equaninimus

Before it folded, Carbonecho.com had several clips of Kendo excercises. Hie thee to a Kendo dojo, yon' man!

Err...Amazon has "Best Karate: Meikyo, Wankan, Jiin."

Interesting. Very different from the Hayashi-Ha Shito Ryu katas I'm familiar with. Niseishi reminds me a lot of the Wado Niseishi.

The movements remind me of Sai-jutsu movements.

KGN, just be aware Okinawan Japanese pronunciations are quite different from "Tokyo Standard!" I speak Japanese, and had a hack of a time this past Summer.

One way to build quad strength, and thus improve your ability to stay in kiba or shikko dachi, is to start out by dropping into the stance during TV commercials. The average commercial in the US is 30 seconds, and most full breaks last three minutes. Work your way up from one commercial, to a full break. Then, when you can comfortably hold the stance for the full commercial break, try to work up to holding it for the full period between breraks (usually 17 minutes). Hope this helps.

At teh JKA Hombu I only heard "Osu!" when two old-boys types greeted each other, and then only as an initial greeting. In Okinawa this past Summer I never heard it.

The sort of women who hang around the docks, the ones with teeth missing and heroin scars, would probably dig a suave, bruised guy like you!

In addition, download photos of famous Martial Artists from the web, and photoshop yourself into the pictures. Next, add autoigraphs. I think that things like : "To my friend, the only man to ever kick my butt, peace out, Yasutsune Itosu," would be appropriate.

Instep roundhouse kicks to the side of the head can cause serious injury. Fractures of the temporal bone may be life threatening. In addition, any blunt force trauma that leads to unconsciousness is never "okay," and may contribute to progressive brain damage in later years. Unconsciousness results from the brain making contact with the interior of the skull and always results in some amount of soft tissue damage and swelling of the brain itself. ANYONE who has been knocked unconscious from a blow to the head should receive medical attention. In addition, blunt trauma to the head is often coupled with injury to the cervical spine, due to the rapid flexion/extention/rotation motion the head experiences in such instances. I often use the analogy of a thirteen pound bowling ball balanced precariously on a broomstick, when teaching head and c-spine trauma to EMT and first responder classes. Let me repeat: Head contact, even with equipment, is ALWAYS dangerous.

Seidokan, let me find that link to "Dr. Rod..."

Illinois, or Colorado? If you mean Aurora Co, get thee to Joko Ninomiya's Dojo, young man!

Optional..gee sonny..I'll whack you with my cane!

Sorry. Primary Care Provider.

Didn't the Tracy Kenpo system teach by mail for years? No, I don't think one can learn online. I know many fine Oyama lineage karateka, but I don't think any of them would support this! I wonder if this is actualy endorsed by Oyama Shigeru, or if this is somebody's idea of how to make a quick buck? I just posted the link as a thread in the "baffling Budo" section of E-budo, so someone who knows something should have an answer..I hope.

Kumite is optional over 35..why should you young whipppersnappers haev all the fun???!!!??? (edited)

It should fall off. If not, time to see your PCP.

"I'm injured now." I don't think i've been un-injured in the last ten years!

That pretty much confirms a lot of what I have thought about the Oyama lineage styles.

The WTF is loathe to even admit his existence. You will never see his name mentioned in anything put out by the Kukkiwon. Even in Richard Kim's autobiography Choi is pretty much skipped over. Instead he just says TKD was introduced to the Korean Military in the 1950s.

That's pretty funny. Good joke there, tedster. Seriously, are you finished with the "my style is better than your style" rhetoric yet, or are you going to continue? There are big differences in execution of basic technique between Shoto and the Oyama styles. In addition, Oyama style karate is very much "kick and punch, tough guy" oriented, so if you don't mind that sort of environment you should do fine.

Hit in the noggin too many times, perhaps?

Even within certain general groupings, i.e., "Japanese Karate" there are vast differences. Goju, Wado, Shoto, Kyokushin, Shorinjiryu, Shorinji Kenpo, etc.. all vary greatly from each other, often in manner of techniqe. In Okinawan Karate, there is a big diffrence between the styles of Goju, Ryuei Ryu, Uechi, and the various branches of Shorin Ryu.

Didn't you break your finger a while back? For pete's sake man, go see a doctor!

My experience has been mostly limited to Wado, Shoto, and now Seibukan, but in general, below dan grades, one usually starts over at white, either until the instructor deteremines where the new student belongs (sometimes this evaluation lasts for a single class, sometimes it is "prolonged"), or the student is allowed to test rather quickly. For holders of Dan grades in the same style, and the same overall organization (i.e, the overall umbrella of "JKA" karate, for example, in its various incarnations of ISKF, ITKF, SKI, AJKA, etc..) a newcomer is usually allowed to wear his rank. For a dan grade student arriving form another styule, the decision is left to the new instructor. Anecdotally, I went from a Wado 2d dan to a new Shotokan school, where I wore a white belt for a year, then "courtesy tested" to Shodan. At my current (Seibukan) School, I wore a white belt for one class, then was told "wear your real rank." I periodically return to my old Wado school to train (one night/week). There I voluntarily put on a white belt until I had recovered most of the Wado material. Every Dojo and student are diferent, so just smile and go with the flow, as it were.