granmasterchen

i have a book that focuses solely on katas and breaking them down and finding the "hidden" techniques.....but it is eluding me right now....it's somewhere here in my library of martial arts books...i will get back to you and let you know the name and author once i find it for you.

yet it still happened none the less. Many of the japanese karate forms originated from chinese martial artists hundreds of years ago, and the korean forms were greatly influenced by many of the japanese forms. I'm not saying every style has many forms, just saying that many kata have hidden techniques and teachings in them

you make a very good point in the way that you worded it shotokanwarrior because that it "exactly" how it has developed and been passed on from one generation to the next from one government to another....by studying the history of martial arts, specifically kata, you will see that this idea is very true and can be found in many japanese, korean and chinese schools' backgrounds today.

it all depends on the individual. If you have had a long back ground in the art of karate. let's say over 10 yrs, then you should be accustomed to the higher levels of the karate art form to see the similarities to those of kung fu. If you have only trained in karate for a short time frame, less than a year it should also be easy to move over to kung fu since you have not mastered any levels of karate yet and have not been in a routine long enough to be completely confused. But say you have been studying karate for roughly 2-5 yrs you may find yourself confused at first because everything will appear to be quite different.

be careful if you get the wavemasters they tend to break easily if you have powerful techniques. I have broken at least 8 in the past before coming to the conclussion that i should stop hitting them before i break anymore and cause my gym to pay extra money. If you unleash a solid and powerful strike it can easily break the hard plastic lining underneath the padded striking area which makes a large mess when the water comes leaking out or pouring out and it will definitely destroy any wood boards you may have in your floor. The techniques that i usually end up breaking them with are palm strikes, elbows, or side kicks. I also have a very large background in breaking bricks and similar material, so that may or may not have an impact on why the wavemasters don't last long around me, it could be that i am hitting through the target and damaging the inner structure where as most people simply hit the surface for strikes in a cardio based workout. Just my info to try and help you make an investment decision. I would go with the heavy sand bags or similar type of device, if you have a yard, i would recomment digging at least a 3 foot hole and placing a large post in the ground, wrapping it with some clothesline type rope and use that as your striking target similar to the makiwari....but again it depends on your preference of striking materials and what type of workout you are planning on getting whether it be cardio, strenght, or conditioning techniques.

definitely real. All you have to do is practice to be fast, the more you practice the faster you will get as long as you are pushing yourself to be faster. In my school we were taught that the first emphasis should be on learning the skill of the technique and then add speed and the last thing to add is power. So if you break down your techniques and focus just on speed (as long as you have a good technique and skill) and don't focus on the aspect of added great amounts of power it is a simple concept to build speed....practice practice practice

around 30 years to gain the title of master from my instructor....rank means nothing....but getting that title from your teacher means that you have reached a certain level no matter what your rank may be.

very good article. I think this is very informative and should be read by all Christians that at some point in their life they come to the thought of whether what they are doing is sinful or not. If fully read, your article helps in understanding and clarifying and misconceptions or confusion one might have.

just the way he learned it probably. I have studied korean arts that were taught in english, korean, chinese, spanish and japanese....not all at the same school....but you get the idea.

there was a very very brief period of time where tsd was actually known as taekwondo. This is what I am guess as the traditional tkd that we are speaking of. In all retrospects it is tangsoodo. Shortly after it was named tkd they said..."hmmmm no let's change this to tangsoodo...and make tkd a sport based art form." so for a very brief period there you had many people that were being trained in taekwondo which was really tangsoodo with was of course shotokan karate..... since this brief period many of the instructors that were trained in the shotokan/tang soo version of tkd started to teach their art form as is and never changed the title of their art....they were more concerned with the art form to be taught than they were with international organizations...that is why this isn't a very public and well heard of issue. My school.....taught by Tom Smith....was part of this "traditional tkd" it is very very very similar to tsd and shotokan. Many people though experienced this issue; Chuck Norris, Bill Wallace, Nasty Anderson, Tom Foley, Richard Stevens and Billy Blanks just to name a few, but they all went on to incorporate many other arts and start their own thing. It plagued my mind for years training with many of these individuals (we all came from the same instructors) and then moving off into the military, traveling the world and seeing a very different tkd...the itf and wtf.....and seeing a very similar tsd and shotokan......that baffled me for the longest time.....and I had to do some research and spend some trips back to the states talking to some of the above mentioned artists and having some of them come over and visit me here in Japan just to get everything in order as to what went on for that brief period of time, the organizations, the name changes and why we didn't change and why aren't we a part of this or that org.....and why does chuck norris teach this now....on his site it says he studied this....but he trained with us....the same with bill wallace....and ....wow....everyone else.....each person's site and bio says something different.....but twice a year we all get together and train in the old dojos....or dojangs....lol....yeah it raised some questions....lol but we are all jedis and we study the light side of the force....or is it the dark side???? lol

korean martial arts are heavily influenced by the japanese martial arts during the japanese occupation of the country. During this time much of the korean culture was lost including martial arts, in turn they started using the japanese art forms.

shotokan is your typical karate, depending on the instructor....it can be a very well rounded and balanced art form. kyokushin is more of a full contact art that is becoming more sport oriented like in the k1 tournaments. at their fundamentals each are very similar being a basis of karate.....it depends on the instructor of course. kyokushin used to be big into katas and breaking, but it is becoming more of sport like I mentioned above. Take it from me (living, training and teaching in Japan for the past 3 yrs) many of the kyokushin schools have dropped breaking, pressure points, weapons and kata from their curriculum and focus solely on the basic strikes and sparring full contact. The basis in many are that skill is not so important anymore, if you have the basic idea of the technique then you are good.....strenght and speed are the important factors to these new age schools....sad to say. if you are into full contact competition go to kyokushin... if you want to work on many of the basic fundamentals and a long term goal of a life time of martial arts then go for shotokan....

a striking art, lots of kicks similar to tkd, tsd....and of course karate....yep yep..... not like hapkido or aikido not a grappling art form.... that about sums it up right?

a korean art. i know a guy over here in japan that studied it....he doesn't recall much of it, but it is similar in all respect to the rest of the korean arts

less than one percent would be my guess

just because it is called a horse stance doesn't mean i turn into a horse, because im in a cat stance i will turn into a cat....knife hand blocks aren't to block knives, I would hate to see what you think of a spear hand technique.....or even a head butt....lol but seriously, a hand knife is named for the position of the hand to look like a knife, you block with the edge of the hand as if it was the cutting edge of a knife, and also you can attack with it in the same manner.

I have seen it refered as high as 4th dan in some styles. But if you have a basic understanding of the original set of 5 then you should be fine in learning this form.

If I enter a school and they even mention contracts....I say, "thanks for your time, I don't play that game, good luck with your BUSINESS" martial arts shouldn't be a business, it should be teaching an art....you should do it because you want to teach the next generation, not for the money.

scam.... granted you might learn some great stuff....but it's not worth the price, especially for only volume one.....if you spend that much money on all volumes.....you're crazy. just get a good instructor, train hard, and do research on your own, you'll save yourself 1000 dollars in the long run. don't get upset if you can't fly, shoot kamehameha wave fire balls or read the thoughts of others on the moon or another galaxy....make your body bullet proof, strong enough to lift a school bus....run faster than light....and any other silly thing that you will only see on dragonball z or similar shows.

once you get really good you can look at a completely different person, have a conversation with that individual, while sparring with another only using your peripheral vision

thanks for the information, I'm looking forward to going there and checking out these schools!

it's just the movie.....the training isn't much different....there are still crappy schools, crappy instructors, those that want your money and everything else just like in the states..... just find yourself a good instructor and be happy with that.

glad to hear that you continued on. It's terrible to see a student that just stops in mid form and has that lost and confused look on their face...the judges usually recongnize that you are making parts of it up....but that is better than just stubbling and quitting.....but if you can make it look really good (the stuff you made up) then you can even pull off a nice score.

congratulations!!!

I have seen many tkd schools in korea that were very substandard in their teaching methods.....many were just trying to get american money and located right outside of military bases. You could get your black belt in no time at all....usually a year. I know a kid that was a red belt testing for black after 6 months with no prior experience....and he wasn't too good.....but that is only my experience with some of the schools. I have heard that there are many great schools there, unfortunately I haven't had any good experiences to really tell....I know of chuck norris training there though, that was obviously a good experience