Spartacus Maximus

"Warrior Spirit" is nothing more than an idealized concept to glamourize violence and chaos to those who have never had the misfortune of finding themselves facing them and the painful consequences they bring. Only a fool can be fearless. The truly brave are afraid, but they still make decisions and act on them knowing the risks or dangers. It might be more realistic and accessible to consider "determination" "survival instinct" instead. Both of these qualities can and are trainable because they exist in everyone. All it takes to bring them out and sharpen them to a fine point is the right motivation and encouragement.

There are way too many self-defense courses, classes and seminars perpetuating the misconception that self-defense is confined to physical techniques. The best and probably the hardest to find will be a course where the instructor will help students increase their awareness and learn to spot and effectively avoid dangerous places and potential attackers before physical defense is necessary. A very effective exercise is to organize a walk around the neighbourhood. Students practise thinking like a predator. They must watch the people going by and look for those that look light easy prey. Role playing is a very effective way to train for this and this kind of training should take up most of the content. The very last part can cover a few simple and quick techniques such as breaking common holds.

Perhaps it is an old fashioned custom, but there are still a few dojo where everyone is expected to learn from those who are more experienced and help teach those who are new. Not everyone has what it takes to become an instructor, but everyone should be able to contribute in some way to the improvement of others.

The best and quickest way to get a satisfactory answer is to directly contact whoever the authority may be. For parks and other similar public places it should be fairly easy to find a name and contact information for inquiring what is or is not allowed.

It could be an Okinawan or Japanse thing, but most of the sensei there had some form of interview discussion with potential students followed by a probation period of up to a week of individual training to observe and get a sense of what type of person the student is and how/what they should learn first. For example, some students are taught kata/techniques in different order with different emphasis. This if common in private, semi-private or small dojos. It may be difficult to do past a certain number of total students, but not impossible. Each beginner starts with different attributes so if feasible it makes sense to take advantage of these to decide what to teach. As the saying goes, a good teacher teaches what the student needs which is not necessarily what the student wantsor think they need. This is true in general, not just in martial arts.

It is indeed a wonder why these people were not immediately told to go elsewhere. It is most unfair to everyone to give such people special treatment or make exceptions because of their personal beliefs. These types invariably end up being more trouble because they will keep making the same excuse. Their beliefs will always be a source of annoyance and possibly aggravation for others in the dojo who will not understand why these people think that this entitles them to special exemptions from following school rules or culture. It is amusing how such people somehow think that respect means everyone everywhere should make exceptions for them. The only right way to be respectful of anyone in a dojo is for every single man, woman or child to follow exactly the same rules and protocol with no exceptions asked or given for any reason. What if the people in question refused to train with girls or women because of their "beliefs"? Would it be the same? Some people are just not willing to get along with others and keep on making excuses not to, no matter how many hands are extended to them. Any sensible sensei would do well to refuse to deal with them at all because they are the farthest away from the ideal candidate martial arts student as they come in with a closed-mind.

With few exceptions, mixing close personal relationships with business of any sort is usually not a good idea. Wherever it happens at one point there will be a positive or negative bias.

The push-up is classic body weight exercise used in every type of physical fitness activity or training. It has a wide range of variations, but mostly all of them involve no equipment. Some use bars placed on the ground for that purpose. Is there any difference or advantage in using push-up bars versus the usual no-equipment variations?

The instructor decides who is and is not welcome and is never, ever under any obligation to teach anyone. Rules and protocol are for everyone without exceptions of any sort, special treatment or accommodation. If one starts making them for some, one must make them for all and it never ends. These students should be told in no uncertain terms that they either follow the rules and protocol like everybody else or leave! This should be done with everyone present so that it is clear for all who wish to train there. Some might be quick to scream and whine about discrimination, but it is not a point to argue. Those who do not agree with treating everyone fairly and equally are free to remove themselves so that those who do may return to the business of training.

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