kensei

Nothing wrong with being a little Barbaric, this is Karate!

Hey Do-Gi, I have a three prong approach, first off you need to talk to her and remind her that she got hit, but she is not dead! She did not get so hurt that she could not train and that she is fine now. Getting hit is not the end of the world, its just proof that she needs to train so she does not get hit. Second, hit her again...alot...with a boxing glove on...a thick boxing glove....and not that hard! This is the old school part of my training idea by the way and not for everyone but read on. I got hit alot as a yellow belt, I was seven mind you and it was the early 80's (well mid seventies okay...but I dont want to age myself that much...maybe I should have said 90's.....) anyways, the point being I got hit in class and was really upset so my father took me out side with his old boxing gloves and made a point of jabbing me in the face a bunch of times....he did this for a week every day. He then said " are you dead?" My answer was no and I actually got used to being "zapped" a few times and it helped with my Karate because I was not mentally scared of it anymore...I knew it stung and I knew I did not like it, but it was not as big a shock to my system. Now keep in mind this was a long time ago and we dont recommend doing this with a seven year old again....especially with CFS rules being the way they are. The third way....More Kumite with LOTS of different partners. She needs to get used to different timing, speed, power, sizes, and people. Make it a challenge for her to get past the fear. None of this is to be cruel. The truth is the first time I got hit on the job when I used to be a door man at the bar I did not flinch, I took the guy down and choked him out. My fellow workers were shocked I did not react by freezing as I told them I had never been hit doing any kind of work. The sense of security that she will get knowning that if she is attacked she wont freeze will be worth the minor discomfort of a few odd punches to the face. Now all this is in moderation and built up over time. Dont get some light boxing gloves or mma gloves and try to KO her. I am saying light taps with a soft glove and build up to a nice jab feeling that wont KO her but keep the baggy glove. Then throw her in with lots of people for Kumite. Karate should be fun but it has a practical side as well.

If you are training in a Shotokan group based off of the JKA style of Shotokan like the ISKF, IKD, ITKF, Ext and so on then the ranking is more than likely going to be respected and you can "wear" it till you are ready to grade for the next level, generally speaking. I have seen some instructors act like baby's and suggest that just because you are not from their system of JKA related Karate that you are not going to wear a black belt in their school, even though they were ISKF and my student was JKA...which kind of is silly seeing as the ISKF comes from teh JKA. I suggested that my student remind the instructor, who was one rank above him that he was "JKA-light" and see if he got mad....I like to poke the bear! The fact is that unless you come from a different system that does not know the Kata or has different Kata the cross over is huge. I can see a TKD or Goju guy being asked to start from scratch, but really a shotokan guy that has a Nidan should be welcome as a Nidan in any shotokan club....maybe some extra long time between gradings if the system is different like Asai Ryu or something. But the fact is we train in the same style. Standards are a different thing all together, I have seen some guys come from Shotokan groups that were NOT up to the same standards, but that is a dojo thing....not an organization thing. If your new "home" does not allow you to wear your earned rank...and you have not been off training as smoeone suggested....find a new home..this one is to darn picky!

I have been training Shotokan Karate for 35 years. I have a JKA roots system but my instructor has really focused our training a tad differently, more realism and less sport aspect. In the past I have dabbled alot in other styles while maintaining my Shotokan training. I have worked with Goju, Chito, Shito, Kyokushin, Wado and Uchi ryu fighters, but I would not say I would qualify to test under any of these, more like a taste of each. I also have a Black belt in Judo, trained a tad in Aikido, Kendo, Jujitsu, Jui Jitsu (just starting back at it a tad), Sambo, Wrestling and a few others. My goal is to introduce the very best I can find from those into my natural training while maintaining my Shotokan Roots.

Why do we put so much into the Heians? A few reasons, first off they hold almost all the basic movements in Karate, they also are a complete self defense system as someone said, but the core of Shotokan is in the Heians....much like the core of Goju is said to be in Sanchin. Why do Goju people do sanchin so damn much? Conditioning, focus, learning to fight???? Pretty much the same reasons we do the Heians. Now I know we dont see eye to eye with Goju guys on training methodology and you guys look at our Heians with raised brows...the same way we wonder if you had to much Bran when doing Sanchin! The thing is that Goju and Shotokan both use different Kata for the same purpose.....Fundamentals. I could go into how its the utmost of importance to ensure your sword is sharpe (Basics are tight) and how if you let your back stance slip in the Heians you wont ever be able to perform it well in the other Kata or how if you just do Kumite and Advanced Kata your foundation will weaken, but I think we all get that. The Heians to me are the text book on how to do Karate (Shotokan style of course) and you must review your basics all the time before moving on. In my dojo lineage we perform the first 7 Kata to get to black belt then we learn the rest of the "basic and intermediate" Katas (total 15 from start to finish) then we pick 3 Kata to focus on for the rest of our journey. I selected Kanku Dai, Nijushiho and Bassai Sho...but if I dont practice my Heians, Tekki 1 and Bassai Dai regularly even I see a big slacking in form and functionality in my Kata and kumite. We do the Heians to remind us that the detials of basics are what drive us to be better in general.

LMOA "AFRO NINJA"....Have you guys seen the videos. poor guy got off a red eye from hong Kong, was sick and tried to do an audition tape for some movie, he is a stunt man/actor. The guy did a back flip and wanted to start doing some kind of nunchuk display of skills but ended up landing on his face almost KO'ing himself then he kept trying to go and was kind of "out of it" through the whole thing. He thought no one would see it but it was shown on Youtube...Go look it up. The guy is smart though, he made a movie called Afro ninja out of the whole horrible experience. He is actually a good sport Karate guy. he does "american eclectic" Karate...meaning that slippy dippy non traditional stuff with flips and fancy TKD kicks. Apparently he is actualy a great actor and stunt man and has done alot of movies in both rolls and was in a commercial with LeBron James.

It truely is a hard one to answer, not because I dont have examples of how Karate has benefited me over the years but because I have to many. When I was a kid I was out of control. Bad temper, did stupid things that probably could have killed me (jumping off bridges into rivers for fun ext) and I had a huge amount of pent up rage. Karate mellowed me out by giving me tools to deal with those issues I had growing up. Karate matured me because I trained with adults at a youngish age. I was held to a higher standard of behavior from the start and I had to live up to it. When My parents split I had no problem dealing with it from a non-emotional point of view and just "letting it go" it was not me splitting but them and I still had a relationship with both of them. When my brother died I had a very hard time but the Dojo family I had built up supported me and let me morn the way I needed to while acting as a crutch and supporting me. Karate has been their for me my whole life pretty much and I grew up in the Dojo.

Some great instructors teach out of school halls and community clubs, but I am a bit scared of those that dont hold a decent enough understanding of Karat trying to teach it. J

Hi Safroot and all, For the past while I have been reading alot about GKR on their site and on forums. from what I gather they are a pyramid system of clubs that put juniors in charge of classes so funds can be funneled up the chain to the creator. they are a mish mash of Goju and Shotokan and both depth of teh arts is lacking from what I have seen. Now, I have seen some "Sensei" out of that program as low as yellow or orange belt teaching small groups. How can you teach what you dont fully know? I would RUN out of that class as fast as I can. As far as separation by sex, age ext...its horrible. I would say that all the reasons to train with someone bigger or faster or more likely to assault you would be the attraction not a reason to not spar with someone not built like you or not the same gender. IN my club you check your gender at the door and train with everyone based on your skill level not what gender you are. Chito is strong in Canada and Ihave much respect for it, its a bit strange in the history department but the practice is fine! I would jump at chito with both feet!

The martial arts in general are taking a bit of a turn and in some ways it can be good and in others horrible and it does apply to the youthful masters topic here. The "old days" one instructor would teach and have peers that were all kind of the same "rank and file" and while they may have taught some different things and focused on different Kata they all taught "Karate (tede ext). They were all venerable masters and the weaker and less skilled were weeded out naturally. Granted the "world of Karate" was about the size of Manhatin at the time so VERY SMALL. Then Karate went Global and newer, Younger masters took the helm and washed Karate out over the world. they still kept the standards of Master high by dangling carrots and making rank much more important than the old masters did. They put some dogma and mystic stuff in the mix and next thing you know every round eye in sight that strapped on a belt was mixing Japanese history with bunk and real Karate and forming a mix of it and calling it "traditional Karate" and the old masters were probably either rolling in their collective graves or laughing so hard they could almost be felt on the dojo floors! Then the "new masters" made new seniors who wanted to be masters as well, so they left and created their own systems or just took the rolls over and left the orgs. to create their own...and we then had even worse problems as missunderstandings or basic lies were being sold to us. To really learn Karate you need to masters basics, then explore your own style and put it to the test. Get rid of foolish extras and chop down the lies leaving the core of the system. it has to be real, gritty and applicable in self defense. Get rid of the mystic bunk and remember that no one has a master! They have teachers and the minute someone puts their own importance above teaching you, asks for huge funds or disrespects you it is time to move on. Karate should be personal journey and thus with out "Masters", dont claim ranks that are to high, they just look silly! Rank should end at black belt and just have an understanding and respect for others who reach that level, all this 6th Dan, 12 Dan, Master, Grand master stuff just clouds up the joint. Sensei means teacher...not master or God! Young masters forget this and thus I wont call them anything but possibly Sensei if they are good people. No Shihan, Soke or anthing else...possibly mr if I dont feel they are ready for Sensei!

Their is no one origin point as well. That tends to be an issue with most people that want a clean clear cut "this is the start" kind of start off. I think that is why most people go all the way back to India in a attempt to find the start. I believe that if you go back far enough you will see that its a neccessary thing from the time we were cave dwelling club swingers to learn to fight better and develop weapons and such. I ignore those that bring up Buddhidarma and the like as it shows a lack of understanding. Their is no one point...their are many that weave together to form arts!

I dont own my own club, but I teach at one for the cheif instructor and I am the chair of a provincial group. As such if you wanted to come back and train we have an open door policy. Granted you need to show you are back for the long(ish) haul to test but you can come in and train when ever you like...we dont close doors, we build bridges...

bowing No curse words Treat people with respect wearing white gis as tradition in our group Dojo kun cleaning floors after class ext and so on. We dont let anyone NOT do something.you must show respect and follow the house rules.

First off I think that the rank system is fine...unless you think of the people who hold the ranks and why. The ranking system could be fixed but I think a minimum time in the Kyus should go from three years in most clubs to six. and then ranking in black belt should be minimum 3 years between and once you get to Yondan you MUST be a full time teacher or stop grading. I know of a tone of guys that have been training for around 15 years that walk around as 6th dans in some styles and i have been at it for 36 years and basically stopped at Nidan and finally tested for sandan a few years back. Rank is what you make of it and should only be seen as what it is, a measure of time in and tallent, skill, knowledge. It does not make you a better person...actually it kind of does the opposite for some. The rank system is fine, its that you really need to watch whom you promote and remember they reprosent you and you dont want a horrible human with your name on his rank certificate!

This article, while well written, screams "I was written in the 60's". The truth is that while SOME of these issues still hang around most of the modern women and men will not identify with this kind of thinking. and a few points from the article.... Keiko Fukuda, while not the norm was a Judo instructor that began teaching in 1937 in Japan, so the info you gave is by far not accurate. Their were few women in the martial arts, but it was not illegal by any means. Also, Robert Trias (creater of Shuri ryu) taught ladies self defense in the 40's in the states and had a few female black belts. Again, while its not the norm...it was not illegal in Japan or the states in teh 70's. Wow, really! if I ever saw a judge pull that stuff at a tournament I would take my team and leave...and if it was a JKA tournament I would have a few words with the ref. Our organization has a high level Female competitor that was well respected and placed at the worlds. If a local judge had the yam sack to do that to her he would get the boot from the organization faster than you could rip up his Dan certificate. Again, not sure what style you are talking about but the female instructor I mentioned trained in Japan for four years and she saw TONES of females training in the club and giving as good as they got during Kumite. I think that this whole article is a bit outdated, or I just dont see it. In our club one of my house rules is that once you strap on the belt you check your gender at the door and go as hard as anyone else or pay the price. You take it easy on someone because they are a different sex than you and you spar with me....male or female...and Im of the belief that womens lib gives me the right to beat on men and women alike.

Very very late to this show but here is my two cents worth as a 40 year old man that has been in martial arts since 6 years of age, has a Jewish Step mother a Muslim best friend and grew up Christian only to move more towards science as a teen and now basically says no one knows for sure and we have to pull our collective brains out of our faith to review some reality once and a while. My personal belief system has NO PLACE IN THE DOJO! period!!! I would assume we have a mixed faith dojo, I never ask what building someone goes to to worship, or if they do! its none of my concern as long as they dont prostolitize (sp?) in the dojo and they follow the house rules I am fine. Recently we had here in Canada a Muslim student create a situation in New Brunswich in an Aikido school. His faith apparently made it neccessary for him NOT to train with a lady at all ever and this new student came into an existing club and forced the club to now be split by gender. They cried Human Rights and forgot that Gender should trump religion as you are born with your gender and religion is your choice. Then the Muslim gent begain giving out what I would see as somewhat offensive leaflets to the students to suggest that others convert to his religion. the text that was presented in the media was offensive and suggested a man give his wife/Daughter a smack if they were to wear clothing that was colorful or modern!...no it actually said that! I truely dont think that God, Ala or whom ever you pray to would be upset if you were to train with a lady to defend herself! Personally as an instructor of 20 years if a student came to me and said they wont bow, wont train with ladies and wanted to put out religious leaflets in my dojo I would quickly show them the door and respectfully suggest they not come back till they respect the house rules. So, what are the house rules?..... 1. I dont care if you are Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Pagan, Buddhist, Shinto (if thats what you say) or any other religion...or no religion, in my dojo you bow to the front, we show respect by bowing and you train with any of your dojo friends. 2. So you found God through Islam, converted to be Jewish, Found Christ (never knew he was lost...maybe I should help in the hunt) or what ever you select as your lifes path...leave it at the door and dont bring it into the club! We respect others thoughts, beliefe systems and or lack of those in my club and NEVER will I let religious leaflets in my club...especially those that are offensive. 3.In the dojo NO POLITICS. we had a local liberal MLA in our club once and he trained for years and the only rule I had for him and the other clubs is that he is Jerry in the club...not the MLA that you want to beef at and he Sure as shooting was not to politic on MY TIME> 4. I am king and master of the dojo, my instructor is the emperor...aside from that NO ONE Makes rules or tells us what to do in my club! I dont take orders from any priest, Iman or any other such person, its a place for training in martial arts and No one will dictate how we do it other than my instructor and me. 5. if you ever wonder if you can do something from outside and bring it inside the dojo...like hand out books, bibles,leafelets or try to get people to come to a evening service or some other religious event....See the other rules fool! Politics, Sex, Drugs, Personal belief systems and other topics that can bring about "discussion" will bring about teh end of a good dojo or bring a cancer into a good one faster than you can pray it does not happen (see what I did their). I respect all religious belief systems and not religious belief systems...just dont bring them in my club.

Late to the show here. I LOVE sparring with guys that bounce, I have a very fast Ashi Barra and about 99% of the time can plan them on their back sides. I note that most people that bounce excessivly do sport style Karate or focus on sports...or train with someone that does.

Every once and a while my instructor stops by to watch class, he is 73 and his health is not the greatest. He will watch intently as I teach and at the end of class he will come up and make a single comment and leave. Most of the time its "good class" or "thats exactly right" and he up and leaves. But every once and a while he will say something to a student or me and you just have that light bulb lighing "AH HA" moment that you were talking about. The other day I was teaching adn he came up to a group of us and said to the students in general "a straight punch is just straightening the arm, dont make it so complicated". then he did this incredible Oi-Zuki that looked like it came from a man half his age...crazy snap and he just snapped out his arm. We all sat in shock, he turned bowed and put on his boots and left the club. The words are simple but his action and his words just made that move seem so much more simple and easy and I saw the light bulbs go on for alot of students.

I think of myself as being rather insulated from some of the weird and wacky things in martial arts, living in the dead center of Canada we tend not to attract those that are looking for LOTS of funds and bigger organizations. The one experience I have with a GKR stylist was about 4 years back when someone from that group moved to my city. Now we have a Gracie Academy guy here who teaches and owns his own club and is just a blue belt but he admits to his level of understanding and aside from some "rougher than needed" allegations the guy is pretty upfront that he is a newbie and trains hard to be better Now the gent that came in from GKR tried to open a small club about four years ago and made the rounds meeting with instructors from different clubs. The first thing that I did NOT like was he called us and asked if he could drop by for a class, we did not know who or what he was at the time and told him to come out and train, the first week is always free so come on down. He shows up and tells me and my instructor he is a senior level “sensei” in a different but similar style, he did not say GKR or I would have asked how long he had been training. He said he would be able to more than keep up and wondered if we wanted to hear what he had learned training one on one with his instructor….we said if something came up in class go ahead and throw your hand up! Okay, so the guy straps on a black belt with a white stripe down it and we right away knew something was up! A European cut gi with the jacket looking a bit like the bottom end of bleached kilt and he had pads that he wanted to wear for Kumite…which thankfully we said he could keep on a desk in the gym if we started sparring we would let him know to go throw them on. Basics are basics right…not if this guy has anything to say about them. First off he wanted to “present” us with his “Wisdom” on each move we were doing…but he looked like a white belt that managed to study a book and was really excited to share….and it was drivel! Next was Kata, he was…well horrible! The guy screwed up Heian Shodan and forgot parts of Heian Nidan…we worked our way up to Bassai Dai and he was lost but tried to play along. Now we were kind of talking during short rest breaks, my instructor and I, and we said it must be because he was from some other organization and style and the fact that he could “play along” was good. By half way through class he was sucking wind and actually gave up. He raised his hand and asked to go for water, when he came back he was looking kind of sick and we had not gotten to the Kumite yet. He asked to sit out for a tad to catch his breath and just sat for the rest of class. After class we talked for a bit and as it turned out he had less than two years of training and after three months entered the “Sensei’s” Program and had not really trained much since. He had NO martial arts experience since then and after I asked WTF is a “Sensei Program” he asked how I got my Sensei level….After a long blank look I told him that you don’t take a course to become a Sensei , you train your rump off and after a good long time you start teaching, if your students consider you a Sensei…then you are one! He did not come back but later I found out through a mutual friend that he threw in the towel and joined a Muay Thai club and just works out for fun. I read up on GKR after that and to be frank I am very glad I live in the middle of Canada in a place that they probably wont come to. It looks like a pyramid system and shady as all get out. I know they have some great sport Karate people, but my feeling is that they are very physically gifted people that would do well in any system. The structure and frame work of the group is scary and shady at the same time. That’s is just my experience with them, but I have had some good and bad ones with lots of different kinds of people.

I tend to feel a different way than the previous answer.I think that if Rank is your main goal in your main style then you need to chat with the other instructor and let him know that you do the other style and that is your grounding style. If you get confused with Kata on a test you may not pass and well thats not good if that is your aim. However, if the training is what you are into then go for it, realizing that the speed of your rank progression may be stunted by the extra load you carry with two styles. Their is a reason that I frown on cross training like this until a student is at least a shodan.

Im with fight for life here, however I am trying to figure out how he go the C word pas the word filter. Truth is that some instructors are so tied to some kind of old fantasy about the training that they abuse students for some unexplainable reason and the students take it. The fact that you finally stood up and said why is great, but maybe a bit late in the game. With all due respect, I would have left and found a sain instructor long ago!

I totally agree that people are wired differently. In a past job I was managing a team of 25 staff that often had to get reviews and also meet about issues with their work. The 25 people ranged from little old ladies that had never used a computer but were great dealing with customers to young kids that were computer savy but had no idea what customer service was...so you can imagine the diverse ways we had to deal with them to motivate them. The two that stick out the most was a middle aged guy I had to talk to about his attendence and a young lady that had the same issues! The middle aged guy was handled as respectfully and PC as possible and we let him know that the event leading up to the meeting were completely due to the missed work and that we wanted to see him succeed. He explained that his daughter was very ill and she often needed him at home, his wife was a school teacher and we did not want to let him go, so we put him on "cassual" and he improved his attendence when the daughter got a bit better.....plus he was happy with us and worked his rear off for us. The young gal...well I took a different approach. I said to her "what the HECK are you doing (Using Heck to fill in for an expletive starting with F) and asked her what she thought we wanted. The whole thing was very casual and laid back, not very proffessional and stuffy, the quick dressing down was followed with a "reverse the rolls, what would you do" and she got it. Both approaches worked and motivated the staff. Like students you need to figure out the psychology of the students and see how you can motivate them.

When I think of bad classes its more about my personal performance. Be it lack of coordination that day, not into it mentally or being a wimp because of an injury. The older I get the more injuries actually stop me from training at my peak! As for dealing with partners or students, we have one that is supposed to be getting ready for Shodan soon and he is LAZY! the problem is that we wont let him test till he shakes that and it kind of ticks me off that I have to teach this kid and he basically does not care! So, I avoid him...dont teach him and if I train with him I kind of hold back and rest till I get moved to another person. Because of the vast differences in people we train you simply can not let one sour apple ruin your class..... Hope your grand mother is doing better!

Not to take away further from this specific situation, as I feel very strongly that the instructor in question handled this poorly...to say the least. Essentially when you have a situation with a student in class you have to gage what the level of infractions are. As an instructor for more than 25 years I have seen everything from Chatty kids to people that just like to hit each other and just about everything in between. I normally say their are four things you can do in pretty much any of the cases: 1. Ignore the situation and let it go. This is best whent he infraction is an occasional outburst in class (talking) but this can be dangerous if its a student that likes to hurt others or who is always disruptive. And it should NEVER be used when you are seeing violent outbursts, dangerous practices or things that can harm others or your school. 2. a verbal dressing down! This can be used well for kids and adults that are not in danger of harming others but are doing things that can disrupt your class or harm your school in some way. However, you must be careful not to belittle the student or say things that may cause them to feel like you are acting in such a way as to really be seen as a form of humilation. Having said that, if they are doing something that you feel may harm your school, this can be the best way to push them out the door with a "...and you are out of the class for good" statement at the end. 3. Remove the student from class/the club! Like the dressing down this can be a temporary but effective way of dealing with the situation and or a perminent good bye! If a student is acting in such a way as they may harm others its a good first step to talk to the student, second strike and they are out for a short bit...third and they are gone! Unless the infraction warrents immediate boot to rear end! the problem with removing a issue from class is you can look weak in some peoples minds, but to be honest...I dont care. We are not parents or psychologists! its not my job to figure out why you are acting the way you do...its my job to safely introduce you to the martial arts...period. I have only kicked one kid out of class before and to be honest it did not help...he came back twice the terror because the parent actually put him into the program to deal with his issues because she could not. But in the end, for the good of the club and other members, I had to cut him from the program. 4. The very last and most unwarrented form of discipline...Physical! I have to say I have been known to give a kid a kick in the shorts (back end) and or a knock on the top of the head (light) to draw their attention back to class, but not like the old days with face slaps and wacks from a shinai beeing seen as not just acceptable but common. I can only thing of a all out fight between students as being a reason to physically touch a student in a violent or agressive way, and that for me would be to break up the fight only! If you can not use 1-3 effectivly and need to turn to 4....retire and take up basket weaving! their is NO case that a child student should be subjected to physical correction in the form of a kick, punch or slap! and if a instructor tried to do that to me as an adult, I would react with like force...and a tad more! its not acceptable in any way shape or form to abuse your students and I would suspect that the club that allows this...will close shortly. Point being that if you can not handle your student...one of you should not be in that class!

Segals main style is Aikido, however when he was younger he trained in basic Shotokan with a cook that he worked with. Its on Wikipedia and his bio on his page. You have to remember that you need to dig through a lot of bunk with Segals stuff because he was influenced by the "Marketing Sensei/Guru's" in the 80's to try and market himself. At one point Segal stated he worked for the CIA doing wet work on black ops missions....or for those of us not wanting to sit in wonder..he killed people covertly for the CIA...or as we like to call it he read a comic book once and thought that was a great idea! He also created lots of stories to market himself and his movies, which is sad because being a 7th Dan and the first white guy to teach Aikido and run his own Dojo in Japan should be enough to show he can be a tough guy. the rest is silly fluff!