MatsuShinshii

I seem to remember that you can go 3 weeks without food but only 3 days without water. Of course this would be relative to the conditions your exposed to.

Just don't be so hip that you fall and break it. I'm old but not there yet. But I appreciate the humor never the less.

100% agreed Sensei8. You are who you are. That doesn't change if you are doing another activity unless your very two faced or a Hollywood actor. Your either a martial artist or your not. If you are then you can't just turn it off. It's apart of who you are.

Yes and no. Depends on what you are implying by strategy. If it's in terms of fighting. Then yes in many cases. The sports aspect of 90% of modern day art is IMHO not conducive to teaching students how to actually handle themselves in a real fight. However not ALL arts or ALL practitioners fit into a little bubble nor do they all follow the crowd like sheaple. See the last statement. Yes and No. In many cases yes, IMHO. The arts in many cases have gravitated away from teaching students how to fight and instead concentrate on how to win patty cakes at tournaments. The mighty dollar has injected programs and extra curricular practices that have absolutely nothing to do with actual fighting. But then again I am a dinosaur that feels that the arts should be taught as they were in the past rather than they are now. So take what you will from that. You can either fight or you can't. If the art that you are taking does not teach you how to handle yourself why then call it a martial art. Just call it an art because you have removed the martial from it.

Hang in there Noah. God Bless!

Great way to put it. Thanks, I was having a senior moment there and couldn't find the right words to describe it.

My personal thoughts about maintaining and teaching only those Kata that were passed down by the founder is that these Kata are the art itself. Interjecting additional Kata changes the art as it was passed down. This in my mind keeps the original teachings intact and as it was passed down through the generations so that we can pass it on to future generations. Having said that I also see nothing wrong with increasing ones personal knowledge by reaching outside of ones art. In my 20+ years of researching my art it has led me to other arts and in learning their art or Kata, I have been able to gain more insight into my own art. I have also been able to strengthen my "personal art" by reaching outside of my art, in that I have found different translations of techniques that have given me insight I would not have had learned within my own art. IMHO our teachers are only human as I am. There are techniques or applications that are forgotten or not taught for reasons only they can explain. My Shinshii, as much as I revere him, has his flaws and upon learning something new and showing him, I have gotten a response of "oh I completely forgot about that" or "I never agreed with that so I don't teach it. Each instructor will pass on what they feel is relevant and discard what they feel is not. My personal feeling is to pass on everything and let the student decide what works and what doesn't. My Shinshii executes an application that can be best described as a wrap around throw. I personally can not execute this very well because of my height and body mechanics but I still teach it as others can execute it with deadly precision. I am all for maintaining the art as it was passed down but I also think that we, as the founders did, should always look outside to find that which might benefit us personally and strengthen our personal art. This is why I personally have no issue with a student taking other arts or experimenting to see what best fits them. In this way we grow and we can still maintain the integrity of the art. There is nothing that says that we can't learn other arts but only teach our art as it was passed down to us. I personally think this is one of the reasons that the arts have been so skewed. The mixing of arts and calling it the same name is wrong. I never agreed with this even when my own Shinshii was adding to ours. I am graded (Ranked) in other arts but I do not teach them or their techniques to my students. The fact that I took them was for my personal benefit not to "improve" my art as so many feel they need to. This to me is arrogance pure and simple. When someone with less than 30 years of study, and most times with nothing more than a Shodan's experience, introduces new techniques because they feel it improves upon the art... arrogance!. The arts, if studied in their entirety, are complete and need no improvement from some self proclaimed expert no matter their grade and years of experience. Oh and I told this to my Shinshii when he was experimenting with our art. I made quite the impression but it was thankfully taken in the spirit it was given. I believed it then and I believe it to this day. An art that was created through actual combative techniques forged in real life and death combat trump any so called modern day expert with a large opinion of themselves. You can not fix it, however you can add to your personal art. Just don't mess with the art itself. And don't think that you can improve on something that was created and has been taught centuries before you were even born. Sorry. I got off track their and had a personal rant. Back to what you were saying I agree with you that to teach your arts Kata and only your arts Kata is the right path. Sorry I guess I needed to rant.

I have fasted before when I was a younger man but I find it almost impossible now as I like my food a bit too much to go without it. Ironically I still have a fast metabolism so I am not cursed (YET!) with the gaining of weight due to over eating. I'm sure it will catch up to me someday though. I look at survival as mostly good common sense. Actually I look at most things and life in general as common sense. It's amazing what happens when you slow down and take a second to think things through before acting. Haste is a mistake, some times a costly one, waiting to happen and just like Murphy's Law it usually does.

Noah, I am deeply sorry to hear about your Sensei. My deepest condolences go out to his family and all of his students (Dojo family). You'll all be in my prayers.

You sound like Motobu. I love it! In this we agree Sensei8. I personally love Naifanchi (Naihanchi) Kata. It's one of my persoanl favorites. And like you I could spend a life time on these Kata. There are so many applications to the postures and even individual movements within this Kata that you could spend a life time interpreting them. We only practice the first two Naifanchi Kata as it is believe by myself and others within our art that the third was created by Itosu and was not taught by Matsumura. Having said that I have learned through another art the third Naifanchi and still practice it as it has obvious parallels to the first two and it contains a wealth of information in and of itself.

Yes and no. It's not that they train or have trained (in any specific art) but that they are capable. It's the way a person holds themselves, their body posture, intention and eye contact. Those that are capable are more confident (not sure that is the right word but don't know any other way to describe it). I pretty much know the minute I meet someone if they are a fighter/or able to handle themselves in the way they address me. Maybe I'm blowing smoke but after being in enough fights as a kid and more than enough bar brawls and fights when I was in the Corps I tend to pick up on little things about people. I guess it's an intuitive thing or whatever you wish to call it. I don't know how to accurately describe what I'm trying to say. But you get the point... I hope.

Understood. It was a thought. I know what you mean about Kama. I have a pair (have no idea who made them as they are 30+ years old) that are very thick and very heavy. They are like wielding two dumb bells. But for the same reason in the last post I love them. I have four other pair that are much easier to manage. One is a bit heavy due to more steel and less wood but all are a lot lighter than the original pair I bought so many years ago. I still use them but I am not a professional musician so I guess it never crossed my mind about damaging my hands.

A belated Merry Christmas to both of you and to all here at KF. And since we are on the subject. I wish all of you a safe and Happy new years.

It depends on how you look at it. If you look at it in terms of training, heavier sai definitely builds and conditions the hands and arms and this could be a benefit rather than a hindrance. My Shinshii used to have heavy Rokushaku Bo that we would use to start out with. I hated it with a passion because of how cumber sum it was to use. You would be sore after each lesson. However it conditioned the body for it's use and built up muscles you didn't even know we had. Once we were able to start using the regular (I assume regulation) Rokushaku you could definitely tell the difference and your technique was much faster and powerful. I'd look at it as a way to train the muscles. Get a lighter one after a year of use and you will see a huge difference and you will be able to use it as if an extension of your arm. I have long arms so I use a longer sai than most. When ever I forget mine and borrow someone else's it's almost like they are not there. I'm much faster and more powerful. This is a lesson I have taken into all of my training and it's helped me through the years. Like I said, it depends on how you choose to look at it.

There are many thoughts and theories about survival and depending on who you talk to you will get a plethora of examples of what to do and what not to do. In the end good common sense, patience, and training are the keys to survival. I have been through survival training having to live for a week with a knife, empty canteen and a bit of string. Again in the end it comes down to common sense and patience so you can make rational decisions and taking what amount of training you have received and applying it in the best way. Most would not survive because they panic or make hasty decisions due to perceived time constraints. Example would be, if I don't trap something today I'm going to run out of time and die, thus making a hasty thrown together plan to trap food and when it fails they have put themselves in worse shape and expended energy they do not have rather than taking time to think things through. Food, shelter and water are basic. Beyond that you have to use your head. It also applies to the streets. If someone is approached by a perceived attacker, most will panic instead of looking at their surroundings and taking advantage of it. Maybe there is a make shift weapon that will tilt the scales in your favor or maybe there is a way out that you would not have seen if you made a rash, hasty decision. Fear is the number one enemy in an survival situation. It causes you to rush and make bad decisions. Keeping ones head and analytically thinking before acting is the missing factor and the one thing that can save your life. Training is a factor that helps tip the scales in your favor however even with all the training in the world without common sense and patience it doesn't tip the scales enough. Taking a few seconds to think before acting can mean the difference between life and death.

Perfection is a fallacy. People are imperfect. Even those that have trained for 80 years have weaknesses and thus are not perfect. If it were possible to be perfect then we would have an undefeated champion of the world that would never loose no matter the challenger, no matter the circumstances and no matter their age or physical abilities were at the time. The perception of others as perfect create cults and blind followers. Sheaple if you will. However if one looks long enough imperfections can be seen because they are inevitable. You can act as if you are perfect but reality always smacks you dead in the mouth every time. I feel it is impossible to appear perfect. On the other hand one can act perfect and others can perceive them as such but again reality has a way of showing us the truth. Now if we are talking confidence, then I'm guilty of maybe being too confident. But perfect? Not possible.

If your absolutely fixated on keeping the long hair do what the Japanese, Okinawans and Chinese did. Wear it in a top knot (Bun). This way you'll look like a Samurai and not have hair whipping your face. And they say I'm not hip.

The longer I study the arts the less I think more equals better. When I started we had 13 Kata. My Shinshii in his later years and after exposure to other arts and after researching our art decided to cut out certain Kata and add others we ended up with 22 Kata. Starting out we concentrated on understanding each Kata both in movements, execution and applications. When the plethora of Kata were added the focus shifted away from becoming proficient in each Kata to just learning the movements of all of the Kata. It was too much to spend any amount of time on one Kata in order to understand it's meaning. I have limited the number of Kata I personally teach to 11 Kata (and I some times feel that is too much) in order to concentrate on the proficiency and understanding of each Kata. I personally know 28 Kata and 14 Hsing due to the arts that I have studied and like Wastelander I do pass them on to senior students for no other reason but to maintain them and to pass them on to those that truly have an interest. In this way they will be preserved for future generations and not be forgot in the sands of time. However I do not know (the applicaations) all of these Kata and therefore only teach them to those that have an interest and have already learned and excelled in the Kata within the curriculum first. For me these are a further study and to enhance me personally and not so much the art that I study. I do understand why he cut out some of the Kata (mainly because they did not come from Matsumura but from Itosu which is not in our lineage and was not created from a Chinese Hsing or was not invented by Matsumura himself) and I also understand why he added some of the Kata that he did (mainly because they are older Kata that Matsumura passed on to other students as we understand historical documentation or Kata that he would most definitely have been taught or exposed to). because it adds understanding of our art and the Kata of our art in studying them. I have personally cut the list down to what I feel is original or complementary to what Matsumura taught. Personally I could probably teach and study 4 Kata for the rest of my life time. As you progress you begin to pick up on small nuances that are not easily picked up on and you end up spending days, weeks, months or years finding more and more applications and techniques of the Kata. Not to mention watching others and the way they interpret the same Kata. You could literally study one Kata for 5 to 7 years and still not fully have mastered it. I find nothing wrong with learning as many Kata as you can. I personally believe to truly understand ones art, concentrating on a few Kata and understanding the totality of said Kata, is the only way. Knowing 1000 Kata and truly KNOWING and understanding a Kata are two different things. Having said that I find nothing wrong with increasing ones knowledge by learning additional Kata once you have a firm grasp of your arts Kata. This can actually be quite insightful and lead to break thru's and deeper understanding of the art as a whole.

100% agreed.

Yes. 100% yes. I can tell if someone has trained before and more importantly if they have trained for a long period of time just in the way they move. Some things just can not be picked up watching youtube or reading book/magazines. If you have been trained and more importantly corrected and trained correctly your movements are like a lighthouse beacon. Glaringly obvious.

I don't think I am older than you, but I have also noticed the same attitude changes. I blame the parents. Even though my daughter and I are in the same karate class, she knows not to appeal to me if she is in trouble with Sensei. She has had to do punishment push-ups and scolded. She knows she is accountable for her own behavior. This is how it should be. Too many parents want to be friends. The problem with that is you want your children to like you and because of this you tend to steer away from teaching them to be responsible and to live with the consequences of their actions. My father loved me but if I did something wrong I was taught a lesson I wouldn't soon forget. He did not come running to the rescue and take my side. He'd talk to the adult before getting my side and if he felt I was in the wrong I had to pay the price. These days parents run to the rescue as if their child could do no wrong. They talk them up and put them on pedestals. They learn nothing from this and when they get out into the real world they find out that all they really are is polished turds. Others do not hold them in the same high regard that their parents do. They learn very hard lessons. To me parents should not allow others to be parents to their children. They should take this responsibility themselves. I hear about parents demanding this or that from friends that teach because their precious little demon demands it. For me (I don't teach kids so I won't have this problem... ever) I would show the student and the parent the door and may show them how to accelerate their departure from said door if you know what I mean. I have no patience for disrespect or those without an ounce of humility.

Yes sir it absolutely is.

Well put; solid post, and to the point!! I wholeheartedly agree!! Thanks. I know it's uncharacteristic for me not to write a novel.

I wish I knew what that was.

Ok, I gave my self a few days to consider this post so as not to be hasty in my reply. I tried to see things from the perspective of sports Karate. So here goes. Sharpness is cosmetic and serves no purpose in the study of the arts. This is a modern way of practicing or performing the Kata and was not something that had any importance to those that created the Kata or practiced them for the purpose of defense. My Shinshii's Kata could not in a million years be considered as Sharp. There was no theatrical pauses, no intentional snappy, cracky techniques, no flashy mind blowing flips, spins or gravity defying kicks. Just technically executed actual techniques. Having said that I realize that you are speaking of performing the Kata in a tournament setting. I still find no purpose in pimping out the Kata. Well I didn't do too well but at least I thought about it before posting this time. I did however use terminology that's hip today. I'm just not a sports Karate kinda guy and not a fan of the tactic's. Sorry.