Kusotare

A good sensei doesn't examine from time to time. His job is to constantly correct and advise. The shiai-Jo and the dojo are distinctly different places. K.

yes! (to my shame) these are the phrases, terms I've been trying to find when trying to explain why I'm asking about kata tempo etc... Budo & Omote to me this translates as kata spirit, kata tempo.... not "when performing kata, you must think like the fastest gunslinger in the west!" Or "your a big lad, do everything with full power show how strong you are!" Budo, Omote......the art in Martial Arts! To be clear - Budo is not a way to perform kata, it is what we are all doing in the broader context when we study a martial way. To understand a kata based pedagogy you have to appreciate that first off, students need to learn the omote form of the Kata. Omote is like window shopping. Its the very visible external form of the Kata. After internalising the omote form, the student can then go on to explore the "Ura" (or under the surface). This means going beyond the shopfront and exploring the deeper principles found with the kata that I mentioned in my earlier post. The duration of a kata performance is irrelevant really - as long as you are meeting the core reasons for training that kata in the first place. K.

Hence to me when you say this, the senior grades, because of the 'additional' knowledge of what, why how or why this is done are following the katas demands, fitting to its spirit...its tempo! Shihan Liam keaveney http://www.bkk-uk.com/Profiles.asp has in various workshops talked at length about 'studying' kata. Then in detail after asking us for what 'we' thing is or is not the point of this or that element, given direction to the true purpose of the element/kata as taught by Sosai Oyama and Hanshi Arneil. My knowledge of Kyokushin kata is limited, however from a general "budo" perspective, the tempo / speed of performance is something that you "absorb" from your instructor - as part of the kata "Omote". K.

Within clasical budo, the six priniples of Kata practice are as follows; From - https://www.sannoya.com Ikita Kata Kata should be alive and practiced with feeling and purpose. Inen Kata should be practiced with spirit. Chikara no Kyojaku During Kata practice there should be variation in the application of power. Technique may be strong or yielding, hard then soft. Waza no Kankyu During Kata practice there should be variations in timing. Sometimes moving fast, sometimes moving slow. Kisoku no Donto Kata should be practiced with the correct rhythm of breathing. Balance Good balance should be maintained during the practice of Kata K.

Karate (as taught in most gendai dojo today) is Budo. Budo is NOT self defence. If learning self defence is you primary goal, you are wasting your time with Karate IMO. As the OP mentioned guys like Rory Miller are a better option. K.

Tesco is a large supermarket chain here in the UK. A bit like your Walmart. K.

If you have a passion for a particular art, you must be prepared to put in the travelling time I'm afraid. There are very good KUGB dojo out there that do have a really practical approach (and a tough approach) to their karate. I have friends that train in these dojo and I have seen the black eyes and broken noses to prove it! You may have to put in the motorway hours to get to them though. Unfortunately, decent dojo aren't like Tesco's (one in every town)! If only K.

No, but from what I've read about his group from a plethora of other martial artists - I'd leave well alone. k.

90% of my sogo bujitsu training was in civilian clothes. This was conducted in the Renbukan (the name of our glorified garage). If we went into the SeiShinKan (actual formalized dojo) then we wore gi. It's a complex one actually. The primary objective for anyone that trains in a koryu is to keep the tradition going, however that doesn't mean approaches shouldn't change. The key thing is the core principles or the ryu-ha remain intact! It's a mistake to think the art shouldn't evolve. K.

In my dojo, students will often hand down their old gi's to younger students once they have grown out of them. Regarding training in civies - from a self defence perspective - this is done even today - by some of the oldest Koryu dojo in Japan I know there is an Araki-ryu dojo for example that train in jeans and T shirst now and then just to make sure their techniques will work if they are clothed this way. K.

Different systems will call them different things (even within very traditional schools) Broadly speaking, all of the methods shown are known as kansetsu-waza in Japanese jujutsu. Hand and arm manipulation are referred to as kote/ude- gatame! Katame in this context means to entangle. K.

Hello, For those interested in the Koryu featured (Takenouchi-ryu / Takeuchi-ryu) here is a clip of it being done very well at the Meiji Jingu Embu (2012). Whilst Takenouchi-ryu is a “sogo bujutsu” (comprehensive system) that trains a multitude of weapons as well as unarmed techniques, it is most renowned for its Jujutsu / kogusoku In fact Takenuchi-ryu is the progenitive system from which virtually all Japanese Jujutsu (and thus Judo) comes from. If you want to study Jujutsu at its real grass roots level - this is the art to go for... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC6Z2vsYrIA K.

In most styles of Japanese Budo (Karate, Jujutsu and Kenjutsu etc.) this is called "Hanmi Gamae" - lit "half posture" - referring to the fact that your body is at 45 deg to your opponent. Naturally, this does extend reach, but more importantly it narrows off your body from your opponent’s perspective, thus reducing the target area. From an armed perspective it also allows you to conceal weapons and intentions from your enemy. All practical combat systems adopt this approach. K.

The level of contact has more to do with the individual dojo rather than the style. I don't know enough about Chito-ryu to comment, but Wado is a very good style. Be careful about connecting it to Jujutsu! It has techniques within its system, but probably nothing like the Jujutsu you have in your head. It is however hard to learn well and takes a lot of mental weight lifting!!! I know the head instructor at the Calgary Wado club you posted. I have trained alongside him (Barry) and his wife Nicole many times and they are both first class martial artists. They understand Wado and how it works. You would be in very good hands. K.

Shito-ryu has an obscene amount of kata if a recal correctly...

That's just silly. Although we don't allow parents to walk into the dojo without taking their shoes off! K.

Quite right as well. You bow on entering the dojo also of course. It's an external manifestation of your mindfulness, alertness and willingness to learn - whilst respecting others. K.

And as for Tachi-rei (standing bow)? Again, if you think about it, done properly - it is far safer than offering somone your hand! K.

At the start and end of each training session we perform Seiza-rei - kneeling bow. My instructor always used to say Karate begins and ends with a bow and of course the issues of respect and courtesy always spring to mind first, but actually, it goes a lot further than that. To perform seiza correctly (including the act of kneeling down and getting back up) is quite difficult. Most correctly, it is done by lowering yourself from the centre - keeping your centre of mass in the seichusen. You are learning to maintain good body posture and core strength. When performing rei, one also needs to have the radar switched on. So, all these are vital to being able to perform karate well. So we start learning them straight from the bow - thus a Karate training session really does begin and end with a bow. K.

Budo begins and ends with a bow! As martial artists, we trust in our training partners - our health (and lives when it comes to weapons) is literally in their hands. They are our training / support buddies in this respect and we need to make sure they have our best interest at heart and vice versa – otherwise we get hurt! "Bu" in Budo means martial, however the more holistic understanding is to cease (in term of violence) – Soldiers don’t train to keep fighting, they train to “stop” conflicts - as efficiently as possible. Without "Rei" we are simply thugs! (From a Japanese Budo perspective). K

I think also - If you are still young - you should embrace the fact that you can still train and learn! Why hurry?

100% accurate... My MA journey has been going for about two-and-a-half decades, now, but because I'm less than middle-aged, some of our adult students over the years didn't take me seriously or outright ignored anything I tried to teach them. Even now, people say I look young (I'm not that young), and I think my perceived age plays a role in some of our adult students' acceptance of my experience / knowledge... I'm forced to "prove my pudding" to our adult students on a somewhat regular basis... That's an interesting one. So, if you are not yet middle aged but have studied for 25 years, conservatively that puts you at 14 when you started (or younger)? Is there a perception that what you learn / do as a kid training - doesn't really count - as you were more than likely doing by rote – as opposed to a cerebral process of internalisation? IE. You understand what you are doing and why? I only ask as I have heard this mentioned before... K.

I don't disclose that information online. Sorry. I only asked as this (rightly or wrongly) could be a factor in terms how seriously people will take you. Also - along with answers to Kuma's question - it allows us to understand the depth of your understanding of the arts you have studied. Knowledge can be acquired fairly rapidly. Wisdom on the other hand takes a little bit longer. K.

Could I ask (and I'm sorry if it has been asked before) - how old are you? K.

He must be chuffed - at least now he can be considered for possibly the highest accolade in his career - the sokeship council. http://sokecouncil.com/index.html K.