CredoTe

Absolutely...

Outstanding story, well written essay, and great achievement. The fact that you've been able to find many different sources (instructors) as you search for the truth in your personal martial art on your journey is remarkable. This seems to have prepared you quite well for your career as an LEO and the defensive/combative tactics learned through your profession. Being able to meld all these things together with a degree of internalization brinks on the realm of phenomenal. Many kudos to you, and we know you'll achieve 4th Dan in all worthiness.

Hehe, it's not very interesting actually. I signed up for an MMO when I was ten and misspelled 'guardian'. Now I use some variation of 'guirdian' for most of my online interactions. Yes! Way to nerd it out! Awesome... Congratulations on achieving MoM... Well earned...

I actually thought the same thing... I wonder if there's a connection between these two specific forms (Gojushiho and bil Tze)?

While you are correct about commoners defending their homelands against much larger professional armies, a huge factor in many of these instances, and in particular the Crusades and Vietnam, have to do with logistics. In both cases, each successive invading army continued to fail to properly plan and prepare and formulate a strategy of logistics for their own army as well as the indigenous armies. The generals, priests, and monarchs calling the shots for the Crusaders just couldn't come together to agree on anything, and hence, they started to lose money and supplies, which left the Crusaders stranded and starving. The Crusaders that realized this are the ones that said "this is stupid, this is folly", and secretly diverted monies and treasures used to pay and supply them into hidden caches and vaults, or to outright sack one of their own strongholds (all before they were formally disbanded and all burned at the stake). Vietnam was almost the same thing, just replace secret gold and treasure with drugs, add in modern politics, and TA-DA, failure (or victory from the viewpoint of the Viet Cong)... If the Crusaders had had unified political, theocratic, and plebeian support, I wonder what the Middle East would look like today? If the US and France had had unified political support and the support of the people, I wonder what East Asia, in particular Southeast Asia, would look like today? Your last statement is highly commendable and respectable. Taking in the MA and internalizing both its martial and spiritual aspects is a great thing. Absolutely... The only thing I would add is from Harkon's last statement... Internalizing one's budo for self-improvement and enlightenment is a viable endeavor of the MA.

Nice video. I take it that you choose the release because it is simpler and more direct than a break? We tell our students every class that, no matter how many different applications we see and learn for a given technique, the simplest, most direct one will work better than those that are more complicated.

According to that website, they teach Krav Maga and Al Tracy's method of American Kenpo. You will find this to be vastly different from Shotokan, and while some of its techniques can be found in Shorin-Ryu, the way they move is different. That's just from my observations, though. Im sorry, wrong website! My bad! https://www.karatecincinnati.com I hate it backwards. Shima Masao was a senior student Shoshin Nagamine Osensei. Shima-ha Shorin-Ryu is Matsubayashi-Ryu (Shorin-Ryu), which is what I train in. I advise you to go back to my previous post for advice on the differences between Matsubayashi-Ryu and Shotokan. It also looks like the Nishime dojo you're looking into practices Yammani-Ryu (kobudo). This is a substantial bonus. Yammani-Ryu inherently contains elements of Ti; if taught correctly, you will gain much wisdom in your karate training through Yammani-Ryu. Definitely check them out, try out a class or two; see if Matsubayashi-Ryu will feel right for you. Also, if Matsubayashi-Ryu feels right for you, and depending on your location in the Cincinnati area, I suggest checking out this Matsubayashi-Ryu dojo, as well: http://www.mastinkarate.com/ Try out both dojos, go with the one that feels best to you. Matsubayashi-Ryu has a rich history and contains a lot of wisdom in its simplicity, in its natural-based movements.

Yes, I stretch each morning, and go through a bit of kihon and 1 or 2 kata 2-3 times a week in the morning. Not much of a workout, but more of a loosening up and muscle memory thing.

IMHO, "martial arts" refers to any sort of institutionalized learning (no matter how loosely and informally or tightly and formally systematized) of fighting for survival, whether in warfare, personal combat, or self-defense. Sport versions of these things are a natural course of development during maritime/peacetime in given societies/civilizations. Some sports mimicked the brutality and fierceness of the battlefield (Roman Gladiators), and others were/are meant as a friendly competition of strength, finesse, and/or skill (wrestling, fencing, etc). Gladiators aside, wrestling, fencing, or any other martial sport, have many concepts that can be directly used to defend oneself if need be.

... I understand what you are saying (and you have valid points), but I think you could achieve the same end results with doing a programme of crunches. As I understand it "Gamaku" is learning to generate power from short sharp movements (from ones centre) - ALA Naihanchi... To my way of thinking - practice Naihanchi more... Essentially, you are correct. Once students start to understand and feel which muscles to control, which is usually by the time they reach 3rd - 1st kyu, we teach them Naihanchi. You are quite right in that one of the primary purposes of Naihanchi kata is to develop gamaku/power generation, as well as other critical concepts. And, like you mention, gamaku is used, nominally, with short, small/sharp muscle contractions/movements. But, these nominal movements/muscle control isn't achieved right out of the gate. A student must gradually obtain this understanding and feeling so s/he doesn't overpass it. Hence, the movements start out big, and get smaller and smaller, shorter and shorter, etc, but achieves greater power.

Cool... I'll check out KishimotoDi. I've also looked into Mark Bishop's Ti (which is a variant of Motobu Udundi), and while it's very interesting and intriguing, it just wasn't what I was looking for. Mr. Parker seems to have at least a decent grasp of certain Ti concepts, so I just thought maybe he shared a common lineage thread.

Keep in mind that the article is only a basic explanation and oversimplifies things. Most of us in the MA teach kids and beginners techniques using big movements that exaggerate the techniques a bit; this is done so they can get a feeling for the muscles required to perform the technique. As they progress, they are shown how to tighten up their movements so that they become much smaller and more direct. The same goes with learning gamaku. Once a student understands the muscle control and body structure to engage gamaku, the movements are much less pronounced, for instance, rotating the pelvis to align the spine with tanden (which must remain in perpendicular alignment to the earth). It's all about keeping movements, gamaku, etc with an unbroken tanden. In fact, gamaku won't work if tanden is broken. I agree that rotating the pelvis as much as is shown in the diagrams is excessive and a bit unstable, but once a student understands how gamaku works, all that becomes mute. As far as being restrictive goes, again, all our movements must be done in such a way that our tanden remains intact. So, yes, in a way, we restrict our movement in such a fashion. I'm OK with that; it makes my movements MUCH more stable and less likely to be knocked or taken down.

Definitely. It's all about name recognition. It irks me so much to see a big, lighted "Karate" sign on some prominent store front, but once I investigate closely, it is an ATA (prominent McDojo in the US) or other TKD school or other such MA. Why do they do this? Because the public at large has no clue, but when they hear or see "karate", they think eastern martial arts. I wouldn't say that TKD and Karate have merged in large part in the US. Yes, there are many schools here that are a mix of TKD, Karate, and/or other arts. However, for the schools that are traditional MA, by and large they are their distinct art. They just like to confuse things by exploitation of the word "Karate", as you mention above. I agree that language / origins are important in understanding the background and concepts of a given art, and that applying terms like "Karate" to any empty-handed art can confound and befuddle original uses and intents of things!

Mr. Parker's explanation of gamaku is definitely simple and straight-forward; I like it. I think the article does a great job to explain gamaku in simple terms to folks who have no idea what it is. Indeed, the "5 Kuden" he lists are similar phrases that I've heard ad nauseam from my Ti instructor. As the article says, these 5 maxims are just the foundation of gamaku that students must learn before building something more substantial on top of it - but, there is more. Once proper muscle control to produce what's taught by these 5 maxims is learned, next students must learn how to connect this "gamaku zone" with the rest of their body and to the ground. In many previous posts here at KF, I've often mentioned gamaku simply as power generation, as the transference of energy from the earth through the body and into/through one's target. To be clear, this is actually the application of gamaku rather than a description or explanation of what gamaku is. To reiterate, the article shared by Wastelander does a great job of explaining/defining what gamaku actually IS. The only thing I would add to the article's description is that gamaku includes areas of the body from the thighs (just above the knees) up to the diaphragm. Hips help initiate movement of this "gamaku zone", but the entire "gamaku zone" moves as a unit, like a centrifuge, via proper muscle control (which includes all of the 5 maxims mentioned in the article). To anyone that is searching for gamaku and other Ti concepts, please be very careful in your search; be very shrewd. Many instructors out there are starting to realize the effectiveness of having Ti back in their karate and that MA students flock to it like bugs to a campfire once exposed to it. Be respectful in your shrewdness and questioning, but don't accept something just because it's labeled as "Ti". Wastelander, I know you are of Chibana-ha lineage, but are you a part of the same branch as Higa Yuchoku (top student of Chosin Chibana)? Do you know if Mr. Parker is part of the same or similar lineage? I ask because the best example of gamaku, and of Ti at large, comes from the teachings of Onaga Yoshimitsu Sensei. Onaga Sensei is a direct descendant of Higa Yuchoku and can be found here: http://www.shinjinbukan.com/ There are a few video samples on that Web site, but more can be found on YouTube. The lineage of my Ti instructor comes from Onaga Sensei...

Welcome to KF! Glad you chose to make us part of your journey!

Absolutely. Well put...

Well, "harai" and "barai" are the same word--when you put a word that starts with an "h" sound as a suffix to another word in Japanese, it becomes a "b" sound. Calling it "gedan-harai" is actually just incorrect pronunciation, as far as I'm aware (although I'm not a linguist). The word "uke" is short for "ukeru," which means "to receive." Most commonly, that gets translated as "block," though. If we translate "gedan-barai" and "gedan-harai-uke," one means "low level sweep" and the other means "low level sweep receiver." I've only ever seen these words used to describe what we commonly call a "low block." Absolutely... Great description... Intriguing to think if we stopped using the term "block" for uke and started using "receiver/reception" (i.e. low reception), I wonder if that would help clear up some confusion about the use of an uke?

Yes, great share. I actually saw this video not too long ago and enjoyed it quite well.

This is pretty much spot on. In Matsubayashi-Ryu (Shorin-Ryu), almost all of our stances, movement, body positioning, etc is based on natural movements of the body. Our stances are either high (natural, standing) or low (natural, crouched). None of our low stances are very long or wide, but are deep (knees bent directly over toes). In fact, all of our stances, and our art for that matter, is summarized pretty well with the following adage: "Our stances (art) are (is) deep, not long and/or wide."

Absolutely... this is great advice. I also agree that the #1 spot in Pinan Shodan that people have trouble with is the simultaneous/sequential middle block + front kick + body position + shuto uke. I find that where most of my students goof it up is actually the transition into it from the move before (foot-down cat stance + middle punch). The tanden/body shift and foot placement usually gets skewed, which results in the entire waza becoming skewed and performed incorrectly. You know, I never really had that trouble, wasn't even aware it caused folks a lot of trouble. I have always seen people struggle to transition from the left side to the right in the opening sequences. Incorrect stepping during the turn throws a lot of people off their initial line when turning. As to the original question, break down individual stances and work them individually, checking your distance and consistency on each. Doing so will show that there are small variations, perhaps between left and right stances etc. Do them as long "walking" drills. For us, the transition in the opening sequence is probably #2 in terms of trouble for students. I agree with how you described it, though: it's the mawate from the left to the right that throws beginners off.

First, welcome to KF!!! Glad you decided to share your journey with us! I'm in Ohio where there is a substantial Shorin-Ryu presence. I do know that Michigan has a fairly substantial Shorin-Ryu presence, first as spill-over from Ohio, but grew on its own from there. If you can't find Shotokan, you'll probably be able to find a Shorin-Ryu school that's similar to what you've trained with in Shotokan. However, pay attention to the branch of Shorin-Ryu, as not all Shorin-Ryu branches translate well with Shotokan. For instance, I practice Matsubayashi-Ryu (Shorin-Ryu); because of the nature of my chosen MA, I would not cross-train in Shotokan because of differences in concepts and body movement. But, there are Shorin-Ryu schools that would translate/mix well with Shotokan. You'll just have to try it out and see how well it fits.

Hello and welcome!!! Karate classes might be too tough - but that's the point in my opinion !!! As the old saying goes, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. And if the instructor is any good he'll push you at a rate that is appropriate for you. One of the most beautiful aspects of any martial art is personal transformation - and from your post it sounds like transformation is what you seek. I say go for it !!! Please report back !!! And from: Both posts here are great advice. The more you go to class and the more you train, the better you'll get, and the more used to it you'll get; which, results in you losing weight, getting healthier, getting stronger and developing better muscle tone, etc. It will be tough, but you can do it!!!

Absolutely... this is great advice. I also agree that the #1 spot in Pinan Shodan that people have trouble with is the simultaneous/sequential middle block + front kick + body position + shuto uke. I find that where most of my students goof it up is actually the transition into it from the move before (foot-down cat stance + middle punch). The tanden/body shift and foot placement usually gets skewed, which results in the entire waza becoming skewed and performed incorrectly.