Shorin Ryuu

The best thing to do is not to stand "double-weighted". I usually have most my weight on one leg or the other, which allows for rapid movement and quick circling around my center. In this example, someone pushes me with both hands on the chest, which causes my body, which does not resist his push, to merely swivel on axis and do X technique. I say X because there is an infinite amount of things to do. If he pushes you with any sort of force, not resisting the push and letting his energy flow uninterrupted will seriously put him off balance.

I have no basis for knowing if this is even remotely the case in your situation, but oftentimes, names for techniques are pretty random/arbitrary. Sometimes there is a good reason for the name, sometimes there isn't. Sometimes the name is only used within a specific dojo (not really part of a broader, established shared vocabulary). You may not be finding anything simply because it is "made up." This has no bearing on the effectiveness of the technique, just the name.

"Back in the day", it wasn't totally uncommon for karate masters to be highly skilled in Nahate and Shurite.

I'd probably lose to a boxer if I fought him in a boxing match, but I think I could take the average boxer in a fight. I did box in college, by the way.

One aspect of pressure point methods, which many critics do not realize, is to seriously disrupt the opponent's balance. Sometimes the main purpose isn't so much to inflict pain (although that always helps) as it is to unbalance the opponent through manipulation of pressure points, amongst other things. Just thought this would be a good place to bring it up, as Okinawan karate and kenpo really do favor a lot of self and opponent energy and balance manipulation in striking and grappling.

I've read that book, and I liked a lot of what it said. It really speaks to me, a member of the armed services, and what it means to truly be a warrior, as opposed to someone who just does martial arts. It was one of the few books that I've read and voiced a lot of the same opinions that I've had for a while.

I was a political science major in undergrad, and while I do find some of the things amusing, some times I just can't bring myself to laugh at other things...

I drive so far to get to where I train, I spend more in gas a week than I do in monthly dues... At one place, dues are 40 dollars a month (at this place, the instructor does it for a living). At another, I supposedly pay 20 dollars a month, but the instructor insists that I give the check to one of the students because he doesn't handle the money personally. That student never seems to arrive the days I do, so I haven't paid for the past month or so...At that place, he doesn't do it for a living (or train kids, for that matter), so he's a little free when it comes to the money. Both are actually in the same system, same style (Shorinkan Shorin Ryu), but I go to both because I really like both of the instructors. Plus, in more practical terms, I'm getting my master's degree over the next year, so I have to juggle karate classes around my academic classes since both places are about 120 miles away. It also means that every three months, my schedule changes completely (quarter system), so two different places with different schedules gives me more flexibility with which to attend classes.

Any of you know Kimo Wall? He's a travelling Goju Ryu guy that will be swinging by our dojo sometime this month. From what I hear, he is extremely talented and a bit of a character. He's pretty close with the head of my style (Shorinkan Kobayashi Shorin Ryu) for North America (Doug Perry), as he was one of Doug Perry's spotters during Vietnam. He also attends one of our camps periodically, I think. My instructor says that training with him would be a wonderful opportunity. I was just wondering if any of you had heard of him or had the chance to train with him.

Don't be a voter...be an educated voter.

Whenever I spar with anyone, I bring it to the level of the combatant. Well, just a little bit higher, if I'm able to (since I'm not better than everyone, obviously). The same goes for fighting women. Yes, there are always that case of the really aggressive and fearsome woman who won't hold back and beats a lot of the guys. But the general trend is that most of them are not like this. All the same, even for those that are less aggressive and not quite as skilled, it is an insult to them and a detriment to both of to your and her training if you simply just "go easy" on her. You can scale back a bit, but don't lose your focus. All too often guys will hold back and not take it seriously when facing a woman. What I'm saying is hold back and still take it seriously. Like I said, you should always bring it to a level a little higher than the person you are facing, regardless of the danger. Too much and no one learns anything, unless it is a necessary lesson in humility for some cases... You want to press them, but not squash them. That's just my opinion on it.

[insert plug for The Okinawa Program here] Like all the posts on this general topic, I'm going to recommend reading the Okinawa Program for general nutrition advice. You don't have to follow their specific program (I don't), but it gives you lots of just basic nutrition info all in one place, and that can help you decide what you want to eat. I could tell you to eat A and B and not eat C, but what you really need is to know why (pun intended...).

A lot. Yesterday, my instructor and I were just talking about the way we saw a Kyoshi in our system do Gojushiho and remarked that one of the moves may have been the way it's actually done in Oyata's system(or was it Odo's? It was one of them). This Kyoshi was actually the first (and perhaps only?) non-Kenpo practitioner asked to be a member of their high-ranking board since he was that close-in with them. I wish I remember what the name of it was, but basically, a permanent association of high ranking kenpo practitioners for the purpose of sharing the arts. He respectfully declined, but the point is, they do share a lot of kata. For example, some traditional Okinawan karate kata in Ryukyu kenpo are the Naihanchi, the Pinan kata, Seisan, Passai, Kusanku, Gojushiho...there are others, but the list goes one (varying from style to style). My instructor went so far as to say that some Ryukyu kenpo stuff was basically Shorin Ryu because a lot of instructors were the same and the close sharing of kata. The names of styles aren't too important, but the point is that they are extremely close in practice and theory.

I looked it up in one of Robert Smith's books (Chinese Boxing) and sure enough, the Chinese characters for chuan fa are the same characters that the Japanese use for kenpo. I didn't know that. I never really payed much attention to the actual characters for chuan fa before...

Training in various scenarios is pretty useful. One thing I think that needs to be emphasized to students is that if you really don't want to be caught off-guard, don't be caught unawares. I made that statement pretty simply on purpose, but the point being is that most people have to make a conscious effort to really take in their surroundings and analyze the threats around them. Human beings are constantly bombarded with so much sensory information from the day that they are born. Thus, the human mind naturally discards and does not focus on a huge majority of everything it takes in, for simple sanity purposes as well as emotional health. If we responded to every single stimuli with incredible focus, it would be draining indeed. However, it isn't too much of a stretch to tell students to simply be aware of the posture that they sit in, lie in or stand in. Even that simple thing is big, because a lot of times, people will naturally place themseves in a "comfortable" position that will render them vulnerable to attack. Not that I advocate constant paranoia, but I try to walk, sit and stand in a manner so that if anything happened (someone attacked me and I needed to defend myself, someone tripped and needed to be caught before hitting the ground, that stupid pen of mine rolls of the desk, five thousand space ninja landed on earth and started raising all sorts of racket), I could respond quickly. Obviously, except for the space ninja bit, I was exaggerating for effect, but you get the picture. Being aware of your own posture will go a long ways towards situational awareness. A multitude of other factors, such as common sense, apply to perhaps more strategic versus tactical preparations for a given scenario. And there are a multitude of other tactical combinations and ways to prepare for them.. But, I'm lazy and got tired of rambling...I mean writing....

I must say that even when I was a teenager, I disparated the "MTV generation" types and "instant culture". That included the time period before I starting taking martial arts. I think a lot of this has to do with poor parenting and/or the lifestyle that teenagers are exposed to nowadays. Everything is fast-paced, high-tech, instant-gratification oriented. Kids spend more time playing video games or watching TV than they do talking as a family or even (heaven forbid) going outside to do some chores around the yard. When my dad always said (as all dads should) "It builds character", he was right. There's just something to be said about plain hard work that makes you feel accomplishment and a sense of discipline. "If it's worth doing, it's worth doing well" is another saying of his that I took to heart. Now (interestingly enough, I was just reading an article about this in the recent Journal of Asian Martial Arts) this does swing back to the initial proposition/question about whether martial arts builds character or that if people of character are more likely to be attracted to martial arts and that they are the ones more likely to progress through martial arts (and hence stay in them). I think it is actually a little bit of both. I'm always asked how big of an impact martial arts has had on my character. To be totally honest, the classic line of "self-discipline, courage, confidence, calm, etc." is not my answer. I know I already possessed these traits before I even started taking martial arts. Granted, traditional martial arts offers me a venue to further them, but I already had a strong foundation in them before I even started. The only other thing I can call to mind is being "well-balanced", but I actually attribute that more to my extensive introspection on the matter as well as my political science major in college, during which a lot of philosophy was studied. Hmm, I didn't mean this to be a "toot my own horn" post, but what I meant was that I don't necessarily view traditional martial arts as the true nurturing for my [insert positive character trait here], but rather as a medium through which I can live those traits. Now, someone like Aristotle would say that a way to become ethical would be through the proper practice of ethical actions (i.e. martial arts in this case), but now we're (actually, maybe just me) starting to delve into some other matters as well...

Those are the correct characters for kenpo. I could be wrong on this, but I think it was a term the Japanese came up with by themselves to describe unarmed methods of combat (almost all the time meaning Chinese) rather than a Japanese pronunciation of a Chinese word. DM, is there a Chinese word using these two characters like this with the same meaning in China?

The first one is "The Eye of the World". While it is fantasy, it is not "overdone", in my opinion. Their version of magic (a quite interesting spin on yin and yang, in my opinion) is actually pretty interesting. Also the storyline is of a pretty epic scale that rivals The Lord of the Rings in my opinion.

I pride myself in my fitness and plan on staying healthy and fit for the rest of my life (Yes, I'm a certifiable health nut...I eat tofu, drink soymilk and gave up junk food years ago, so it isn't a temporary "fad" thing). All the same, I've seen many people who were perhaps a little overweight. Just this last Saturday, I had a chance to train with a godan who was visiting my instructor's dojo. We were having a training session for a yondan who is going to test for his godan in about two weeks. At any rate, this person was strong, experienced, but could probably lose a few pounds. At the same time, he had such an incredibly nimble way of moving combined with incredible efficiency that made me almost do a doubletake periodically when he would do something. Even just him doing a 180 degree turn was magnificient to watch. I for one would want to have him on my side during a fight (especially because that would mean I wouldn't have to fight HIM). But you wouldn't necessarily be able to tell that just looking at him.

There are reasons I dislike TKD, but those aren't the reasons. First off, what we now know as TKD was created in the 1950s by General Cho, a student of Funakoshi (Shotokan). I could go on and on, but what I want to say instead is that it is not a good idea to have a thread entitled "Why X is a sucky MA", where X can be anything. I know you have TKD in the list of styles you take, and maybe this post was simply created to spark discussion on possible differences between TKD now and at its foundings...I just think a little more forum etiquette would be in order.

Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series is pretty good. It is very rich in characters, depth, and pages...only thing is, it isn't finished yet (there's around 10 or 11 books out, I think). It's all one long continuous story. If you have time to read it, I would recommend it highly. It's more of a fantasy adventure type, but has an incredible amount of depth concerning characters, some humor, some drama, some tragedy, character development, story twists, politics (governmental, court, intrigue), battles, even some romance. I'm just rambling at this point, but it is a great series.

I know special operations is an interesting topic during the Vietnam War...for example, they were restricted from starting an insurgency movement in North Vietnam, so they "faked one", captured North Vietnamese soldiers, took them to fake Northern resistance camps (actually just places in South Vietnam), even parachuted blocks of ice into North Vietnam so that it looked like people left their parachutes...that sort of thing. There's a lot of simply interesting stuff in regards to special operations, special operations intelligence, and all that. There's also a lot of POW stuff written. Some of them, like Robbie Risner's book are very good reads. Anyway, you can literally write about anything: reasons it started, conduct of the war, effect of "x" on the war (aerial bombing, opposition on the home front, communist aid, etc.), POW's, guerrila warfare...the list goes on. You just have to choose something that interests you...

There is already a sticky on this topic in this very forum.

I wouldn't trust that source, to be honest. For one thing, karate wasn't developed as this huge underground movement against oppression. It was practiced mainly by royalty, aristocracy, bodyguards and law enforcement. There is a whole lot more I could go into it, but it's been explained on numerous other karate history threads already (and I'm lazy).

I'll have to go with Sokon Matsumura. He was a true warrior, trained in many disciplines, employed his fighting talents directly in his occupation as the royal bodyguard to the Ryu Kyu royal family, and is credited with founding the Shuri-Te branches of karate. I am of the opinion that he would have simply annihilated a lot of contemporary or recent great fighters. Not that they are necessarily bad, but that he was that good. Of course, before I go on a tirade and lists tons of traditional masters like the Motobus, Chibana, Itosu, Chotoku Kyan, etc. (too late), I'll just end here.