Jussi Häkkinen

Go to a local dry cleaner and ask if anything can be done. It's not very probable, but you always can ask.

I've heard a lot of good things about Juka (including the claim that they're made by a same manufacturer that makes Kamikaze do-gi), but I don't have any personal experience on them. Personally, I favour heavyweight tournament cut do-gi, so my pick would probably be the Emerald. However, I'm certain that there are several people here in forums that have used Juka and can tell you more. When it comes to waist, I personally prefer the traditional drawstring waist - it stays as it has been tied, doesn't squeeze like the elastic waist does and doesn't loosen in washes. It's up to your own taste, however. Fact is that with karate uniforms it's same as with everything else - quality costs a bit more. Usually, it's worth it.

That sounds weird. Maybe you got a mispacked KB-10? Otherwisely that sounds very weird.

Early kata? Remember and train? Most definitely. I cannot place the kata in any specific order - I just have learned some earlier than others, but they're equally important (actually, I should be more proficient in doing them because I've known them for a longer time). Old proverb "hito kata, san nen" means "one kata, three years". My personal experience tells that the inventor of that proverb was a world class optimist.

Normal, rather low quality do-gi, most probably made in Pakistan. Materials aren't all that great and especially the sewing threads have been a problem of Kwon. In one period of my training I used 1-3 heavyweight Kwon, Blitz and similar brands a year. After switching to a proper brand (Shureido), I have had two do-gi for years, no signs of heavy wear yet. They're attractive by their price, but the quality is below the scale. They may look neat but the materials are not acceptable. Stick to Kamikaze America, if you want a low priced and high quality tournament cut do-gi. My friend has had one for over five years in very heavy use. It's holding together beautifully.

Their "traditional" list is most probably the WKF-list - i.e. includes Shotokan, Wado-ryu, Shito-ryu and Goju-ryu. Shitei-kata come from these styles. Although Shorin-ryu is more traditional than any of these (roots go further in history), it generally is not accepted in "traditional" (read: WKF) competitions. If you'd have to go to the "freestyle" category, skip it. The backflip-"kata" performers that compete in that category are not worthy to see real karate. One possibility is to join the traditional category, check up the Shitei-list and pick your kata from there.

Depending on what "medium weight" do you mean. Shureido has lots of different weights. But if you're talking about KW-11 and KB-11, they're both same weight. If you've worn other longer than the newer one, there will be a weight difference - especially if you've used a tumble dryer (a big no-no).

True. Apparently Jim Sindt has left Matsubayashi-ryu and joined Patrick McCarthy's Koryu Uchinadi.

Wouldn't it be more logical to have "Tomoe" as your nick, then? However, welcome to the happy Okinawan style crowd.

They are two different stances for two different purposes. Learn to use both. Learn what are the differences when considering the anatomy side. Also, make yourself familiar with the older versions of the stances - they're a bit narrower and more mobile.

I know about it. It's a spinoff style of Shorinji-Ryu Renshinkan (that is founded by Isamu Tamotsu, student of Okinawan Shorin-Ryu Seibukan's founder, Zenryo Shimabukuro) that is founded by Ikeda Hoshu who parted from Renshinkan in 1960's. Ikeda Hoshu's Joshin-mon is a legitimate Japanese school of karate. It's characteristics are pretty much same as Renshinkan's - kata list comes from Kyan Chotoku's tradition (Sukunaihayashi) and technique-wise it differs from Itosu-line of Shorin-ryu a bit.

Chinese name (Shaolin - in Japanese it's Shorin) connected with a Japanese name (Karate). I smell fish for that reason alone. Shaolin is often associated with karate ("Shorin" is used in Okinawa to respect the Shaolin monastery), but never in a Chinese form of pronounciation. You've found just another McDojo - they usually prefer to call those mixtures as "eclectic systems" or similar.

Usually, most of the wear is in knot area and in the edges of the belt. Those are caused by tying and wearing the belt, as well as carrying it around in a training bag. If your hikite is really low, well, it may wear off the belt as well. I'd still believe that even the persons who have some wear in hikite area have more wear in knot area.

I recommend you to ask about this from your teacher. Generally, sleeveless do-gi is a "bad *" -style and not usually accepted in dojo. Of course, it's up to personal preferences. When at home, I train wearing a Nike Dri-Fit T-shirt. It's an uniform, after all - I think that there's a certain dresscode to karate training. I understand the appeal of a sleeveless do-gi, but...well, I still think that you should ask the teacher about his views.

Cutting sleeves means that you shorten the sleeves to suit you better. Some like to cut the sleeves completely off, some just shorten them. "Sleeveless" do-gi is not accepted in every dojo, but shortening should be OK. Take the do-gi to a local seamstress to finish the cut sleeves. Personally, I like the sleeves shortened in a way that they just cover my elbows. Pants extend a bit below the halfway of my calf.

There was some cross-over with Usagi Yojimbo and Ninja Turtles. They weren't a part of each others' universum, but they were used together in a couple of stories. For additional information about my favourite samurai bunny, check this out.

Choki Motobu did his Naifanchi using kibadachi (there are photos of him doing it). Since Nagamine was a student of Motobu, it is logical that his style does Naifanchi the same way. http://seinenkai.com/articles/swift/swift-tidbits3g.jpg In Seibukan we have Naifanchi (among couple of others) as "additional kata" (additional in a sense that official Seibukan kata are from Kyan lineage) that current head, Shimabukuro Zenpo, learned from Chozo Nakama - who learned, as well, his Naifanchi from Motobu). We use kibadachi in Naifanchi, too. So, it seems to be a Motobu version. And yes, that is a kibadachi. In several Okinawan styles kibadachi is a lot narrower than the "double shoulder width" -version often seen in Japanese styles. A common guideline is that the inner edges of feet are aligned with outer edges of shoulders.

Yep, I recall seeing that version too - even among Matsubayashi folks.

Does this http://www.anshindojo.com/Crests/wmkatsp.gif look familiar? It's a Matsubayashi-ryu patch. Style was founded by Shoshin Nagamine, who was a student of Ankichi Arakaki (student of Kyan Chotoku), Kyan Chotoku and Choki Motobu. He also taught Itosu no Pinan. Matsubayashi-ryu is a legitimate and respected Okinawan style.

Yep, I did read the topic now. Naifanchi Sandan isn't - for me - any more difficult than Shodan and Nidan (or any other kata). Still, breaking it to parts, assembling and repeating helps here too.

Excuse me? What does this have to do with anything?

I do agree. And well, I've seen a 9th dan dude with a brand spanking new black belt - and heard about very high grading dudes who replace their belts as soon as belts begin to show wear. Then again, I've seen some who have a practically white belt - only having a thread or two of black at the embroidery area to remind that the anchor rope has once been a black belt. Those belts have never added or lessened my respect towards those guys. They have their own idea about what looks good on them. I'd say that it's a personal style issue. One of the rare ones in karate. It all still boils down to training and trying to be better every time.

I handwash my belt once a season (i.e. 4 times/year). Hasn't added the wear yet. For me sweat, blood and tears (?) that have got into my belt are dirt. I wash them away to keep my belt even relatively hygienic. I also have replaced my belts with new ones when they've became ragged. It's all about looking sharp. My karate? Well, I'd hate to see people judging it by my belt. I believe that performance tells everything. My black looks nice and just has a minor spot of white waiting to appear. If having a new looking black belt lessens the respect I get, I guess that I don't even want to get respect from that person.

Break it to sequences. Do not drill the whole kata at once, but do it in short parts. Train these parts by doing 10-50 repeats on each part. After that, assemble them together and give the whole kata 10-50 walthroughs. After that, add some power and perform it properly for 10-50 times. Repeats are the key. Pinan Sandan/Heian Sandan (I suppose that you're talking about that kata) is a bit more "kata-ish" than Shodan and Nidan. Get used to that feeling - it's common in higher level kata. Personally, I didn't find Pinan Sandan any harder than any other kata - however, I didn't learn Pinans as first kata - actually I did learn them after pretty much everything else (they're not a part of our "core curriculum" but so called "added kata". Our first official kata is Seisan).

If you buy a high quality do-gi (Tokaido, Shureido, Hirota for example), you often have a choice to have your name embroidered on it. You usually only use your surname written in katakana - kanji would usually be a weird choice for a westerner. If you did't get the embroidery when you bought the do-gi, don't take it to your local tailor to have it embroidered. They most probably don't have machines that could properly handle the lower lapel area embroideries (too thick). If they do have good machines (and you absolutely want your name embroidered), translitterate your name by yourself (or have someone who speaks Japanese do it) and get a print of it written with a good font in a correct size. That way a tailor will probably be able to do it. Still, if your do-gi didn't come embroidered, I would recommend to use it as it is. Embroidery doesn't add anything to quality, after all.