Spartacus Maximus

Where the so-called tradition originates is anyone's guess, but from what the natives say, it is definitely not from Okinawa or Japan. With the humid climate of Japan and semi-tropical climate of Okinawa, cotton dogi and belts can get quite nasty with sweat and dirt. Colour belts go into the wash along with everything else. Embroidered belts are the only exceptions, but even those are dry-cleaned or hand washed at least once or twice a week.

Out of respect and in case it is mistaken information, no names will be mentioned. Suffice to say that the instructor in question is now deceased and was a senior student of Chibana Chosin. The instructor mentioned taught from the death of his teacher in 1969 up to his own death in the early 2000's. The type of kumite taught was limited to controlled drills gradually building up to more spontaneous action. 4th Dan is whewn students were supposed to be skilled enough to avoid seriously injuring each other because kumite was and still is in some dojos, done without any protective gear whatsoever.

According to several accounts, a certain Okinawan sensei would not allow his students to practise jiyu kumite(free or spontaneous sparring) until 4th Dan, which is approximately between 8 to 10 years of daily training. Everything taught from the beginning until then was practised through training kata combined with partner drills and bunkai or isolating and perfecto ting techniques. Although one can only speculate as to the reasoning for this might be, for what reasons might an instructor do this?

The very title of grandmaster can be misleading because of what it means to different governing bodies. If it is just an honorary title given to ANY 9th or 10th dan, then there could possibly be more than one person with that title. However if it means something like "Head director and administrator" of the governing body, there is usually one person who has been chosen in one way or another.

Space is an important issue in this case because the workable area is a small private dojo, which also serves as living space with about 12sq meters or 130sq ft of usable floor area.

There is always a wide gap between merely being able to do something well and understanding why and how to do it well.

The only thing that can be know with any accuracy, is the approximate time each "style" was officially named. The problem with this of course is that none of them actually began at the same time. Shorin ryu, Goju ryu and Uechi ryu existed and were taught on Okinawa long before being named, never mind before karate was introduced to Japan in the early 1900's. Karate or "tuidi" was the only name before the notion of ryuha or "style" was introduced.

It is not very accurate to include any "te" as "karate styles" because these are earlier forms of martial arts. Matsumura Sokon is the originator of Shorin Ryu but it was called "Tang(China) Hand" in his lifetime. Everything before that is one form or another of Chuan Fa, which is a generic name for chinese boxing. It is difficult to know with any reliable accuracy what the oldest system is. Tomari-te, Shuri-te or Naha-te were just local interpretations. Today all of these localities are within less than 5km from each other and all are within Naha city today.The most probable scenario is that what became "tuidi" was developed in the Ryukyu kingdom around the same time cultural and political exchanges with Ming China began. It really depends on where one starts to look, but for strictly "karate styles" the oldest one to be defined as "XYZ ryu" is probably Shorin ryu. Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu existed, but were not called that until later. Shorin ryu was named and systemized when Itosu was teaching it. Itosu was older by a generation than Miyagi(Goju ryu) Uechi(Uechi ryu).

Teaching in public has a very different dynamic than private individual training in the same setting, which is what the original topic of this discussion was meant to cover. The most important difference might be that it is less likely to be disturbed or recieve negative attention when not alone because of "safety in numbers". The other side of this is that a group training in public is also more visible than a single person.

The meaning of "as a new person" is somewhat unclear, but a good first step would be to do some research to find what martial arts are taught nearby or within the distance a person is willing to travel for training

Here is what is needed: A striking bag that is self-supporting(not a hanging type). It must be usable indoors and easily movable to store in a room closet when not in use. Does anyone have any brand or specific item to suggest? Any help is much appreciated.

Never had natural talent and worse still, terrible coordination and was much slower to learn. However, after all this time I am still there and many "naturals" have given up or moved on to other things because karate was "too easy and boring". The only thing that makes a difference is how much one works to learn and improve, not the initial qualities one starts with so long as one never stops.

In the same position as the nidan previously mentioned, there are quite a few who would have done the same thing. It is not such an unusual thing and mostly happens when a student has trained for a long time and has a close dedication and intense loyalty to the sensei. Grading and rank cease to be relevant when one is still learning and still trains as a lifelong habit. If one respects and accepts the intructor's teachings, it should be no problem accepting whatever grade said instructor believes the student deserves with appropriate gratitude. Otherwise why train with that instructor?

While few will be in perfect agreement about the methods, the mere fact that a instructor makes a living teaching is not a new idea, nor does it follow that doing such a thing is wrong, dishonourable or unethical. A so-called mcdojo is a mcdojo because of how it makes profits and what it sells, not just because it makes a profit. It is much more complicated than that and one should be careful not to sling that label about too hastily.

Gaining and refining or improving skills is relatively easy in martial arts. The real challenge and lifelong goal is maintaining these in spite of getting older. The first step towards doing this seems to be to never stop or slow down. However, the older one gets, the harder one must train to make up for age-related issues such as reduction of muscle-mass and slower recovery process. It is feasible, but it is hard work that few are willing to put themselves through for the benefits.

When it comes to whether or not one is ready to test, the last person to trust is oneself. Part of the skills an instructor has is knowing where and how to recognize students progress and the only way to do this accurately is years of training experience. This is the reason why a skilled and qualified instructor can evaluated a student better than the student him/her self. In the end it is a question of character and self-confidence for the student, but generally if the instructor is convinced that the student is ready, the student is ready whether or not said student thinks so.

Indeed there are many very successful schools with much less than 100 total students. From memory, the very first dojo where I started had around 70 total students for the first years and had been doing very well for at least 5 to 7 years before that. Then again, the instructor had a very good day job as a technician in a private hospital at the time. There is an obvious difference when the instructor has no other source of income. Breaking even is still a very good start and the first step to making it work.

What is the bare-bones minimum number of students to maintain your dojo operational under the present rates? With this number in mind, how many students can an instructor manage at one time without anyone else assisting? This is a question often overlooked when planning to start up a dojo. According to the author of "Small dojo, Big profits" the number an instructor needs to stay open(rent, overhead, etc) is over 100. Does this sound reasonable?

In the previous organization and first dojo, out of maybe 20 who reached shodan roughly around the same time only 1 other person is still training. In total there are only 3 who were there 15-20 years ago. If one is still training after that time, one is a rare exception. Very few people who start training as teenagers or children keep it up for more than a couple years. Life and other priorities combined with the "I want it right now!" entitlement mentality makes such a long term commitment difficult to do for the average individual. In dojo-business speak they are called "dojo door holders" because their presence allows the dojo to remain open.

Training can be a risky activity and there is always the possibility of getting injured. What is your worst martial arts training injury? How did it happen and how did it/does it affect continuing to train? Did you learn anything from it? Maybe it is just luck, but nothing serious. Here are the two memorable ones: #1: Black eye. jiyu kumite for shodan in previous organization. Punched in the face by senior BB when moving in to strike and not covering up. #2: Badly sprained, nearly broken thumb. Doing intense oyo bunkai/kumite and blocked with a loose fist. Opponent's limb landed directly on the thumb resulting in pain and sensitivity for two months. Keeping fists tightly closed prevents this learned the hard way.

The student was not told that it was the test until it was finished. It was a complete surprise up to the end of the session when it was announced that the student was tested and successfully earned the next level. For this student, the source of anxiety and nervousness was the idea of being tested rather than the test itself. In total he made maybe only one or two very minor mistakes and amazingly enough, the pressure of having an opponent and having to move without hesitation did not seem to phase him.

That quote is quite meaningless and empty. It does not at all sound like it comes from a knowledgeable person. Saying that martial arts are theoretical and MMA(a sport) is real is equivalent to comparing children playing with water-pistols and a game of paintball. Neither is more real than the other, both occur in a controlled-rule bound environment and have nothing to do with what a real live fire fight in the chaos of noise, blood and death that is war. The only combat that is real is the real thing. Aside from all of this, the real reason a modern military uses MMA or similar type training has nothing to do with battle. It is no secret and has been clearly explained by the instructors themselves.

It is already difficult to manage juggling a regular day job, family and daily training. Being in any kind of high responsibility and time consuming executive role in addition to all these other important roles is not within anyone's capacities or stress threshold. To be fully effective, would require one to make sacrifices and compromises and that means one set of responsibilities will inevitably get less attention. Will it be training? Familliy, or something else? Personally, wealth and luxury mean nothing if it means being away from family most of the time, not being able to train everyday and not having any time to enjoy said wealth.

Great helpful input everyone. For the student in question, it is likely that most of the stress felt comes from within the individual's own mind. It is a classical case of a person who clearly underestimates himself. Basically he does not know that he knows despite the instructor being certain that the student has the skills level to deserve the new grade. Testing by nature is stressful and anyone who has been through any kind of test can attest to this. The way the instructor dealt with it in this case was to remove the psychological stress. In other words, the student was asked to do everything required to the best of his ability without being told it was the test. This took away all nervousness or anxiety and allowed the student to do his best without any pressure. The only ones who knew it was not just a regular class were the sensei and a few blackbelts. The student passed with success because there was nothing to worry about and all he had to do was concentrate on doing his best.

The way instructors in Okinawa explained it, the Fukyu or Gekisai kata were specifically devised to promote karate locally and on a wider scale. There was and still is several occasions where karateka of all styles gather to train together and exchange. Those kata were made as something everyone could practise together in larger groups across the 3 main schools: Uechi ryu, Shorin ryu and Goju ryu. The pattern is generally the same and the techniques have only slight variations depending on the style. In recent years, practically all karate dojo practise some form of Fukyu kata or Gekisai.