Shorin Ryuu

Haha...you know that kenshin's seiyuu (voice actor) is female, right?

Well, I did mention that I condition my feet too... Anyway, I didn't mention the other stuff at first, but its pretty much every striking surface. Feet, hands, elbows, knees, shins, forearms, etc. To do this, like I said before, I use makiwara and iron palm bags, but I also have a good friend that takes karate with me and we condition the other stuff too. There are a lot of good partner exercises that we do, such as kicking each other in the stomach or shin-impact exercises and forearm drills. We also use other random implements to hit various parts of our body, such as kali sticks or shinai. Does this answer your question better? I didn't say everything the first time...

The philosophy my instructor has is that testing is a haze and a traditional formality. This doesn't mean that he doesn't test, but it just means that he never let any of us test unless we were ready. If your instructor thought to surprise you, then I wouldn't be worried because they wouldn't do it unless they knew you were ready (otherwise why take the risk of letting someone unprepared test)? Mind games are fun sometimes... Or so I told myself sometime between finishing my 800th pushup an starting my thousand punch drill during my last test... Take care.

Do you know what a makiwara is?

Hi. I do Kobayashi Shorin Ryu and there is a big emphasis on conditioning. I kick and punch a makiwara every day and also use an iron palm bag (filled with steel shot) and have a pot of rocks I thrust my fingers into every day as well. This did take a significant building up to though. I've only really recently started training my fingers though, to brush up on all those pressure point techniques... I think its hard for most people to do especially in America because i think it would turn of most people. And they really do want those membership dues... Mebbe we should take a poll on how many people know what a makiwara is?

Hello everyone! I'm a soon to be senior in college. I've took about a year and a half of Soo Bakh Do in high school and have taken Kobayashi Shorin Ryu for the past three years. As a total martial arts nut, I think this place is great. It gives me an opportunity to talk and talk and talk when most people IRL would just walk away. HAHAHAHAHA... hey...come back.... Anyway, hope to have some good discussions. Have a nice day.

I do Kobayashi Shorin Ryu.

I would just like to say that sadly, in America, there is a lack of tradition in many schools. By this I don't mean a lack of formalized belt system, dojo rules, and all that jazz. What I mean is that there is an incredible emphasis on tournament fighting, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I know many competent tournament fighters that are good martial artists and can hold their own in a fight. The problem arises when people train only for tournaments and not for real life. I sadly know some of these individuals as well. Furthermore, in America, many people are drawn in by flashy styles and cool movie-type techniques that lead people to arbitrarily call what they teach karate and then blend in many martial arts together. This, again, is not a bad thing, for true martial arts (look at Okinawan karate, its a mix of Chinese and Okinawan stuff for hundreds of years) is aimed at being well-rounded and flexible. Once again, the problem arises when people just start claiming they teach kung fu or in one case, shorin ryu karate, but when we called them and asked about their ad (which said they taught shorin ryu karate), he just said that he went to three or four classes and caught its "essence"... I'm very fortunate to have a teacher who isn't one of those...charlatans... Just remember, as in all things, to be a critical thinker. Don't blindly take anything for its face value. Blah blah blah...yeah, that was all very serious. Anyway, hope this helped and take care.

Hello everyone. I've been reading quite a few posts about kata and the like. This question is for all of those that take it seriously or everyone else (meaning I just want to hear what everyone has to say). THE QUESTION: Do your instructors give you one bunkai (usually very simple) for each kata, insist that you find it out yourself, give you multiple explanations, or any combination of the above? Also, at what point in your training do they do this? To answer it for me and to give an example, my instructor gave us bunkai for every kata as we learned them (I know all the way through Kusanku Dai in Kobayashi Shorin Ryu, which is a shodan kata). He gave us simple ones (such as kicks and blocks) and gave us advanced ones (such as pressure points or joint manipulations). Also, for every test on every kata (yes, even for yellow belt), he made us explain each movement in the kata we had to know. He also encouraged exploration and bunkai that we thought of ourselves, if they were at least believable. Please let me know what your instructors do or what you wish they would do, or just drop a note to say hi. Thanks everyone for reading and have a nice day.

I'm a big fan of kata... "Why?" you ask? Its the only way that you can truly train without holding anything back. If you believe that kata is useless because you aren't fighting a real person, its just kicks and blocks, etc., then you have only a limited understanding of kata. This is understandable, and probably comes from the defeat of many supposed black belts that knew all sorts of kata, but didn't really "know" them. When you practice kata, you should be focused on its application. Is it a punch, a block, or maybe even a throw? How about a pressure point attack? I do not think that karate masters, and don't scoff, spent their time practicing this stuff their entire lives for no reason. I used to be caught up in the whole "Bruce Lee" craze and scoffed at traditional martial arts...but then I had an instructor who told me about "bunkai" or application. This means that every single movement in a kata has numerous applications that are to be ingrained and can be used in a fight. Yes, if you practice kata merely to look flashy or believe that the entire kata was a series of punches and blocks (and some of the non-traditional kata actually do seem that way, unfortunately), then yes, you will be defeated quite easily. Woe be unto him that faces someone who has truly mastered kata, however. And with that, everyone have a nice day and continue your training, whatever that means for each of you.

As one can tell from my name, I like Shorin Ryu. Anyhow, I have taken both Shorin Ryu and TKD and I have to say that I much prefer Shorin Ryu. This is only because my experience with TKD was rather negative, as they were very tournament focuses rather than some practical applications (and for this i speak only for the particular group I have had experience with). Although i have noticed some trends...but I don't want to offend anyone, and remember the style is only as good as the practicioner. Shorin Ryu, to me, seems more practical. At any rate, my teacher insists on teaching it as bujutsu rather than budo. This means that bujutsu, focuses on the combative nature rather than the philosophical nature, as true to its origins. This is not to say that there are no benefits of the mental and spiritual kind, in fact, they are numerous. However, lets be realistic and remember its history and development. Also, with respect to Okinawan vs. Japanese karate, I would choose Okinawan. Japanese karate, is a derivative of Okinawan karate, brought over mainly by Gichin Funakoshi. In his own words, he said that the style of karate taught in Japan is vastly different then that which he learned as a youth in Okinawa and that he greatly simplified all the kata which he brought over. See...I like to ramble... Another thing, as mentioned somewhere, the kata does become more advanced and more circular. I was actually under the impression that Shorin Ryu was in fact, a hard and rigid style, but it is actually not. This was based on my early learning of the naihanchi and the pinan (the pinan i consider kind of dumb for reasons i will explain in a little bit), but now that I know the passai, chinto, and the kusanku kata (don't know gojuushiho yet, its a 2nd dan kata), it is very circular and in the obvious case of chinto, very Chinese. Wow, thats a long sentence...and moving right along. I kind of dislike the Pinan kata because they are very simplified kata invented and spread by Itosu in the very early 1900s to introduce to the curriculum of young kids. Obviously, they were very watered down versions of other kata, such as the Passai and Kusanku kata. One thing to focus on the kata though, and this is sort of unrelated to the topic, but make sure you practice them with a focus on application, otherwise it turns into some silly dance that anyone can do... Wow, I like this forum...Take care everyone!

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum, but this topic caught my eye. For those skeptical about these sorts of things, I reccommend doing some research. Please read the whole message before assuming things...There is something that is called "meridian theory" which in simple terms, is how the Chinese interpreted the human nervous system, which is in effect, like a giant switchboard with electric current. There are some good books out there by George Dillman. I have some of his videos and have read Kyusho-Jitsu: The Dillman Method of Pressure Point Fighting. To be honest, some of his books' contents are repetitive and you only need to read one of them to learn a lot about the subject. I also reccomend the translation of The Bubishi by Alexander, which I have also read. Two things to keep in mind here. The first, as already mentioned in a previous post, medical technology was not advanced, so "delayed death touches" were most likely the results of blood clots or various ruptures within the body that were untreated. Secondly, those training for these techniques also worked diligently to toughen their striking surfaces, such as fingers, etc., just like you might see in cheesy kung fu movies today. There attacks were thus more effective. One last note, I have had the distinct pleasure of being a testing dummy for some of my instructor's techniques, and there are a surprising number of techniques you can learn, such as how to send opposing nerve impulses within the body to "crash" into each other and shut the body down. This is related to the mystical "death touch" but must obviously be done with force (although maybe not as much as you would expect) and usually require more than one strike. As one who has passed out from these such techniques before, believe me, they do work. Also NEVER try to experiment with these in the absence of a qualified instructor. The last thing you want to do is shut off the blood flow to your friend's brain and kill him. On that note, have a nice day.