aefibird

What colour belt are you at the moment? The options include belts with or without stripes , so if you are red with a stripe then pick 'red'.

Informer, that is quite a narrow view of Shotokan. Yes, there are shotokan schools like that, but there are schools like that in ALL forms of karate and martial arts. There are also some pretty darned good clubs out there with great instructors, to which I happen to belong to one. The Kyusho Jitsu in shotokan depends upon the individual instructor teaching it. Same as in any style - individual instructors decide on what to concentrate on and what to leave out. Just because something isn't done at one club doesn't necessarily man it isn't done at other clubs in that style. Also, just because some clubs don't include certain aspects of training doesn't automatically mean that that style is useless or only for sport.

My instructor will often stand behind or to the side of us when we're doing kata (especially the Heian's) and tries to attack to get us to block correctly. After being whacked a few times by a 5th dan whilst doing Heian Shodan (or whatever) you soon learn to block correctly and with good timing.

Good answer, Sai.

Good luck with the demo, Jade - I'm sure you'll do fine!

I recently read in the UK edition of Black Belt magazine about a stick fighting art from the Canary Islands. I can't remember what it was called, though. Sorry. Here's another rare martial art = any art that someone hasn't bashed or said that they thought it wasn't effective... I bet there aren't many arts out there that someone hasn't talked about negatively. Whilst we're on the subject of unusual MA's, does anyone know anything at all about African martial arts? Thanks.

Like a red belt or a green belt but in gold. Some styles have gold within their ranks, just as some styles also include navy blue. It's not as common as, say, yellow or brown, but it does happen!

That's not really true anymore. That's why the dan system was added. Yes, but for many people outside of MA, getting your black belt is seen as the final aspect of training. When I was about to take my Shodan I had at least 3 non-martial art friends who asked me if I was going to give up when I got my black belt. Also, I was including dan grades within my previous statement. The getting of the blackbelt (or another dan) is the sole aim of some clubs, rather than the training and teaching of good karate. Plus, for McDojo's the actual act of getting students to as high a grade as possible whilst extracting the maximum amount of money from them is the main aim - as long as the student gets their blackbelt or dan grade and the instructor gets piles of £££ then the actual grade isn't necessarily that important to them.

The last demonstration my club did was Heian Yondan and application, plus a bit of one-step sparring. At least then those who were watching could see it wasn't all 'haiii-ya' and karate chops at our club, which is still the way that a lot of people in the UK see karate.

Heidi, that's disgraceful behaviour by your club - you oughta sue!! Seriously, though, why did they change the system? Do you think it has changed for the better?

Welcome to Karate Forums, Ant! I'm glad you're enjoying karate again.

I see from reading my earlier post in this thread I'm the only person to have mentioned a style that only has white and black belts (Aikido). Does anyone else on here go to a club with only two colours of belts?

Yes, but I'd still rather not be hit by Mr Predictable. All that practice will have made him really good at whatever technique he practices.

Kihon kata (also known as Taikyoku Shodan).

Thank you!

Sheesh, I sometimes wish I was a 10th dan and knew as much as the true 10th dans know. Then again, when we're working on something tricky (such as Unsu for example ) I sometimes wish I was a white belt again!

Jade, good luck for when you take your first dan! When do you test for it? Also, what are the other kata that you need to know for it?

With my organisation you have to be 2nd dan or above to be an instructor - there is no separate test for instructors, but there is a teaching section within each dan grade, from nidan upwards. Then, with approval from the head of the organisation, a person can become an instructor. However, if they do not train regularly for a year or more they have to re-take the teaching section of their last dan grade in order to be able to carry on as an instructor. Assistant club instructors are appointed by that clubs sensei. All club instructors and assistant instructors MUST hold a valid 1st aid certificate and have undergone a child-protection police check. Instructors & assistants also have to attend all dan gradings, unless they have a good reason not to be there, because it is the club instructors & assistants that are chosen to pair up with those taking dan grades.

Probably not, seen as there were some other garish creations there on that day too - all made by Century too I suspect.

I'm just wondering what aspect of your training you're all concentrating on at the moment. I've learned Unsu fairly recently, so I'm concentrating on getting to grips with that. Also, I'm concentrating on trying to make better use of my hips and my centre than I am doing that the moment, especially in Sochin-dachi and Neko-Ashi-dachi.

Hi Steve, welcome to KarateForums!

I'm sorry, I don't know of any websites, but the Best Karate series of books by Nakayama have diagrams to show pace, rhythm of each movement. Plus, the pictures in that series of books are very good and quite helpful for reference (pity they're not in colour, though).

10th dan in shotokan??? Wow... lol, no I'm a 10th Dan in silliness - only a 1st dan in Shotokan

Edited Post

Hi P.A.L., welcome to KarateForums! In answer to your question there are two Bassai kata in Shotokan - Bassai Dai and Bassai Sho. Bassai Dai is generally learned as a brown belt kata and is usually required knowledge for Shodan grading. Bassai Sho is a black belt kata. In my organisation (the FSK) it is one of the set list of kata which a person must know in order to take their Nidan grading.