Spartacus Maximus

The most effective way from personal experience is for people to understand the purpose and application of each part of a kata. This is done by separating kata into sequences and drilling each sequence of techniques with a partner. Each kata is taught in conjunction with a basic application to highlight the principle. At more advanced level people are shown other possible applications and allowed to explore other possibilities.

Speaking from an Okinawan karate perspective, targeting eyes/face to open for strikes in a different area is a common strategy found in many kata. Very often it is a setup to destabilize and then following with a take-down, a low strike or throw. The Passai and Pinan kata come to mind. It is important to keep in mind the principle that nothing is used in isolation, so that although a face/eye strike might not be successful, the technique immediately following it has a good chance of working.

Martial arts requires strength for stability and power. Machines are mostly suited for isolation exercises best suited for bodybuilding rather than working functional or core strength. Martial arts practitioners can benefit more from free weights or body weight exercises that work a maximum of muscles at a time. Many martial arts systems and techniques generate power from the core and lower body/legs. Focusing on overall strength and endurance is the best approach for practicality and application.

Funakoshi himself did not hold any rank and did not immediately implement the dan system until after his following grew significantly. The decision was certainly made based on the success of Judo at the same time and the influence of its founder, Kano, who according to contemporary sources, was on friendly terms with Funakoshi. By the time Funakoshi handed out dan grades for the first time, those students who got them had already been training under him for many years daily. In other words, the criteria and skill level of these first dan grades were likely very different than what was established later on or nowadays in the average dojo. This means one can logically assume that the equivalent dan by today’s standards is different and therefore not at the same level. If Ōyama was graded to 2 or 4th dan by Funakoshi’s judgment back then, the equivalent dan level today would likely be significantly higher because training methods and evaluations changed a great deal since the late 40’s or 50’s. Also, getting to know a student’s nature, personality and character is not instantaneous. The more students an instructor has the longer it takes. Funakoshi and his own teacher probably knew each other very well because he was taught in private and in semi-secrecy as was the onld Ryukyuan custom. Funakoshi taught large numbers on the Japanese mainland, and very likely had no time to know his students personally except for a choice few who were with him the longest. Two to four years is not enough to really know someone out of a crowd of 50 to form an opinion on said person’s quality as a human being or their interpretation of what they have learned and how they pass it along.

All the critics who use the “not a real job” line actually mean that they don’t consider martial arts to be a reliable, stable or even normal business. They think that because they truly haven’t the shadow of an idea that earning a living from martial arts requires work. They also are completely ignoring the fact of that unlike the majority of people, those who earn a living with martial arts have succeeded in doing something very rare: earning a living by doing something they love doing.

For karate as a sport and as a traditional system of self-defense it is the best possible outcome. Competition karate is as diverse as the more traditional or self-defense oriented systems. Each has a different focus and both should be allowed to continue separately . If karate were to become a true Olympic sport, that hegemony of sport would spell the end of karate as a self-defense system.

sensei8 has the best explanation so far. Many, if not most of the interpretations of this Japanese saying are much too litteral and make it more complicated than it really is. The saying is meant to convey the intent and focus a karate practitioner should train for techniques to have maximum results.

It could be a useful motivational tool for some, but if people start focusing on the device readings or obsessing over the results they might begin to think of the exercise as a chore instead of doing it for the good it does towards improving health, fitness and overall quality of life. What of just training for its own sake and the pleasure of it? Constantly staring at or checking a monitor takes away the enjoyment and after a while the activity becomes boring or very difficult to keep up. The Fitbit will not make the user more or less sore afterwards and the results will be the same.

Maybe the difference between the two are not always clear and that could be because the two concepts are not mutually exclusive. One cannot be physically fit without also being healthy, and healthy people are usually reasonably fit. To take this further into detail it would be well to establish a reference standard for “healthy” and “fit”. “Healthy”is not just being free of sickness or injury. Nor does “fit” necessarily mean having the physical condition of an elite commando or Olympic athlete in the prime of life. There are many many more factors to take in that that. Things like lifestyle, eating habits or age for instance. It can get quite complicated.

The common accepted definition of a cult has the central concept of being a toxic group that propagates a set of ideas and behaviours which are harmful to members, to others and perhaps to the surrounding society . Their ideology or beliefs are not necessarily unbelievable. There is also the universal trait of gradually isolating and controlling the members in one way or another. With this in mind, it is easy to see how some martial arts schools or organizations certainly do fit this description. The martial arts are also a perfect tool for a manipulative person seeking to take advantage of others to exploit by its very nature.

You have been training in a martial art for some years. You might also be teaching your own students. Your child, younger sibling, or relative has just started a similar martial art to yours. This child or youth asks you for help or technical advice. Their instructor is also aware of your background to some extent. Is it wiser to back-off and avoid giving advice so as not to interfere with what they are being taught? Would giving advice or training with them be too confusing If you do decide to help or get involved in their training, in what way would it be?

The biggest danger with stretching is the same as working with weights: doing to much too quickly. The goal is to go slightly beyond one’s comfort and a little further each time, never until it’s painful.

It may seem too simple but the best way to control anxiety and increase focused concentration is breathing. Slow, deep breaths from the abdomen to get as much oxygen into the body. The harder a body works, the more breath it needs to maintain energy and strength throughout. Breathing is too often taken for granted yet proper and sufficient breathing is the key to everything in martial arts.

Only sportsmen and competitors can plan and prepare because they have a clear schedule and know when the next match will come. On the other hand training for it’s own sake or to be ready for a self-defense situation that may or may not happen is different altogether. The two are radically different in different in purpose, method, strategy and goal.

Yes it sure is, but common sense if also commonly taken for granted or overlooked in favour of emphasizing secondary points. If for instance a person has a technically excellent and powerful technique, it will certainly fail if said person has not learned and sufficiently practised timing or distance.

Sometimes personal ambitions for gain or politics can interfere with the practice of a martial art. Just because they train in the same exact system it unfortunately does not necessarily follow that martial arts practitioners will agree with one another. More often than not there will be differences of emphasis in training as well as interpretations of certain concepts from one instructor to another. This is usually the source of rivalry between schools of the same lineage/style.

Most if not all Okinawan styles of karate have a mawashi geri that follows a small arc often targetting the thinner leg bone at point slightly above the ankle where there is less tissue and easier to break. Contact is made with the point where the foot joins the ankle, which is conditionned through training to withstand impact by kicking or controlled striking.

Painful to watch. Hopefully it was a worthwhile match for tenshin to make up for all the knuckle sandwiches he ate. It was nearly as bad as those other one-sided fights videos where an average joe stupidly and/or drunkenly challenges a pro fighter in a ring. The big question besides the money is what exactly will this fight do for either fighter’s career.

Everyone has some character flaws and being skilled, admired and respected for is never a guarantee nor an indication of a person’s moral quality. When an individual does something morally contemptible and criminal, the consequences are limited. It is always much worse when such a person belongs to a group, in which they have an important role of authority and influence. The damage caused by the actions of these people extend far beyond their direct victim. It can even go so far as destroying the trust, reputation and credibility of anyone and everyone who are/were associated with them regardless of being aware of what they have done. This very situation made it extremely difficult to be accepted because the previous instructor’s teacher was in a high position in the association but had been found guilty of high-level fraud and other more serious crimes. Doors slammed shut at the mere mention of the name. Once again recently there was a case where a direct student of a reputable Okinawan teacher has been found guilty of an extremely despicable and hateful crime involving victims who were minors. Some his students and worse still some were his own blood. This man was an 8th dan who had trained under the same okinawan teacher for decades. Not only in good standing, but also appreciate, well-like and highly trusted by our teacher. He was even the highest representative and reference for our lineage and school in his country as well as several around. Has anyone else had to deal with the consequences of such a person’s actions? When the rotten apple is an authority is it really fair to also shun and break with their students as well? How would your school deal with this?

One point about swords is that for the entire history of the Ryukyu Kingdom and beyond, they were weapons that only the privileged classes could possess or afford. The Ryukyus did not have the resources to produce blades in significant numbers and therefore had to obtain either the raw materials or the finished weapons through trade. The training in swordsmanship and other blades weapons came from Chinese teachings and later from Satsuma Samurai. Ryukyu nobles has access to such training opportunities because they had the connections to be in contact with Chinese or Japanese experts, and travel to train under them. An often overlooked fact is that many Ryukyuan martial arts/Tuide experts were also equally brilliant swordsmen in addition to several other weapons not included in ”kobudo” as it is known now. For example, Matsumura Sokon the originator or Shorin-ryu was also an expert in the Jigen-ryu school or swordsmanship, which is the style taught to Satsuma samurai. Azato(Friend and fellow of Itosu and teacher or Funakoshi) was also known to be a fine blade.

It makes sense to follow whatever the general interpersonal relationship codes call for wherever one might be. That or the personal preference of whoever is being addressed. This is common sense everywhere, not just in a martial arts school context. In some cultures peers call eachother by first name, but in others hierarchy is so important that everyone must know who is senior to whom and there are words or “title” forms of address that are used and even expected. It is however a rare and strange thing for anyone to expect or demand being called “Chief something or other” or even just “mister”

The idea that farmers and fishermen came up with kobudo isn’t entirely false. It just didn’t happen the way it has been popularized by some martial arts stories. The facts that the popular stories leave out is that the farmers and fishermen were formerly wealthy nobles or even royal lineage. All men who had been trained in martial arts and with several types of weapons. The social upheaval of the time forced many of these people to become fishermen, merchants or farmers to continue to make a living after losing their wealth and status or being stripped of them. They continued to train and practise in secrecy and their familiarity with weapons lead them to devise ways to adapt and use the tools of their new trades for training. This phenomenon is just about as old as the formal annexation of the Ryukyu kingdom by the Empire of Japan in the late 1880’s. None of the reknowned practitioners and teachers of that period or after are of lower birth. Every single one is noble or higher samurai class.

Why not simply be called “teacher” or whatever equivalent? For larger schools with more than one instructor it will certainly become obvious who everyone will look to as a reference for martial arts techniques and directing/running the school. When training in Okinawa the “chief instructor” is just whoever is in charge of a dojo. Usually called “sensei” or teacher and the most senior dan grade is called Shihan or “assisting instructor”. Running a dojo and having students(with approval and permission) makes one an “full instructor”. However, when training at the hombu dojo, the “grandmaster” or head of the lineage is refered to as sensei by everyone because the dojo belongs to that instructor and all others are students. Small dojo’s/schools really have no use for titles like “Chief Instructor”. It makes everything more complicated than necessary and can create much friction. Nobody is ever forced or coerced into training in a given school and neither is anyone held there against their wishes. The school owner or whoever started the school decides how to teach, what to teach and everything else about how things are done. Students and other instructors if any must follow or else they are free to seek instruction and training elsewhere.

Having a list of specific techniques is less practical than focusing training on principles common to several techniques. A practitioner may have favourite techniques, but these might not be appropriate or applicable to the situation. If principles are well integrated it is easier to move without conscious thought about techniques and seize an opportunity.

Whatever the reason for punching someone in the face it is temporary, just like giving a fish which will only satisfy until one needs another. Unless there is some kind of hidden meaning or joke, neither of the two have anything to do with one another. Except maybe that both are temporary solutions to something that could be resolved by offering to help a person become self-reliant. Also it could emphasize the idea that the quickest fix might be less profitable than sharing knowledge and skills.