The Pred

Hope you are able to go back on the floor as soon as possible

I was wondering, has anyone ever passed on their obi to a student of theirs or has anyone received an obi from their own instructor?

Good question, on that kata part. If you think about it kata is essentially a preset combination drill which are based off of self-defense. Is it traditional because it came first, or did it become traditional overtime? Whose to say that katas you were to hypothetically make up wouldn't be considered traditional overtime? I guess tracing the answer to this is like tracing the answer to bigger, but unrelated, questions. Like, what is karate's ancestor? Ok, it's okinawa-te (shuri-te, etc). Good answer. But what is okinawa te's ancestor? Well, certain kung fu styles that came from china (maybe white crane, incense shop boxing, etc). What is that kung fu's ancestor? maybe the 18 hands of lohan? what is its ancestor? well, some arts that came from India.... you get the idea, if we keep digging deeper and deeper we'd probably never end. My 2 cents: I think the kata were not traditional at first, when they were created in okinawa, for example, maybe anko itosu created the Pinan forms because the original traditional forms ( kusanku and chiang nan) were too long. by the time funakoshi and others brought karate to japan, the traditional kata, such as the pinans were not considered traditional, but they were considered as the standard, the norm, if you will. With the years, these forms became considered traditional. The kata some random guy hypothetically made up would absolutely become traditional if his martial art became popular and widespread and those kata were taught over the years, perhaps for generations. But would that be karate? It all loops back to "what is karate"? my question has quite the practical component.... the case of random guys opening their own dojo or whatever teaching "karate" or "kempo" or simply "martial arts" (some places don't even bother saying which art sometimes!) and changing their kata so they are unique to their own school, a 1-dojo school or maybe a small chain of dojos in a specific city... is it misleading to tell people "I will teach you karate" (or whatever art) when they're actually learning a curriculum no other school in the country or planet will recognize? No I don't think it's misleading at all, especially if karate is going to be a key component of what you teach.

Congrats advfhorn!

Good question, on that kata part. If you think about it kata is essentially a preset combination drill which are based off of self-defense. Is it traditional because it came first, or did it become traditional overtime? Whose to say that katas you were to hypothetically make up wouldn't be considered traditional overtime?

Do you have them teach a small group first? Yes, they will assist with teaching for a while to assess their abilities. Awesome, I think that is a pretty good way to assess them.

Yeah at my dojo we usually start them off as helpers, if their technique is good enough. Then we might have them take a new student to the side to help them out.

Do you have them teach a small group first?

Hi everyone, We all know I order for our particular Martial Arts to survive knowledge has to be pass down. With that being said, how does one school pick students to be an instructor?

As stated before, teaching one on one has it's advantages on say teaching kata. However, it can be a bit of a challenge (though still possible) for teaching self-defense. Now I've taught private lessons, to siblings which was great as now each student had a partner to do the drills with.

I don't think it's narrow minded, since I remember you saying you had to be a Sandan to open your own school, in your SKKA network.

Indeed it does!

Yes, as a JBB. In the dawning of musical Kata, competitors at those tournaments created, made-up, their own Kata to the music of their choice within the prescribed time limits. Just made it up at the spare of the moment; usually right before it was time to bow-in. For the longest, before the newness of it all fell away, I used Te-Fu-Do-Geri...which doesn't mean a darn thing, but as a JBB, it sounded pretty darn cool. Those were the days. Te-Fu-Do-Geri sounds pretty awesome, is it a required kata at your dojo?

Hey, hope everyone's training is going good. Not sure of this should go here or somewhere else. Two questions 1. Has anyone made up their own kata/drill 2. If so how did you come up with a name (if you did) Thanks!

Never had a Kataroo so I can't make a fair judgement call. However, I do love my Eosin Panther belt.

Thanks !

Now I know some schools do junior black belts, and also some schools do special belts for 4-5 year olds. However, my question is, does any school do say junior yellow, junior blue etc? I mean obviously a full blown shodan is higher than a junior black belt. But lining up in rank order seems odd that a kid blue belt would stand in line with adult blue belts. I mean, I'm not here to argue what is right or wrong. But is a junior black belt the only rank that essentially gets a junior rank?

Awesome, do you do a separate rank program for little kids or do you have them get white to junior black belt? Jukyu to JBB It's always impressive if a student starts at 4 and needs to wait 14 years to get a shodan. I wonder how many older people would wait that long to get a shodan?

Awesome, do you do a separate rank program for little kids or do you have them get white to junior black belt?

Id say a Mountain, just in case you plan on doing off road biking.

Best of luck!

Great support, Pred! My training is pretty consistent right now. How is yours going?Great doing outdoor training, can't wait to spar again !

Awesome 👍

In this covid world, I just want to say. I hope you're training is going well, and if you train at a dojo, your place of training is going well also.

Very good point Sensei8, plus martial arts isn't for everyone, so why waste money a gi that is a bit more expensive.