Shorin Ryuu

For more elaboration, you see the silhouettes of those three on the bottom of the screen (seated in the movie theater) and they make wisecracks and hilarious comments all through the movie, turning very bad movies into a rather comedic experience. Uh...Yeah, I would be one of those fans. I don't get any channels on my TV, so I haven't watched it in a long, long while (not that I watched it that much for the past 6 years).

I'm a Shorin Ryu guy, but I recommend you check out the Goju Ryu school. Goju Ryu will give you better strikes than Tae Kwon Do or Shotokan and Goju Ryu has more than enough of grappling for you to do (at least an Okinawan Goju Ryu style will...I'm unsure about the Japanese ones simply because I haven't done that much research on Japanese Goju or met a practitioner of it). Plus it has a lot of energy training and deeper things you are unlikely ever to see in a Shotokan dojo (not "bashing" Shotokan per se...it's just not where their focus is).

I think part of the answer is that the rules of sparring and tournaments create an environment where boxing is very useful. Boxing is very scientific form of sport fighting using a closed fist. It only makes sense that it would look similar to what a lot of karateka do when they do sports or fight with a lot of rules. You can't do a lot of things that make karate "karate" in a very sport environment. Certainly it is possible to do karate while looking like you are doing boxing. In tournaments and the like, you are simply not seeing the whole depth and range of techniques which are an integral part of what karate is.

I'll admit I haven't really studied too much on him. I just know that it was controversial back then when he was promoted to hanshi when he was only 35 years old. I do know that he did learn Naihanchi from Chibana Chosin. It was actually very common for people (others include those like Hohan Soken) to learn Naihanchi and other things from Chibana Chosin as he was considered the "last" of the "old masters" on Okinawa and highly respected by many people of all styles on Okinawa.

In my opinion, the very low horse stance is pretty much useless for punching and blocking. It is useful for two main things: training muscles and for shifting weight downwards while throwing or grappling. Even then, my style doesn't really do it like the way "horse stance" is most commonly done or perceived (not that it is a "rare" way of doing it...many styles do it the way mine does, there are just so many more that do not).

Sukunaihayashi sounds like an incorrect pronunciation of the characters which form the "Shobayashi" in Shobayashi Shorin Ryu. Shimabukuro Eizo was also a student of Kyan Chotoku. The "Sho" was the original character used when describing the "Shao" in "Shaolin". This differs by a stroke from the "Ko" in "Kobayashi" although they mean pretty much the same thing.

White Warlock: Whenever I try and respond to this thread, you go and write a long, detailed post that states exactly what I wanted to say in excellent terms. My hat's off to you.

A nice encapsulation of what I was hinting at.

I don't consider that to be necessarily traditional. So you're saying he didn't really criticize traditional fighting techniques that much?

I still wonder if what he was criticizing was really what one should consider "traditional" ways of training and fighting technique.

I can fake it well enough but I don't consider myself fluent. At any rate, listening is far easier than speaking.

Ah, you've never been exposed to drama cd's. I have some, but they are all in Japanese...

No. It tastes different. I know a lot of people that drink it vanilla-flavored, but I just drink it plain. I'm sure if you drink it with the expectation that it will taste like milk you may be turned off. That being said, I don't even like the taste of regular milk anymore since I almost never drink it (and I used to drink it religiously).

I do think there is something lost if you try to exert maximum power throughout every single move though. I don't just mean brute strength at the expense of proper form, but I feel that maximum power isn't the point of every move in a kata. Knowing far too many empty hand and weapons kata, I do feel it is a great workout doing them all once or twice...takes me forever though.

Forgive me for my paraphrase. (And no, he didn't literally write that...) So where is this wonderful spreadsheet detailing all the facts of the "real fight?" You know, the one that says 99.9% of all fights end up on the ground and that boxers usually win against non-boxer fighters. I even did a google search and I couldn't find it.

I agree with that analysis. I would perhaps differ only slightly in that I think he is probably not "dropping" his shoulder so much that he is lifting and over-rotating as he extends it (much more common of a mistake and causes much more pain in the neck, especially in a reverse punch). Wow, I feel like I'm diagnosing over the radio or something.

I strongly urge you to check out Kyoshi Sean Riley. He teaches Shorinkan Shorin Ryu in Denver and is truly a high caliber martial artist. I've sent you a pm with his email address. I don't think you'll regret at least meeting him (he's pretty good). At any rate, if you are interested in Okinawan karate, he's definitely one to take it from. And he's a real nice guy too.

I still don't see what it is about the palm heel strike (or at least the way I do it) that makes it so "unusable" in a fight. I just see posts that say "Yeah, but you can't use it that often" etc.

No our Grandmaster never taught that , the Master under our Grandmaster who I named Mark did. It's confussing. Our Grandmasters school is in Ohio where I attend, Master Marks is in North Carolina. And yes once our Grandmaster learned of all this he freaked out but Master Mark sucked up and forgave him, but now Mark has it coming because he won't stop acting like a self centered child. Welcome to life in a large organization. A large organization always gives you a lot of good people. Unfortunately, the number of bad people increases as well. We've had some people kicked out for various reasons in Shorinkan Shorin Ryu as well.

None. I tend to avoid dairy products (except for maybe cheese on a rare occasion) altogether though I'm not lactose intolerant. I drink soy milk and take Pharmanex multivitamins so I get more than my fair share of calcium a day.

Yeah. In Shorin Ryu, I might add. (Hmm...is that good or bad considering the discussion?)

Yeah, I've seen enough of Shotokankid's post to see he gets the whole "black belt means nothing" deal. While a year is somewhat odd to us, it all boils down to the fact that what is really important is how good the person is. It would be different if a person in your school or same system (i.e. tracing back to the same grandmaster in the organizational sense) was not "up to snuff". Once you cross organizational lines, there may be some rough correlation or similarity, but any attempt at meaningful comparison is rather futile. That's why I said "nothing really" to what I thought about it (belied by this post, of course).

I've always said this again and again. Largely in the East, the notion of 1st degree black belt meaning anything is new and a minority opinion. There are exceptions and some styles that do indeed promote what I call the "black belt mystique", but they are just that, more exceptions than the rule. What do I think of it? Nothing really.

Wow....the only time I have heard that is from a student whos dojo didn't believe in having the Instructor interact with its students like in even the lightest forms of sparring or teaching. I later learned that student claimed to beat his Instructor 50% of the time when he sparred with him a few times. I told the student if your master can not impress you at all, and if he can not 100% destory you in sparring or real life combat then what makes you believe he is worthy of teaching you. I am not trying to be mean, just blunt....but are you having issues with how or what your Instructor is teaching you? Just wondering and do you think he/she could beat you in a sparring game...after all we are all here to learn how to defend ourself, and achieve peace. But I would like to see a Master who can teach both instead of one. Apparently you missed my point completely (no offense). I have no issues whatsoever with the way my instructor teaches. In fact, I believe his method is far better than many other instructors I have come across. (I'm going to quote a previous quote of mine describing how my classes are) To give you a rundown, my classes are 2 1/2 hours long, which allows for flexibility. The atmosphere is extremely relaxed and nothing is really planned ahead of time. In the beginning, we usually have self-stretching that will invariably involve chatting and exchanging of stories or martial arts discussion. There are perhaps never more than five or six of us on most days and we usually split up into groups or individual training for some of the time following. Our instructor will take one or several or all of us and go over kata, principles, weapons, or drills (or any thing else he has in mind, or he simply asks us what we want to do). Other times, me and other students will do some kata (with or without Sensei watching) and either discuss things that come to mind, practice bunkai or give any other observations occur as we do it. We also may do drills or other training that we feel like we want to emphasize at the moment. I find this format really helps students to think on their own while still providing an instructor's oversight as he participates and trains with us as well. The small group format really facilitates discussion and the lack of a rigid discipline structure allows for free exchange of ideas. As such, self-discipline is something that is needed (my instructor doesn't train people under 15 years of age at the moment). It also really helps Sensei to tailor the training to each individual, which is how it was traditionaly taught. At the very end of practice, Sensei will try to have at least 20-30 minutes or so of kata practice with all of us together. It isn't uncommon for us to go out to eat afterwards or stick around and chat for a while either. I much prefer this style of dojo, not just because it is truly more traditional in its orientation, but because I feel it is far more effective, not to mention more friendly and relaxed. And let me emphasize how open my instructor is to interaction, criticism or simply new ideas. This helps to foster an analytical approach to martial arts rather than a simple blind acceptance of everything. Unlike some instructors I have come across, he is still learning. What I mean by this is often some people reach a stage where they feel comfortable enough to simply "rest on their laurels" (and their skill level may be quite good, in fact) and stop learning. He does not. To answer the other part of your question, I have no doubt he could kill me rather easily or destroy me in a sparring session. Simply put, he is very good at what he does. But again, my point was that instruction from a teacher is practically a necessity. You will never see me say otherwise. At the same time, instruction needs to be supplemented by individual reflection, analysis, and growth on the part of the student. Fortunately, I am able to accomplish this even in class time due to the way the class is structured. I as simply saying many class structures do not allow for this nor do people really take the time to do it at home. Another part of my original post was something sdargie nailed on the head when he compared it to learning music at home so you are ready for band practice. As I said in the post earlier in this thread, it wasn't to denounce class time, but "getting as much done outside of class ensures the most gets done during class." This was all part of a greater notion of the difference between merely training in martial arts and learning martial arts. I believe if you read my original post carefully, you will easily see the difference in and thrust of my post. I hope this clears things up for you. I'm not trying to patronize you here, just that you concluded the exact opposite of how I feel about my instructor and his way of teaching.

Sheesh, I've certainly read a lot of books. It really would be hard to even narrow down some. Instead, I'll just list a few in no particular order. I'll cheat and throw in some manga (Japanese comics...) Wheel of Time Series by Robert Jordan Men in Black (a book about the Supreme Court, not that silly movie) by Mark Levin Azumanga Daioh Tenshi na Konamaiki Rurouni Kenshin Ranma 1/2 Aishiteruze Baby John Sells' Unante: The Secrets of Karate (what else did you expect from me?) The Stand by Stephen King The Sword of Shannara series by Terry Brooks Dune series by Frank Herbert The Death Gate Cycle by Margeret Weis and Tracy Hickman The Robotech Novels by Jack McKinney (they were actually pretty good) And loads more...I'm going to stop now because I realize I'm not narrowing it down at all...