Spartacus Maximus

It could be argued that lineage in martial arts doesn’t matter...unless one actively and diligently applies oneself to learn, practise and thoroughly understand what the teacher offers. Merely being the student of a great teacher and martial art expert, does not make someone also an expert. It takes great pains, considerable personal effort and stubborn perseverance to develop skills even under the best possible guidance.

Out of a total of over 30 kata (excluding kihon kata) existing in Shorin ryu, only between 12 and 18 are taught. Usually a given lineage will have maybe one or two kata that are included because they are favourites/specialties of the instructor or considered to contain important principles or techniques. The number of kata in the curriculum or the style is not really important and rushing into the next kata is not a good way to make any progress. It is very easy to miss important and subtle principles in the kata if one is too hasty or only bothers to learn the “moves”. Many things are much more difficult than they might appear.

One thing that should be worthy of considering is that the psychological state caused by experiencing violence is not necessarily one where one’s life is at stake. There are also situations where those involved in defending themselves only realize how seriously they were threatened until after the fact.

Kata in its simplest form is just a tool to learn and practise correct body mechanics without the need for another person. It is the “mold” or the “model”. This idea is used and shared by all martial arts, even though it may be called by different terms. Kata is not defined by the number of steps or moves it includes. The multiple kata curriculum which are so common across styles today are a very recent phenomenon. It goes back less than 100 years when several Okinawan experts decided to get together and preserve the various martial arts systems practised in their country. In the generations before the founders of the Okinawan styles, an expert knew, mastered and taught very few kata indeed. The fact is that most(if not all) of the Okinawan experts who founded the styles known today had more than one teacher or source for the skills they passed on to every subsequent generation of karate practitioners.

The thing is that although there may be X number of kata existing in a style, it is unusual for every dojo of that style to include them all. Only a few core kata are shared by all dojo and taught across the board. Naihanchi, Pinan, Passai, Kusanku and Gojushiho for instance are included in all shorin ryu, but there are quite a few more shorin ryu kata which are only taught in some lineages. The same can be said of all styles of karate and most Chinese martial arts as well. The reason for this is quite simple and can be explained by the fact that in th past, experts drew their skills from only a few forms. Maybe two or three. That was and still is all that is necessary for personal defense. It is only after efforts were made to preserve the teachings as a tradition that some experts began to get together to compile curriculums of kata to practise and pass on. Before that is was quite common for a teacher to teach different students different kata because passing in skills was done in private. As for the reason why shito-ryu having so many kata, the answer lies with Kenwa Mabuni, it’s founder. Mabuni was one of the few Okinawan martial arts practitioners who dedicated his life’s work to the preservation of his native traditions. He and others were among the first “karate historians” who went around Okinawa in the early 1900’s to record, learn and train as many kata as they could in order to preserve and teach them. In the many documents he has left there are mentions of kata which have been lost and are no longer practised. There are all kata that are only found in Mabuni’s lineage and nowhere else.

From what little information available online through his websites, there is no clear indication that the man has any significant training in a specific established system/style, Chinese or otherwise. It appears to be his own eclectic mix of things he “picked up” from various sources. He is in great shape, but great shape does not equal skill/knowledge in martial arts.

Most people favour their right side and will naturally use that side to attack. This means the first attack would likely be aimed at the left half of one’s body. This also means that most people will be naturally weaker with their left. Those are two reasons why it is a good idea to train one’s weaker side twice as much as the other.

It isn’t necessary for a martial arts instructor to have encyclopedic knowledge of history like a specialized historian , but an instructor should possess a general and solid familiarity with the origin and lineage of the chosen system to pass on. This knowledge of history is secondary, however. Most important is detailed knowledge of the systems techniques, their function and application. The how, where and when they can be used effectively. In short, a good balance practical skills and theory.

If shotokan is the definitive choice for kata, the best way to be certain to have kata shared by most shotokan schools would be to get kata directly at the source. Consider finding someone who trains at a dojo under the main shotokan associations. The JKA(Japan karate Association), for instance. Compare their standard kata with those of other large shotokan organizations and that would give a very good idea of what is common for shotokan in most shotokan dojo worldwide.

It isn’t very clear what the intention. What exactly would be the replacement or change? If the present curriculum is derived from shotokan, changing to official shotokan kata might be a logical choice. It would definitely be easier than learning a entire new system or piecing together a patchwork of kata from different sources.

According to contemporary sources Juhatsu Kyoda and Miyagi began training under Higashionna only a very short time apart. Kyoda was only a very short time ahead of Miyagi. Maybe just a month or so, and later Miyagi was followed by Kenwa Mabuni. Kyoda’s kata, which number only six (Sanchin, Sesan, Sanseru, Pechurin, Jion, & Nepai) does not include Seiunchin. If he did learn it, he didn’t pass it on. He was also known to have trained under several other teachers including Yabu(Shuri-te student of both Matsumura and Itosu).

The kata Seiunchin is typical of goju ryu lineages and their offshoots. It isn’t included in any of the other schools classified as Naha-te such as Uechi ryu, Toon-ryu(very rare, possibly extinct),Ryuei-ryu or Kojo-ryu(very rare in Okinawa)

A kata called Kintaro definitely sounds like a joke. That would be akin to calling a kata “robin hood” or something similar. Kintaro is a character from popular Japanese folklore. Unless of course the name is a corruption or bastardized distortion of an original kata name. Mainstream kata lists from most karate schools are quite easily found online. Even Wikipedia has a very complete list of karate kata included in several styles. All karate has its roots in Shuri(shorin ryu line) or Naha(goju ryu line). Only a few exceptions exist such as uechi ryu and styles with mixed roots. All styles stemming from shorin ryu such as shotokan and off-shoots include the Pinan kata and the naihanchi. The Naha styles all share sanchin and perhaps one other.

Mistakes can be made but as the customer it is a good idea to do as much research as possible to get the most accurate specifications and details for the desired weapon. This can be done by consulting a variety of knowledgeable sources to find the best fit. A skilled professional woodworker will then be able to follow that and make something of very good quality even if they aren’t familiar with kobudo weapons.

It is easy to underestimate the potentially irreversible damage that can be done to one’s body by rushing training. This is especially true of anything that involves repetitive strain or impact to delicate structures such as the smaller joints, tendons and bones of the hands. As for makiwara, many people make the mistake of believing that the physical changes such as calloused skin are the purpose. These changes are not the aim of impact training, but only “side-effects of the body adapting to the repetitive and frequent impact with something hard. The true purpose of makiwara training is to learn, train and practise correct alignment and structure to strike hard(without the protection of gloves) without injuring oneself in the process. Learning and applying correct structure alignment for optimum force is a process that takes time. It must be thoroughly practised to do it consistently. Once achieved power can be gradually added and increased.

The difference between any brand name item made in numbers and a single item which is handcrafted to meet certain personal specifications is always notable. Shureido or any supplier offer products that are made in numbers with general specifications. None of what they offer is aimed at a single individual customer, and none is the work of just one person. By going to a craftsman who will do all the work as asked, one gets a unique one-of-a-kind custom-made item. Sometimes that is the only way to get what one is looking for.

Besides shureido which usually has good quality equipment made in Okinawa, one option can be to go to a professional wood craftsman. It shouldn’t be too difficult to buy a choice piece of the desired type of wood and get the craftsman to make something following details and dimensions provided by a few good photos. If a skilled craftsman can make a chair or other more complicated furniture or objects, a bo, a pair of tonfa or eku ought to be easy. Kobudo wooden weapons aren’t exactly complicated or sophisticated things. Especially to anyone with experience building things out of wood.

This sort of thing is exactly the reason why governing bodies, administration and the political aspects are personally very unappealing. Although they may serve a necessary function for some people, the larger they get, the more problems arise when the hierarchy finds cause to argue, bicker; pull rank. Pride and ego gum up the works and interfere with the essential vocation of perpetuating a system and teaching a martial art. It is unfortunately unavoidable in any governing body to have people who will contest, oppose or be jealous of whenever anyone gets more influence and authority or respect than they do. In the end the only true loyalty that should have any value is the one that exists for one’s teacher. Especially if that teacher put over a decade of effort to pass on hard-earned skills.

Simply this: every sound in Japanese ends in a vowel and at the endings of words the last vowel sound is often weakened to the point of nearly being dropped and almost silent. Occurs mostly with the vowel sound “U” and “I”, in informal speaking.

The injury in the original post sounds like what typically happens when someone tries to do too much and too soon. Hopefully no lasting damage has been done because that is really easy to do. This is why makiwra training must be done slowly and gradually with correct form. In this case the only thing to do after checking the injury is to avoid any impact conditioning until fully and completely healed.

What would be the purpose of having such a website/page?

There are many more people who are more knowledgeable and skilled than Jake Mace. Unfortunately, few of those people are as good at promoting themselves on the net.

When one has been practising martial arts for so long that life without it is impossible to imagine the best to hope for is to be strong enough and healthy enough to keep it up until one’s very last breath.

Just having a place to train and teach out of will cost something for upkeep and to remain usable. Even if a dojo/school is non-profit it has to make enough money to cover the costs of maintenance and in the privilege of using the space. The only kind of dojo/school that makes significantly more than what is needed to cover rent, utilities and other vital expenses are the ones where the instructor is a professional martial arts instructor who made a career out of it , and was successful enough to make a living off of it. In my experience The majority of dojos/schools are run by instructors who earn a living from a good day job or other sources of income. Making a good living by teaching martial arts has never been easy or stable. Historically martial arts teachers have always earned their living from a different source. Professional martial arts instructors who earn a living from the profits of running a dojo/school are the exceptions. Matsumura was a court official and bodyguard to three kings Itosu was a royal secretary Chibana was a sake brewer His student Miyahira was a schoolteacher Other instructors whom I met since beginning Okinawan Karate have all had lengthy careers: hospital workers, policemen, public servants, soldiers and more varied careers than possible to remember. They all had one thing in common: they really really loved doing and teaching martial arts.

Going by what the person concerned was willing to share, the threats were serious, and in one experience there was a weapon(neither a gun or a knife). The worst thing for him seems to be the anxiety/stress immediately after it ended and anticipating having to do it again. Rationally and logically they know the incidents are over and that they happened years ago in a different place far away. Yet the feeling that somehow the attackers might come back or that another similar situation will happen has stayed on all this time. So far they haven’t really realized or accepted that being constantly on guard and subconsciously expecting attacks can freak people out. Finding a tactful way to get through to them might be a challenge. All that close friends have been able to do is listening.