equaninimus

Not neccesarily. I have been in Shoto and Wado dojos ewhere the instructors (Japanese) and students were also "osu-oholoics."

Huh?

Shito also has 40-60 katas, compared to Shoto's 26.

Punching trees? What did the poor tree ever do to you?

My understanding of this was that he left because he was got on the wrong side of Syngmann Rhee. Something that was not especially difficult to do. When Choi left Korea, he took his organization with him. the KTA simply created a new organization, the WTF. Never heard that one before. Again, a new one on me. BTW, I didn't answer the poll question, which is poorly worded and misleading.

I still have my old white belt, too. Its a size four. I am no longer a size four. It looks like a dingy grey bow tie.

Especially if he refuses to be "borken."

Respect women? This is the Bush era, fer pete's sakes!

I'm a big fan of the genre, especially Zatoichi and Hanzo the Razor. What are other people's favourites?

Not a PhD yet. (sigh!) Merely an overworked student and adjunct prof at a community college. Anyway, one of the largest differences I have found between the Japanese and Okinawan styles has been emphasis. This difference in emphasis is most evident in training methods. Both Wado and Shoto training follow the university model of line drill kihon, step kumite, and kata (in about that order of time spent). At the Seibukan dojo we spend a large amount of time (especially in the BB class) doing partner work using oyo from the different kata. Another example of the emphasis on self defence, rather than competition, may be seen in the performance of the kata themselves. The Seibukan kata are more energetic than their Japanized counterparts, and not as "pretty." They incorporate many examples of yori ashi foot movement, instead of the mere stepping movements favoured by the Japanese styles. As far as Shoto and Wado go, I can understand this, since apparently Funakoshi was a rather low-skill Karateka, and his students would have had to adapt to his less than stellar example. What I do not understand is how Shito-ryu, whose founder was apparently quite skilled, has had most of the lethality of its techniqes edited out. I first noticed the difference in the 1980s when I was at the U of Wyoming getting a * in Molecular Bio (yes, Wyoming has a University, No, we did not ride horses to class! ) and did Okinawan Kempo (Nakamura lineage) for four years during the school years. The techniqes were completely different. Being the arrogant, know it all, still stiff belted new Wado Shodan that I was at the time, I pretty much avoided absorbing anything useful from the experience. I had another chance to observe Okinawan Karate when I was at the U of Washington in the later 1990s doing another BA (History this time). The Shotokan group practiced in a community center in the U district, and in the room below the one we used a Matsumura Kempo group practiced. I watched them practice occaisionally, and by that time had started to lose the "Japanese Karate snobbery" that had plagued me for over a decade. If I had had the time I would have dug out the white belt and tried to do both. Unfortunately, school and two part time jobs (ER Tech at Harborview Med Center, and EMT-P with Shepard in Tacoma) cut into my karate time. In Baltimore there was little but TKD (aptly referred to as "take one's dough"), but I managed to find a very good Shotokan school, and practice with them while getting a first rate MA in history from a second rate (and I'm being generous here) school. While in Bawl'mer, I began reading and researching into Karate's history, and decided that if the chance ever came, I would try and train in an Okinawan style. Well, when I got here, I was doing Shotokan, and babying my knees after every practice, when an undergrad in one of my Western Civ classes happened to be wearing a Seibukan t-shirt, and one thing led to another. At this point I feel like I am finally learning the correct way to perform Karate techniques. The hardest things seem to be learning to relax, and avoiding the exaggerated stances I learned in Shotokan and Wado.

Started with Wado, in 1981. Did that until I went into the Army in 1991. When I got to Germany I was unable to find a Wado dojo, so went for what was available: Shotokan. Did that from 1991-2003. When I moved back to Colorado to enter the PhD program in history at CU Boulder, I found the Seibukan dojo run by Sensei Victor Banks. I don't know any Sensei Hayes. I know of a person named Bill Hayes, but I thought he did Okinawa Kempo. We are part of Dan Smith's organization, and directly under the Hombu Dojo and Hanshi Shimabukuro. As for how I should have "avoided rude comments," I have yet to find a situation where anyone "deserves" rude comments. If your ego is so easily bruised that you find yourself easily offended, then perhaps there are ways you may improve your self worth without wasting time and displaying rudeness. Those who so quickly respond in the manner you did generally have a great deal of personal growth to experience. Have a good evening.

Illiterate? no. Vastly better mannered than you? Obviously! With your attitude I'm suprised you haev found anyone wiling to teach you. Perhaps you are only rude when at the keyboard, yes?

Walk away.

Be surprising...spar nude! But back to reality..... My sojourn into TKD intorduced me to the chest and head protector thing, and I hate them with a passion. Too restrictive! In addition, the chest protector does indeed become a crutch for many students. Students tend not to block or avoid techniques, and the "no hands to the head" rule lead to many of them sparring with their hands exceptionally low.

I hate to do this, well, no I don't.... the Shorinkan group is not the Matsubayashi ryu. Shorinkan is Nakazato Shugero's group, and is strictly from the Itosu lineage, whereas Nagamine's Matsubayashi ryu descended from Itosu, Motobu, Arakaki, and (perhaps, though Matsubayashi later admitted he only trained with Kyan's students, not wiht Kyan himself) Kyan. So, if you were doing Kobayashi Shorin ryu, you were not doing Matsubayahi, by definition.

Other: Kata oyo.

Since when? And which "JKA"?

The Army's solution to most any medical problem: 800mg Motrin QID and return to full duty.

In many ways TKD historiography is at the same point Karate historiography was twenty or so years ago. At that time most of us believed the following common stories: -Karate was developed by the poor Okinawan peasantry to defend against the Samurai. -Karate weapons were developed from farm equipment; the sai was a plow, the nunchaku was a rice flail, etc.... -Makiwara training originated because the peasants needed to be able to punch through the heavy Samurai body armour. -Line training, and kumite were traditional training methods used by Karate masters throughout the centuries. -Motobu Choki was an uncouth, unlettered thug who stood at least six feet tall, and spoke in unintelligible grunts. Do any of these sound familiar? They were popular stories of Karate "history' as proclaimed by Urban, Haines, Kim, etc... and have all been proven to be false. Are the realities behind these stories more prosaic? Probably, but in may ways they enhance rather than take away from Karate as a whole. Perhaps its a good time to start looking for the truths to the origins of TKD and throw the fallacies of the past away.

Baltimore just fired its Chief of Police due to the fact he was spending the money from the pension fund. DC's chief is under investigation for running prostitutes. Sigh! As for the "punched, spit on, kicked, maced, verbally abused, shot at, etc...." I have gotten all that in 18 yrs. of EMS, too. There is a reason I'm an academic now!

Its cumulative.

If you read my post , I clearly said it did not ORIGINATE from shatokan I didn't say it wasnt influenced by shatokan - which I'll fully admit it was. But the instructors also changed and adapted their knowledge of the arts they had learnt under Japanese rule to suite their Korean martial art. With Honour & Respect Nathan Rees, First Degree Black Belt. The originators of TKD likely never studied any indigineous Korean martial arts. Choi, Rim, Kee, etc... have presented "histories" of their arts to the public that are so full of innacuracies and blatant lies that I would not believe one of them if I was standing in a monsoon and one of them told me it was raining!

"What kind of person becomes a police officer?" In most places in the US, police recruits go though lengthy background checks, and a very thorough psych eval, in order to weed out the "John Wayne Wannabees." Obviously the chaff accaisionally gets through with the wheat. Here in Denver we have had a spate of police shootings that were questionable. The answer would seem to be beter civilian oversight. Many of those involved were from an academy class that came in when the city was about to lose a large percentage of the department due to retirements, so the screening process was rushed. In Baltimore and DC, there is such a shortage of police officers, and the drug problem so severe, that sometimes backgrouns checks are not as thorough as they could be. I looked into becoming a Blatimore police officer and on the initial screening application, reasons for ineligiblity for hire included more than two felony drug convictions, or more than one domestic violence conviction. (emphasis mine) This makes one wonder just how safe the average citizen is from those who are supposed to protect him in this municipality. In general, though, the police departments of most cities in the US are staffed by knowledgeable individuals who initially came on duty with a desire to serve the public. the "former police officer/school security guard" of the initial post sounds like one of those who was tossed from the department, or who was "fibbing" to the poster in order to prevent further trouble.

I think they went out of business. I was looking for them a couple of years ago for our Uni club, and was not able to find them. Have you tried KI, or REI (both are available through Doshin Martial Arts Supply)?

I see your bad shoulder joint, and raise you two knees and a right rotator cuff as well!