Hawkmoon

Just a thought, but ever thought about holding a tournament yourself? If they are thin on the ground then you have space and opportunity to make something happen without risk of stepping on any toes ... there are none tostep on as it were! .... or maybe a grand prix a tournament 3, 5 or 7 smaller competitions spread out around the area (a few miles from each other you get the idea). The idea is to build up to a large grand final! Invite the winners and best runners up to the grand final!

I do need to control my weight the festive period has had its normal affect upon my middle ! So: 1. Drop two or four kilos (4lbs to 8lbs) 2. Compete in an open division tournament. (one might consider two) Other than that no desperate plans to do anything special!

.. and why in our Dojo any test cycle is a closed to the 'public'! Children and parents alike are spoken to in person and in private should they fall lower than acceptable to grade! They all cover the points that matter and should be adhered to if not the "we-con-you"/McDojo types will grow in number!!

I so SO love that video. Very well put together the relationships between modern and old is brilliant! Very nice!

Merry Christmas and Happy new year enjoy and make merry !

hmm.. she was giggling like a loony! I ...I on the other hand was more reserved about it .... my Gi was washed the other day...got a pink Gi now! I think Shihan and Sensei might have a few words to say about that ..... once they stop laughing ... if they ever stop laughing that is!

Noooooo!! I point to the OPs first sentence! As to me personally I see the scene in the film as an in joke one that I believe Mr Lee put into the film script for the very reason this post now runs! No offence was taken were good! its cool!

hehehe... I was in a chat the other day and some one split a point ... the reply was... interesting one I'd never heard before, but with all the geek'ness and so on here..why not!?!? The reply was: "Seriously! Oppenheimer couldn't split that!"

Well done you! The brown belt test is a tuff one, its the one that goes much further to deciding your inclusion in the BB training that you realize! Well done!

In the end, the grading was focused on, its was big enough on its own in the end added pressure of tournaments!

Kumite is fighting, fighting is kumite, etiquette is not kumite, fighting is not etiquette! ... you cannot be serious? Not sure how a so called 2nd Dan can get hit by a lower grade and the lower grade be sanctioned for it! Its insane not sure how this is anything else other than plain crazy PC thing! You were grading you were fighting after all that was the point ... wasn't it? Sorry no, they are a funny bunch that is for sure, this view is there own,we all have our own views, but that , thats just mad, its messing with your head in all the wrong ways!

I like it! Me too!! Top post simple fantastic, truly is! I cannot say enough in support of this simply amazing way to look at this topic and so perfectly ... perfect in its statement! One of the bells that rings in my head when I read that post (and there are few flat notes to be sure in my head) is the last sentence: "Once a recipe is learned by heart it can be varied, applied with different ingredients etc." explore, experiment, test/try..its part of the fun!

...thanks... thanks a bunch ... now my OCD demands I watch the film again and try and discern some obscure point that is never completed.. yeah! thanks for that buddy!

What are you saying Patrick, 'Die Hard' is a Christmas movie!! As I read online the other day: "Its not Christmas until I see Hans Gruber fall of the Nakatomi building!" In my house, (in this order) its Christmas when 'The Muppet Christmas Carol', 'Polar Express', 'The Grinch' have been watched! Then its officially Christmas! Christmas day is only complete once a James Bond movie and repeats of the 'Morecome and Wise', 'Only Fools and Horses' and 'Bottom' Christmas specials have been watched!

*cough* Now THAT'S FUNNY!! Sadly that is so true! For me what makes it worse is when someone mentions your past time/hobby/sport whatever you refer to your art as and that third person in that chat looks to you with a wry smile and makes that remark. I feel bad for my friend who mentioned it because they are happy, maybe proud for me and maybe a little envious of what I do! I shouldn't do this, but just sometimes a response is needed, sometimes I open Youtube do a search and watch that face turn white! and the smile return, a few seconds later with more nervousness than they wanted to show this time around! The video called "Elite Kyokushinkai Karate Fighters" on Youtube for example!! LOL!

Well done you! Nice when its all over the dust settles down (as they say) and you are still standing there with your reward!! Great way to end the year! 2016 looks so SO much better now I suspect?

Never had anyone tell me to submit or loose to a senior grade, for demonstration purposes sure, happy to be the punch dummy. The only time I can say etiquette and senior grade. But then I do Kyokushin I'm expected to fight to earn my grades, as our you guys in the MMA world, cant speak for other systems, but will suggest some, maybe many have to earn the rank in much teh same way. GKR, well they are an odd bunch, I've my views on them, not all of them are that welcoming to be honest! Regarding training with other systems (etiquette) short answer? Yes, it is! How strictly that is applied and followed is down to the 'instructor and 'school'. Its 100% a Japanese thing born out of honor, respect and humility! The budo code! That as it may be, for me personally I think of it in more modern terms, its simply just plain old common curtesy. A bit extreme but the principle is the same , you don't just jump into your dads or neighbors car just because its there you ask to borrow it. GKR are a funny bunch that is for sure, but then others may say the same about each other schools as well, nothing new here. Hence, I say plain old common curtesy!

Kata kihon kumite For the tech geek types out there look at it like ohms law ... ..V I x R To find the amps or volts of a circuit cover the thing you want and do the math!! Kata kihon Kumite If one of these is weak, put your finger over that one and focus on the other two, in time the covered one becomes better!!

Sanchin kata teaches the practitioner three of the traits of a warrior: mind, body, and spirit. The use of sticks and punches and so on is what develops this. Kyokushin used to use the shinai to strike a body part as the kata was done, the idea was to prove a focused mind a strong body and a firm spirit to not stop to push on and to complete the kata. Is it an important kata? Yes, without doubt. Is it the most important kata? That is a ryu and I'd offer a personal decision for yourself to make. We don't use a shinai anymore, we do punch and kick a student as they perform the kata, but, and so why I say a personal decision, the kata is performed, to demonstrate a knowledge of the movement, its not tested as to see if you have learnt anymore, an important difference many I feel miss when it comes to sanchin. In my opinion, Sanchin is a test not a performance. To do Sanchin to to finish the kata utterly exhausted to be sweating buckets and breathing deeply to regain composure. By your demeanor show that put everything you have into each and every movement as its your last or your life depended upon it! A test of mind, body and spirit to endure and come out the other side the victor!

!! I do like the question, it is after all what makes a person 'them', and in that a Martial Artist is no different in there differences to anyone else or any other discipline! We all do all three elements and we all achieve a certain level in each of them come promotion time, we take the ruff with the smooth to that end. Kata (Ignore the extreme 'deep' kiba dachi types.) The person that when instructed to executes and performs each action with humility and when completed waits for the command to relax and steps back, there is a quiet confidence about them. This is what they do, the structure is what the seek. Kihon Like kata is done by us all but some are more 'exact' in our movement than others, the hand is at this or that angle because ... the bend in the knee or elbow is just so. It may appeal to the OCD in them (all of us) more than the other guy, but its what makes them work! Kumite Fluid and dynamic, exhilarating, action packed piece of work a sure fire way to get the adrenaline going! Some people love that, and some live for that feeling. the freedom combat offers makes them happy, not as restricted as kata or kihon. What eer break down you apply all three need to be done as each piece does support the other. I prefer to fight, it is after all what it was taught for, to defend yourself from an attacker to fight for your home...ok maybe not now'a'days but back ye'olden days"! When I was younger (and smaller) it was kata, I even brought back trophies for it. kata was done not through love but through the want to compete,my size meant I was far to small to do knock down, so I simply didn't do it, I did kata. I'm older now (much older) I fight for the rush win or loose, I've brought home trophies. Kata is an option but there was no 'rush' before and there is still none today, I do it as a trainuing tool but not from desire.

I hear you! When I returned to Kyokushin I felt awkward about turning up and so my first visit had me in jeans and a tee to watch and chat with the senior grades about my past and what I looking to do and achieve if I was to start up again! Dunno what to call it , I guess a sense of honour or humility but I felt strongly about doing the right thing and not offending anyone. So asked if they had a white belt I could have and wear, which had them ask why if I was 'coming back' then I clearly was not a beginner, so I filled in the gaps about my past and was asked that I wear my 'brown belt!' in short it was deemed unfair to me as well as the others to stand up as a 'white belt' with all my years of I turned up and was directed to stand at the lowest end of the brown belt line up! It felt odd to be sure and for ages I struggled with the idea of being in the line up in that spot. So I was more than happy when I was offered the chance to regrade to 1st kyu, it made it right!

... have her show off to you! Have a family contest from time to time showing how good the other one is, the emphasis being how good she is! Build a wooden frame with her, to hang tennis balls from to kick at them. Or dodge and wear around anything that she can compete with you about and more often than not win and when you win maybe she gets to beat you up because you maybe kind'a sort'a cheated . Make it fun, and make it natural for her to do this stuff! Kids are fickle and come next summer a new something could come along and change the game entirety and its all 'my little pony' or 'TMNT' .... or The X Factor! ! My boy was the same he was up for doing what I did so we found a school he liked and thats been the thing for a few years now, but now some of his buddies are going football (soccer) mad its all football this and football that!

Almost correct! To share ideas is a two way street, its promoted in our dojo, a in honour to Sosai Oyama who drove the idea and tasked his Shihans to do the same . Correct! If they wish to the door is open, always is, to them or anyone else! To add, two of them have fought with us in tournaments and the same two have started to follow our dress code! They are still permitted to wear there rank, as I said before they have earned them they worked harm for them, they are show the same level of respect any 'shodan' etc is shown in the dojo, but as they are not 'graded' by/as kyokushin there are are limits, the BB meetings for example are not open to them. We work with them to the level, to the ends and desires they wish, and it seems to me that they are working towards earning a full Kyokushin grade at some point of some kind, in this there is no limit, all they have to do is take the test!

I voted no, which I accept is a little stark/cold to me to be perfectly honest. Likewise, I could not in good honest and open faith say be a grade and walk into a different dojo (discipline) and suddenly be the highest rank or a senior rank (possibly the only one that is not a teacher) and be able to teach and represent the system and Ryu you just walked into. there is a certain amount of respect demanded by humility that needs to be given just because its the civil and polite thing to do. For example, in our dojo we have some guys form Tang-Soo-Do work with us, they wear the grade they earned in there dojo. Which means they wear there blackbelts. (dark blue) We want them to wear the grade, they earned them, they worked for them and clearly they have the right to wear them! They are respected for the grades they are, but they have no say in the way the dojo is run, nor do they attend any meetings we hold. Likewise when we visit them we are shown respect for the same reasons and likewise we have no say in the way they run there dojo nor do we attend there meetings. To take the example to extremes,be a shodan, nidan san dan in Judo. now walk into a Shotokan school, and out rank the head instructor .... do you dislodge them and teach shotokan karate with all your judo skills? Clearly not, you are respected for your rank, but will be placed along side the students and taught like any other student how to fight the Shotokan way! So can you take your grade to another school? Yes. There honor should afford you the respect humility demands you are shown. can you stand up as the senior grade when you are there? No. Humility/honour demands you show the same level respect!

Good luck sir stay relaxed and focused, you'll be fine!