Sauzin

Personally I think the emphasis on ranks above 5th is ridiculous. Why should anyone desire such a rank? When did 4th and 5th dan become inadequate to do run a dojo, teach, be an authority on a subject, or give seminars? That is the problem I have with all these ranks that are being obtained. It is removing value from legitimate t ranks that denote teaching ability and certain levels of mastery. Now days in the states, if you don’t have a 9th or 10th degree then no one is listening to you. I don’t think rank would even matter if people would take time to evaluate an instructor based on what he is teaching and where he got it rather then his rank.

No disrespect to those who have obtained blackbelts as children in styles that allow such ranking, but that doesn't fit with the style, manner of teaching, and the definition of rankings in the system which I practice. Black belts undergo sparring, advanced weapon training, and have techniques applied very harshly for conditioning and learning. This is to the point of common minor injuries. Where the same treatment given to a child, what would manifest itself as a minor injury to an adult would become a major injury to a child. They just can't take the same blows, throws, and abuse. Even if they could, I would hate for a school teacher to have to inquire to his parents as to why he is receiving bruises so often. A child in our system could not be treated the same as an adult blackbelt for these reasons. This is why they remain a color belt, as a manner of differentiating the level of intensity that they can be involved in. The point of what is taught to a child is important as well. This is more of a by ear thing though as every kids maturity level is different, so you must know who you are talking to. Say or show the wrong thing to the wrong kid and someone could end up dead. For these and further legal reasons, 18 would be the limit I personally would place. If a child were training since he was 5 and was exceptionally skilled I could imagine making an exception at 16. Maybe. -Paul Holsinger

Now this is just my opinion and my account of what I have seen in my experience. If you don't have time to go to a dojo, then it won't belong before you no longer find time to practice at home. Usually the practicing at home part is the first to go. Perhaps it is really the money that is preventing you from going, if that is so, I'm sure you will find people to train with eventually, money or no. Now I'm not saying that it is impossible to maintain a training regimen at home, it is just very, very, difficult. Now I know a lot of people who don't really train consistently any more. Are they still martial artists? Well yea, why not? They've got training, they've got knowledge, and while their techniques may not be as practiced they still know how they are supposed to work. If a noteworthy painter puts his brush down for a period of time he can still pick it back up. He may take a bit of time to warm up, but once he does, the art is still there. If what we practice is truly an art then it is an expression of heart not a statement of skill level. There is no set skill level for being an artist. It's the heart that tells. I can't imagine anyone not wanting to correspond with you. I would only ask that you understand that it generally takes more personal resources to maintain the discipline and motivation to study at home then it does to go to a dojo. -Paul Holsinger

The subject of whether or not they add control is an interesting one. I would say that spinning will add control to further spins, flips, twirls, and even juggling of the stick. But I would argue that it is inaccurate to say that practicing a spin is going to give you a better side strike, increase your ability to do a precision disarm, or give you better control over the moving up and down the length of the bo. Practicing a spin will give you stronger forearms, but not any stronger then if you practiced the same amount of kata, or two person sparring. It will give you a better feel for the centrifugal force involved in spins, but as I discussed earlier, real bo conflict involves few if any spins while engaged. So to summarize, yes practicing spins will give you better spins but it will not improve combative techniques any were near as well as simply practicing them. I compare it like this. I have a close friend who is a professional juggler. He twirls and he tosses things with perfect precision. He is exceptionally skilled at knocking 3 sticks around and twirling them. Now if I placed him against an equally skilled escrima stick practitioner who practices strikes with the same sticks, the escrima guy would kick his a$$. Sure maybe my friend has great control while twirling the sticks around, but that doesn’t help him as his head is getting batted in. I’m sure my juggling friend also has great fore arms, but that doesn’t help him without knowing how to strike. How many escrima guys do you see twirling and juggling their sticks? Not many, certainly not the dangerous ones. That’s because they’re busy practicing things that work in combat.

My personal opinion is that you can’t go into karate thinking you are going to make a lot of money. It should really be set up with the same standards as a non-profit organization. The instructor should determine a specific salary that he needs to live on and anything else that he makes beyond that should be put back into the dojo and it’s students. In my view, it’s a matter of keeping your eye on the proverbial ball. The ball should be the practice and refinement of the art and its students. If money becomes another focus or worse the whole thing turns into a business then people have a tendency to loose track of the ball and it can get dropped. The art and the students should come first. Money should be an afterthought and only used to keep the art going. My instructor does not charge a fee. He is privileged to be a retired marine and has no need for supplemental income. He has always said, “I want students not customers.” As a result we practice in driveways, as guests in other people’s dojos, and largely in one student’s garage. This does not bother me. I have always preferred a small friendly environment and a one on one relationship with the instructor. -Paul Holsinger

So, that’s a tough one. Shirataru no kon I am not familiar with. Soeoshi no kon I do know. I practice from Seikichi Odo’s Okinawan Kenpo lineage and we have a Soeoshi no kon ichi and ni version of that kata. Good kata, about medium on the complicated scale. It has lots of techniques in which you spin yourself around, some nice hand changes and swings, and at least one great jamming maneuver. Ichi has about 40 moves, ni has about 43. Sakugawa no kon is an awesome kata. The most complicated I do in my opinion. We have a Ichi and Ni version of this as well. Lots of low stance work, underhand strikes, slip strikes, disarms, throws, and horse stance work. Several complicated hand changes. Unless you are very, very, very skilled or learning a dummied down version you won’t be able to learn this one from a tape or a book. Ichi has about 60 moves in it Ni has less maybe 58. I wish I could refer you to someone to learn them. I would not suggest learning either from a tape or a book as there are little things that you can’t pick up. Try to get in touch with someone locally who practices “Okinawan Kenpo” or “Ryukyu Hon Kenpo” if you can. Or come down here to Boise, Idaho and I would be happy to show them to you. -Paul Holsinger

Spinning for training and while you’re outside of the opponent’s range is far from the worst you could be doing with that. I know what you mean regarding the forearm strengthening. I personally I like to obtain this through practicing techniques with a heavy oak bo that work while your engaged with an opponent rather then practicing techniques that don’t, but in the end you end up with strengthened arms, one way or the other. Twirling while outside your opponents range is fine, I guess it gets the blood flowing. One could argue that the repetitive rhythm of the spin sets you up for being timed by your opponent, but this is really a preference thing. People say the same thing about guys who bounce around or wave their hands in the ring, yet I’ve seen few who could actually use this against the practitioner. I prefer not to do this though. I would rather that my opponent see nothing but the end of my stick, that way he knows he has to get past that before any game play starts. My slightly flawed philosophy is: “Let him try.”

So, I see what you're saying here but I have to disagree with its practicality. Spinning a bo leaves you prone for a disarm. An opponent need not worry about what direction your bo may be swinging next if he simply extends his stick (or arm) and hits you. Most spins do not have the grip behind them to parry a strike out of the way. In most cases the bo goes flying out of the hands of the spinner when it makes contact with anything. I mean take a look at the hand position required for a fast spin. It requires either two hands placed within a foot apart or worse, one hand off the bo. These grips do not maintain good control of the weapon, they offer no protection from a disarm, and they limit your ability to perform other motions without having to readjust their position. It just doesn’t make sense to do this. From what I know of bo on bo combat, it’s not about swirling your stick around to confuse your opponent. It is about a quick and decisive strike from a good position. These are very difficult to read. With less then a fraction of a second a strike can be brought high, low, or reversed to come from another direction. Under arm reverse strikes are great for faking an opponent out. They see you moving one way, then opps sorry it’s coming from the other direction. No spinning needed. Now in some kata there are rotating motions that are used to trap, throw, and disarm an opponent. They aren’t spins per say, but they definitely circle around. See Choun no kun or Shihonuke. This is a whole different ball game, but we aren’t talking twirling here. With nunchaku we have a slightly different story. I would still say that just spinning them around is pointless and dangerous. There are cases where a single or double spin is usefull. Many strikes include a quick spin right before the swing. This allows them to gain a large amount of momentum and readies their trajectory for the strike. Spins can also be used to change trajectories or allow the weapons momentum to die out in a safe area and be redirected. Many people just spin these things around though, thinking they will confuse their opponent and look cool. All someone has to do is put something out there for them to hit and the weapon will either wrap around it and become useless or hit the object and bounce back at the person spinning it. I can’t tell you how many times I hit myself this way before I found someone who knew what they were doing and they showed me why it didn’t work. Don’t get me wrong, I certainly understand that there are many different ways to use a bo. All I am referring to is what I have seen from my own experience. As a general rule, spinning a bo is a bad idea.

16 empty hand kata, 20-24 weapon kata. Shijitsukan -Paul (I know, I know...and that's just a beginning. Hey I didn't make the system I only try to remember most of it.)

Oh man, so I don't know how much help I can be with pointing in the right direction but here's a few words of advice. First "spinning" is not as cool as you might think. I mean sure, it looks cool, but you would not believe how easy it is for someone to disarm you when you do that. In fact an unarmed man could probably stick his arm out and let you hit it and you would likely disarm yourself. He might get a nasty bruise but there really is nothing behind most spins. A bo is not a baton! A martial artist should not look like a lead in a marching band! There are a lot of directions I would go if you’re interested in learning how a bo really works. Go down to the local library and look up "quarter staff". You'll see a bunch of guy will long sticks holding them like spears or really long swords. This actually works. You might try playing around with it as though it were a really long sword. Just make sure no one is near by. If you’re looking for a more traditional oriental source, I personally believe that kobudo has the most refined bo techniques. Do a search on "Kobudo" in an internet search engine. You'll find a bunch of Okinawans holding a bo really weird along the outside of their forearms. Read up on them, these guys know their bo. I can personally vouch for anyone who has learned from Seikichi Odo or Oyata. If you would like to e-mail or post any questions I would be happy to answer. Good luck. Paul Holsinger

Black Dragon, I believe I understand what you are saying. You've worked hard for your belt and you feel it would be disrespectful to the work you have done to take it off. You also feel that people do judge people based of off belt color and you wish to be judged for the rank you really are. I would not argue that a belt means nothing. I would say it should mean nothing, but in reality it has many meanings. To you it is a symbol of your hard work. To a sensei in another art it may be a symbol of what you think you already know, and are therefore unwilling to relearn from him. Your refusal would show most teaches that you have an unusual need for recognition and are afraid of how other people may judge you (see second reason of previous paragraph). Were I you I would look at prioritizing what you want to say to a potential instructor. Is it more important to say with your belt, "I worked hard and I know a lot about my style" or is it more important to say, "I value what you have to teach enough to learn it from the beginning and in your class you can rank me as you see fit." Personally I would expect my actions to naturally portray the first and I would put the second as a priority to convey. To me, showing respect to others is more important then demanding respect of myself. Demanding respect is a wasted effort. I find that respect naturally comes to those who earn it. Each sensei is a new opportunity to do this. -Paul

Not exactly. Many Okinawan Kenpo stylists use the "Kenpo" spelling others use the "Kempo" spelling. The Kanji is the same. It means "Fist law" and is indifferent to how us Americans would like to spell it. Okinawan Kenpo comes from Shigero Nakamura who's major infuence was Shinkichi Kunioshi who was the successor of Naha "Bushi" Sakiyama who had studied in China. So the art is about 4 or 5 generations removed from China. I would say it's about as Okinawan as anything your going to find on the island. I wouldn't say it has a heaver Chinese influence then any other art on the island. What I would say is that it has both Naha-te and Shuri-te influences, is largely an "outside" fighting style, and it has a rich Kobudo tradition. The term Kenpo or Kempo can be used to describe any number of styles from Okinawa to China to perhaps the most famous Ed Parker's American Kenpo which is indeed an interesting mix. -Paul Holsinger

Shijitsukan, head instructor Dean Stevens 9th dan in Ryukyu Hon Kenpo Kobujutsu Federation (Okinawan Kenpo) Dean was awarded the Shijitsukan style from Daisensei Seikichi Odo. The style contains mostly Odo's kata along with a sprinkling of Go-Ju-Ryu and Ishin-Ryu and a heck of a lot of Kobudo. -Paul Holsinger

Thank-you and I very much agree, but I would say this. Kata exists in every art in one form or another. Be it shadow boxing, drills, technique routines, or combo's they contain many of the same attributes of kata, so much so, that I would personally say they are the same. Should a school not teach or focus on "kata" I would then suggest judging their effectiveness by how well they practice what they use in place of kata. As far as I know, however, there is no true karate style that does not practice kata. I believe the original question was regarding karate which is why I did not further elaborate. But thank-you for bringing up this point as I did not mean to suggest non-kata oriented styles were not effective. -Paul Holsinger

What really makes the difference is the kata. If you go to a McDojo and watch the students performing kata you usually have a large group of people off the street attempting a very sloppy and overly exerted version of a basic form or even a once traditional form now done horribly wrong. The teachers in these dojo’s rarely have taken the time to perfect their own kata and in many cases half the kata they know are from a tape or a book. They may have the latest self defense techniques, they may have a reasonable street knowledge of fighting, but they know little about kata. So they teach kata as best they can, and show their students the self defense, and since there is no way to pass on the street knowledge they cross their fingers and hope their students got it. And they don’t. Now you compare this to a more traditional dojo where the teacher has spent at least 20 years perfecting his kata under a master who learned from his master every little detail. I mean every single little detail. From exactly where the eyes are looking and when, to when to breath, to when to tense, to the precise angle and movement of every single technique. You have a guy like this teaching a room full of students and you give a student a year and he’ll know enough to not get killed on the street. You give a student 5 years and he will be competent enough to control and decide the outcome of most situations. You give him 20 and “most” becomes “almost anything you can think of”. “So how do you know it works?” you might ask. It’s difficult to explain but the way I describe it is, if you practice kata precisely and under good instruction for 5 years every day you will have karate coming out of your ears and nose. You will feel the movements in everything you do and it will become as natural to you as putting a spoon to your mouth. In a fight it will work as though someone placed a bowl of cereal in front of you and asked you to eat it. It will happen, you will do it, and if the kata was correct it will work. It’s that simple -Paul Holsinger

So I'm not sure here but it sound like when he says: he is talking about rotating his hip out, punching, then pulling his hip back a bit thus going back into his "stance". I have heard of this type of punch where after punching there is an immediate recoil via hips. Not something I would suggest to a beginner as it is tough to get right and when it's wrong it looks very sloppy. Also in my opinion someone starting out should first learn to follow through and let the technique die on its own. Then once he's got that down pat then he might think about tweaking the recoil a bit. But if you don't know how to follow through there won't be any "umph" behind the punch. It will look more like you're slapping someone. As your instructor seems intent on teaching this to you my suggestion would be to throw the punch from the hip but leave a little room, don't twist the hip all the way. As the punch begins to penetrate for the last 1/10 of the punch ad a little bit more hip into it then jerk it back immediately. The trick is not extending your hip all the way with the initial punch. Leave a little extra for the end and then whip it back. Of course none of this will work if the basics aren't followed. Never lock the elbow. Always keep the elbow under and behind the punch. Always keep the wrist straight from beginning to end. And keep the trajectory of the punch as straight as possible (directly from point A to point B). Hope this helps. Heck I hope this is what you were referring to. -Paul Holsinger

Even as a 3rd dan I would do the same. And it would be a genuine offer. It shows that you are never too good to learn what he's teaching from the beginning. You may be ranked in another style, but you are not there to learn another style. It's a matter of respect. Plus having a need for your belt shows an unhealthy dependency. The instructor will pick up on this. You should let him see that you are what you are with or without it. -Paul Holsinger

In the first style I studied, Go-Ju-Ryu, Sanchin was the first kata taught. It was practiced by everyone for as long as they should happen to live. In the style I currently work in now (Okinawan Kenpo from Seikichi Odo) Sanchin is learned at the black belt level. Usually one of the last kata taught. Odo’s Sanchin is very different from the Go-Ju version. It doesn’t turn around, the dynamic tension is cumulative working harder and harder in circular motions, and the ending is very original. In the school which I work under Sanchin is not emphasized and is not practiced by those over 50.

Some seuchins start with moving to a horse stance and others to a squat stance, that depends on the style. (Isshinryu vs Gojuryu for example) Likewise the very beginning movement of the hands and feet coming together can also vary from style to style so the meanings can be quite different. Most people start with bringing the hands and feet together in some fashion then moving out. The way they do this can be interpreted as anything from a wrist lock vs a grab or indeed a foot catch. Personally I look at is as a starting position necessary for create the angle of accent used by the arms as you move into the squat or horse stance. But of course everything including the bow in a kata has its own martial interpretation. -Paul Holsinger

Yea I've got a pair of horse stirrups as well.

Okinawan Kenpo as in Seikichi Odo's line (got to specify since there's about a million Ryukyu or the like Kenpo's that exist) My instructor is Dean Stevens. 3 Dan

Kama's are good, many come razor sharp though so be careful. Do not practice with the sharp ones unless you have a qualified instructor showing you the tricks of the trade. A week and a half ago a guy who occasionally works out with us was practicing on his own with a new set. He goes to do an overhead strike with the back side of the sai and slashes his back near his shoulder blade. 16 stitches later he has decided not to practice with them alone anymore. They are dangerous, to yourself. Learn rules and tricks of using them and they are great! -Paul Holsinger

Good question, I'd have to choose sai and here’s why. The sai was really designed for use against a staff. The prongs are just the right width apart to were, with a simple twist, you can trap a staff, or at the very least hang it up. Using the "x-block" properly with the sai you can completely trap a staff. This technique done correctly can hold a staff with a team of horses yanking on the other end. If you know where to put the thumb you can even let go with one hand and keep the bo trapped with both sais (kind of hard to explain unless you've seen it done). The sai is well equipped for both lethal and non-lethal force (disarming). It's fast, efficient, and accurate. The tonfa is good, very good, but might serve a bit of a disadvantage as it is prone to being overpowered by the bo. Still if you know how to use the tonfa, it will parry, block, grapple, and knock the heck out of an opponent. It will work, almost as well as a sai against a bo. Almost. -Paul Holsinger

Nope, that's definitely Seienchin. The "funky" stance is sheicodachi (sp?) or a squat stance. I wasn't sure if Shito Ryu practiced it with a squat or a horse stance? Well let's just assume were talking about the squat stance. So let’s take a look at what I know of this movement. You start hands low, open, and together. Left heel turns out then your right foot steps out at a 45 and you settle in a squat stance. Hands are still together but now stretched out at about eye level. Then the hands separate and they draw a huge circle then come back together, palms facing away from each other, and come up to about neck/collar level. Then close to fists and then perform two low blocks to each 45 angle. Does that sound about right? Now let’s talk about the very first movement. Try doing it without the arms involved and an opponent punching for your face. You'll notice he misses as you step off to his 45. Now do this again but raise your arms, keeping your hands together. You'll notice his punch has been blocked and depending on which side you had him punch with you may be very close to gouging his eyes or neck. It is also very likely, if you got the angle right, that your opponent has been knocked of balance. Now perform the big circle it should naturally capture one of his arms. If you had him punch with his left then it will capture an arm and bring him down to a throat gouge. If it was his right then his floating rib will be accessible. From there you can take it however you like. You can throw a person just by applying the first motion against a high punch with a firm and connected arm. It's amazing what happens as you raise your arms for that motion. Just remember to keep the hands together until you have settled in the squat stance. That's the trick. Have fun. -Paul Holsinger

Under my sensei we turn on the ball of our foot in all circumstances except for one. Moving from a front stance to squat stance "shiecodachi", which traditionally is what a true "gidan barai" is performed from. So if you are in a zencusudachi and you turn around into another zencusudachi then you would turn on the ball of the foot. However if you were moving from a front stance to a squat stance (necessary for a true gidan barai) then the back foot would rotate out on the heel. This is the case in Goju's superempei just before the spinning crescent. This would not give you a complete 180 though, if you wanted this you would still need to turn around on the ball of the foot.