHAT to the Kata syllabus and not what Kung fu/Quanfa style it came from. Its an interesting and fun exercises, but someone will shoot holes in it very quickly no matter what you come up with because most of the "noise" we get about anything pre Matsumura is junk and half the stuff we get post Matsumura is made up. My thoughts, more looking at the lessons that the Katas teach and not their origins.

Big business helping out other big business. the small guys are getting the shaft and I already read a lot of fighters are NOT happy with this new rule and some plan to walk out in official uniforms and strip to a different uniform or wear a bland outfit with NO sponsors on it. UFC has no employee fighters they are all independent contractors so I don't see how they can stop them from wearing what they want really.

Genreally the GKR gang are kind of brainwashed to believe that A) they are traditional and B) that their instructors have all the answers. I actually had run into one once and was shocked at how little they actually were taught and how much of what they are taugh is created as a marketing tool and not accurate at all. First they come from a Shotokan/Goju mixing similar to say Shito ryu (granted way older and before Shotokan and Goju but you get the point) and should be a great mixing of each "world" but they tend to be taught things that are not accurate. the one lad that joined us for a week of training was a black belt with a white stripe which shocked me at first when he came out of the change room. And then to find out he got his "Rank" of "Sensei" after six months of training and going into it after only having passed his Orange belt...well that was enough to have me ask him to wear a white belt for fear my black belt student may "test" him and scare the tar out of him. In the end I feel sorry for them as I have seen what one of their "Sensei" knows and does not know. Suffice it to say he thanked me when he left and said he had some real serious thinking to do before he went back to his club to teach.

Im 41, I have been training since I was 6. My hip kills me when I kick and often when I walk. I wake up and my lower back is one big block of tight muscle pain. My neck kills me and I get head aches from it, my elbow pops when I punch, My jaw (has been broken twice) clicks, my knees are sore and I can not move as fast as I used to, my ankles are sore and swell on occasion. Its all part of the craddle to the grave process and unfortunatly the more you abuse your body when you are young, the longer you have that "man Im getting old" feeling later on. Suffer though it, use advil and keep going. Dont stop till they put you in the box man! its worth it to remember you are alive and you are still pretty damn good at what you do!

N4tive, It sounds like your instructor has a few issues that he is dealing with, one being depression. Its hard to really understand depression unless you have been their. So, dont be hard on yourself. its not about you or your failing, its about a deep and frustrating issue that your instructor may be working with. Also, finances can lead to this issue. My suggestion, with your instructors permission is to find a club that you can work out at and teach what you have learned from him. Maybe a community center that will split the fees that are charged for the classes, offer to split the dues with your instructor if he comes out and teaches you and the class on occasion. I know he is against commercialization but this is one way to reach out to others, get a bit of a business going and also keep your instructor teachign and you growing. If you truely love his teaching and respect the art you are training in then you dont need to leave it, you can adjust and make it work for you. Even if you are not a Dan level you can offer junior classes and have him work with you. If he finds that some students really excel and are the kinds he wants to teach then the students and you can work with him even more on the side. You can keep the dues low and he can benefit in that he gets a cut of the teaching dues as well as possibly building a club with worthy students (ones he finds worthy) and you can benefit in getting a bit of a wage while also growing. Teaching makes you look at Karate from a different angle as well so you excel even faster and understand even more. Just my two cents worth!

Oh, this again. I have been reading about the ills of GKR for about 6 years now and I have yet to read anything good about that lot. I am not against making money off of Karate, we have all put in many hours and given up family time ext to get a Dojo or two running, but a pyramid set up from the get go sends off warning bells to me. The other thing is I would never train with them because their "Sensei" teaching class may not be a black belt! I once read that an Yellow belt was given a black belt with a white stripe and the title of "Sensei" so he could open a club. He took a four month course of "Advanced teaching skill" but from what I understand this young man was not a great instructor. Just stinks of fraud to me.

OMG, that brings me back to when I started Karate in the late 70's. That name was in every magazine I bought about Karate...granted it was mail in rank type stuff (pay and buy a tape and you get a ranking). Villari is not and has never been to my knowledge trained in Kung fu. He trained with Nick Cerio so his back ground is Kenpo, but from what I am told many of the Kenpo groups wont talk about him and see him as an embarasment. Having said that, the only issues I have with Fred are his self ranking past the traditional 10th dan level (which is a traditional Japanese limit by the way) and his use of "GREAT GRAND MASTER" as a title. the guy did develop a self developed system, no issue with that, but when you start pusing it as traditional in any way you lose credibility. Oh, an his bragging that he developed over 100,000 black belts in a 35 year career....Mc Dojo's are not good and belt mills worse. He was always seen as a tad bit of a Joke in traditional circles and most Kenpo people say he stopped training and lost rank after that. He is nothing but embarassing to them. Now, because I dont actually have anything nice to say about him...I really hope someone does!

oh the joy of being a teacher and running an organization!