Gyte

Here can can find more Shito-ryu kata's: http://www.infokarate.com/techniques/index.php

This flash animation is funny. It looks like a scene from Fist of Legend, but instead of Jet Li, Bruce Lee plays the lead character. Bruce Lee is even dressed as Jet Li was dressed in that particular scene of the movie.

I think you mean Whang Ing-Sik. Yes, he was an excellent kicker. One of my favourite bad guys is Hwang Jang Lee. He also was an awesome kicker. He has played in many movies opposite to Jackie Chan. In just a few movies he also has played the good guy. Another of my favourite bad guys is Tadashi Yamashita. Tadashi Yamashita has played in the many ninja movies. Some of the movies he has appeared in are Octagon and American Ninja.

I used to practise Tang Soo Do. At that time if people from outside would ask me what I practised, I usually answered that I was practising Taekwondo. Some other students of my school also did this. The reason for this was that nobody ever had heard of Tang Soo Do, Taekwondo was more commonly known. If you answered that you were practising Tang Soo Do, you again and again had to explain what Tang Soo Do was. Because you were not always in the mood to do so, you just said you were practising Taekwondo.

1.Fist of Fury 2.Way of the Dragon 3.Enter the Dragon 4.Big Boss 5.Game of Death

I would recommend going to the doctor.

That's quite a lot!!! I have calculated that's about 190 kilometers. How long does it take you to get there and how many times per week do you train there ? I go to my dojo with a bike in just 12 minutes. But I live in Holland of course, which is a small country located in Europe. Holland is such a country that if you go more than 300 km (480 miles) in any direction, the chances are big that you have crossed the border.

To answer the question of how many kata's is enough, I can say the following for Shotokan Karate. I think the Heian kata series, Tekki Shodan, Bassai Dai and Kanku Dai are more then enough to learn from. These 8 kata's are all the kata's that are required to be known for the black belt (1st dan) in Shotokan. More you don't need. Besides, most of the higher Shotokan kata's aren't style specific, as Funakoshi wrote down in his books. According to the rule "3 years, one kata", you would be busy learning these kata's for 8x3=24 years. That's plenty of time to be busy, I think.

What is tekko and why is Shotokan Wankan an excellent place to start ?

Yes, this is an excellent site. It contains videoclips of Shito-ryu kata, that are hard to find on the internet. I finally got a chance to watch at kata's like Matsumura Rohai, Shiho Kosokun, Shinpa, Sochin, Nipaipo and Chatanyara Kusanku. Especially Sochin kata of Shito-ryu was very interesting to watch. In Shotokan we also practise a Sochin kata, which is very different than the Shito-ryu Sochin as I have heard. I had never seen Shito-ryu Sochin before, so this was a good chance to compare them.

I think I found a good Karate movie, namely "the Perfect Weapon" starring Jeff Speakman. The style Jeff Speakman practises in the movie is Kempo Karate. In the movie he uses a lot of kicks and punches, which are executed with very good technique. What does everbody else think about this movie? Can it be called a Karate movie?

Well, to my information, martial arts choreographer Pat Johnson was the one that had studied Tang Soo Do. He also played the referee in the movie. The only karate black belts in Karate Kid 1 were Fumio Demura [the stand-in for Pat Morita], Daryl Vidal [a contestant of the karate tournament], Ron Thomas [bobby, one of the Cobra Kai]. The rest of the cast had berely any martial arts training. Not Ralph Macchio [Daniel], not Pat Morita [Mr. Miyagi], not William Zabka [Johnny] and not Martin Kove [sensei Kreese]. However, Pat Johnson did trained them for the movie.

So by this, do you mean that powerfull ki rays are being transmitted from your hara to your limbs and then through thin air to your opponent ? How exactly must I interpret this? I myself am very sceptic about the concept of ki and believe more in scientific explanations.

Don't you mean when you do slow kicks you are doing a static-active exercise, instead of a static-passive exercise? Outgoing from your definition of static-active exercises and static-passive exercises, this is what I would presume it to be.

Well, I guess that the reason why the yama zuki is performed three times in the kata Bassai Dai is to stress the different bunkai that can be used for the yama zuki. I can't think of another reason. My interpretation for the triple supported gedan barai is that they are blocks meant to be performed at close quarter fights. The attacker attacks with two low punches at the defenders stomach and defender blocks with two supported gedan barai and counter attacks with the third supported gedan barai. The reason why the other fist is held againts the elbow of the blocking arm is that the defender then can block faster. Fast blocking is very crucial in close quarter fights. A normal gedan barai would just take more time, because of the longer distance the arms would have to move. This technique doesn't necessarilly have to be performed in kiba dachi, it can also be performed in a fighting stance. Just my 2 cents.

According to me this site is not on-line anymore. It had some good screen quality videos about Matsubayashi-Ryu Kata's. But personally I think that the performer in the videos, sometimes flabbered his hands too much. When performing shuto he held his fingers too open, instead of holding them tight together. I don't know if that is how it's meant to be in Matsubayashi-Ryu kata's. But I practise Shotokan and this would be a wrong performance in my style.

I also have tried it out. It's a prefect workout for your muscles and your technique becomes stronger by it.

Well..... There is always the theory of the flying kick being incorporated into a particular style, because the master of that style thought it is was a cool technique.

This video will clarify what TangSooGuy was trying to explain. http://www.karate.org.yu/video%20files/pasai6.mpg This video contains the bunkai of the Passai kata of Shorin-ryu karate. This kata is not so different than the Shotokan Bassai Dai kata. It also contains the combination yama zuki followed by a low uchi uke.

I said something like this in my early post, but I suggested that it were the teachers of Chosun Yun Moo Kwan who added the animal attribution to the forms. But it could have also been Hwang Kee himself. Then the teachers of Chosun Yun Moo Kwan learned it from him. I don't really have any information on this. Sure would like to know who invented it.

Hee you guys, please excuse me if I made a negative impression. I'm not trying to bash Tang Soo Do, I do very much like the art. As a teenager I studied Tang Soo Do for just a year. I had a conflict with my teacher so I stopped and went on to Shotokan. Thanks to my training in Tang Soo Do I'm one of the better kickers in my Shotokan school. Yes, that's very true. So that would make the animal attributions to forms like turtle, horse, snake, eagle, bear, mantis quite illogical. Don't you think? I didn't say he was a student of Jido Kwan, but he did train with masters such as Chun Sang Sup of the Yeon Moo Kwan and Lee Won Kuk of the Chung Do Kwan. This happened after he was unsuccesful with the martial art he was teaching, Hwa Soo Do. It was from these masters he got the idea to incorporate Shotokan forms into his teachings and in addition he changed the name of his art into Tang Soo Do, a term coined by Lee Won Kuk. Lee Won Kuk even claimed that Hwang Kee was a student of him, but Hwang Kee denied this. How could Hwang Kee or some other Tang Soo Do master have researched that? I don't think they had the means for it. Even in Shotokan it is hard to research something like that. The forms practised in Shotokan are derived from Okinawan forms. It is known that many of these Okinawan forms came from China. However this isn't traceble anymore, because there are no similar forms practised in China. The chinese styles from where these forms came from either don't exist anymore or have evolved beyond recognition.

Yes, only the forms that Hwang Kee borrowed from Shotokan are associated to animals. But the question remains. Why is this not so in Shotokan? Since that is where they originally came from. It looks like animal attribution to forms was added later on, when they were practised in Tang Soo Do. I have read somewhere that Hwang Kee has trained at the Chosun Yun Moo Kwan (later renamed Ji Do Kwan) for a short period of time. This school, which was located in Seoul, taught Judo, Shotokan Karate and Kwon Bup (chinese martial arts and also called Chuan Fa), when Hwang Kee was training there. This school also attributes animals to the Shotokan forms. Perhaps Hwang Kee got the animal attribution from here. My guess is that since in Chuan Fa a lot of animal styles are practised, the teachers of Chosun Yun Moo Kwan (who both taught Shotokan and Chuan Fa) began "recognizing" animal based techniques in Shotokan forms and later also began attributing animals to these forms. This just a wild guess of course, I could be totally wrong.

Tang Soo Do "borrowed" these forms from Shotokan Karate. But since in Shotokan Karate these forms aren't associated by some animal, than why is this so in Tang Soo Do? Did Hwang Kee (founder of Tang Soo Do) made this up?

Heian Shodan. Don't underestimate this kata. It an easy kata, but you can learn a great deal of things from it. My teacher is 7th dan and yet he says that by studying the kata deeply, he learns new things from it, that he previously didn't realize. The same thing can be said of all kata.

I did a search on the internet about the kata Sushiho and found the following information on a German site : http://www.kcdw.de/kampfkunst/kata2.htm#r Rough translation for non-German speakers: Meaning: 54 Steps, Sushiho is derived from the word Useshi, the in Okinawa used pronunciation of the Kanji-character for 54 (in japanese spoken like Go ju shi) and Ho, meaning walk or step. A japanese kata of newer date, grounded by Masutatsu Oyama from Kyokushinkai. As a base for Sushiho served the kata Gojushiho (see there), it is a very heigh developed kata, but is in different styles very differently practised. I just love to translate. Hope this helps.