aurik

One of the benefits of Uechi-Ryu is that there isn't that much new material to learn for each kyu grade. For example, we only have eight kata in our system (with their associated bunkai), three different yakusoku kumite drills, and a few other pieces of required material. What students are graded on is the quality of their techniques, not necessarily how many techniques/kata/drills they know. Our kyu levels are broken down into groups of 3, based upon what kata they are tested on: Kanshiwa (for 9th, 8th, 7th kyu), Kanshu (for 6/5/4), and Seichin (3/2/1). Within each grouping they are expected to memorize the kata, then be able to demonstrate the kata with appropriate power, and at the third level, they are expected to demonstrate the kata with proper timing, power, and technique. What makes things hard in our style is that when you learn a new concept in your new kata, you're expected to propagate that concept all the way through your karate, from the first kata / bunkai / yakusoku kumite you've learned all the way up to your current material. Back to the original issue though, the CI definitely needs to find a balance between "bonus material" and "making sure students can progress through the curriculum at an appropriate rate". My CI tends to do 1 in 4 classes with "bonus material", and that seems to work pretty well for us. For advanced students, that balance tends to shift somewhat -- our brown/black belt class has bonus material more frequently -- more like 1/3 to 1/2 of the time. Of course, if your style requires new material at every kyu grade, then that calculus changes.

I agree. I've been involved in two very successful traditional MA schools, and they both had the following things in common: - Had a lot of kids' classes, with a few dedicated adults classes and some all-ages classes. - Made a point to "mix things up" on a regular basis. For example, they both had a set curriculum that would be tested on, but every so often, they'd have a class on "cool stuff that isn't going to be tested on, but it's fun and useful" - Made a point of retaining a fair number of advanced students - Hosted seminars with outside instructors to bring in a fresh perspective from time to time. Yes, Martial Arts is hard. If it were easy, everyone would walk in the door and be guaranteed a black belt in X months. Advancement in the MA is predicated on practicing the same techniques over and over again, and not only practicing them, but practicing them with the focused intent on improving something with every repetition. So yes, it's boring. But that doesn't mean you can't (and shouldn't) sprinkle in some new material now and then to keep things interesting. Also, by having advanced students in the class that can be role models for new students, it gives them something visible and attainable to strive for. A brand new white belt might not be able to see himself as good as his CI someday, but they can easily see themselves being as good as the yellow belt, or green belt that they are training next to, and the green belt can see themselves as being as good as the brown belt or new black belt.

I'm glad to hear that you and your mini-me were able to decide on continuing with your current club. Honestly, when I was a low-rank (white/yellow belt), I would always enjoy training with the right black belts, because they would always give me pointers and help me improve my technique. So hopefully your fellow advanced students will give your daughter the same treatment. Good luck on your training this semester, both of you!

It's been a little while since I posted in here. The last month or so has been pretty rough, both life-wise and training-wise. After Zach and I tested for our dan gradings, I spent a week in Dallas (which was fun -- I had the opportunity to train with a Uechi-Ryu Kenyukai group out there. As Mr Miyagi once put it, "different, yet same". It was a good experience. Then the week of Thanksgiving, we went on a cruise from San Diego to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, and back to San Diego. And then my dad died the Saturday after Thanksgiving. Since then, I've spent the last week of November at his place going through all of his things and cleaning his house -- I've also been working with my sister trying to manage his estate. There was a fair bit of friction there as well -- my sister and I haven't been on the best of terms for a long time. And then the last night as we were getting ready to head back to Denver, the darned hotel bed messed up my back again so I've been dealing with that. Couple that with all of the things that go on during the holidays, and I didn't get much training in. So over the past week I have done my Thursday evening class, taught Friday evening's advanced youth class, attended Saturday morning's class, taught Tuesday evening, and attended my first advanced adult (Tuesday evening) class since my testing. Friday evening's class was pretty fun. One of the things our CI had me do was work with the shodan-sho's on their new kumite drills and work with them on their new kata, Seiryu. Zach has also had to miss a lot of classes (due to travel, holidays, etc), so he's still struggling with the new kumite drills. But he's getting the hang of them. Personally my favorite segment of this drill is the last one -- basically the attacker comes in with two low front kicks, followed by a right lunge punch. The defender raises up the legs to block with the shins, and then steps forward into a low stance (shiko-dachi) with a circle block, strikes the attacker in the solar plexus with an elbow strike, applies a backfist to the upper mandible, and then does an o-soto-gari (major outer leg reap) takedown. The takedown is the hardest part for a lot of people to get -- mainly because most students will just give the takedown to the defender. Personally, that really irritates me, because it doesn't make the defender learn the proper technique. And the throw here is all about the kuzushi (off-balancing). So I demonstrated how if the defender still has his balance, he can just lift up the leg to avoid the throw. So I had one of the students lift up their leg as I tried to sweep. Then as their leg was up, I just gave them a tug and push, and down they went. I then had them try on me a few times. Still, none of them were trying to off-balance me. They would just try to step in and sweep the leg. So I showed them the other reason you wanted to have your opponent off-balance... if you're stepping in to do this throw, you're by definition not in a stable stance, so all your opponent needs to do is drop his hand to your waist, tug on the arm, and twist... and you end up getting thrown instead of your opponent. So that was a lot of fun. Last night was my first trip back to the advanced adult class since my testing, and I learned a fair bit. For one thing, I had the chance to work on my new kata quite a bit to the point where I have it fairly well memorized. I definitely won't say that I "have it down", but I know which moves are supposed to go where, so that's a plus. In each of our kata, they introduce a new sequence or two, and this one is no exception. This particular kata is rather difficult, especially for a large person, since you spend quite a bit of time in a shiko-dachi, and there's one sequence where you end up having to do a 180 degree pivot from a shiko-dachi to another shiko-dachi. If done right, it looks really cool, but I'm far from doing it "right" or "well". The good news is I do have a couple of years to work on this before I have to test on it. In any case, practicing this kata will definitely help with my quad strength! So the important thing is after rough month and a half or so, I'm trying to get back into a normal routine. I expect that there will be more bumps in the road in the upcoming months, but I'll be doing my best to keep moving forward in my journey.

A number of years ago, my wife and I were visiting her brother in Aspen - the first year they had moved there. The sidewalks were iced over, and I had a big box of stuff in my hands (we were unloading the car at the time). All of a sudden, my feet slipped out from under me and I went from vertical to horizontal in an instant. The one thing I remembered that saved my life -- tuck the chin to the chest and HOLD IT THERE. I ended up landing flat on my back -- scared the bejeezus out of my wife. However, aside from a sore neck, I was fine. If I hadn't been trained on how to fall properly, I would've most likely bounced my head off the concrete and had a much worse outcome. So yeah, learning how to fall is the most important lesson I've ever learned from my martial arts training.

Congratulations!

I'd probably go with Gichin Funakoshi, Kanei Uechi, Jigoro Kano, and possibly Morihei Ueshiba

My biggest goal for 2024 is to increase my stamina and drop some weight. I figure if I can do both of those, improved karate will follow.

I think our CI charges $50 for kyu tests and $250 for shodan tests. The dan-grade exam fees are set by our organization, I believe. Also, a testing for a junior dan grade (ie, shodan-sho) will also cover the testing fee for the same adult grade. For our area, those testing fees are pretty much in line with what other MA's in our area charge.

Sure. I'd like to present KarateKen with a trophy recognizing his outstanding contributions to KarateForums.com, which I know are recognized by members near and far. Thank you, Ken! 🏆 Congrats, KarateKen!! Heck, on the forums, participation is everything! Domo arigato gozaimasu!

Wait... I won for funniest member of the year? Ummm.. how did that happen? In all seriousness, I'm just glad to be here and able to contribute in a positive way, and share a bit of myself in the process. I'm glad y'all appreciate my contributions!

I really enjoyed the Blues beat the Knights this past Monday. It was a great game on both sides, with Jordan Binnington standing on his head to keep the Knights to a single goal. Tonight they have a rematch in St Louis -- let's see if the Blues can win this one as well.

I don't think that it's so much that the spazzing white belts are going to make a black belt tap. However, white belts have little to no control and are just trying to get out there and prove themselves. My CI always says that when sparring you're far more likely to get injured when sparring a white belt than a black belt for that very reason.

It's been a few weeks since I posted in here, and it's been a very eventful couple of weeks. The week of November 13th, I went to Dallas for a work trip. It was very productive in terms of we got to see people face to face who I normally only talk to through Zoom (or similar tools). We also were able to discuss a lot of what we want to accomplish as a team with our manager and second level manager providing a lot of good input and direct feedback. Also, while I was in Dallas, I was able to visit a local Uechi-Ryu dojo to train for an evening. It was a very different experience from my home dojo. The dojo is part of a different organization (Kenyukai), and they do things a little bit differently. For example, in Sanchin, they perform the strike and step on different counts. Also, they will perform the last 3 wa-uke sequences broken down into 8 small steps, instead of a fluid motion that we are used to doing. However, in spite of these differences I did get a few nuggets of information that I definitely want to incorporate into my karate: first, in my Sanchin, I need to lower my left shoulder a touch, to lock things into place. He showed me how much stronger things are with the shoulder lowered (just an inch or so). He also drilled into me the "eyes, feet, hands" sequence -- he had me do one of my kata with the sequence "look", then counted the number. "look", then count the number, etc. It felt a bit more crisp that way, and he explained the reasoning behind it. We then discussed kotekitae together and he showed me some little different things I can do to strenghten/condition myself better. We also discussed my sensei and his family (above a certain level in our style, everyone knows everyone, it seems). He gave my CI a few compliments, since he has had the opportunity to train with him a few times at various seminars. He also gave me a few compliments on my kata as well, and told me that I was welcome to come train with them anytime I was in town. Once I got back from Dallas, we were again packing to go on a vacation. We did a Disney cruise out of San Diego, where we visited Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. Each location was very different and had a different flavor, and we picked a different shore excursion to do at each port. At one port, we did a cruise on a pirate-themed ship (which was a replica of Christopher Columbus' ships), which involved a pirate show and a few hours snorkeling and hanging out at a really nice private little beach. At Mazatlan, we did a bus tour where we visited a brick factory and a few small tradidional "mom and pop" businesses, and also a "ghost town" -- which wasn't completely uninhabited, but was down to ~300 residents. Finally, we did a cruise on a catamaran around the harbor of Cabo San Lucas, visited a glass factory, and stopped at a restaurant with an awesome view of the harbor. However, the entire trip did not go well. On the final night of the cruise, while I was in a whiskey tasting seminar, I got a text from my sister to call her immediately. My dad had been visiting with my sister and her family in Phoenix for Thanksgiving, and he was on a flight back to Jacksonville (FL), when at the end of the flight they found him unresponsive. They made an emergency medical landing and determined he had a heart attack on the plane. He was pronounced later that morning at the local hospital. So... the next few weeks are going to be a really rough time for me. I'll be spending the next week working to set up my dad's funeral, and then there will be all the other things that have to happen after that. I'll be sure to train as much as I can through this, since I find the exhaustion after a workout definitely helps. But focus is going to be really hard.

Our dojo also teaches Aikido, which I've tried to encourage him to try out. They even have a convenient Saturday morning class, right before the class we usually go to. I find it's a really nice warmup for the Uechi-Ryu class. I'd really like for him to stick with it, because as our director said after the testing, "Karate is like boing water. If you take away the heat, it stops bubbling within you". That's one of the things I love about our school --after you pass your test, our instructors will give you feedback on things you can improve upon.

Not a silly question at all. Yes, when he turns 15, he will need to re-test for full shodan (and concurrently test for nidan-sho). In Uechi-Ryu, the only different requirement for the different Dan grades is the rank kata — so he will need to demonstrate both Seisan (for full shodan) and Seiryu (for nidan-sho). Assuming he continues training, he will then be eligible to test for full nidan at 17 or 18 - before he leaves for college.

This past Sunday was a big day for Zach and me. He tested for (and passed) shodan-sho, and I passed my nidan test!

So the testing has come and gone, and.... (drum roll please)... everyone passed! We had two testing sessions; the morning session had 7 candidates testing for adult dan grades, and the afternoon session had 5 candidates testing for junior first degree. I was personally a little nervous going in -- it's a test so the nerves were there. However, I knew that I was as prepared as I was going to be, and I was confident that I was going to do well. In my test we had Aaron and me testing for nidan, Eli was testing for shodan and nidan-sho (junior second degree), and the remaining four candidates were testing for shodan. My test started with Sanchin. In Uechi-Ryu, we have a saying "All is in Sanchin". And as such, it's the beginning of our test, and it's also the section of the test with the highest percentage. (25% of the test). Our tests run lowest ranked to highest ranked, and since I was the oldest nidan candidate in the test, I was the last to go. Usually Richard (our CI) does all of the Sanchin testing for male candidates, but this time he had David (who recently tested for Godan/Shihan) do some of our testing. So I was a little surprised when he was asked to do my testing. I noticed that he doesn't hit nearly as hard as our CI does, but he does all of the checks we're used to. However, towards the end of the test he did give me a surprise I wasn't expecting. Normally as we are doing the 3 final wa-uke strikes, we will get kciked/struck in the abdominals. However, unfortunately David kicked me... a fair bit lower. Not QUITE in the groin, but just a hair above there. At least he didn't kick me really HARD there either. But it was enough to break my concentration for the remaining of the test, so when he did the final tests of my hand strength, I messed up a bit -- but I didn't let either of those oopses show on my face. That's actually something I that I've been telling the other candidates on the test -- whatever happens, keep going. If you make what you think is a mistake - keep going, don't let ti show on your face. If a member of the test board thinks you've made a mistake, they will ask you to show that technique again. However, don't make it easy on them to see your mistakes. Neither Aaron nor I were asked to repeat any techniques, and most of the candidates were only asked to repeat things a couple of times. That right there is a pretty good sign that everyone passed. As we went through the remaining segments - rank kata, seisan bunkai, kotekitae, hojo undo, I felt really good about things. THere were times where I ended a session a bit winded, but not nearly as bad as I was on my shodan test. When we got to the oral exam, I was able to answer all of my examiner's questions in as much (or possibly more) detail than he expected, so I think I got 5/5 on that (technically that's the only part of the test you can be expected to get full marks on). And as I'm over 50, I elected not to spar this time around. When the results were announced, they announced that all of us had passed, and they handed out belts (to the shodan candidates). We all then got some "okay, you're a black belt, but here's some things to work on" feedback, Iwhich I *really* appreciate. In every test I've taken, I've always received "here's how to get better" after I passed. Two of the key pieces of feedback were "make sure you're hitting the right target", and "Manage your distance." Zach's test went much the same way -- he was asked to repeat one segment in his bunkai, but only the one. I was very impressed with his Sanchin and his rank kata -- there were a couple segments in Seisan that he really wowed me at. Also, my wife overheard some of the instructors commenting about how Zach did really well on his oral segment, so that made me a proud dad. As we were waiting for the results, our CI was talking to us a bit, and he did mention that he had not (yet) failed any students who had passed the prep cycle. However, there were students that washed out DURING the prep cycle. And he has attended other tests in which students have failed. In the end, Zach passed as well, and they got much of the same feedback that we got after our tests. And now on to the required pictures:

Quick update: At last night's class our sensei and I got to introduce Aaron to the joy that is Master Ken. We were fine-tuning our dan kumite drills, and at the end I said something along the lines of "and re-stomp that groin". (Seriously, the finishing move for the dan kumite drill is pulling up on the opponent's leg while doing a stomping kick to the groin.) Aaron had *no* idea what we're talking about, so we had to educate him a bit. Now I'm feeling the need to watch a few episodes of "Enter the Dojo Show"!

So the test is officially scheduled for this coming Sunday. Our adult dan candidates will be testing in the morning from 10a-noon, and the youth candidates (under 15) will be testing from 2pm-4pm. In our organization, there is no hard minimum age for earning a junior black belt, but for all practicality, 10-11 is pretty much as young as you can go due to cumulative time in grade requirements and such. 15 is the hard minimum for an "adult" degree. Our requirements for a junior shodan and "full" shodan are the same, but the performance expectations are necessarily higher for a full shodan. So this week has been mainly test prep, and will continue to be. Tuesday night I had my teaching class, which was more interesting than usual. There were a number of kids who dropped in to do a make-up test from last Friday. As a result, I had a lot of newer kids in the class. This means I had to slow down my tempo so they could keep up... and I had to announce all of the hojo undo and junbi undo techniques in both English and Japanese. You know... after you've been announcing the techniques in only Japanese, you have to think for a second to think of the English translation. It gave me a good quiet chuckle about that. After we did the warmups and technique exercises, he kept the make-up testers and the ikkyus in the larger section of the dojo, and sent me with the rest of the students to the back section to work kata and a bit of tournament prep. So I would have a few small groups up to work on their kata -- I'd generally let each group pick their favorite kata, and whichever was most popular, I'd count off that kata for them. (We have a set cadence for doing group kata, which allows the instructor to keep them somewhat in step, and also provide mid-kata corrections). After each group, I'd give them some constructive feedback. After each group went, I brought students up in pairs. I'd have them walk into the area as if they were doing a tournament (or testing), and have them perform the kata of their choice. After I made it all the way through, our CI sent me the ikkyus to perform their seisan kata as a practice for their test. Again, I gave each student some constructive feedback, mainly little things. One common suggestion I gave to each of them was to slow down "just a little", so they could better enunciate their techniques. As the class wrapped up, our Sensei indicated that the people who just tested in-class would learn their results at their next usual class (mostly Wednesday evening). After he bowed everyone out, he then announced that Zach, Arrav, and Hayden all earned their advanced brown belts -- basically this indicates that they've re-tested for all of their kyu-level material, and are now qualified for testing. Zach had been worried about that, with the test right around the corner, but once our Sensei announced it, you could see him grinning from ear to ear. On to Tuesday evening, we had a really light class (only 9 students). After our warmups, we started on some new kick defense drills, building off of techniques we work in some of our other drills. They all started with a left/right front kick sequence, and each defense started with step back/gedan barai uke, followed by a step back/mawashi-uke block that ends with you in a right shiko-dachi, and your right arm is parallel to the floor in front of you, with the opponent's achilles heel hooked at the junction of your wrist and forearm. From here, he showed us 3 different completion options. 1) finish the circular block, essentially throwing the leg back to your opponent's chest/shoulder. 2) lift your arm up to sanchin, letting his leg fall off to the side, then step in and do one-knuckle strikes to the kidney and neck (simultaneously). 3) (my favorite), turn your hand palm-up (forming a hook with your fingers in the process), and pull the opponent's leg past you to your right. As he passes you, clothesline him and/or apply a rear-naked choke. Honestly, these types of drills are some of my favorite material to work on -- it builds on material we already know, but gives us new options to use. And our Sensei seems to have an infinite variety of material to present. He has said this several times, "Shodan is the beginning -- it's when you start learning the really good stuff". And this is what he means by that. After that segment, a group of us worked on our dan kumite, then Aaron and I worked our bunkai to prep for our test. Class then ended with kata. Performing kata at the end of a class makes it really hard to do it well and with energy... but then when you're refreshed suddenly the kata seems to flow easy and with lots of power. It's one of those things that I tend to say - training through the struggles makes your karate so much better. So we still have a couple more days of training before the test; tonight is our dedicated test prep class, tomorrow I'm teaching the youth advanced class (and will probably do test prep there), and Saturday will be our quarterly black belt training class. I'm feeling really good about my test prep so far, and I think Zach is looking good too. I'll check back in here after the test on Sunday. Until then!

Congratulations!

Honestly, I think we are extremely fortunate to have the relationship with Master Thompson that we do. Our CI's dad has been training under Master Thompson for decades -- Master Thompson has signed off on all of his diplomas, either as "Head of Organization" or "Supervising Instructor" from 1st degree through 9th degree. My CI's youngest brother is currently an instructor at the hombu dojo. I think short of training directly at the hombu dojo, there isn't a much better relationship you can get. Of course, my instructors make a point to maintain this good relationship by making regular trips to Michigan (where Master Thompson is from) and Okinawa (to train with the heads of other Uechi-Ryu and Matayoshi Kobudo organizations). So far this year, he's been to Okinawa twice, Michigan once, and he's attended seminars given by other organizations in Edmonton and Hawaii. So yes, if actively maintaining good relationships with the head of the organization and other organizations counts as "politicking", then he is certainly pretty deep in it. However, I feel that we as his students definitely reap the rewards of those good relationships, since those relationships allow him to bring guest instructors to our dojo a couple of times a year. Also, each time he does one of his trips, he always comes back with new material to share with us.

I agree here.It sounds like you've got a good training partner there, which is fantastic. One of my favorite adages: when one teaches, two learn. Keep up the good work. To the bold type above... I just love that, Brian!! Perhaps, you can add that to your Signature. My corollary on that is "the best way of improving your knowledge of something is to teach it to someone else". This very much applies when teaching karate, especially kata, because I have to be able to both think, talk, and demonstrate a kata all at the same time. It's REALLY hard.

Good question, Noah, but I'm wondering if this might be better suited in the Instructors/School Owners forum, since most students at the kyu and lower Dan grades won't really have this kind of perspective. As I'm an apprentice instructor, I can express my perspective on this though. Our dojo is a member of two organizations, Uechi-Ryu Kokusai Kyokai (headed by James Thompson), and Matayoshi Kobudo Shinbukai (headed by Seisho Itokazu, but that may have changed -- more on that later). As a member of our Uechi-Ryu organization, I do pay an annual fee that covers membership in the organization. It's like $50 per year for kyu ranks, slightly higher for dan grades, so that isn't a onerous amount. Our organization does dictate the material for examinations, and to another degree it dictates how the material is supposed to be performed. In our style, different lineages have different "signatures", so if you're in one organization with one lineage, you may be asked to perform techniques slightly differently than another lineage. One thing I feel I gain by training in an established organization is legitimacy. I can go to any other Uechi-Ryu school or seminar, and my rank and experience will immediately be accepted on face value. If I were to leave my current school and go to another school in the same organization, I'd be accepted no questions asked. If I were to go to a different organization within Uechi-Ryu, I may need to re-test for my current rank, learning how others do things and their little subtle differences, but that's about it. Our CI teaches a core set of material (that is tested on), but then he sprinkles in a lot of additional material for "flavor". For example, there are a number of throws and takedowns in ouir katas, bunkai, and yakusoku kumite, so sometimes he'll focus on those. We also sometimes work on self-defense techniques from our kata. Or we'll work on the yakusoku kumite from other organizations. Or . Also as part of an established organization, our CI has the sway to bring outside guest instructors to Colorado to run seminars and the like. As I mentioned before. We are also part of the Matayoshi Kobudo Shinbukai, or at least we were as of 2 weeks ago. This is where the politicking comes into play. Earlier this year we had a seminar with Itokazu sensei (head of the Matayoshi Kobudo Shinbukai), and one of the takeaways from that seminar was that our CI (who is a 5th degree in that organization) is still not able to promote students beyond shodan. So last week while he was in Okinawa, he was speaking to the heads of other Kobudo organizations (who he already has good relations with), Now from my perspective, earning ranks up to (and including) 5th degree is pretty much all about time-in-grade, being active, and is your understanding of the material commensurate with the rank you're aspiring to. From what I've seen though, as you work towards 6th degree and above, politics become more and more ingrained in advancement. Now there are other organizations that are much more codified, for example ATA. For ATA, all rank requirements are codified, and testing requirements for black belt ranks are very stringent. Individual instructors cannot promote students beyond second degree, and there are specific dates when students can test for advanced black belt degrees. (In point of fact, students must pass multiple "midterm examinations" before testing for their actual belt).

I'm not a big horror fan either, but we did introduce Zach to the original "Bettlejuice" movie last weekend.