Sasori_Te

Okay, I'll bye that. If you don't mind, please explain more about what you teach on offensive knife usage. For example, tapping versus cutting or stabbing. Hand postion that type of thing.

Thanks kempocos. I'll definitely check that out.

Been there a couple times but only on vacation. I love Baha Rockin' Lobster in Old Town.

I would have to say stick techniques using various sizes. Bo, jo, escrima.....etc... I would say cane also except that the original post was speaking of weapons that could be improvised. I'm not sure how you could improvise a cane unless you had an umbrella handy.

I'm assuming that you're talking about using a knife against an unarmed opponent? If not, you'll excuse me if I disagree with your post.

If you have any tools buy one and try finishing it yourself. It's not that difficult. I've done one and it turned out okay. I gave it to a friend. A Dremel Tool works wonders with the right attachments.

Musical Kata! Have i ever mentioned that I DETEST musical kata?

I would say the Naihanchi katas and the Kusanku kata. I can't imagine doing without any of the kata in the system. Please define core as it pertains to your question. I think I understand but i want to ask to be sure.

I'm sure the site has been posted here many times but I had never seen it before and thought I'd post it again.

I don't know of any online. I do share your enthusiasm for the cane as a weapon though. I've only been questioned by ordinary folks as to why I carry a cane with me in public. I tell them I had a tragic Tonka truck accident as a child and that takes care of it. As for everyone else, what are they going to say? You even get special service at airports when you have a cane. They even give you a ride to your gate in the little cart.

Since nothing else is worth debating in this thread, I'll answer rising dragon's only well thought out question. If you're using microsoft XP do the following to disable the messenger service: Go to Control panel Select Performance and Maintenance Select Services Look throught the services and find Messenger Disable and switch it to manual start-up.

Doing stick and knife drills I've had my snake defanged once or twice and I can't say I recommend that for a pianist.

Most boxers use gauze and sports tape. Hand wraps can come loose or shift too easily. Hand wraps are generally only used for bag work in the gym.

You can try walking a rope. Tie a rope to 2 points as far apart as you could get them. 20 feet or so should be sufficient. The rope should be shoulder height. Start with the rope next to your right ear. Step, duck under the rope and slip past it as if it were a punch, throw a counter. Continue this up and down the rope. Going down and back constitutes one rep. You can do 2 reps to start and work your way up from there. The object is to make the duck and slip as fast as possible. As with any other training exercise don't try to start at top speed. Get the feel for the movement and gradually speed up. You can also use a "headache" bag to learn by yourself. It will let you know if you're not moving fast enough.

The toe kick article was what caught my attention originally as well. It was pretty good. It's rare to see many good articles on traditional aspects of karate.

Something just occurred to me. Neither the belt or phase system of it's own accord takes into account special needs students. Some students may have disabilities or conditions that won't allow them to perform all requirements in the same way that someone in perfect health may be able to. We are not all created equal as much as we might all like to think we are. Some folks are going to require some modification of the ranking requirements (if you decide to use a rank system of any sort). This doesn't mean that they are substandard martial artists. It just means that they may not be able to perform certain techniques at all, or as well as the rest of the class. They may be head and shoulders above the whole clss in other areas. How would you handle this in a belt or phase system that could be seen as "fair and unbiased" to all involved?

Newt Livesay's knives were great. The prices were also VERY good as well. The anti-personnel series looked like a straight razor with a tanto point. Given the RC rating and the amount of flex they are able to take before damage occurs, I'd say these knives are meant to be used by folks that mean business. Very nice though. They are most definitely meant to be carried and not practiced with. You might lop something off that you'll need later.

Thanks Delta. Very interesting insight on the 1911. I never really thought of it that way. Heaven knows if it's not in a book then the Army certainly never taught it that way. I only got to carry and fire one for about 6 months. Then we changed over to those Berreta pieces of ****. They weren't worth much but they were very easy to sight and shoot. Of course you'd probably need an entire magazine to stop someone unless you got lucky.

You know what equaninimus I didn't check that when I first stumbled across it. I checked again and I couldn't find anything with an e-mail or an update stamp. If you find anything let us know. Also, I'm curious why you asked.

Yep, I actually posted one here in the photo section.

Warlock that's not a bad idea either. That's also something you could run in conjunction with a belt system if you just love it too much to get rid of it.

You guys should take a look at this site: http://www.fightingarts.com/ It has many good articles about all sorts of different aspects of the martial arts. Let me know wht you think.

I have to agree. All of Shureido's equipment is top of the line. It costs a bit more but, if you count the replacement value of the things you have now, or should I say the value of the number of times you have to replace cheap equipment versus how often you need to replace the Shureido equipment. I have a Shureido uniform that is 8 years old and going strong.

Uh Oh...Here we go. While I agree that taking up other styles to compliment your core style is a good idea, I think that most competent styles will give you all of these tools if you stick with them long enough to learn them. If you learn them in this way, chances are that you'll have a much deeper understanding of theeir possible uses than if you take a hodge podge style and have everything dumped on you on a superficial level.

My original post was along the same lines as Shorinryu Sensei. Theory says 50/50 (you don't want the bad habit of favoring one weapon over another). But the reality is 75/25 in favor of hands, maybe even 80/20.