Furinkazan

This list is on the website of Jesse Enkamp (Karate Nerd) Warning: 93 Signs Your Dojo is a McDojo Notice how the majority of the items on this list are either exaggerations or tongue-in-cheek. And that's probably most articles and videos I've seen on McDojos. I have a great sense of humor like everybody else, but the exaggerations and tongue-in-cheek articles almost rule out concern for others as the motive for fixation.

Agreed. However, the fixation is obvious. Even if it's not two-fifths (what I estimated based on my observation), they get way more attention than they should. This seems like good reasoning when taken at face value, but more often than not, the discussions I see on social media about McDojo's are between people who are experienced in martial arts. Furthermore, I don't believe I've ever seen someone with zero experience and looking to train in martial arts in the comments section asking genuine questions on the posts and videos about McDojo's. It's mostly people who've been training for awhile cosigning on it. For example, if the video is "10 Signs Your School is a McDojo," most of the comments are something like "You forgot #11, which is..." But are we really calling out McDojo's to the extent that we are because we genuinely care about people whose names, faces, and very existences we don't know? Or is it something else? My thoughts are that with the rise in popularity of MMA (and the most popular arts used in MMA), the relevancy of traditional martial arts has been under scrutiny. But rather than shrug it off and do what we do, McDojo's have become a scapegoat that karateka can point to and say "See! That's THEM! That's not REAL karate!" One thing I don't believe I've ever seen is McDojo's being called out by name, unless the head instructor has gone viral. I've never seen, for example, somebody who lives in a major metropolitan area (where, presumably, there would be number of "McDojos") post the names of the local McDojos. I happen to live in a major metropolitan are myself. I don't know of any McDojos in my area, but then again, I don't go looking for them. But if I were to ever run into one, and I'm discussing McDojos, I'll gladly name names. Right now, McDojos appear to cryptids like bigfoot and the chupacabra. Many people have seen them, but they can't seem to show you one. And McDojos aren't the only scapegoats. "Sports karate" has recently become a new scapegoat.

In my observation (mostly on the internet), it's mostly karateka that appear to be fixated on McDojos. I don't see it happening anywhere near as much in BJJ discussions,, unless the context is them referring to all places in which TMA is taught as "McDojos." If this is happening in the US (I'm not aware of it), I don't know what the profit margin is. If you look at the maximum number of students that the square footage of the floor in most dojos can fit, I'm not sure the tuition is even covering the rent, much less the reinvestment into the physical dojo via the purchase and replacement of training equipment and the like.

Well... I wouldn't say that the thought of getting close should unnerve you, but you do need to think about your training and the inventory in your bag of tricks. The fact of the matter is that if the attacker can't out-strike you, they're going to resort to grappling. This will happen, absolutely 100% of the time, guaranteed. This happens in every single street fight where one person is besting the other in landing strikes. Again, this will happen and you need to be ready for it. And if you're not very well versed in grappling, then this scenario either turns into an equalizer at best or an advantage for the attacker at worst. If someone gets close enough for me to grapple, I WILL grapple, as I do have some - albeit, limited - training in judo and BJJ. If the person who gets close enough to me doesn't have any training in those arts, wrestling, or something similar... well, they just made a huge mistake.

When on social media, and I look at postings by karate pages on Facebook and videos about karate on YouTube: -About two-fifths of all postings are about calling out "McDojos." -Another two-fifths of all postings are about belts. -And the remaining fifth is actually about the teaching, the training, usage in real life scenarios, dojo politics, etc. To an extent, I can understand the discussions about belts making up a significant fraction of the discussions. At any given time, most mudansha are testing within the next three months, so that's where their focus is going to be. But two-fifths seems kind of high. The real odd one here are discussions about "McDojos." What's the obsession? Sure, we know they're out there. But why are they living rent-free in our heads? If we know our training is legit, why not focus on that and forget about McDojos? *ends rant*

If you've seen these styles using grey belts, I'd bet money that they come from dojos that are either a) affiliated with an organization that is neither headquartered in Japan/Okinawa nor founded by a Japanese/Okinawan soke, b) not affiliated at all. No Japanese manufacturer - Tokaido, Hirota, Tokyodo, Shureido, Hayate (you name it) - even makes grey belts to begin with. For children, not adults.

Teaching is a completely separate skill. There are plenty of people who know less than I do that can teach better than I can.

I think a black belt should have some competence. Should a newly promoted shodan be expected to be able to beat a Hell’s Angel at the local roadhouse? Probably not. But a random guy at the local bar who caught you looking at his girlfriend? Probably. A black belt who can’t hold his own against a random untrained attacker reflects poorly on the dojo.

I've never been to Japan or Okinawa, but if what everyone is saying online is to be believed... Okinawan culture is significantly more relaxed and less formal than Japanese culture. And, as a result, Okinawan hombu dojos are probably far more likely to adopt a laizzes faire style of leadership than Japanese ones.

I’ve seen Wastelander’s videos on social media. He’s wearing a Shorinkan patch, but doesn’t teach the Pinans to adults. I could never see JKA, ISKF, or SKIF allowing any of its member dojos to not teach the Heians. So this definitely checks out.

Is there at least a syllabus, so that the students can practice on their own at home? I think a problem that can arise from this is the material they need not being covered on the day they show up. IMO, the very existence of tests already does that. The last BJJ school I trained at did belt promotions every quarter, but there were no tests. You were simply promoted based on how you were evaluated on regular training days. Unannounced or short notice? Because “unannounced” creates a “right place at the right time” scenario that leaves out guy that did movie night with wife and kids because he was unable to schedule that around the test. This is why I think the list of testable items need to be kept short. If the list is too long, there’ll be little to no time to do things that are not on the test.

I've never heard it broken down like that, but I think that most people develop a concept on their own that is similar to that by brown belt. Normally, from experience with ippon kumite. If I started karate at a much younger age and wanted to "go rogue" with Shotokan as you did with Shorin-ryu, I'd return the gedan shuto ukes to Heian Shodan and Bassai Dai (and the saguri-te to Bassai Dai). In Shorin-ryu and Shito-ryu, the gedan shuto uke is a valuable tool for intercepting kicks and we don't see it until Kanku Dai, which is normally taught at 2nd kyu.

To my knowledge, only Kobayashi Shorin-ryu lacks Seisan. Kobayashi Shorin-ryu is also strictly Shuri-te, in that most don't teach any Tomari-te katas. I know of one that teaches Rohai, and that's about it. So we can forget about Naha-te katas, such as Seisan. Except, Seisan isn't strictly Naha-te. If you pay close attention to how different styles do Seisan, you'll notice that the various branches of Shorin-ryu that do practice it have various things in common that separate it from the versions practiced in Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu, and Uechi-ryu. And, contrary to popular belief among most of my fellow Shotokan students... Hangetsu is based on the Shorin-ryu version of Seisan, not the Goju-ryu version. The slow turns at the end where you lift your knee and bring it down with the slow back fist and take two steps forward is only present in Shorin-ryu. I'm certain that Naha-te was the first in Okinawa to practice Seisan, but it eventually spread to Shuri and/or Tomari for it to develop its own distinct Shorin-ryu flavor before the development of modern karate styles.

Shuriedo and Tokyodo are baggier than Hirota, but I would definitely say that Hirota has a more relaxed fit than Tokaido. And, by extension, I'll also say Shobu - not by personal experience (I've never even seen a Shobu in person), but from what I've been reading online, Shobu has an even slimmer fit than Tokaido.

I believe it's to make your gi have a louder snap. If you get your gi custom made, you can actually request thicker and wider hems to make them even louder. You'll notice that judo gis don't have the same hem, as there's no need get a response from the gi. They have a simple one-line hem. I've taken gis to an alterations shops that couldn't duplicate the hem, despite their efforts. It might be because I didn't specifically ask them to, but it looked like they tried. And in one particular instance, it was two Kamikaze gis; and in the other, it was two Hirota lightweight gis. In the case of the Hirota gis, I should have paid for the hemming online but I was too lazy to do my own measurements. In both cases, perfectly good gis were ruined. It was after my experience here that I realized something: if you need anything hemmed on your gis, the only options that make sense are extremely cheap gis (ProForce, Century, etc) where you really couldn't care less about a one-line hem. That, or Japanese gis. Those mid-tier brands like Mugen and Kamikaze are strictly for people who don't need anything hemmed.

I live near a military base, and can confirm that not all alteration shops know how to duplicate the manufacturer's hem on a karate gi. Best thing to do is ask around the dojo for a shop that can. And the closest one to the military housing for the base I live near charges for $40 just for the pants OR sleeves. So if you have to get both hemmed, you're looking at $80 (I hope that's not considered cheap because if it is, people who live further away from miltary bases are in big trouble). That's why I recommend Shureido or Tokyodo (Tokyodo is the cheaper of the two) since they hem for free, and have baggier fit that's better for the big boys. Higher end non-Japanese gis like Mugen and Kamikaze are good deals IF you don't need anything hemmed. I'll admit I'm considering getting that Arawaza Black Diamond and having it hemmed anyway. Because by the time you spend $325 on it, what's another $80?

I think that's the WKF combo kit where you get both the red and blue trimmed tops. The single Black Diamond gi is $325 (and that's STILL alot).

I have to agree with some of the other posters here. Mugen is a good deal only if you don't need anything altered. Depending on the size of the gi and how much alteration you need, you could end up spending roughly $200 before that Mugen is ready to be worn on the floor. Even with international shipping, you'll end up spending a similar amount or less on a Shureido or Tokyodo (both companies hem pants and sleeves for free). The cut of both Shureido and Tokyodo are known to be big-boy friendly. The lack of in-house alterations doesn't make Mugen the worst deal, though. The title of "worst deal" goes to Arawaza. That Black Diamond is nice, but by the time I'd get one altered at the local shop, the overall cost would be ridiculous.

I think it’s important to note that the meaning of kiai as it pertains to karate isn’t a deep one. The kiai was not practiced in Okinawa until it was added by the Japanese. The kiai actually came from kendo practitioners who brought it to karate when cross training under Funakoshi. It’s entirely possible that the Koreans may have been practicing the kiai (or “kihap,” as they call it) just as long as, if not longer than, the Okinawans. If we are to search for a deeper meaning of the kiai, then the answer is best found in kendo rather than karate.

What the instructor said makes sense if omitting things is for a purpose other than reducing or eliminating redundancy. And I’m all for that, though not to the same extent as Wastelander. I’m a bit of a traditionalist, so I’d limit the elimination of kata to only the ones developed after karate was introduced to mainland Japan. In my opinion, the Pinans are defining katas of Shorin-ryu. Tatsuo Shimabuku didn’t teach the Pinans, so it would make sense that he would differentiate his style by calling it Isshin-ryu.

I've always heard the same thing, only difference is that the stagehands were in kabuki shows. This explains why, in ninja anime, high ranking members of ninja clans are dressed as kabuki as a reference to that.

If someone wants satiate the dreams of their inner eight year old, I could see the appeal. But ninjas haven't been cool since waning of the popularity of the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon. So I can't imagine that there'd be many people in ninjutsu/bujinkan schools under the age of 40.

I would never consider myself a Jake Paul fan, but I have a lot of respect for what he does. In this case, he fought six rounds with Anthony Joshua. How many of us could do the same thing? How many of Jake Paul's haters could do it? Everyone seems to forget that Francis Ngannou got knocked out by Anthony Joshua in the second round, so Jake Paul did far better than Ngannou. And Ngannou is no pushover: he went the distance with Tyson Fury before that.

I wouldn’t put much, if at all. I think the “becoming a better person” part of martial arts works the same way the PSA’s at the end of 80’s cartoons (G.I. Joe, especially) worked: children are more willing and eager to heed advice from people that they look up to. And also back in the 80’s during the “karate boom,” children were more likely to look up to a karate instructor. After reaching a certain age, I think the “becoming a better person” part of karate only come to those who actively seek it, and that age is probably sometime during or right before middle school.

Is this in your dojo, or the MA community at large? If it's happening in the dojo, then that's on your instructor(s) for failing to maintain a positive training environment. If it's in the MA community at large, then I would just limit my MA fellowship with my classmates. Before you quit martial arts, I suggest checking out some other schools in your area if there are any. You'll find that no two schools have the same environment. My school has a very peaceful atmosphere, while I've seen others that are run like a military boot camp. However, this is assuming that your issue is with your school and not the MA community at large.