equaninimus

The flyer, and triple fold brochure from the "Denver Japan Karate Center" with a "special offer" for a free gi , good though March of 1981!

Nathhan, you might want to read the articles by Robert Dohrenwend in the last four issues of Dragon Times/Classical Fighting Arts on the origins of TKD, as wellas the article by Michale Androge in Journal of Asian Martial Arts vol 112, no.4. TKD is an offshoot of Shotokan. I'm sorry if this seems painful. It's connections to Taekkyon are slim if they exist at all. This does not invalidate TKD as a martial art. It merely sheds light on a poorly conceived origin myth. The reasons for this myth are easily understandable in light of the atrocities commited by the Japanese occupiers of the Kroean Penninsula form 1910-1945. The Koreans wished to have no connection with the Japanese on anything, and "sanitizing" their Karate's past was politically expedient. Be that as it may, the "Stories" have proven unsupportable. What is more importanat, a Korean pedigree free of Japanese antecedents, or good technique? I'll take good technique regardless of the origin any day.

The junko kai people pretty much prove that you can fool most of the people most of the time.

Well, their ground techniques must be pretty stimulating, after all they practice "sex way house" karate. tehre was a thread on this group in the "general" section earlier this month that covered more info. Try to keep up, yes? http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=11857

There is a chap in the Baltimore area who, with a black belt in Kenpo, and another in TKD, and some viewings of jujutsu videos decided to start his own system. He calls it Gaijin ryu. The man has quite impressive PR, and makes sure news of his "seminars" in the MD, VA, and PA areas are noted in TKD Times, and Black Belt. Now, what he apparently did not know was that "gaijin" is an exceptionally perjorative word in Japanese, its one step above calling a black person the "n" word. It refers to the odour of unwashed hair that marked the first Portuguese sailors to visit Japan. So, instead of calling his school the "foreigen way," which is what is listed on his literature, it is really the "school of smelly, uncouth people in need of a bath." Sorta reminds one of old "Dr," Rod and his "Sex Way House" style of Karate, eh?

Sigh...will the junky-kai never dissapear?

Trias' link to Shaolin, or to Okinawan Karate, for that matter is highly questionable.

I tend to use it in kumite in conjunction with a mawashi geri, etc...

He may have been reading Barefoot Zen.

Interesting question.

ESA, are you turning toward or away from the kick?

I stay close, and I foot sweep.

I have seen a Wado McDojo.

Depends on if she's cute, and how much of the gi she is actually wearing.

I have to admit I've never seen a Shotokan McDojo.

many off colour jokes springing to mind.

More on Hagakure: Reading McClain's Japan: A Modern History ( New York , Routledge 2002), which should also be put on the list. Apparently Yammamoto's work was roundly criticized upon publication for the same reasons it has been criticized here;namely the obsession with death and anti-educational stance of the author. It would appear to haev receieved little circulation outside of the Saga familiy's lands. With the advent of the "new militarism" in the early twentieth century the work was plucked from obscurity to serve the needs of the "Imperial Shinto" cult promulgated by the bellicose cabinet. So, it would seem that the work itself is minor, and probably not as important to the practitioners of Budo as it has been made out to be.

The opening technique in Kusanku is a good example of how every movement has an oyo. The act of raising the hands above the head, leaining forward, and sweeping them in an arc to the groin level is a handy release froma full nelson. In Gojushiho, the opening movements, or "salutation, are a defence from a cross handed wrist grab.

Pedagogy is required around 3d kyu in our style. This comes in the form of assisting with lower belts, demonstrating techniques, leading warm ups, etc..

Shotokan, then take-one's-dough. Both had fairly zealous "marketers" in the JKA and the Korean government.

What DM said. Kata is often referred to by McDojo types (see the recent Discovery channel "Extreme Martial Arts" fiasco) as "A fight aginst a series of imaginary opponents," and viewed sequentially. This is incorrect. The "I block and counter him, then I turn, and block and counter the next guy" seems to have been the interpertation favoured by the university clubs in pre-war Japan, and thus was passed on to the US in the 1950s and 1960s. The Okinawans never saw kata this way, and the Okinawan schools that flourished in teh US usually taught kata oyo in their curriculum. It was only in the later 1970s that the understanding of kata as "technique bank" rather than as "preserved fight scene" began to emerge into the mainstream. Unfortunately the "block, then punch" mentality remains popular, especially in "commercial" schools, where there is less time to devote to actually learning karate. It is also still prominent in the dojo of many Japanese instructors who emigrated in the 1960s and 1970s.

Msot of my sparring time with lower belts is spent coaching, not trying to actually get anything out of the experiene for me. I would think the seniors at your school probably feel the same.

Tedster, I've trained with former Oyama style people who left their schools for the very reasons I haev mentioned. I am also very good friends with a few Kyokushin people. I have no desire to get into a flame war with you. have an amusing day.

the thread that won't die.

In my opinion, which is obviously out of synch with the SUV driving majority, the youngest one should begin is around tennish. Before that age children possess neither the co-ordination, or the maturity to do the MA.