Davis

This is why I never talk to karate folks about this. We are on different planets. I think my time on this forum has seen itself through. Too much talk of fighting. Not the right karate way. I have nothing more to contribute.

Good luck. Tell us how it went.

She is inventing and making her own versions of the kata? Pass... Go find a real teacher.

Impossible to do it justice here. Its not that random, not as individual as folks here have suggested. There is a formal religious history to martial arts in China and Japan. Specific historical steps, definitive treatises on the subject. Taoism and Buddhism are central to its development. The West has obliterated martial arts and turned them into a parlor game. There are very few dojos where the spiritual history of the arts is discussed or elaborated on. Sensei Richard Kim, RIP, was one proponent of this kind of history. Nowawdays its more of a contest to see who can beat who. It took what was sacred in MA and made it profane. If you want to study this aspect of martial arts D. Suzuki's work on Zen and Japanese culture is a definitive text. Its very difficult to find much work on this subject. Most of the folks who study it don't participate in forums and social media.

The majority of assaults against women are from their drunk/angry marital partners or date rape. Awareness is key. Rarely do we see a woman grabbed like this scenario depicts. Its more often being drugged over assaulted when she is drunk.

Hard groin kick with the shin instead of foot. Should finish it. The more he attacks, the more wide open he is, no blocking possible for him.

Not as interested in the historical info, though it is appreciated. More the nature of karate as a meditative practice. And how bunkai, competition and other things could actually be counterproductive to its true purpose, that of self development. You focus on fighting, you lose the focus on internal harmony. You focus on competition, you lose this as well. In fact, I would go as far to say that most karate has lost its way, and is profane in use. Its either sporty spice, or bunkai spice. You cannot do all 3 well, fighting, sporting and meditative practice in kata. One will come to dominate the others.

I would also ask, do you know what Kyokushin karate is? I would review some Kyokushin videos on youtube first to make sure this is what you are up for.

I thought about posting this in the karate forum, but this seems like the right place. Shoto Kai was a style started by Funakoshi. His successors brought it forward as Shotokan, but one of his students, Shigeru Egami, preserved the name Shoto Kai. Shoto Kai is about relaxation of the body and spiritual development through karate. They do not believe in kumite or competition of any sort. They are remarkably similar to what I have discovered in my journey. My home style is Shito Ryu but Egami's teachings are too good to pass over. So I remain with Shito Ryu (there are no Shoto Kai dojos anywhere close to me, I think there is only one in Canada, period). I am an outlier and my enrollment has dwindled over the years of course, since people expect something from karate and don't get quite that thing from my teaching. Anyone else here know of Egami's work, writings or the art and wish to discuss? The main concept is that applying karate to fighting destroys its purpose. They quote Funakoshi himself, who did not believe in competition. The idea was to train technique for self development, then if a fight happens, one is as prepared as one must be. Egami takes it further, into the domain of spiritual practice. In this he appears to differ from Funakoshi, who saw karate as art and as a practical defense system.

75 a month is the norm for Toronto. I imagine karate alone would be about that cost.

Why transition to shiko dachi before sprawling? I have no trouble sprawling from a medium height stance, and there usually isn't much time to lose. The shiko dachi I was taught wasn't a particularly nimble position for sprawling. My wrestling is pretty awful though, so I may be missing something here. The main idea is that by lowering your center of gravity you are harder to knock down, but if they do persist in grappling, you can put your hands behind their neck, drive their head down and gain the upper position. Yes, I mean a Sumo position,,,,shiko dachi means Sumo stance . Another great defense against a double is cat stance, Nekoashi Dach. In both cases, as they rush in, step back, move your chest forward, put one hand on the back of their head or neck and drive their head down (their neck muscles are no match for your full body weight). This stuffs the takedown. IF they are a good MMA fighter, they will set up the double with a head attack and then go low, but in self defense, you are usually dealing with a untrained dork. Folks who really know grappling are not likely to be fighting with you in the first place.

Solo training should take up 70 per cent of your karate. Instruction is the other bit! You take lessons then practice what you have learned. My advice is to approach your instructor and ask them what to do. Tell them you wish to practice between classes to improve and what things you should concentrate on. This is what I do now, my teacher gives me a quick lesson and then sends me out on my own for a few months to train what he showed me. I have been training for 30 years with him and he knows how to "read me", to identify the area that is holding me back. Your instructor will do the same, he can see your movements and advise you on the right focus. When I was first learning I did everything of course, and didn't follow this advice. I read books, I learned ideas, I did weightlifting, I tried to figure out how to fight 2 on 1, 2 on 3, 3 vs 2. I ran around like crazy experimenting to motivate myself. We all need to go through that stage too, open learning. Its unavoidable. Whatever you do, stick with it. Things don't start to come around for the first 2 years, in the 3rd year it starts to look decent. After that its wood shedding the basics. Don't quit after a year, like most do. Just making it past green belt is huge. Green belt is a decisive time, usually 1 year. Green belts in karate tournaments are easy to spot. They are the one's holding ice packs over a black eye! The power is developing, but there is no control. Its the worst tournament bracket for injuries I swear!

I think there is much in bassai dai other than the opening movement to comment on. The general bunkai flow, as taught is a. break through the circle by attacking with the first move, strike b. block a series of incoming punches from attackers who now are attacking from behind c. catch a kick and throw the person off balance d. get low and strike with lateral body shifting to avoid being knocked to the ground (with multiple attackers the ground is typically where it goes and where you don't want it to be!) People often ask about shiko dachi, or in some styles, horse riding stance, this is the perfect counter to a double leg takedown, for one, going low to stuff a takedown is how I view it) From shiko dachi you are set for the sprawl. e. deflect attacks by attacking the limb with shuto (funakoshi recounts using shuto to injure an attackers thigh in Karate Do: My Way of Life f. grab a strike and trap, then palm strike to the chest or neck g. break attackers knee h. grabbed and counter the grab with a double kidney punch The next part of the movement has some fantastic choreography and uses a thrust punch followed by and entry (irimi) to deflect a powerful attack The last section, the double punches are shown in a great movie, available on youtube called Obi. Probably the best karate movie I have seen. Punching to both the face and midsection at the same time, impossible to defend against (the risk is counter, which leaves you with no defense, so its a rather bold move)...however, in the movie you see its application. Finally, we trap incoming attacks (Shito Ryu kaga te) and resolve the kata by throwing the opponent and using a backfist to the downed opponent's face, these alternate, showing how to trap, unbalance and finish on the ground without being pulled down and ground fighting. I believe the throw is similar to "To Topple a Folding Screen", shown in Karate Do kyohan. I see bassai dai as a lower level kata which bridges the gap between the pinans , much like Kushanku Dai. It bridges to Matsumura Ro Hai, Seunchin and other nidan/sandan transitional kata. These in turn, open up higher kata. At the same time, even Mabuni said, 3 or 4 kata are all you need. If you know a half dozen well that is sufficient. I think bassai dai prepares you for higher kata, but does not expore the subtlety of Seunchin or Saipai. Cheers

Its nice to use a bokken as well.

This is a tough topic, but in my instruction, it was seen as an attack, striking. If you train this movement against the Muay Tai bag or another heavy bag, you will really drive the bag back and cause it to swing. It hits hard! The image I always had was being surrounded at the outset of Bassai Dai, by 8 opponents. The aim of the first move was to break out of the circle. As far as the comment on wrist throws, etc...we always need to remember that the setup for a wrist throw or something similar is always a strike. We hit hard, to the nose or throat, something stunning and disabling, then we use the wrist lock and attack. I would never coach a student to do a pure ju jutsu move without first hitting the opponent.