Spartacus Maximus

Humans, unfortunately, are the weakest and most defenseless of all the animals. We have no claws and our teeth are puny and useless compared to almost every other species. What makes humans able to stand a chance against the various large and fiercer animals is our intelligence, which allows us to use strategy as well as making or improvising weapons. That is what a human should use in dealing with an animal attack.

What a strange call. The instructor probably dodged a bullet here if this parent and child never called back or visited. Within reason, every potential student should be given a chance to prove that themselves ready and willing to make the effort to learn. Sometimes though, one can see a potential problem coming. There are many solutions to deal with these types of issues. The simplest of course is to refuse to teach below a certain age group. Another one is to do some kind of pre-entry evaluation in the form of a few easy questions for the parent and youth/child. Something like these: A: Is the child able to focus on a single task for at least 10minutes? This requires an appropriate attention span/focus and concentration. B: Is the child able to ride a bicycle without support or training wheels? This requires a sense of balance and spatial awareness. C: Can the child throw a tennis ball against a wall and catch it easily? This requires coordination. D: Whose idea was it to start training? Ask both the parent and child separately. Anything except a clear "yes" to questions A to C means the child is not ready and needs more time to develop those basic physical skills. All of these can be tested on the spot at the dojo within a short interview.

After a few years training there is a certain point where one might question one's skills or purpose of continuing training. How can one best overcome this with the added pressure of living up to one's instructor's expectations.

Indeed, JR 137. The instructor mentioned in the original post is of the older generation and a senior student of Chibana. Besides the "no sparring/kumite" until 4dan, there was no context to clarify exactly what this means.

There is the details of the law which depend on where one lives, and then there is good old common sense, and following that is the best advice anywhere. It may not guarantee that there will be no legal trouble and aggravation for the "defender", but following common sense minimizes the possibility of ending up on the wrong side of the law. Home is the last possible place to where one can retreat. If attacked there, the first priority as dictated by common sense is to protect oneself and family if applicable. The second is using whatever is necessary to force the intruder to retreat outside and off one's property. Once there "defense" is over and any additional force beyond that point will not be seen favourably by the In other situations, the goal is escape from the threat at all costs. It is very difficult to pin an assault charge on someone who is seen as running away or struggling to break away from an attack.

If it's the norm within the "karate culture" of wherever one trains, everyone eventually gets accustomed to it just like any other dojo protocol. Visitors and outsiders probably do find it at least a little strange, but it is always more polite and respectful to go along with it. The majority of dojo where it is used have a very strict atmosphere, heavy on protocol. Dojo and instructors who have a more laid-back and casual style of teaching closer to how karate is taught in Okinawa will likely not use it.

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.