Spartacus Maximus

It depends what the meaning of training and martial arts are to the one involved. For some people it is just a physical activity, a sport or a hobby. For others it may be a lifetime endeavour with goals of personal betterment. What ever the case, it is rarely sufficient all by itself to truly make a fully happy and content life. Everyone needs other people to interact and have social relationships to be in good moral, mental and spiritual health. Countless other intangible things are also very important and will be different according to each person's background and personality.

Q1: needed an advantage to get through harsh times and constant physical bullying by larger people. Also a way to stay fit alternative to team sports commonly taught and played in school. Q2 and Q3: karate because judo was the only other thing available and the idea of being able to strike was more appealing. Specifically Shorin ryu because it was the most accessible without requiring a bus or car ride. Stayed because the good dojo atmosphere. Q4: Formerly a 3dan, restarted from scratch under a different instructor with different methods teaching the exact same "style", now a shodan. Considered a novice. Q5: urban exploring and outdoors activities of all kinds. Q6: Century(first supplier ever dealt with), Shureido, Budo(probably defunct) Q7: Shureido for everything because the owners are good personal acquaintances. Q8: Not very often because the quality is excellent and supplies last a very long time.

The most significant aha moment yet besides realizing how much was lacking is one that is quite recent. It happened no more than a month ago before being evaluated to shodan. The essential point was how much distance plays an important part in wether or not a technique will be effective, and that karate is meant to function from very close distances.

Shureido makes very high quality belts, but they can be expensive as obtaining them is only possible from Japan or a the outlet in USA. Only a few manufacturers produce belts of a comparable quality. What is much more difficult to find is quality embroidery work on belts, which is very hard to do considering the thickness of the belt material and how intricate writings can be.

A couple of former instructors knew Mr Shiroma back on Okinawa where he seems to have had a certain reputation depending on who one listened to. Okinawa is a small place and back then just as now, karateka knew each other and were all at least aquainted with one another. Anyway, sometimes young men or US soldiers would try test one of the local sensei. Invariably they would get taught a lesson, which was usually dependent on the mood and character of said sensei. Most did infact leave embarrassed never to return, but some had the courage to come back, apologize for their jackassery and ask for training.

Sports and martial arts are two separate and unrelated things for some people but the two have one point in common which is intense physical activity. Personally, martial arts are the only physical activity of any sustained interest. However, anything that can be done outdoors in a natural environment is very enjoyable whenever the weather and season allows it like: cycling, jogging, rollerblading etc..Also anything done on or in water like wind-surfing and swimming/diving/snorkeling

Thanks to those who read and everyone who helped or shared ideas.

For incidents such as challenges and the like, an over-litigious society can definitely be an important thing to consider when making decisions. Nowadays absolutely anyone can make use of and access all kinds of virtual media to make a legal claim against anybody. This is probably why the more aggressive types of challenges are much rarer than they might have been 20 or more years ago.

The rotating curriculum seems like an idea better suited for larger groups with a single instructor supervising everyone.

So far only one moment worth mentioning. All it took was switching from one school to another and starting over from zero in the same system, but with a different instructor. Going from being sandan back to novice was and still is an eye opener. It is very difficult to not feel regret about not having known sooner about how much the original training was lacking.

Everyone has had different experiences but really negative ones are not commonplace or easily preventable with a little good judgement and common sense. What is possible in one locality, might be foolish and reckless self endangerment in another. For example, an empty vacant lot or park between 9pm and 6am is perfectly fine in Okinawa, but maybe not such as good idea in South Africa.

Teaching larger groups of people who are at different stages can be difficult to manage. Especially for the new instructor starting out. The rotating curriculum is one solution. The concept is that the curriculum is divided into cycles. Each cycle is made up of a predetermined number of training sessions, and all the students train the same content for that time. After completing all the cycles, everyone reverts to the first one. Here is a very simplified example: First month: basic techniques and fundamental principles(punches,kicks,stances etc). Kihon kata, solo and two-person drills. Second month: in-depth coverage of first 3 kata with basic bunkai, oyo kumite and drills for each. Third month: same as second month but covering the next 3 kata or series of kata. Fourth month: Repeat material from first month. Does your dojo/school use a rotating curriculum? What do you think of the idea?

No, the name of the person the quote in the OP is from.

Sooner or later there must be a point in one's training where one finally starts to understand an important aspect of the system one has been training in. What was your first "aha!" moment and what was your rank at the time if applicable? What was the object of your realization?

After an initial spurt of laughter from the unusual name, perhaps in some ways that gentelman may have a good point. The biggest issue with this idea is that the law and authorities often find it difficult to distinguish the good guys from the bad guys when each side is armed. The situation is even more confusing when bullets start to fly.

Before, during and after sleep. There cannot be any higher level of martial arts obsession if one finds oneself regularly dreaming about it or actually doing it in one's sleep. Some people sleep-walk and others sleep-fight/train.

Well then, there is the answer to how it should be on the DVD. Exactly as the kata or techniques would be taught. Film it as if it were a private lesson for one single imaginary student or those who will use the video in the future. Just one suggestion: it is very easy to get carried away with the volume of information to include. Filming and dividing the material into several discs may be the best way to go, thus allowing a more in depth coverage of everything. Plan the contents meticulously so nothing will be missed. Maybe one disc for basics and fundamentals and another for the first 3 kata or something similar. Whatever the choice is, best of luck.

Did he just leave embarrassed or did he apaogize and become a student? It is very understandable that Mr Shiroma would rather not discuss incidents like that. All the instructors whose stories are known to me would refuse to talk about them at least until several years afterwards. Sometimes never and the only way to know was from other people who saw what happened.

Mr Shiroma is quite well known as a gentleman not to be trifled with and the fool who does is indeed worthy of pity. If accounts are to be believed, the man has an interesting experience and had a reputation among his peers and seniors when he still lived in Okinawa. Maybe some of this followed him to the USA.

It is probably best to show both slow and fast if the intent is to create a resource for instructors and students. Execute the techniques as if teaching them to a student for the first time and then as an example of how a competent dan level student would be expected to do them. From a student's point of view this would be very helpful and it would also leave instructor a good example of a standard. The big question is, however, what do YOU want to produce? is it just for demonstration or is it instructional?

Sometimes, martial arts movies are very much like a good pizza pie. Cheesy is good, but not too cheesy because then you can't taste the other toppings. Very few martial arts movies are really about the action more than the story.

The first rule of training in the open and in public should be to know the area thoroughly. Things to consider like these: Is it in a safe neighbourhood? How many ways are there to enter or exit and where are they? How many and what sort of people frequent the area? Is there good lighting after dark? Are there stations, convenience stores or other such places around? Are there rules about what is or is not allowed there? Being thoroughly familiar with an area and its surroundings will spare one a lot of potential troubles when deciding to train outdoors in a public place.

No firsthand accounts here either. Only three stories from instructors over the years and the most recent ones date from the early to mid 1990's. The first challenge story is one heard from dojo mates returning from a training camp/gathering somewhere in the East Coast. Training was in some kind of public space reserved for the occasion but easily visible from the outside and in a somewhat seedy area. During a lull in the event when only a few students were there, two street punks decide to walk in and watch. Eventually they start making comments and their attitude gets increasingly annoying and beligerent until one of them decides it would be a good idea to prove to his friend that the diminutive instructor is nothing more than a dancing pansy. Unfortunately for him, the instructor is a 5dan ex us marine and teaches seminars for the police force. Being at least three kinds of stupid, this guy got angry from being knocked down and decided to attack again with a knife. Now being seriously threatened, the instructor knocks him down and turns the knife against him. During the incident students called the police and when they show up it turned out that the officers were also students of that instructor.

There is a huge difference between putting experts of the past and famous instructors on a pedestal and knowing from whom one's system was inherited. The important thing about lineage, is that the founders and one's predecessors trained hard for many years to develop their skills. They are were neither supermen or superior in any way, just ordinary men with uncommon dedication and passion(or obsession?) for what they did. They are just an example to look up to and inspire not to revere and put up as unattainable ideals.

Overall this sound like an urban legend or a thing of an age long gone, but are challenges really a thing of the good or bad old days? Does anyone know of reliable accounts of martial arts instructors or practicioners who were challenged to prove their skills in one way or another? Any of these in recent memory? A challenge can take many forms from the amical display or sparring match to the almost duel-like and serious "fight" or "dojo storming"which would, nowadays, probably have serious repercussions.