alanseijas

I suppose some of the lingering questions here are, how did you find out this guy was looking into this whole thing? Did the instructor tell you, or did this paper-pusher tell you? Did one of your fellow classmates tell you, or are you running on rumors? That's an interesting question--- I was training on the dojo floor when the phone rang. Sensei answered, and it was this guy. Sensei called me off the floor to talk to this guy, and he starts asking me a ton of questions about my past--- right there on the phone. So it's not rumors! I talked to Sensei, and he said to me that he cannot "sign off" on black belts. I guess meaning that he needs proof to give to the association, and he is powerless to help me. He said to me that the burden of proof is mine. I felt VERY comfortable about wearing that rank, and nobody ever questioned it until now. I KNOW Sensei didn't yank my arm on purpose. He was truly sorry. It STILL hurts me every day and night. Thanks guys....

Please read this: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=12076 Tell me what you think....... Thanks.

I started Isshinryu in 1983, and we did seminars with board breaking all the time. My idiot Sensei at the time didn't teach us how to properly do it, and my hands pay for it to this day..... It's a good thing she didn't expect us to use OUR heads! (Yes, SHE!)

No elbows???!!!! We use elbows all the time in Fut Sau.

You left out BLUE. When I was an assistant instuctor at my Shorinryu school, I wore a blue gi.

Thanks to everybody for all the replies. It's good to have support. Well, because of my injury, I'm not ready to go back yet anyway. I have been training Kung Fu with an old friend, and we take it easy on my arm. It would be impossible to take it easy on my arm at a dojo. Push ups, sparring, etc... I will say again, NOBODY doubted my rank from my skills. Everyone understood that the requirements were different back then, and my hand techniques (and foot) speak for themselves. It would not be possible to take a rank test now, because of the weapons. I do not know them at all, and the degrees of learning for ranks are very different. I know brown belts with a ton of weapons, but still don't know all the empty hand katas. Seems kind of backwards to me. Doesn't "karate" mean empty hand, anyway? I dislike weapons, but was willing to learn them. Anyway, my point is that I may need up to Chinto kata in empty hand, and like 4 other in weapons to meet the brown belt requirement. How would they grade me not knowing ANY weapons? Someone intelligently suggested that I learn the weapons. Fine, but that'll take a long time. There are a lot of katas with weapons, I think. Can anyone in Isshinryu list them here for me? With all this talk, I have decided to have a conversation with Sensei. I'll tell him that I'm interested in coming back soon, but don't know where I stand in the association. I'll ask him what HE wants me to do. I'll remind him that before I even stepped foot onto the dojo floor, I told him that it would be hard to prove my rank. I'll remind him that I told him about the basement flood, and that HE gave me a new belt to wear because my old one was too small. I'll tell him that I wouldn't have had a problem starting at white, but now that everyone has seen me in black, it is too late. There is no way that I can see myself going back to white now. It's too late. Everyone would laugh at it anyway because they have seen my skills. It just sounds stupid to me. Another thing is that he wasn't charging me any money to train there because (I guess) BB's train for free. We help out a lot. I wonder if he misses me.???

[quote name="delta1 Now' date=' I'd never admit to being ornery or sadistic; but immagine how much fun it is to be a white belt and pick the BB's off the matt and ask (smileing in a less than concerned way) "Are you all right?" [/quote] I did that back when I started at white again in Shorinryu. It WAS fun! It's different now though--- to work out for 7 months as a BB to go back to white is, I don't know.... Sucky. If there was going to be a problem with my rank, I would've started at white IN THE FIRST PLACE! (Not yelling at you, I'm just passionate here..)

I have no problem learning the bo, or sai, or anything else for that matter. I had started the bo before my injury was aggravated. Lateral epicondelitis (yeah, fancy name for tennis elbow!).

See, that's just it. NOBODY there doubted me or my ability. Even Sensei himself had NO PROBLEM with my rank. It was a guy from the association that decided to look into my background. The associaton is 3 dojos together, and this guy doesn't even train at mine. None of the students had a problem. They even told me I was their favorite BB because I treated them as equal. I don't go for all the kiss my BB * stuff......

Thanks, that's not a bad idea. Any other suggestions out there? Like the thread name says, "What would YOU do." I cannot help but feel a little insulted.

I am injured right now anyway, so training there is out of the question; but now my kids have seen me teaching classes, and everyone there calls me "Sir." What do I tell them when I show up with a white belt? Oh, I was just kidding?

Thanks for the reply. Oh, I've still got the moves. I regularly sit in my Hurley stretch rack at 180 degrees, and can kick and punch better than ever. My kata's are crisp and sure, and Sensei has even complimented me on them. The last time I did Sunusu, I drew all eyes from the dojo. Upon completion, I was told, "Nice kata Mr. Seijas" by Sensei himself. The problem with re-testing, is that back in 1989, weapons were reserved for BB's; and I know NONE of the katas. I have NO experience with even a bo. By today's standards, I would not pass a Sho Dan test........

I have my original Megami patch(WE called her Mizugami incorrectly back then) from 1983 Isshinryu training. My oldest son started at 3 and is now 6--- HE wears it on HIS gi! It is very different from today's patch. While it is not the Advincula patch, it is still very old and original. I haven't seen another one exactly like it anywhere in YEARS.....

Another topic on this board has gotten me all fired up again about this past year. Sorry if you've already read my story, but I'm looking for opinions here on what I should do. Here is my story: I started training Isshinryu in 1983. I trained at 3 different schools (keeping my rank with each move), and achieved Sho Dan in 1989. With that, I ended up moving, and found a Shorinryu school close to my new home. I started back at white belt there. New style, no problems with that for me. I advanced very quickly until I broke my ankle, and I never went back to that school. Now, It was 14 years later (2003); and I had enrolled my 3 year old in an Isshinryu school in 2001. Word got out that I was a Black Belt, and I was "kind of" asked to come to class. The Sensei even gave me a new Black Belt to wear (I am too large for my old size 4!). There were no problems. I even remembered all 8 empty hand katas which was all that was required back in 1989. Weapons were reserved for BB's, and I moved before ever starting them. I trained there for 7 months, and even went to camp last summer. I was having a blast. Well, one of the head guys in the association decided to try and search out my past to prove that I was indeed a BB. He was unsuccessful in finding my old Sensei that had awarded me my Sho Dan, and I started feeling like they thought that I was lying. They kept saying, "Nobody has heard of that guy." I took it upon myself to try and find my old Sensei, and had a phone number to call. Still no answers. They asked to see my Dan Certificate, but I lost all of my old karate notes and awards in a basement flood years back(my wife TOLD me not to leave that stuff down there!) Before I even started at this school, I told Sensei that I had lost my papers; and he said that it was no problem. Now after 7 months, there obviously IS a problem. We're talking about 14 years ago here. How am I supposed to find a guy I haven't seen in that long, and ask him to not only remember ME; but to give me another certificate? None of these guys in this association were even training back then! To make matters even worse, I was teaching a student; and Sensei saw me show an arm bar. He walked over, and said I should be doing it like THIS! With that, he grabbed my already injured arm, and yanked the * out of it while I was shouting, "That's the one, that's the one!" He was very sorry, and I KNOW he didn't really do it on purpose, but I'm REALLY in pain. I work on cars for a living, and that's miserable enough without adding pain to my job whenever I need to pick up a tool or something. So, I bowed out of class because of my injury; but I am afraid it probably looks like I'm faking it because I couldn't prove my rank. I'm not even sure Sensei remembers that he's the one that did it to me! I now have 2 boys enrolled at that school (6 and 4), and think it's a great school. They will stay there until they receive their BB. What would you guys do? Any input is appreciated! Thanks.

"Hey, what kind of belt do you have?" "Canvas! JC Penny. $3.98. You like Daniel san?" "No, no, thant's not what I mean...." "Daniel san, karate here(points to head), karate here(points to heart), karate never here(points to belt)." Too much emphasis is put on rank, and I admit that I, myself, am guilty of this as well. Here is my story: I started training Isshinryu in 1983. I trained at 3 different schools (keeping my rank with each move), and achieved Sho Dan in 1989. With that, I ended up moving, and found a Shorinryu school close to my new home. I started back at white belt there. New style, no problems with that for me. I advanced very quickly until I broke my ankle. I never went back to that school. Now, It was 14 years later (2003); and I had enrolled my 3 year old in an Isshinryu school in 2001. Word got out that I was a Black Belt, and I was kind of asked to come to class. The Sensei even gave me a new Black Belt to wear (I am too large for my old size 4!). There were no problems. I even remembered all 8 empty hand katas which was all that was required back in 1989. Weapons were reserved for BB's, and I moved before ever starting them. I trained there for 7 months, and even went to camp. I was having a blast. Well, one of the head guys in the association decided to try and search out my past to prove that I was indeed a BB. He was unsuccessful in finding my old Sensei that had awarded me my Sho Dan, and I started feeling like they thought that I was lying. I took it upon myself to try and find my old Sensei, and had a phone number to call. Still no answers. They asked to see my Dan Certificate, but I lost all of my old karate notes and awards in a basement flood years back(my wife TOLD me not to leave that stuff down there!) Before I even started at the school, I told Sensei that I had lost my papers; and he said that it was no problem. Now after 7 months, there obviously IS a problem. We're talking about 14 years ago here. How am I supposed to find a guy I haven't seen in that long, and ask him to not only remember ME; but to give me another certificate? To make matters even worse, I was teaching a student; and Sensei saw me show an arm bar. He walked over, and said I should be doing it like THIS! With that, he grabbed my already injured arm, and yanked the * out of it while I was shouting, "That's the one, that's the one!" He was very sorry, and I KNOW he didn't really do it on purpose, but I'm REALLY in pain. I work on cars for a living, and that's miserable enough without adding pain to my job whenever I need to pick up a tool or something. So, I bowed out of class because of my injury; but I am afraid it probably looks like I'm faking it because I couldn't prove my rank. I have 2 boys enrolled at that school (6 and 4), and think it's a great school. I really miss going, but there's no way I can risk hurting my arm worse. Now that sucks.........