CredoTe

Great article and insight. What are some books or websites you could recommend to look into these things further, and maybe even get some civilian training in these areas?

When we do application drills, we encourage partners to do "weird" or unexpected things to force the defender to change things. This helps teach them the concept of fin di ("changing hands")...

I can't say anything about rule sets or legalities, but the 2 cents I will offer is how you will raise the necessary funds to host such an event... Tourneys are awfully expensive to organize and put on...

Yes, thank you very much for the insight, Bob. While many of us may be amongst the "senior" students at our dojos (I am the ranking "senior" student at my dojo under our current CI), it is definitely not the same as being a Senior Dan. Your insight gives a glimpse of what our MA journeys may be like in the future. Thank you for that. IMHO, your insight shows that no matter how much of the ridiculous "dojo politics" stack up against you, as long as you allow your values and your art speak for themselves on the floor (where words and arguing aren't necessary), you will come out of it all OK. That means A LOT to those of us making our own way while trying to remain true to our values...

To my way of thinking, these are the absolute reasons why this kata was described by Otsuka sensei as - "very deep"! Great to try to find applications like this and, I mean no disrespect when I say this - but don't overlook the core reasons to practice the Kata in solo form. Kata is kata - fighting is fighting. K. Yes, absolutely... Great response, K.

Very cool...

why do you do it as a class as a whole? It is interesting how people quit when someone who started after them pass them. I am training with a few people that i taught when they first started. And they are now dan graded students. Which i'm cool with because they are great partners to train wth Our testing cycles must be inclusive of all our students; meaning, the opportunity to test cycles every 3 - 4 months for all of our students. As instructors, part of our duty is to monitor the progress of each student individually to ascertain each student's eligibility to test. If, by the 3-month mark, we feel that a majority of the students aren't quite ready to test, we push the opportunity to test back another month. What's that one month of time really worth? Most of the time, when a student (and by extension that student's technique) isn't ready, it's because s/he isn't quite confident in her/his own ability. That one month gives us time to convince each student that their techniques are good enough to test. Less often, a student's performance/understanding of a technique or techniques haven't quite progressed enough to test. That one month of time gives us a chance to either a) work with the student enough to the point that s/he understands the trouble technique(s), or b) come up with a contingency plan in coordination with the student so that the student can work the plan hard enough to gain enough progression by test time. Least often, when a) or b) above fails, we tell the student that it's in her/his best interest not to test. If the student has enough mat time (attendance) in the test cycle to test, s/he has the option to. If the student does not have enough mat time, then the student does not get to test, period. We have open mat times on our schedule for students to make up absences. If a) or b) above fails, it's always because the individual student did not put forth the effort to improve (practice). Any lack of instruction or guidance for the students is accountable to us, hence we never hold it against the students.* Yeah, getting leap-frogged is difficult for most people to accept. One of the things I tell my students about rank is that, if you were to really think about the time needed to make it to the upper Dan ranks (beyond Godan), we're all going to end up the same rank (Godan). * Any lack of instruction or guidance on our part is naturally caused by the fact that we all have normal jobs/careers and families, and that incidental lack from time to time is not intentional...

Absolutely... Before we show our students any of the above uses for nami gaeshi (great video btw, Wastelander... ), we teach our students that the primary basic concepts it helps develop are tanden and gamaku. Once they have developed those to some degree, then we combine them with developing the next concept, tenshin (body positioning/movement). After the students have developed these three concepts to an acceptable basic level, then we work with them on the fighting applications of these nami gaeshi movements.

Congrats! Very well earned..!

Sweet. I wish I would have been able to train just one class directly under Osensei.

Nice

Absolutely. Being a good MA/instructor pales in comparison to being a good father and husband...

Nope, don't use it in our dojo. Osensei Nagamine didn't like it, either, so most Matsubayashi-Ryu dojos do not use it. I have been to some that do, though.

Matsubayashi-Ryu uses toe-kicks. Osensei Nagamine's three primary instructors were Ankichi Arakaki, Chotoku Kyan, and Choki Motobu. All three used toe-kicks, with Arakaki considered a specialist in them. Arakaki was a direct student of Chosin Chibana; Chotoku Kyan was a direct student of Sokon Matsumura (of Shuri); Choki Motobu was a direct student of Kosaku Matsumura (of Tomari). Both Matsumuras used toe-kicks, as well as Chibana. We do train it; our Matsubayashi-Ryu director (my CI's instructor) is very good with it. We train against softer targets at first to build up strength, then heavier bags, then makiwara. Osensei calls it out under an abdomen kick, but he taught it as a strike against any soft, vulnerable target, especially those in the lower areas of the body. Our director teaches us to use it against the lower abs where the bowels would be, groin, and inside thighs.

Congrats! Very much earned!

Welcome to KF!

:o

This is actually the basis for Gamaku (power generation) from Ti in general, and one of the primary purposes of Naihanchi kata is to develop this concept (in addition to the fighting applications in the kata). There are a few good points of Ti shown in the kata/drills you shared, which makes sense since KishimotoDi spelled out would be Kishimoto no Ti (Kishimoto's Ti). Essentially, hips (koshi) are a part of the waist area and are used to connect the lower part of your trunk (below the navel) to the upper part (above the navel) in a centrifuge-like rotation. The glutes connect the centrifuge above with your legs below, thus connecting your power generation to the earth through your legs. When we train our Gamaku, one hip pushes while the other pulls, during which ALL of the the muscles from the earth up to the top of the centrifuge are tightened, thus allowing the entire body to be used in power generation instead of just hips. However, rather than describe the movements of Gamaku as "soft", I would say they are small, precise, and powerful, executed like a spring-loaded chain with an iron ball at the end. When hips are turned really well but without connecting them to the rest of the body, then a student develops what we call "swingy" hips. Their hips turn really big, but nothing behind them. Looks like power, especially in tournaments, but is not really. In my experience of Ti, the dropping motions you showed apply to Tenshin (body positioning / footwork) to gain an advantage on your opponent while simultaneously defending and attacking, all with Gamaku.

Maybe there's a point of distinction to be made here? Achieving black belt in an art and then leaving that art for another is different than achieving black belt in an art and then cross-training / mixing arts. In the case of the former, maybe the practitioner just felt that the art doesn't work for them and wants to explore what will work. As for the latter, most likely the practitioner uses his/her first black belt art as a base art to cross-train and mix things up to become a more diverse fighter.

Yes, you can only push students so far. How far you can push them is dependent upon how much drive / determination they have. The rub is that it is virtually impossible to teach drive / determination. It's something each student must discover for themselves. However, it is possible to guide them in the general direction of discovering their drive / determination by pushing them. Hmmm... A "perfect" circle? And this circle of push ~ discovery of drive / determination will grow as each student grows his/her own level of drive / determination.

Welcome to KF! Glad to have you...

Happy Birthday KF! Congrats and thanks to Patrick for KF in the first place, and for everything you've accomplished for KF members and staff (past and present). Congrats and thanks to those of you on the 5+ year list! All of you on this list are among the best and most influential posters on KF. And, congrats and thanks to those of you on the new member list! You add new insights to all of our MA journeys and keep us on our toes... Also, as Patrick mentions, new members like you are important to help KF grow... Go KF! Here's to many more years!

Congrats! The journey continues!

Absolutely... In my area, the "karate" McDojos outnumber the "TKD" McDojos, and many of the "karate" McDojos teach the same or similar style as mine. This makes the situation even more frustrating, not to mention confusing for prospective students. IMHO, it's utterly useless to directly take on any McDojo, as they will always have more money and political / community influence than you or I. The way forward, again IMHO, is by being as open and honest as we possibly can with our students regarding our MAs. This will lead to a stronger transmission of our MAs to our students. What I mean by this is: a) concepts & techniques taught to students must make fighting sense and be skill level targeted; b) any knowledge, history, etc of our MAs that is given to students must be based on facts that can be verified, not just hearsay; c) if our own, personal knowledge and/or experience of our MAs do not provide a "fighting sense" explanation of a concept or technique, we must be able to say to our students "I don't know, but I'll find out" or "this is how Sensei has us do it, I don't know why, but I'll find out" - we must refrain from inventing an explanation on our own; and, d) likewise for any knowledge, history, lineage, etc of our MAs that we are unable to give an accurate answer to students - just say to them "I don't know, but I'll find out" - refrain from inventing an answer. See, we have to realize that new students, especially those with no previous MA experience, will believe just about anything you tell them about our MAs, but only up to a point. If they're given a wishy-washy answer to something that doesn't make sense to them, we will start to lose them. They will only stick around for so long, then they're gone. If they're given a clear, sensible answer, that will solidify their learning and engender respect; "I don't know, but I'll find out" IS a clear, sensible answer for something which you are unable to give an accurate answer for. To me, the biggest red flag about McDojo's or McDojo-minded instructors is that they act like they know everything and have an answer for any and all questions, MA related or not. Instructors are suppose to have a lot of knowledge, true, but what I'm referring to is, if an explanation is given for a concept or technique that doesn't make sense, that the instructor can only provide "my Sensei said so" or "I'm the Sensei, so it will work" type of answers when questioned about the sensibility of their explanation. Aside from all that, there is a silver lining to being in close proximity to McDojos. The students who want instant gratification, usually without too much work, will gravitate to the McDojos, leaving for us more students whose interest is truly learning an art and fighting sense for personal defense.