Sergeant1

In my style(Koei-kan) we hit hard to the body and light contact is allowed to the face. Then we also have Bogu which is full contact with armor(head gear, face mask, chest protection). As far as the point thing goes I'll put it this way....I recently competed in our styles international tournament. I took home a 4th place medal along with bruised ribs and a cracked bone in my foot. People were hitting hard. I think that although the injury thing sucks, this is the way point sparring needs to be. If you can hit hard and be hit hard, its much more realistic. When its light contact only, this is not very realistic. I have seen brown or black belts from other styles come to train in Koei-kan and be suprised by the fact that they get hit! In the styles they came from there was no contact allowed. Now after training for a while in our dojo....trust me...they hit! My point......just because it is "point" karate dosen't automatically mean it's soft.

I can tell you that any 8th dan in the All Japan karate do federation is very much the real deal and it does not suprise me to see you write what you did.

I hear you.

IMO, to tell a Roku-Dan with a worn belt that it looks sloppy and he should get a new one would be highly dis-respectful. Likewise, to tell a Roku-Dan with a brand spankin' new belt that he should keep his old worn out belt on would be highly dis-respectful. Does anyone get where I'm going here?

I study Koei-kan Karate-Do. A very realistic, practical style that incudes bogu, which is full contact fighting with armor. Lots of realistic self-defense is taught along with a lot of traditional practices as well. The great thing about Koei-Kan is that it's all one big family. The style is united. A Koei-kan school in California is assaociated with a school in NJ or Michigan ect. Everyone knows everyone. I absolutely love it. No cream puffs alowed. Even without the armor, if you take Koei-Kan, be prepared to learn how to hit and how to take a hit.

I see it a lot with very young children. I can understand it when you combine limited changing areas with parents not wanting their 6 year old getting changed in the dojo. For adults though, this should almost always be a no no, unless it's a changing space issue.