Oshishinobu

http://www.kiintl.com/1/home.php?cat=266 I have had mine for over 4 years and love it, the best fitting gi i have ever owned. makes a nice sound and is light enough ( the orange) for summer training in the heat.

I started in kick boxing and transitioned into shotokan and found my round kick was crap and my punching lacked any real snap.

I have had the best luck with KI, they are very reasonable and hold their color well. I have known a few folks who use tokaido and they are fantastic I only have seen pics of isami so i can't speak to them but if you are looking at tokido they are great.

FMA is short for Filipino martial arts

i say it is a fun little intro to MA movies for kids. love the films though just fun.

I think about it too much lol. it always seems to be in the back of my mind .

I will say when dealing with a blade being strong or weak maters very little. speed and correct movements matter more. also the hand protection the sword offers. a cross guard on say a European arming/long sword will dictate a orthodox stance taking away the target of the hands from the opponent, but say with a more complex hilt like say a rapier or a saber the hand is better protected and the sword is now in front to allow quicker cuts and parries. personally i would treat a katana much like a arming/long sword, the tsuba offers very little in the way of hand protection in fact one of the most common strikes in kendo is kote or wrist.

I think it all depends on the style like is military saber you stay pretty much sword forward i.e. same side forward, but in say longsword you do passing steps. In koryu I think it is the same but I only have experience in European sword.

Turning around in circles on one foot has always been a bit of a problem for me. I have notoriously floppy ankles and have to concentrate on tensing the right muscles in my lower body to make sure my foot and leg stay together at all times despite the friction of the ground under me. It's good for me to face my weakness I think. There is a lot of room for me to grow there. I've heard of Gankaku a few times, but never saw it. Just watched it performed by Kanazawa on YouTube. Very cool kata IMO*.Not knowing anything about its history, I'm guessing Kanku/Kusanku has very similar roots, as it looks like Itosu and Funakoshi could have developed Pinan kata from it. Pinan is from Kanku, but looking at Gankaku, if I didn't know better I'd say Pinan came from Gankaku. *Kanazawa will make any kata look great. Gankaku is Funakoshi's name for the kata, Chinto. Legend has it that "Bushi" Matsumura Sokon confronted a shipwrecked Chinese man who had been stealing from locals, and we unable to apprehend him, in the end exchanging martial arts training for resources. Chinto is supposedly either the kata Matsumura learned from the man, or the kata that Matsumura made to record what the man taught him. Chinto may have also been the name of the shipwrecked man. All this is legend, of course, and pretty close to impossible to confirm, but it's a neat story. If you search for Chinto, you'll see a wider array of versions than you will get from searching for Gankaku Thanks for the primer! Say, Wastelander, do you know what the characters are for "Chinto" ? I'm having trouble looking them up. Yeah the histroy of the kata is fascinating, a fun bit of kata history can be found on Iain Abernathy's pod casts. Yeah i know how you feel I have an old ankle injury from foot ball and the tendon on the inside of my ankle will tighten and it is a bit painful. been stretching out my calves in an effort to help with flex but it is a long process.

I always remember what my sempai told me once. He told me to "steal my karate". If i like it steal it, you can make it fit into your art. My karate is a mix of shotokan, goju, fiore, muay thai, kali, aikido, judo, and a dash of redneck fu lol. OSU!!

Welcome!

Gankaku can be a bit of a beast at times, the last full turn just before the last punch always gives me issues. jaypo, in terms of knee and elbows heck yeah brother i hear ya. would love to see this muay thai kata sound awesome!.

I do at least a tekki a day absolutely one of the best kata!

I used to work at a hardware store Washington and that is how I met Rick The Horror" Story. Awesome dude last time I saw him he had just finished a fight, not sure which but he had serious coon eye.

is there one one you just love to train? awesome !!! I leaned seiyunchin a while ago need a refresher lol. love that kata.

OSU!!! I have no experience with Saiha but I have to check it out. Pinan/Heian yondan can be a challenge but it will bare wonderful fruits. work on the side kick back fist section break it down. it seems so silly at first but the combo can be of great use. OSU!! good luck in the tournament!YouTube Kyokushin Saiha kata. It's subtly different than Okinawan versions, mainly the angles used in the opening sequence. Most Okinawan versions go straight forward into the elbow strikes; Kyokushin influenced styles typically go 45 degrees, which I like better. I will have to check it out. Kyokushin has a some neat variations of kata always liked the meageri in sandan. personally I am not a fan of their kanku but bare in mind I love Kankudai lol

Bassai dai/sho I think is one of shurite/tomari-te's best contributions to karate no matter the version a visually stunning and practical kata. The focus on one two timing trains the mind to always think in combinations.

OSU!!! I have no experience with Saiha but I have to check it out. Pinan/Heian yondan can be a challenge but it will bare wonderful fruits. work on the side kick back fist section break it down. it seems so silly at first but the combo can be of great use. OSU!! good luck in the tournament!

Absolutely love Gankaku/Chinto and yes it can go very wrong very quickly. I for some reason have trouble keeping my balance on the left leg sagiashi-dachi. which I find odd as I favor my right leg. love the opening though can't go wrong in my book with a full 180 spin lol

is there one one you just love to train?

Awesome, yeah Naihanchi/tekki is a main stay, the simplicity belies the true complexity of the kata. in Shotokan we focus on the hip vibration of each movement sending a shock through the tech. these small movements are difficult to time right and I find my self working tirelessly to get it just right. OSU!!!

I personally love kata and I have found myself in a love affair with a few over the years. Bassaidai will continue to be my personal stone to shine but I have had quite the flirtation with empi, jion, hangetsu, gankaku and now nijushiho. While I love all my kata and hangetsu has a very special place in my heart I am feeling a strong attraction to nijushiho. I just love the flow of the kata and as I practice it I feel our love grow lol. SO the question is what has your ear at the moment or have you had a long term love affair with one kata in particular. Please share.

this is exaclty what i did in the video with the sword. funny thing is that when i read of katana practitioning kobudokas here i remembered my old trainer who is kobudoka too and trained in swords and wanted to ask him, in what context he learned that and read a few days ago that his club will start kenjutsu now in march. so the question is answered and i will rejoin my former club, not for karate but for kenjutsu. OSU! Cool brother, that sounds awesome. it feel so good to have a sword in you hands. TAlk about an extension of your body!

OSU! sounds fun either way. Personally I am not a big fan of point fighting but it is fun at times. OSU!

sounds good to me. Seido always looked fun, always liked knock down. sadly the closest dojo is a 50 min drive. That sounds like fun I absolutely love getting ready for a tourni but I know what you mean they are never as much fun. That sounds interesting I know I have seen the Goju Gekisai ichi and such but I have to find the Kyokushin version. OSU!