Kanku65

I honestly thank you for posting this video. Put an entirely new, yet familiar perspective on Bassai for me.

Let's take a look at educational institutions and the docile body. School's within our society teach kids that they need to sit still and behave to be successful. Those children who do not abide are punished until they learn to behave and act the way the rest of the children have been taught to. A friend of mine challenged me claiming that martial arts hugely enforce the docile body. Children are taught to stand in line, be still and behave. My retort was that martial arts teaches children the ability to move freely between the socially structured docile body, and their natural human desire of movement. The martial arts allow children the ability to move in and out of the docile body as necessary, without becoming stuck within it as many children who grow up into adults do. Along with self defense, that is what I believe martial arts teaches kids.

Sorry this is so late, but today I purchased myself a brand new extra heavy Tokaido Ultimate. I'm prettymuch the same size as you, maybe one or 2 inches taller. normally I wear size 4 gi, but for this particular style I needed 4.5, almost 5. I hope you're as stoked about your new gi as I am!

Very interesting first grading requirements. Solid foundation really. Your belt ranking however is in my opinion, bizarre. I don't mean to me egocentric, but anytime stripes and double colours are implemented in shotokan rankings, I get...dizzy. Perhaps my thought process is too linear, but it makes more sense now with 12 kyus that you may go up several belts in one grading. In 10 years with my organization the most I've seen is advancement of 1.5 ranks per single grading. That's maybe once every year. Like 4b to a full 3kyu. In any case, If you find that your training suits your needs at your current dojo, follow the path before you. Push yourself always, and train outside of class when you can. This will keep you interested and ever-improving.

Just my sensei's kids I find that most people who drop out do so after their first or second grading, or once they achieve brown belt to be completely honest. That being said, once you achieve green belt, more is definitely expected of you. By this point, you've developed the ability to move freely, from stance to stance, it's time to work on the technique of your stance. Deeper stances, proper retraction, proper hip rotation, these are all things that you'll need to focus on between green and purple belt. This is the time I notice people beginning to understand their bodies more, and they are able to improve rapidly because of this.

Nijushiho? Also called niseishi.

Excellent kata! One of my favourites, however, I would personally never choose it for a grading or even a tournament due to the fact that it has 65 bloody movements, and a lot can go wrong in that kind of time frame. It's quite clear that Kusanku kata most likely had great influence upon the development of the Pinan set of katas, making it very important to shotokan and many other styles.

I feel completely off balance if I pivot on my heel. If I get struck/pushed, I have nothing to fall back on. My heel is down, and my weight is back. I'm going down. Pivoting on the ball of my foot, if I'm pushed or struck, I can plant my heel, and my weight is already forward so I make instant connection to the ground. While sparring do you have your weight on your heels or the balls of your feet? If it's the heels, surely you cannot fight. If it's the balls of your feet, then there's another step to add before evading a strike. Perhaps if you fight with both your feet flat to the floor at all times, you'll be ok, but this is an unlikely occurrence.

When I was 16 (3rd kyu) Sensei made me freestyle spar with a green belt student who was 3 years younger and much smaller than I. I was very careful while sparring with him, and still, accidentally managed to punch him in the face and hurt him pretty bad. I felt awful. Sensei reassured me it was fine, he would recover and we should both learn from it. Coincidentally after that I took time off to focus on school and work. At the age of 22 I returned to the dojo, to find the student was now 1st kyu, bigger than me, and better at kumite than I was. The feelings that came with this discovery were unmatched, and I was completely inspired. Use this incident to gain a better understanding of yourself, and your training partner. I'm sure they will forgive you. Accidents will always happen. All we can do is our very best to prevent them, and learn from them when they occur.

What a coincidence that we had just been discussing this set of moves in class not 2 hours ago! I dont believe it's the original intention of the kata, but clearly it works and is an excellent application to keep in mind. It makes a lot of sense really. I've sent the video to my instructors to see what they think about it.

Interestingly enough, several weeks ago in my Social Processes class, I was asked to describe my lifelong statuses, whether they be ascribed or achieved, and then make connection to which is my master status, and then elaborate on that. The conclusion that I came to, is that my status as a martial artist is my master status. While I am a significant other, a son, a driver, a student... the one that drives all of those in my attitude, outlook, spirituality and confidence is my status as a martial artist. Not to say that I'd be a total d-bag without martial arts, but I definitely wouldn't be the same. In fact, without being a martial artist, I wouldn't have been led into college, and the particular class that asked this of me. MA wasn't always this important to me. As a child and a teenager, I can easily say I disliked martial arts. Now, it's much of my life and I love and embrace every bit of it. The people I train with are amazing. They inspire me continuously. Oddly enough, in many cases it's been beginners, whether they're adults or kids who inspire me the most. Sometimes it takes a beginner to demonstrate just how easy some things that seem more difficult can be. Unfortunately, I cannot quantify how much my dojo means to me, I am neither a mathematician nor a physicist, however, the combination of the instruction given, and the spirit of the students have allowed me to achieve a passion so rich, that I can honestly say that the martial arts run my life in a very positive fashion.

Don't be afraid to branch out! I'm not saying you should give up on your current dojo. Try a week of shotokan classes and see how they appeal to you. Recently at our dojo, we've had several students who have trained for several years in more traditional Okinawan styles, start training at our shotokan dojo and they love it. They also excel and pick things up very naturally. Another thing, is that UK has a very good history with shotokan karate. In ISKF, the UK is well known for their strong spirited dojos.

Welcome to KF I'm not so sure about traditional Okinawan in your area. I do however know there is an ISKF dojo. Not sure who teaches there, just that it exists. What made you decide to look for a traditional Okinawan style outside of the other arts you practice?

My current sensei is not replaceable. His teachings could not fit my preferences any better. I would not consider my past 2 sensei's replaceable either, however 1 has retired, and the other I did not agree with the financial practices of. I would not be where I am without his guidance at an early age though.

Excellent post! I find myself thinking of this quite often. Actually, when I come across a technique that I feel is ineffective, I will ask my sensei about it, and he will generally explain how it can be effective rather than why it is. Because, no technique is JUST effective... It's HOW it CAN BE effective. In kata, there is no single way the techniques executed can be applied. I love this example. Outside forearm block. Ask anybody who has trained a week in karate what it is, they will tell you it's a block. Sadly, there are many advanced students who will also tell you the same. In reality, yes it is a block, but it can also be an arm bar, a backfist, a hammerfist, or any X number of techniques, so long as you find how it can be effective when and where.

Certainly a sad and tough situation. Everybody here has presented you with good info and advice. Listen to what your instincts tell you. I don't want to tell you it would be a good idea to leave your sensei, because I know if I were presented with a similar situation, it would not be as simple as that. Before making your decision, I think that you should really look hard. Look at your university's website or facebook page. Find out if they have any martial arts clubs. It's not that uncommon to find actually in University/college. Also, congrats on your University plans. The mind is basically a void with which we can fill an infinite amount of knowledge. Exploit that. For as long as possible, at least.

I can run for 30 minutes, and then lift weights without hardly breaking a sweat. 20 minutes of MA training, and I'm normally soaked.

As a child, I definitely loved the power rangers and teenage mutant ninja turtles. However, they did not play a big role in my decision to practice MA. For me it was more inherited through family. That being said, several years ago i watched a film called The Raid: Redemption and now The Raid 2. Since seeing these films I've grown an obsession with Indonesian pencak silat, but have been unable to find a school near my area. There is one 45 minutes away, but they train on the same days at the exact same time as I train karate. The second closest school is about 4 hours away. I'm always on the google lookout, checking monthly if there are any new schools, but there haven't been since I started looking several years ago.

This sort of looks like what you're describing.

For me it would be either Enpi or Kanku Dai. For basically the same reasons as wagnerk stated. Then again, the eye gouging, nostril ripping techniques of Chinte would probably send a good message to my would be attackers.

You ask the impossible! Give me a couple hours and I may return with an answer...

Did anybody out there catch Saturday night's UFC? Personally, I did not. This morning however, I did manage to find it online. Anyways, for those who have seen the main event of Machida vs. Dollaway, what are your thoughts and opinions? Looking at the final stats of the fight it has (after about 1 minute) Machida down as having thrown 19 strikes and landing 12, Dollaway throwing 2 strikes, and landing 0. (he did land an inside leg kick in there however) My first reaction was when Dollaway threw an insane, beautiful head level round kick that Machida blocked and seemed eerily unfazed by. Machida then proceeded to demonstrate how to land a round kick, planting it neatly inside what looked to be Dollaway's ribs, but considering Machida's prowess, was most likely directed into the solar plexus. The fight was over in all but a minute. My final thought was "Wow. Textbook karate."

I plan on getting one if and when I feel like I have earned it. My sensei waited until he passed his 4th dan test to have his done. I wouldn't dream of having one done until at least that level. This does not mean that I judge anyone who has it done earlier, it's strictly personal.

For shodan grading we get to choose one of the 4 brown belt kata, but the instructor may chose any of the above kata to be executed after we've demonstrated our choice. The most common choices by the instructor are tekki shodan or one of the 5 heians. however, it is not unheard of for one of the advanced katas to be called by the instructor.

This one time, sensei had us doing basics. He had us execute geidan barrai, and then stay in position while he explained a lot of stuff to us. During this time we were expected to push ourselves and remain in stance. I glanced over and noticed that one of our blue belts of about 13 years of age was standing up almost entirely out of stance, and biting his nails and spitting the debris on the training floor. It was a huge class and sensei was off fixing white belt stances, there was no way he could have noticed. This is by far the most disrespectful action I've ever witnessed during training. I imagined myself side-thrust kicking him through the wall nearest to him. Disrespectful actions by those who know better make me shudder. If it had been a junior belt or a younger child, I probably would have spoken up and said "Hey. Focus." But disrespect from this one is no news and sensei is already aware of his behaviour before and during class. so I allowed the student to cheat himself. I also dislike the way other schools advertise. We came to class one day and had several posters from another dojo posted on our club door... We train inside of a church, so we understand that it was probably somebody who is a church member that may have had no idea that we train there. Sensei left the posters up, but stuck up a poster with our dojo information and pricing on beside it the next class. Advertisements for example... "KARATE for kids. A great place for FUN!" irritate me. This gives me no information, it looks to me like a daycare. For those who don't know better, it could be a shiny hook. And those who do not warm up, stretch, practice basics, kata, or kumite before class. I feel like they are cheating themselves if they make it to class early and do not make an effort to warm up prior to training. With the exception of those who are reading or cramming homework before class begins. That I understand.