aurik

I really like the way you have your system set up. I do see how you have kumite and self-defense techniques based upon their required rank kata. I was wondering if you had considered adding formal bunkai to your kata? I find that performing the bunkai for a given kata helps me to better understand the kata. The flip side to that is that if you have a new kata at each rank, then the amount of material to learn for each rank gets unwieldy. Another option is as you're presenting the kumite material, be sure to explicitly tie it back to the kata, since sometimes the connections aren't obvious. Another thing you may want to consider (if you haven't already) is to increase the complexity of the kumite drills as the students increase in knowledge. My CI just pointed this out the other day, but it should have been obvious from the beginning if I had paid attention earlier: Our first yakusoku kumite (prearranged kumite) drill is basically strike/block, strike/block, and strike/block/counter. That's the first one students learn. The second one consists of one and two attack/defense sequences. The first two are required for 9th-7th kyu. The second set consists of defending against two, three, and four attacks with a counter at the end. This set is required for 6th-4th kyu. The final set in our system is technically 5 attack/defense sequences followed by alternating takedowns. However, in practice it is performed in "renzoku" style where there is no real pause between sequences. This last set is required for 3rd kyu through 5th dan. The point I'm aiming at here is that as the students get more advanced they're expected to connect more material together in their two-person drills. Again, I don't know if you've already considered this, but something to possibly think about. All in all, I'm excited to hear you've started on the instructor journey. Best of luck to you!!

I like this quote from Henry Ford: “If you think you can, or you think uou can’t, you’re probably right.” I say that often to my son when he gets frustrated and says that it’s impossible.

I don't know enough about Aikido to know what I agree with and don't agree with, but it's a lot of fun, and a few of the things I'm learning in there are definitely helping my karate. I have no aspirations to run my own dojo at this time. Over time that may change, but for now teaching seems the right thing to do. It's my way of giving back, I guess. Mainly what I'm wanting to do is provide a good example to my son and the other kids at the school. One of my mantras is "In your training you'll have so-so days, bad days, and days where everything goes right and you have an 'a-ha' moment. However, training through those bad days is what gives you those a-ha moments." So if I can train, even if I'm not feeling it, I train. It may be a sucky training session, but I can make it, I make a point to go.

So it's been a little while since I posted here. Quite a few things have gone on since then. First, I took a week to take a class on making a renaissance style dagger. This is one of the requirements for an ABS Master Bladesmith, but honesty I took the class because it was an opportunity to learn from an awesome instructor. My experience with the class was: instructor shows us something. I try it and make a lot of mistakes, I then ask instructor how to fix it and then I work to fix it with his help. I learned a LOT, and now I'm going to make a few more to figure out how to do it on my own. We then did a Disney cruise to the Caribbean. We left out of Miami, spent a day at Grand Cayman Island, where we swam with the stingrays and the dolphins (way cool). We then did a day at Disney's private island in the Caribbean where Zach and I spent 3 hours snorkeling. It was a lot of fun and we saw a lot of cool things. Of course, afterwards my legs felt like Jell-O. But it was well worth it! Unfortunately the 2 weeks of sleeping on a super-squishy bed (in the hotel and on the ship) threw my back out, so that hampered my training a bit as well. It took a week or so for things to start working their way out. Last Friday I taught class again, and for the first time I got to perform shime testing (pushing/pulling/striking students to check their strength and stability). Needless to say I was quite nervous so I kept it to pushing at the corners and working on their bases. I've also started taking aikido classes (expected of instructors), and it's definitely been helping my karate as well. A few weeks ago our head Aikido instructor was out, so we had another one of our instructors teaching class. He taught us the concept that if you lock your arm into place, you can then use your arm as a 'transmission' of sorts to get your hips to do the heavy work. I've since started using that when teaching our dan-level yakusoku kumite drill. Specifically, in the final sequence, there is a takedown, where your opponent comes at you with a left haymaker. The response is to step in to intercept the strike, catching the left shoulder with your right hand, and his forearm with your left hand. I'm now teaching the concept where the student uses the arm as a transmission and then drives forward and down with the hips to put the attacker off-balance. It's something the kids are having a hard time learning but hopefully they'll pick this up. Last night I sat in and watched Zach's class. I had the opportunity to see how he was progressing and watch him spar. Towards the end of the session, he was paired up with one of the purple belts, and our CI told him to make sure he had good control up around the face (he had gotten hit pretty hard in the face the previous week). I was tempted to tell him that if he didn't have good control with my son, I'd be sure to remember that when I taught his class on Friday (but I didn't.). What I did see in the sparring session was one time where the purple belt had caught one of Zach's kicks, and started dragging Zach forward. After the session, I talked to him and suggested that what he did was a good way of hurting his partner. The better solution would be to step in, give him a good punch to the chest, grab the uniform, and throw him (in a controlled fashion) down to the mat. So last week they did Aikido kyu grade testing, and unfortunately I wasn't able to attend. Next month though I should be ready to grade, but honestly it's more fun than anything else. Until next time!

I know my CI teaches tinbe with the sword, I'm not sure about tinhe/rochin. As a general rule it's only as part of his matayoshi kobudo curriculum, and as such is generally shodan and up. He has a couple of online-only students (but they generally test in person). However, he does private lessons and will teach his students anything they want (within reason) in a private lesson. I can provide his contact information via PM if you are interested in asking.

I personally don’t know of any dojos in Sweden, but my instructor might. I’ll ask him when he gets back from Okinawa. He is currently there for the 2nd world Okinawa Karate Tournament and associated seminars.

Natan Levy started out in Uechi-Ryu -- he holds either a 3rd or 4th degree under Kiyohide Shinjo Sensei. Him performing Sanseiryu (required for 4th degree): Fight vs Ben Lugo:

I particularly enjoy guest instructors, because they present the material differently, and sometimes that different presentation will present an "a-ha" moment for you. For example, a couple of weeks ago, Kyoshi (aka our CI's father) was out of town, and one of our other instructors came in to teach the Aikido class. He hammered in the concept that your arm/shoulder is weak, but your hips and legs are strong, so if you basically lock your arm in place and let your hips/legs do the work, you have a LOT more power that way and can make things look really easy. I'm sure Kyoshi at some point has mentioned that, but he didn't say it in quite the same way and it just resonated in my brain. I'm also reminded a couple of years ago when I would train with a group in the Bay Area who were a part of a different organization (same style). One of the instructors there introduced me to the ideas that "Uechi-Ryu is performed sitting down", and "every move is a kata". I still keep those thoughts in my mind as I train and I think they've helped me be a better karateka. Again, they're little nuggets here and there that when they incorporate with everything else you learn make a big difference.

Sakura Martial arts has big and tall uniforms up to size 12 (https://www.sakuramartialarts.com/Martial_Arts_Uniforms_Karate_Big_And_Tall_p/uni-9994-a1.htm). Not sure if that's big enough for your guys. As for belts, Kataaro will make belts all the way up to 210 inches long. Another option would be to take a double-wrap belt and have them wear it as a single wrap.

Thanks for the support guys! It means a lot. So this week has been fairly light on the training, mainly because of other life events happening. I started a new job last week, so I'm getting used to that new schedule. Also, I turned the big five-oh on Tuesday, and tonight is my birthday party. My wife is setting it up with a "vintage" theme, so that should be interesting. Among other things, she has a retro arcade trailer coming to provide entertainment (think pac-man, galaga, space invaders, etc). Also, since Zach has been attending day camp in Boulder (30 min away), that makes things a bit challenging as well. So for the most part, he has been attending classes with me. Tuesday night we did the abbreviated adult class, which had a very interesting mix of students there. We had 3 black belts (includiing me), Zach, 2 hachikyus, and 2 white belts. The interesting thing about this class is that the other 2 black belts are returning from long periods away from training, and one of the white belts is a returning kyu student. (Our CI handles returning kyu students and returning dan students separately. Returning kyu students come back as a white belt and after a proscribed period of time training are permitted to test for their next grade. Returning dan students retain their dan grade, but they will most likely have additional time-in-grade requirements to test for their next dan grade). Last week our CI was in Michigan training with Master Thompson, so we had other instructors running the classes. For my Friday evening class, I pretty much got to run it on my own with his father and stepmom supervising. I felt the class went really well and I had good energy with it. I'm starting to get used to the general class format (from the instructor side of things) -- I tend to run things a bit quicker through the warmups and accessory exercises, so that gives me a bit of extra time to work with at the tail end of class. The places I really need to work on are identifying where student(s) are struggling (during the accessory exercises, etc), and taking a couple minutes to focus on those items. But I'm sure that will come with time and experience. After the class Amanda Sensei (CI's stepmom) said that I ran the class with really good energy and I seemed to really enjoy it. Tuesday started out with yakusoku kumite dai ichi, then we moved to kyu kumite (required for green belt ranks). I found myself teaching it to our returning 3rd dan since it had been a really long time since he had done it. Most of the movements he caught on pretty quickly, but there were a couple he had mental blocks on. We then moved on to dan kumite and seisan bunkai. I found myself in a teaching role again, which I am starting to really enjoy. Thursday night's class was a lot of fun as well. Piper was there (she recently graduated high school and is now doing summer classes at CU-Boulder) and she's always fun to train with. She is a nidan, a lot stronger than she looks, and hits like a freight train. I really enjoy training with her because she keeps me honest -- if I screw up a defense on her, she'll let me know it. We worked on "10-point", AKA the Okikukai Kyu Kumite drills, which are required for nidan. I'm pretty comfortable with the first eight, the ninth one throws my head for a spin, and #10 is pretty easy. So we worked on that for awhile, then we went on to dan kumite drillls. So for our dan kumite, there are 5 sequences. As the low ranked participant, I did the first 4 as attacker, then the first 4 as defender, and then we alternate on the 5th one, which ends with a takedown and a Master Ken moment ("restomp that groin"). Most students there, including most of the adults, simply cannot take me down on this drill unless I give it to them. The key to the drill involves manipulating the shoulder and arm to put the attacker's weight on their front/left leg, and then dropping down to a low stance to take that leg out from under them. Again, I don't normally go down on this technique partially because my knees don't like getting back up from the ground. Well PIper took me down silky smooth with almost no effort. She immediately said "omg I'm sorry!". I responded, "why, that was an awesome takedown". Again, she is super fun to work with. Until the next update!

Congratulations, Zaine!

I would be upfront and honest with the CI. Tell him about your previous experience, time since prior training, and ask him how he wants to handle things. His dojo, his rules. It sounds like you have the right attitude though -- I've seen things handled very different ways. One school I was in brought experienced students in an advanced kyu rank depending on how similar their previous experience was. At my current school, if you've earned a dan rank in Uechi-Ryu it'll be honored at our school, but it may take you extra time before testing for your next grade. We have another student who is a 5th degree in Shotokan but started as a white belt at our school (there is quite a bit of difference between Shotokan and Uechi-Ryu). However, he is treated considerably differently than other students at his rank -- for one thing, he is now teaching youth beginner's classes, which is unheard of for a 7th kyu in "normal" circumstances. Again, be upfront and honest with the CI and let him decide how he wants to handle things.

Update for the past couple weeks: I'm continuing to train 3x a week, but with summer things are ... interesting. We've got a few vacations planned over the summer. Last weekend we took my son and his friend to Great Wolf Lodge (hotel with large indoor waterpark) to celebrate his 10th birthday. Later this month, I'll be in Colorado Springs taking a week-long blacksmithing class that focuses on the quillon dagger. And early next month, we'll be spending a few days on a Disney Cruise. I'm still feeling very much like a beginner -- I'm having to essentially re-learn all of my kata, bunkai, and yakusoku kumite. As we advance through the ranks, we're expected to apply what we've learned to all of our previous techniques. The biggest change comes when transitioning from kyu ranks to shodan -- at dan grades, all blocks are expected to be two-handed blocks when practical. (The "off-hand performs a guide/push block, and then the nominal "blocking hand" performs a circular block & grab). It makes me feel like Luke Skywalker on Dagobah, "You must unlearn everything you have learned". So now while I'm focusing on the new things, I'm making all sorts of other errors along the way. I'm also getting the hang of Seiryu (required for nidan). I'm by no means proficient in it, but I'm now at least able to keep up in group kata while making minimal errors. Of course now that I'm learning a new kata, it tends to mess up with the brain pathways on old kata -- in this case seisan. There is a sequence in Seisan where you pivot to the "east", circle block, and perform a sokusen geri with the front leg. In Seiryu, that sequence is performed with the back leg. So now I'm occasionally messing that sequence up in Seisan. Oops. I've also started (assistant) teaching the Friday youth advanced class. It fits in with my schedule, and sometimes Zach goes to this class, so it's kind of a win-win. I will say that running a class takes a LOT more mental effort than just attending the class. While as a student you understand the general class format, as an instructor you have to be cognizant of time, watching out for students that are struggling or going off the rails, and many other things along those lines. Granted, I've only been doing this for a few weeks now -- my CI says that it'll start getting easier after about 3 months or so. Next I've been doing Aikido regularly on the Saturday morning class. It's a lot of fun and I'm immediately seeing how this fits in with Uechi-Ryu. Our CI encourages his assistant instructors and instructors to become familiar with Aikido and/or Kobudo. Since I've done something similar (aikijujutsu and judo) many years ago, I figure Aikido is the way to go. Plus it's fairly low-impact so it makes for a good warmup before the Saturday karate class. Last, my new belt came in the mail the other day The pin is a copy of one originally given out by Kanei Uechi (the founder's son) to those who trained with him. To my knowledge, two dies to create them exist in the USA, one with my CI's father and the other with George Mattson. I thought it was pretty cool so bought one from my CI.

We wear a traditional white gi, except for kobudo. Matayoshi kobudo wears a black gi to hide the oils and stains from the weapons

It's a fact of life these days -- if you want to run a MA studio as a full-time business, you have to teach kids. At the dojo I'm at, the vast majority of students (probably 80% or better) are under 13. However, there is a growing adult population there as kids "age out" of the youth classes, and he attracts more adult students. As far as pricing goes, you need to figure out how much it is worth to you. I remember when I first started taking (and paying for) lessons in the mid-1990's, I was only paying $30/mo or so. Now I'm paying about $100/mo per student (for me and my son). It's a bit more complicated than that, because we get a multi-student discount and there are a few other expenses rolled in there, but it averages out to 100/mo/student. Again, the question is... what's it worth to you? For me the $100/mo/student is well worth it. It's actually LESS than what my wife pays for our son to attend 4 hourly piano lessons per month.

Welcome to the forum Josh. It's never too late to start -- I started my current round with Uechi-Ryu at the ripe young age of 46. Train hard, train well, and good luck!

Greetings, 2TANGO. Welcome to the forums!

We discuss the concept of "power" and "energy" as students start approaching shodan, but it isn't a mystical energy force that unites the galaxy. We discuss energy in the form of "flow", and how the energy of one sequence can be transferred to the next sequence and the like. The other stuff is just way too hokey for me.

I should also mention that all candidates for Dan grades are required to complete a 3 month test prep cycle, in which heh perform a mini-test each week. They are expected to incorporate feedback during this cycle in their techniques. This cycle isn essentially a pre-test before the candidate is allowed to participate in the actual test.

Our tests are pretty much the same, no matter what the grade you're testing for, but the intensity goes up as your rank goes up. Each test has the following components: - Sanchin (with focus testing for nikyu and above) - Rank Kata - Rank Kata bunkai (seisan for all dan ranks) - Hojo undo - Kote kitae (arm rubbing/pounding) - Rank appropriate yakusoku kumite - For nikyu and above, free sparring - For shodan and above, oral exam During testing, there are several areas that test the candidate's CV fitness. Our seisan bunkai generally runs 10-15 minutes, where you are running full-intensity for short bursts. Likewise free sparring is a test of CV fitness as well. It also keeps testing to a manageable time frame -- generally 1 hour for kyu tests and 2 hours for dan ranks.

I can’t say what a given martial art may or may not be right for someone. What I can and do is share what my style and dojo have done for me. Whenever someone asks what I think of martial arts I share my personal experiences with my sensei and his dojo. I share why I think he is an excellent instructor and talk about what value I get out of it. I find it is a very low pressure tactic. And it works.

I love it! This is right up there with my wife being “the worst mom in the universe” (according to our son). She is holding out for “the worst mom in the multiverse” promotion.

So my nafuda is up on the wall now.

Yeah, the new material was a lot of fun to learn and the applications are pretty neat. We have one sequence that is repeated (almost) identically 3 times, and the application is very different from what I would have expected. Saturday was really fun, but I don't think I'll be doing that again anytime soon. For one thing, I don't have the time to actively pursue 3 different martial arts, and the other thing is before I can do another 3 hour saturday again, I need to be in MUCH better shape. I think for now I'll focus on Aikido and Uechi-Ryu.

The most important rank I hold right now is the rank of 'Dad'. In many cases that is outranked by 'Mom'. Other than that, I hold the following ranks (in no particular order) Apprentice Bladesmith in the American Bladesmith Society PhD in Computer Science Shodan in Aikijujutsu (earned 20+ years ago, practiced very little since) Gokyu in Shuri-Ryu Yonkyu in Judo Shodan in Uechi-Ryu