Sasori_Te

IMO it is never bad to know any kata as long as it is an authentic kata that has been passed down and not someone's musical kata for a tournament. I do have a bit of a problem with a style that has more than 15 kata on the syllabus for the style. Even at this number you will never be able to understand the intricacies of the kata properly. I've come to understand why some of the old guys only knew 3 or 4 katas at most as masters of their style. There's a lot of things that are inside of traditional ( I hate that term ) kata if it's being taught correctly.

I'm just curious.... Are you supposed to be taking a traditional Shotokan style? Saifa is also a part of the Naha Te/ Goju Ryu lineage and not a part of the Shuri Te/ Shotokan lineage. I'm not knocking your style I'm just curious. I saw you have your style labeled as Shotokan Ryu.

Sorry I'd never heard of it reffered to like this before. Pechurin or Suparenpei isn't in the Shuri Te/ Shotokan lineage. It's in the Naha Te/ Goju Ryu lineage. The original Shotokan Ryu katas included: Pinan Shodan - Godan Naihanchi Shodan - Sandan Passai dai Passai Sho Wanshu Chinto Seisan Jutte Jion Kusanku dai Kusanku Sho Therefore I'd guess that if you're doing Pechurin in your style then it would be the same as Goju since it doesn't exist in the original Shotokan kata. If it is changed you need to ask who changed it and why. I'd be curious to know the answer.

I looked and haven't seen this particular kata ( assuming the spelling is right) anywhere in the shotokan or Goju lineage. Of course I'm by no means the final authority on this but I would be most interested in knowing the history of this kata.

The following is a quote from "Okinawa Island of Karate" by George W. Alexander: "The Shorin Ryu has a complex evolution and Geneaology. The term shorin itself is a key to understanding the evolution and geneaology of this major school of Okinawan karate. Shorin is the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese characters for Shaolin. In both Japanese and Chinese these characters refer to the Shaolin Temple of China. In Chinese, shaolin means 'young forest'. Likewise, in Japanese shorin also means young forest." So you see the characters both refer to the Shaolin Temple in China. Tode Sakugawa was called Tode (Chinese Hand) because of his training in Chinese Kempo from the Fukien Province area in China. He is also the first person to use the term "karate" also meaning "Chinese hand" as the book goes on to say: "It is commonly believed that this differentiated him from those who practiced te or the native Okinawan fighting form and substantiates the theory that Okinawan te merged with Chinese kempo to form Okinawan karate." I hope this answers more of your questions.

Nope, an instrucor will have to tell you that. And in most cases that all depends on how old you are.

Very closely related. It is not a coincedence that the characters are the same. I'll elaborate more tomorrow when I have more time.

I don't think anyone even knows who your instructor is Kate. But, he obviously knows who you are I guess. Good luck.

I doubt if they even did that in Okinawa. Somebody's been watching too much television. He's definitely pulling your leg. I've heard of one group called the Green Dragon Society that makes you fight your way to your rank as the last part of the test. It's supposedly without pads but I'm not sure how true that is. That's what I read somewhere. I called them and they want every applicant to the school to come in for an interview with the instructor.

Those are the rules that I've always seen. Different types of sparring not withstanding of course. I'm talking strictly about point sparring.

I'm sure that you could kill someone by striking them with enough force in the right spot. as for a light touch kill, I have no idea. The problem is doing enough repetitions to make sure that you can do a strike to these vital areas on a subconscious level. If you are in a real situation you have the arenal response to overcome and this is no small matter. You tend to lose conscious control over fine motor skills. That's where all of these repetitive striking and kicking drills come in handy. You just have to make absolutely sure that you practice these drills using very exacting standards. This of course is only mho.

I agree with goshinman. Movement is the key to multiple opponent scenarios. You have to stay " a step ahead " as it were, and not let yourself become surrounded. Other than that you better turn into as vicious an animal as you can and pick up the nearest handy object and pray. Ideally you get on the outside of your opponents and RUN! If you have to fight, style goes out the window in about a half second after the adrenaline dump. ANyone that's ever had a real fight knows this. It's very difficult to do fine movements and you may not be rational enough to think through very much at all. My repetitve training has saved my a** more than once. I've gone on autopilot twice (I'm sorry to say) and I almost killed a guy the first time. My training helped but in no way did I have conscious control over what I was doing. It was actually very weird and a lot scary to realize that you can do something that violent to someone without even realizing it. I'm rambling....sorry.

I agree with kempocos and Delta here. Relaxation is a key element that is often overlooked in training. Most empty hand techniques are designed to be delivered with a relaxed weapon. You should only tense at the moment of impact and immediately relax again. Easy to say...very hard to do. This transfers maximum power to the target. Sorry. I'm getting off the subject ... if I was ever on it in the first place. *L*

JohnnyS is correct. This sounds like a carotid sinus knock out. It is VERY dangerous. Lots of stuff can go wrong. If you do happen to have a stroke or your heart stops because of this particular technique using cpr is not very effective. So practice at your own risk. I'd leave it alone if I were you as you sound like you have no training what-so-ever.

Have you tried Teruo Chinen's videos? as much as I detest BB magazine I believe they carry them. I'm not a goju ryu stylist but I have the set and they contain all of the katas from Sanchin and Gekki sai dai ich up through Pichurin kata along with some of the bunkai. I thought they were very well done if a little basic. But, like I said, I'm not a Goju Ryu stylist.

Congratulations! Always nice to hear abouta karate person doing well at one of those things.

I almost forgot. Try Funakoshi's "Karate-Do My Way of Life". He admits to a few of these things that I've spoken of. Also from his writing you will be able to get a better feel for the atmosphere of repression in Japan at the time he was teaching. You might also try some of Don Draeger's research works. Good luck.

Here's some of the history that you wanted. I'm not going to reference my books so this is going to be from memory. I'll give you some good references at the end of my reply. In 1922 Funakoshi was invited to Japan to teach there. He was in charge of introducing karate to the school system. He thought that the techniques as they were traditionally taught might be inappropriate for school aged children so he modified them. He also, around this same time, changed the characters for karate to mean "empty hand" instead of "China hand" as they were in Okinawa. This was because of poor relations between China and Japan at the time. Although if you ask a Japanese Shotokan instructor they will as likely as not say that it was to reflect the new spiritual aspect of karate-do (B***S***). Most of the changes were politically motivated. Karate was turned into a sport. Funakoshi's original art was Shorin Ryu, these changes were the start of Shotokan and sport karate. The belt system was introduced a little later and there we have the start of "modern karate". This is a very simplified version but still accurate. Try the book "Okinawa Island of Karate". From what I can understand, Funakoshi wasn't very respected by his peers for his karate technique although he was reputedly a good teacher. Kirves was correct that the styles have now become a bit muddled between Japanese and Okinawan. Some schools still offer a more traditional Okinawan approach, but these are few and far between. I hope this helps a little.

You have made a point that has been made several times. The rank is only as good as the instructor or the instruction to be more precise. There are so many instructors running around with 1 or 2 week courses behind their belt that the belt system has no basis in knowledge any more. I know that that is a sweeping general statement and doesn't apply everywhere. However, I don't believe laziness is why these organizations don't use any belts, or only use two belts. I think some of these guys are looking to get back to the true root of karate training ( like myself ). IF you read the other posts, belts didn't exist before Kano, Jigoro introduced the obi system in the early 1900's and then it was only white, brown and black. Kate do a little research and see what I'm talking about.

I don't believe any ego massage is required. Just be straight and to the point. The old adage "Honesty is the best policy" works well here. Tell him your concerns and see what he has to say. Good luck.

My advice to you is to ask him. Catch him before or right after class and ask if there's a reason for it. He'll either tell you or tell you to get out if you don't like it. Either way the problem is solved. There's no reason to go on putting up with it if you don't like it. He's not going to physically do anything to you for asking. If you're afraid to ask then perhaps you're in the wrong place.

karate_woamn has an excellent point. Itosu, Azato, Matsumura and all those old masters never had any rank per say. They were simply considered masters of their respective arts because of their knowledge, skill and reknown. All of these rank debates are exactly why, as I posted in another post, I won't wear rank anymore. That way, when I teach, my students will stay because of what they are learning not because of some pretty piece of paper with my name on it or a belt with little red stripes. It's all so ridiculous.

It is definitely style dependent. If it were more standardized the belt system might be more useful. IMHO.

kataman....???? Huh? Where did you get the information about where and why the stances came to be?

That's a good idea. I think I might adopt that particular practice.