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Training over the past few weeks has been going reasonably well, without any major kerfluffles. Zach occasionally vexes me, but I'm pretty sure that's his job as my son -- to keep me grounded For example, last Tuesday the plan was for us to attend the 5-6pm youth advanced class so I could get in my teaching hours for the week, I was going to take him home, and then I'd return for the 7-8:30pm black belt class. Per the usual arrangement, at 4:30pm I asked him to get ready so we could leave at 4:45. When 4:45 comes around I go find that he is reading a book, and he asks me, "Can we go to the 6pm adult class instead?" At least it wasn't "I don't want to go today, I'll go another day instead". But still... that threw my plans out the window, and I wasn't going to get my teaching in that week because I had an event on Friday night. But I also didn't communicate that with him either so that was on me. So this week we've started having that conversation at Sunday evening dinner, what is going on for the week so we can all understand what the expectations are. Tuesday afternoon Mrs A and I both got our COVID booster and flu shots for the year, so classes on Tuesday were pretty much out the window. We had decided that Zach and I would both attend the Thursday night and Friday night classes, and we are planning on going blacksmithing in Colorado Springs on Saturday. Our CI and his wife are currently in Okinawa for the karate day celebrations, and he just (yesterday) successfully tested for his godan in Kobudo. His local instructor also successfully tested for his 6th degree, so the testing had to be done at the hombu dojo for the organization under Itokazu Sensei. As a result, he has a number of substitute instructors teaching the various classes, with his father supervising.the classes. So we're all lined up for last night's class waiting for things to start, and Kyoshi (our CI's father) comes up and says, "why haven't we started. Ken, you're teaching today. Get them going". So... I have a major deer in the headlights look on me. I hadn't planned on teaching today, but I go with the flow. I get warmups started, and since we've got a mixture of students from white belt through 1st degree I slow the warmups and supplementary exercises down, and I'm also sure to say all the techniques in both Japanese and English. As we;re going through the supplementary exercises, I look for a few teachable moments -- for example we have one technique which is initlally taught as rising block, leopard fist punch, circular block, leopard fist punch. However, advanced students should perform that first block as an intercepting block/strike in a snapping motion. Last week I had been working kotekitae (forearm conditioning) with one of our returning 4th degree students, and he gave me a very interesting piece of advice -- when you strike at your partner's forearm, you aren't just conditioning his forearm, you are also conditioning your own hand. I saw a number of younger students who were barely touching their (older) opponents last night and shared with them this observation as well. We then worked two-person drills as a group, with students rotating partners. I stayed in place so I could watch everyone in turn. This turned out to be a good thing, because I was able to notice a few additional teachable moments. For example, on our kyu kumite drills required for green belt ranks, the final technique ends with you spinning your opponent to face away from you, then you step up behind them, grab them by the shoulder, and do a one-knuckle strike to the base of the skull. Well, if you are much shorter than your opponent, the correct move is to grab them by the belt, and do that strike to the kidney -- because there is no way you're going to get a good angle on the skull from that height difference. When I saw my partner (who is 13-14 I think) make that mistake, I paused the drills, picked the tallest guy there and demonstrated the alternate technique on him. (Turns out he and I started a few months apart -- he's currently in his black belt prep cycle too, testing in the next month or so). When 7pm came around, there were a number of students that didn't get the memo about the combined class and started showing up. I picked this as a good time for a break, and then rearranged the groups by rank. I had the upper ranks working on their advanced 2-person drills, and the lower ranks working kata and/or bunkai. One of my favorite techniques to teach are the throws/takedowns that we do. We have a couple that we do all the time in our dan-level 2-person drills, and a lot of people have a hard time taking people down when they don't give them the throw. I won't ever give someone the throw if they don't have it right -- it's not really fair to them in my opinion. I will however work with them to show them the proper techniques so they CAN get it. Our first throw is all about the principle of kuzushi -- offbalancing. The technique starts with the attacker coming in with a left front kick, which the defender uses a scoop block to sweep to the side. The attacker then commits fully with a right hook. The defender jumps in to intercept that, blocking both at the wrist/forearm and the shoulder/clavicle. If they do it right, they will jam the attacker's shoulder back before they can fully engage it. The NEXT part is what people have the hardest time with -- the defender needs to anchor their forearm against the defender's chest, pull the attacker's right arm down, and then they step forward into a low stance, and use their forearm as a transmission to drop their entire bodyweight on the opponent's shoulder. If they can do this properly, the attacker's weight is all on his right leg and he's already off-balance. Once that happens, the defender drops further into a low stance, places his left hand behind the upper calf, presses outwards on the inner thigh, and the attacker's leg just folds under him, and he goes down. The defender holds onto the foot, slides forward and to quote Master Ken, "re-stomps that groin". With my size and weight, I just don't go down unless they get that off-balancing part right, so that's the part I have them focus on. Once that part is down, they rest is pretty easy. We then ran group kata, starting with kanshiwa (first rank kata) all the way up to seiryu (required for second degree). I performed one with the group and then watched the second go-through -- except for Kanshu -- where I screwed myself up and made some obvious mistakes, so I felt obligated to run through it with them the second time. Kyoshi of course then went on to say how once you learn our second-degree kata (seiryu), it tends to mess your brain up for your earlier kata. In fact, all of our kata do that to a certain degree -- they are all related and have many of the same or similar sequences in them. Which makes it really important to focus on which kata you're actually doing at the time. All in all it was a good class, and I felt really good about the way I ran it. Kyoshi is a wealth of information (and doesn't hesitate to share it), but I was able to keep the class moving forward at a pretty good pace. A couple of the advanced students told me I did really well afterwrards, so that made me happy.

I love it when I have one of those "a-ha" moments, where things you've been learning just all come into focus. It's an awesome feeling. I'm glad to hear it that you're having them too!

To resurrect an old thread... In Uechi-Ryu, we use the sokusen geri -- meaning, the first 3 toes are the striking point. It takes years of practice and conditioning to get it right, but once you do... you'll never want to kick another way again. I've done toe kicks to people, and I've felt them (usually during our conditioning drills), and let me say that they hurt FAR more than any other kind of kick. We are encouraged to kick to sensitive spots with this kick -- the side and front of the thigh, and the head of the calf muscle. Toe kicks to these areas can be debilitating if you haven't trained for it. When we do a front kick, we raise the knee to the striking position and then point our toes at our target. As the lower leg thrusts forward, the toes stay aimed at the target until they strike and penetrate. We flex and brace the toes against each other against the impact. Again, this takes several years to get right. Also, last week I learned that when we do a crescent kick, the toes are supposed to be the striking point for that as well. I have seen it only once, but I wouldn't want to be on the other side of it.

In Uechi-Ryu, there is a saying, "All is in Sanchin". This applies to some degree in everything we do. We perform Sanchin in almost every class. Most of our katas are performed in Sanchin-Dachi, and we also apply Sanchin to our belt system. For adult ranks there is white-yellow-green-brown-black. Three major steps between white and black. At each of those steps, the fundamental requirements for promotion change -- each step has a different rank kata and a different set of yakusoku kumite drills. Within each belt color we have 3 levels, which correspond to the Sanchin fundamentals of "Mind-Body-Spirit". As a student tests at each of those levels they are expected to demonstrate their kata with memorization, power, and technique as they advance. At the body and spirit levels, the student is expected to learn the bunkai for their rank kata as well. It's a rank system with 10 kyu grades still, but we break it down into 3's. Because "Everything is in Sanchin". **Note: I said "adult belt system". For youths (under 13), our CI changed the colors to reflect a traditional color-per-kyu-grade system.

I don't follow baseball except for tangentially, but this year I was hoping the Cards would win it, especially with it being Yadi's and Pujols' final year. Oh, well. The last time the Cards were in the World Series, I was living in Dallas, and got some really upset looks in the sports bar when I was cheering for them...

Welcome to the forums!

In Uechi-Ryu, our higher level yakusoku kumite drills are expected to be performed in Renzoku style - one continuous sequence of attacks and defenses. That is one of the major changes we are expected to incorporate in our training as we move from kyu ranks to shodan.

Thanks for putting things into perspective. I am probably harder on him sometimes than I need to be -- I just see how good he can be when he really tries at it. He has also expressed a desire to start learning Kobudo in addition to karate, so maybe that will help him a bit too. However, his mom laid down the law that he has to show us that he can keep up with his schoolwork without being nagged before he is allowed to add any more extracurricular activities. Honestly, when I'm sparring, I rarely back up either. I'll sidestep or stand my ground and counter. I much prefer stepping off the line of attack than stepping straight back. Stepping at a 45-degree angle TOWARDS the attacker can make for some very nice counterattacks though.

The last couple of weeks have had their share of ups and downs. I'm still battling with that nagging issue in my side. It turns out that it's a rib that is wiggling about a bit and pinching a nerve from time to time. Right now it's stable, but I can't do any falls or it flares up. So, no aikido for awhile. Two weeks ago, Zach tested for (and passed) his nikyu testing board. I watch him in class and get frustrated with him because he spends half his time messing around and not trying his hardest. But then when it's time to demonstrate in front of the CI or for a test board, his puts forth his A-game and looks really good. I just wish he could put forth that effort all of the time. So one interesting thing about post-shodan training is that there is only one specific requirement for your next rank (rank kata), but there is a whole wealth of material that you have access to. Certain pieces are expected at a certain rank, but you don't actually get tested on them. These include the kata bunkai and yakusoku kumite. For our advanced black belt ranks, we are expected to learn and be proficient in the dan-level kumite drills for other Uechi-Ryu organizations. At nidan, we are expected to know the kumite for Okikukai. At sandan we are shown the Kenyukai drills, and at yondan we are expected to know the Kenseikai drills. The nice thing is that these aren't hard and fast requirements, so a couple of weeks ago when we had a good mix of dan grades in class (a few nidans and a yodan), our CI had us work on the Okikukai driills for awhile, and then he started showing us the Kenyukai drills (expected for sandan). These are very different from the other drills we've seen. In some ways they're more visceral and direct, and definitely not something you want to practice with a partner that doesn't have good control. For example, the first drill involves responding to a lunge punch by stepping to the side, pushing across with the far hand, and simultaneously performing a nukite to the side of the neck. Last week was also a pretty good week in general. I was able to make it to the Tuesday black belt class, which is always fun. Then Friday I did my apprentice teaching, where I got to work 1:1 with one of our new junior black belts on his requirements for nidan (and got to work on my material as well). After that, we had our quarterly black belt training, where we worked more of the advanced two-person drills (in this case the Kenseikai drills [expected for sandan]), and then we did some of the throws and takedowns from the Kanchin bunkai (required for sandan). Needless to say, after an hour of teaching and two hours of training I was pretty well exhausted. But it was a good exhaustion. In case you were wondering, here are the different yakusoku kumite drills:

I just finished season 5 as well. I really enjoyed the character arcs, especially for Johnny and Chozen. Daniel had more than his share of cringe-worthy moments, especially the reintroduction with Mike Barnes. Honestly if they chose not to make a Season 6, this would be a pretty good place to end the show. There are only a couple of loose threads, and the final showdown at the end of the last episode had a real sense of finality to it.

Wow, this was a pleasant surprise! Thanks guys!

In Uechi-Ryu we don't have kihons per se, but we have our hojo undo (supplemental exercises). For example, one is "circle-block, straight punch", or "circle block, chop, backfist, one-knuckle strike". These mirror sequences that are commonly found in our kata. We practice these at the outset of almost every class. However, from time to time, we'll practice them "across the floor". Meaning, we'll line up in two opposing lines at one side of the mats. One partner will execute a series of lunge punches, and the other partner will defend using the hojo undo techniques. When we get to the other end of the mats, the partners switch roles and move in the opposite direction. Lower-ranked students are expected to perform the techniques exactly as performed solo. As a student advances, they are encouraged to find new applications for the techniques. For example, one sequence is "circular block to open the opponent up, mawashi-tsuki (hooking punch) to the temple". However, an advanced student can also practice different stepping (step back at an angle), blocking to cross instead of opening, or picking different appropriate striking points (side of the neck, ribs, temple).[/i] In advanced classes, we'll then rotate partners so you can practice with someone else. I find this practice very useful, especially when they rotate partners, because you get used to working your basics against an actual attack, learning what works and what doesn't. For example, with my size and strength I can usually plow right through most people's blocks unless they get them just right. Most of them learn that the best way to deal with a much larger opponent is to get out of the way, or redirect instead of trying to block head-on. This may be specific to Uechi-Ryu, but the principle holds for any discipline -- pick a defense and a counter and practice them on an opponent who is actually trying to hit you. You'll figure out what works and what doesn't.

To be honest, I chose Uechi-Ryu for two reasons: 1) location, (the dojo is about 5 minutes from my house), and 2) the CI -- I had enrolled my son about a year rprior (starting through his after-school care and later through the rec center), and the CI earned my respect, because he still makes a point to train with his instructors several times per year. I hadn't specifically seen a bunkai for the "yoi" stance for any of our katas, but that doesn't mean there aren't any. The more I train, the more new interpretations I learn for our kata. Train hard and train well!.

I'm a Uechi Ryu stylist myself. It's somewhat different from most other forms of karate, but it's a lot of fun and quite effective. If you decide to go that route, keep in mind that it will take about 2-3 months before the basics start to "click" and feel natural. Give it some time and I don't think you'll regret it. Good luck with your journey!

So over the past few months, Zach's training has been up and down. There are days that he's excited to go train, and other days where he doesn't want to. It's to be expected. However, over the past month or so, he's been excited to go train because he has known he is up for the next testing cycle. Last Friday he had a class (where I was teaching), and then right afterwards he had his test for nikyu. I wasn't so sure about him when he was in class, because he tends to goof around and not put his best effort forward all the time. However, when it came time to demonstrate with the CI (basically, the "are you ready to test" demo), he did great. Immediately after the class, they all lined up for testing. I was pleasantly surprised to see one of his friends, Silvio, was also testing for yellow belt (kukyu). I didn't know he was even enrolled -- I don't think I've ever seen him here. When the test came around, he did really well. There were some areas where the CI got pretty harsh with the brown belt candidates (not yelling per se, but getting pretty critical of them when they didn't get things quite right after the second or third attempt). Zach looked realy strong on all of his hojo undo. His sanchin kata looked really strong too, and he didn't get too frazzled when our CI did the shime testing on him (pulling, pushing, striking him to test his focus). For the two-person drills, they all had to perform the dan kumite exercise with one of the instructors, and each of them struggled with the takedown at the end (Zach included). Speaking from experience, most students struggle with that takedown, especially when I'm their opponent. Honestly, of all the techniques required for shodan, that's the technique that I'm still learning better ways to do it the most. In the end, everyone passed. They had their feedback from their instructors, and then everyone got their new diplomas and belts. At this point, it's pretty much up to Zach when he tests -- if he works hard at it and shows that he's ready, he could test for ikkyu in March or April, and shodan-sho next November. So the ball is now in his court. Since I was still in my gi from the previous class, our CI let me award stripes to all the advanced brown belt candidates. It was a pretty cool experience to award my son his stripe. It made me a super proud papa.

Train with whatever materials you have available to you! If you aren't comfortable training in a dojo, then there are a plethora of good YouTube videos and books available. As a brown belt, you should be able to discern which videos have quality content and which ones don't. Another option you may want to consider is private lessons with your previous CI. At the beginning of the pandemic, our CI was offering private lessons at no additional charge to keep things going. One or two private lessons per month from a more senior instructor could certainly help you "tune up" your karate. Something to consider at least. Again, train with whatever options you have available to you. The key word in that statement is train.

Many of our students get their black belts from Kataaro (including me). I got one of their soft 1.75" cotton black belts with metallic blue embroidery (style on one side, name in katakana on the other side). It turned out GREAT, and I'm very happy with it. I've also gotten compliments from a few of the other students at the dojo. They have a wide variety of embroidery options if you decide to go that way, or you can just do a plain black belt if that's what you want. (The pin is a style pin I got from my CI)

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.