CredoTe

Belated Happy Bday Lupin! Can you help us out with the pronunciation, Harkon? IMHO, Welsh takes the cake as the most unique European language...

Wait until your Godan! You'll wish you were a Shodan, again!! I did, wish, that is. The only reason I didn't say my Sandan is because my two instructors (CI & Ti) graded me in secret over several weeks. So, I didn't perform an excruciating performance test for Sandan in the "traditional" sense of a test. I think my Yondan test in a couple of years will make up for it, though. I don't even want to think of my Godan test...

Indeed, my computer engineering degree definitely has a shelf life; especially if I don't strive to keep up with the ever-changing technologies in the world of computers/IT. But, I will always be considered a college graduate with a degree (I just can't get lazy and arrogant with it). Same with MA, IMHO. Once a student obtains a certain level / ranking of knowledge, internally, they will always keep that level / rank. However, regardless if their "official" rank changes up or down, their knowledge and skill will suffer internally if they become lazy and arrogant (thus neglecting themselves).

jaypo, kensei, sensei8, and others all make good points. In addition to being important to keeping one's fundamentals sharp, the pinan / heian kata have a lot of fighting sense bunkai that beginner and intermediate students can learn. Basic kata aside (beginner / demonstration kata), in a sense of turnaround time, why should it take a student 10 years or more before s/he learns effective techniques to use in self-defense situations? Even if we still followed the old 1-kata-per-3-years regimen, the pinan / heian kata would give beginner / intermediate students a few good fighting sense applications they could use in real situations.

IMHO, "karate" should only be used to refer to "karate" as known by the Okinawan/Japanese roots. I understand the general term can be used to describe any empty/open handed MA, but, if we're going to do that, then we could just call every "striking" art "boxing". Boxing vs. Chinese boxing vs. kung fu vs. karate... How do we discern the difference? By where it comes from...

for sure I am lucky the problem is on Thursdays with the tough instructor I go back home in pieces, couldn't move an arm or leg for 2-3 days after In the tone of a drill instructor (R.Lee Ermy style), "Mission Accomplished!"

YES... Absolutely...

My nidan

He definitely shows great focus and determination , but I agree conceptually with wayneshin. Working on his tanden (control of center / center of gravity) and tenshin (i.e. footwork) will help improve his movements. As it is in the videos, it looks like he moves as if he's off balance or trying to catch his balance in a lot of the stepping, body-shifting movements. The basics of tanden is such that all your movements should be done as if someone is pulling you with your belt. That part of your center should always initiate stepping, body-shifting movements. Once this concept is practiced and understood, then the tenshin will follow suit.

I love nerdy engineer/science jokes (because I'm a nerdy engineer...)

As an instructor, I find it easy to fall into the rut of just repeating the same exercises over and over again in an effort to "push students". So, to prevent this, I frequently do things to switch things up, keep them guessing, but most importantly, find different ways to push the students. For instance, instead of doing our usual 30 - 50 pushups each warmup session, I might do things like have students start in pushup position, do 5 pushups, drop to plank position on toes and elbows and hold for X amount of seconds, do 5 more pushups, switch to left-elbow planks and hold, 5 more pushups, switch to right-elbow planks and hold, then 5 more pushups. It pushes the students equally as hard or harder than 30 pushups, keeps things moving, and works different parts of their core/body. So, IMHO, I like the instructor that can find the most impactful way to push students as any given time. The most impactful was to push students might change (most likely will) from day to day or week to week.

Welcome to KF! Glad you decided to share your journey with us...

Yep and in Okinawa, having a belt means not using a rope to hold up trousers lol. Get the reference? Miyagi San: Karate Kid Well played by all...

In my area it's taekwondo (ATA) that's the most prevalent McDojos, followed immediately by sport/tournament karate masquerading as "Shorin Ryu" karate.

I've made no secret about my belief that karate should be practical and effective, so I'm totally with you on that--and so was Bushi Matsumura! He supposedly complained about how the nobles made their art ineffective by making it so much like dancing. That said, I'm also of the opinion that you can find combative value in most martial arts, if you look hard enough. Personally, I believe that it is important to remember that karate is a puzzle whose pieces have been scattered over time. Udundi, despite it's overly compliant nature and dance-like approach, has similar origins to karate, so it can be a useful resource. The trick is separating the wheat from the chaff, as it were, and figuring out which techniques can be made to work under pressure against a resisting opponent. In that video, you can see a mixture of both impractical techniques and very practical techniques. Some of the techniques just work, and that's great! Some of the techniques work, but are shown in improper context. Others work, but not the way they are shown. Others simply don't work, or are the beginnings of techniques that are never finished in the demonstrations. Sorting these things out is all part of putting the puzzle back together. I consider this analysis to be a form of mental training, which I can then take to the mat and work out in a physical sense Absolutely...

Great video, great share Many of the moves shown in the video are very reminiscent of Ti-based Torite/Tuite movements. In my search for Ti, I've come across a lot of Udundi and have often wondered if modern Udundi is a surviving form of older Ti. In fact, when Ti was around before Toudi/Tote, even then, pretty much only the nobility/gentry learned it. I agree that when training for real, that compliance and unrealistic attacks aren't good. But, IMHO, I think the video is strictly a demonstration in slow-step fashion to show the movements on camera. In this case, to really glean what they're showing, focus more on the defender's body, hand, and foot movements. Yes, some of the movements don't quite make sense. But, many of the others look almost exactly like what we do in Ti-based karate. Dare I say, IMHO, a few of their moves look like something Choki Motobu would have done...

Solid post... Your words that I emphasized above... Absolutely! This is why we train so hard to develop whole-body dynamics (gamaku) for power generation - not just hips! The entire body must work in unison with the earth to generate destructive power at any range! When training with partners and kumite, one of the important aspects of doing these things is what we call ma-ai (distancing). There are multiple layers of the meaning of distancing... First, students must learn their own proper distancing with which to execute moves properly; i.e. how close or how far they have to be to throw a punch or a kick or an elbow, etc. We show them that this "personal distancing" is indeed unique to each student, just as each of their stances' measurements are unique to them. Once they grasp this "personal distancing", then we introduce them to the second layer of distancing... This second layer is itself composed of 3 basic areas of fighting; meaning, every fight is composed of these 3 areas/distances, even if only for fractions of a second. These 3 areas/distances are: 1) at or one step away from arm's length, 2) close up/in-fighting, and 3) ground. We also explain that entire MAs are often based in one of these 3 areas. To be an effective fighter/self-defender, a student must be able to fight well enough to survive in all 3 areas; that they must be able to flow from distance 1 to distance 2 to distance 3 while maintaining focus and technique in order to be effective. They don't have to be experts or phenoms; again, just be able to fight well enough in all 3 areas to survive. IMHO, this is not a Kyokushin vs Shotokan thing (or any MA vs MA thing); rather, does the MA student have sufficient training/experience to be able to fight in all 3 areas/distances?

Ueshiro Shorin-Ryu is an offshoot of Matsubayashi-Ryu (Shorin-Ryu). Ansei Ueshiro was a student of Osensei Nagamine's. Ueshiro was originally sent to the US by Osensei Nagamine to bring Matsubayashi-Ryu to the Americas. Ueshiro split from Osensei Nagamine after a feud, and subsequently started his own organization based in the US. If you're truly interested in Matsubayashi-Ryu (Shorin-Ryu), I suggest going to https://www.matsubayashi-ryu.com and locating a Nagamine-affiliated dojo near you. However, if Ueshiro Shorin Ryu is all that's available to you, then here's some info and my 2 cents... Robert Scaglione is the director of the Ueshiro Shorin-Ryu organization (USRKUSA): https://www.shorinryu.com In my experience, most of the dojos affiliated with this organization are sport MA based arts, with little or no effective fighting sense. Furthermore, all the dojos I've experienced that are affiliated with this organization are McDojo wannabes. This isn't meant to disparage Ueshiro or Scaglione, and that doesn't mean there aren't dojos out there affiliated with this organization that have effective fighting sense - just in my experience (24+ years worth), I haven't encountered a dojo affiliated with this organization that does. I'm just doing my best to give you a heads up. Maybe the Ueshiro dojo in your area is a good one, maybe not. If you're interested, best to check it out.

I actually look at the notch between the clavicles. I can see my opponent's movements from top of head to toes without fear of being faked out by their eyes, hands, or feet. It's taken a lot of training and kumite matches (and getting my face smashed with fists, feet, etc... ) to adjust to this method, but now that I use it, it was worth it.

I think this might a universal MA experience...

Absolutely... In our dojo, we rarely allow kyu-grade students to spar each other due to what you've pointed out, but also because a sparring match between them usually becomes a contest of egos and people get hurt (because their egos take them out of control). Not always, but usually... The only kyu-grade students we consider allowing sparring each other are 1st-kyus; rarely, we've allowed 2nd-kyus to spar other kyus, but these are on case-by-case basis. When we do kumite, the instructors are the aggressors/"sparring dummies" almost all the time. Our 1st-kyu students serve as backup to give us a breather once every dozen matches or so. They do their best to do exactly what you mentioned - help point out improvements.

Usually once a day, sometimes more... Sometimes I go a few days without checking; just depends on life's business...

Congrats! Well earned; your contributions are great

What has your sensei taught and explained and told you concerning this kata? His/her teachings are everything and above everyone, imho. Not every style that teaches/learns this kata exicute it the same way, for whatever reason(s). Are you trying to teach this kata to yourself? Agreed... There is no substitute for an experienced, knowledgeable instructor.

Nice Are you still a practitioner of Matsubayashi Ryu?