SteyrAUG

As meaningless as honorary doctorates or master degrees given to celebrity speakers by Universities. Might as well be given an Academy Award in the field of Martial Arts.

Depends how much stock you put in them. I have seen 7th and 8th dans in their early 20s that I'm not certain I would give shodan grades to. I also know guys in their 50s and 60s that know more than 95% of the other martial artists I know and they are often wearing only a 5th dan grade.

I wonder how many innocent people and "loved ones" died because somebody who could have changed things had to wait until the entire escalation of force flow chart played itself out before having the legal opportunity to end things. If you are attacking my family, I'm not going to try and help them escape. I'm not going to try and distract the attacker. I'm going the end the threat as soon as it manifests itself. Thankfully I don't live in the UK.

Funakoshi also said..."Eternal peace is only a dream, however a joyful dream it may be. War is a method which God gave humans to organize the world" in his 1922 book "To Te Jutsu." He said many things at different times and he was aware of the changing times from the ultra nationalistic Japan of the 20s and 30s that was engaging in military conquests to the times of post war Japan where everyone was trying to put a good face on things. If you want an eye opener regarding Funakoshi try this. http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/01/29/funakoshi-man-vs-myth/ As one of my teachers cautioned me "Don't examine your heroes too closely or you may find mortal men." This is also a caution to not elevate such men to mythical status. I have great respect for Funakoshi, without him it is unlikely any of us would have ever put on a gi. I think like everyone else he simply did his best and tried to do what was right, but like everyone else he had his failures and probably some moments that were not his finest hour. As for "no first attack in karate" that is hardly a Japanese mindset, just ask the folks at Pearl Harbor. Within Shotokan itself is also Sen No Sen and that is seizing the initiative and it certainly comes with a first strike opportunity. Certainly Funakoshi didn't want street brawlers in his dojo or those who would start fights when conflicts didn't need to exist or could have been avoided. But we have to be careful about accepting every single word as literal in a dogmatic form. If you aren't fighting for "all the marbles" then you probably don't really need to be fighting in the first place. And if you are fighting for "all the marbles" I suggest a different precept which says "Always cheat, always win." There is no second place in violent conflict and they often bury the loser. If you see it coming, and you can't see a way out, the best thing you can do is end things decisively while the opportunity still exists. You owe no considerations to those who bring you violence. I'm a peaceful person meaning I don't start conflict when it doesn't need to exist, but I will protect myself and my loved ones at the cost of the life of those who threaten us if need be. There is of course a simple way to avoid the entire matter.

Sure. But I don't think trying to become a martial arts teacher when he has lost interest already is going to solve any of those problems. And it's not that I'm picking on the guy. Imagine you are a new student who is starting your martial arts journey. What is going to happen if your first teacher is just "in it for the money", has "no genuine interest" and things like that? Sounds like he has much bigger problems to resolve, like finding a more suitable means of support and things like that. When I was younger no matter how many jobs I had, no matter how little money I made...I was always a martial artist. Even if I didn't even have the time to devote to training because I was constantly passed out from working crappy jobs. I was still a martial artist. I doesn't really sound like chrisw08 is a martial artists, let alone a candidate to become a martial arts teacher.

That one and Zen in the Martial Arts by Joe Hyams are both required reading for my students. Saves me a lot of explaining.

That sounds like everything you need to know. I can't imagine not practicing the martial arts. For decades I have taught students for free on my own time.

I have identified a fatal flaw in your master plan. Teaching martial arts for a living is probably harder than training in martial arts for a living. Three classes a day plus your own training schedule is a lot harder than just your own training schedule. I won't even get into the demands of operating an actual school as a business. And if you don't think you will work hard for your money then you are kidding yourself. Want to know what you have at a regular job that you don't have with owning a school? A paycheck. You have to make every single dollar you earn magically appear from somewhere. It is actually a third job in addition to teaching students and operating a business. Just because you have a school doesn't mean students magically appear. Nobody has any intentions of joining any school, especially in the current economy. If you aren't doing something every day to make them decide to join your school they never will. And even then it won't be easy. And then there is the financial strategy that you will need to master. If you think renting studio space and getting a yellow pages ad for your karate school is a winning lottery ticket of some kind you might as well take every dime you have to Vegas. You'll have a lot more fun losing all your money there then you will with a karate school. Generally, if you are very talented and lucky, it will take you three years of successful operation to finally climb out of the red ink and break even. From THAT POINT forward, if you continue to be both talented and lucky you will actually be making money. And I hope you'll forgive me for saying, personally you don't sound like a good candidate for operating a martial arts school. If you don't even enjoy the practice of martial arts you have absolutely no business presuming to become an instructor. My advice is to try and find what you like and then do that. You might not get rich, but at least you won't hate what you do.

Every school has different criteria and I don't think a "one size fits all" example would work best for every style. But as a general rule all technical movements have been satisfied by 5th dan. With rare exceptions there are no advanced techniques or kata required to move from 7th to 9th dan. Pretty much everything after 5th dan is a politically promotion. If you wrote one of the first books in English about your style, if you were going to oversee one of the first dojo established in a new country or anything like that you will likely be promoted to a higher grade. Other than that it's mostly just a promotion to bishop then cardinal and seeing who will one day be the next pope of the system.

As many people have noted, nobody on Okinawa wore a black belt prior to the 20th century. The first martial art to adopt a belt grading system was Jigaro Kano's Judo in the late 1800s. When Karate was introduced to Japan in the early 1920s one of the requirements for admission to the Japanese martial arts governing body was the adoption of a standard uniform and an established grading system of rank. Both of these were barrowed from Judo. The first question my teacher asked me (and every other student) was if you could have the skills of a black belt but not the rank or certificate or the certified rank of a black belt without the skills which would be more important to you. The correct answer for being accepted should have been obvious but there were still more than a few who answered "But I'll still get the belt and certificate right?" For quite a long time we have trained informally wearing gi pants and a t shirt with no indicators of rank at all. Part of this is done with the local climate of South Florida in mind but it is also done so that we train for training and not for belts. This is especially productive when we have visiting martial artists from other school come "work out" with us. There are no belts so you simply see what everyone actually knows. You either can or you can't, no belt, uniform or certificate will change that. If you are a skilled yudansha grade I can take all your recognition away from you and you will still be an obvious yudansha grade martial artist.

Back in high school our perfected combination of strong healthy immune systems, impressive levels of stupidity and powerful ki protected us from most health risks.

If I'm ever on Jeopardy and one of the categories is "Obscure Martial Arts Trivia" I'll be coming home a very rich man.

Bingo. Same rules. But for prospective students seeking instruction it became known as "the tea test" and became a bit more elaborate. Once westerners found out about it (mostly English students living in Hong Kong) and later American students seeking instruction from Chinese masters who had "cultural clubs" in the US they passed the word around.

I'm amazed anyone in this country still knows about this one. Here is what it actually is. When considering a new pupil a master will pour the student a cup of tea. If you drink it you will never train at that school ever. It is a test of breeding and to see if you understand requisite traditions to be accepted. Basically if you accept and drink the tea you have reduced the sifu to a servant. The proper protocol is to take the tea the master has just poured and serve it to him. This shows proper etiquette, good breeding and that you are knowledgeable of the myriad traditions and customs of Chinese culture. It also means you will now be considered for admission to that particular Kwoon or cultural club. Sometimes, but not always, a follow up gesture of the master inviting you to pour yourself a cup of tea indicates you being accepted or at least strongly considered for membership. This practice was especially common in foreign locations like Ching Wu schools established outside of China in the early 20th century and in US Chinese cultural clubs of the mid 20th century where students who may be of Chinese decent may not have been raised with the traditions of the mainland. It was apparently a common practice in Hong Kong once it became a mecca for foreigners seeking knowledge of Chinese boxing styles in the 1970s. It was sometimes used as an excuse (along with about a dozen other possible cultural "tests") to exclude westerners from being accepted for training. Some credit Sifu Ark Wong, who first accepted non Chinese pupils as early as the 1960s (some claim it was the 1950s), as the first Kung Fu master to explain the various traditions associated with his art.

Don't forget films like Blade Runner. Sir Run Run Shaw put out some serious classics. Fond memories of watching Black Belt theater on Saturday nights and Kung Fu Theater Sunday afternoons. Heroes of the East (aka Challenge of the Ninja), The Five Deadly Venoms, The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (aka Master Killer) and My Young Auntie were all excellent contributions to the genre.

South Florida. But winter is nothing new for me. Grew up part of my life in Iowa where we definitely got some snow. I remember early am kendo classes outdoors in Jan before school. If we had 14 guys in the club maybe six would actually show up. It was kinda rough.

Didn't necessarily mean you specifically. But I assume there are a few here reading these posts. Most forums ask questions like what is the best speedo for fighting.

Not really a blog but a FB "community page" devoted to vintage martial arts weapons. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Vintage-Nunchaku/523048834442599?skip_nax_wizard=true

Usually no more than 20 feet or so. http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/SteyrAUG/00000000430.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/SteyrAUG/00000000431.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/SteyrAUG/00000000432.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/SteyrAUG/00000000434.jpg http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/SteyrAUG/00000000435.jpg

OK, let's see who has been doing this awhile. Name each film based upon the screen capture. This post has been brought to you in SHAW SCOPE.

Which koryu arts do your kata come from, if I may ask? It's a little incorrect to use the term "Koryu" in this respect as, strictly speaking, there is no such thing as a Koryu Karate Ryu-ha. IMO it’s also a little misleading to refer to forms as being pre or post Meiji kata. Leaving the pinan kata to one side - virtually all Kata practiced in “traditional” gendai karate dojo have their origins back to the Edo period or earlier. K. I use Meiji because that was the primary catalyst for the "jutsu" to "do" reformations. And there are many kata that were heavily modified in the 20s and 30s so I use "pre Meiji" to refer to the more original forms. And there are plenty of kata that were added after the fact that never existed prior to the introduction of karate to Japan, yet these styles are considered "traditional" and have a genuine lineage.

In my experience most injuries come from a students "race to black belt" and instructors who don't know how to stop them. People who do not understand things like makiwara and mook jong are for a slow paced conditioning of the hands over time and not something you shave the skin off your knuckles on and leave splattered with blood. Don't even get me started on some of the extremely counter productive "Iron Palm" training methods I've seen offered by some "masters." Guys who shove, push, pull and have others force them into splits and straddles and then can't figure out why they are actually losing flexibility. Guys who don't understand the significant difference between contact conditioning and kicking and punching the snot out of each other. Instructors who have no actual knowledge of the weapons they teach, how to teach movements to a student in a way that prevents injury even if the weapons are real and what contact drills are useful and what ones are just a bad idea. Guys who think ankle weights and fast kicking go together and will improve anything. And there are dozens and dozens more. These are the differences between an experienced black belt who has been trained to become a teacher of his art and someone who passed their shodan test and decided to open a school.

Not always. Motobu Ryu (the family style not the one founded by Choki Motobu) comes to mind and it doesn't have any Shuri, Naha or Tomari roots. Orthodox Tomari styles have been documented. There are several Okinawan Kenpo systems that have little or no influence from Shuri, Naha or Tomari. And of course there are a handful of Fukien imports that were never blended with the local Okinawan "te" methods. Additionally, there are many modern Japanese methods that are so removed from the systems brought to Japan in the 20s and 30s they have virtually no Okinawan influence or foundation at all. These are not exactly common styles though and widely practiced (at least not where I live). Well if you go by "common styles" they often have no relationship to any genuine martial traditions at all. But my point was not to start a debate. All I was doing was providing information that you may or may not have been aware of. In "general terms" you are correct that the vast majority of legitimate Karate systems have roots in Shuri and Naha (as well as Tomari but methods unique to that village are hard to prove as they had a strong overlap with Shuri methods). At any rate I'm just glad to be on a martial arts forum where we are even discussing things like the "Three villages of Okinawa Te." Gives me hope that there are bugeisha under 30 year of age that don't think Kenwa Mabuni is some kind of adult novelty device.

After 30+ years I have some familiarity with the weapon. http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/SteyrAUG/K2_zpse971dbb8.jpg Chatan Yara no Sai circa 1982. A little sai vs. katana... http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y145/SteyrAUG/K1_zpsee1aed17.jpg We believed we were incredibly skilled and could thus train like this with live blades. We were very, very, very lucky we got away with it without significant incident. Traded some decent thwacks with the sai that were sore for several days but nothing more than that. Worst was when we free sparred sai vs. sai. Because there was no sharp katana involved we felt we could go at it with a bit more gusto and speed confident we could arrest any serious strike before impact. And while nobody ended up in the emergency room our fingers were just mashed. When you stop a sai moving with real intent with another sai and you do it with enough repetition eventually fingers get in the way and it isn't the sai that give way. Again, really lucky nobody was seriously hurt.

Good for what application? Spinning around? Sure. Any kind of actual contact training? Forget it. There are nunchaku that will survive 30-40 years and there are nunchaku that won't make it past 5 years. Oldest example in this photo are from 1975. These date to the late 60s early 70s. All still good to go...