equaninimus

Right, so here's a bit of an odd question: Have any of you restrictions on what colour you can have the style name/your name embroidered onto your belt? Not too long ago I ordered a spiffy new belt, and decided on red thread for the embroidery. No particular reason, just that I had only seen one other person with red embroidery on their belt and it looked rather neat, I thought. I've always had that sickly orange before, but.... Anyway, the new belt shows up and I proudly wear the thing to class one night only to be pulled aside by one of the more senior yudansha and told that red is a no-no. Apparrently our style's head does not like the colour red. Oops! Its okay to wear the belt to regular classes, but when Hanshi's son and Dan Smith come to visit this spring, I should wear the old raggedy greyish one. Apparently any colour besides red would have worked. Ah well... But it has made me curious, has anyone else had similar experiences?

I recall reading somewhere that the standard in the 1970s was two grades higher, i.e 3ds could promote to 1st, etc... However, a lot depends on the organization. In ISKF and ITKF its usually a panel of fifth dans and higher that manages yudansha gradings.

Higashi Sensei is an anxcellent choice, so is Tsuruoka sensei.

Out of politeness, I would wear a plain gi to an unfamiliar school. If you have a patch, or embroidery (as I do on most of my gis) you can cover it with athletic tape.

I was a Tokaido snob, but now have switched to Meijin.

A lot of the knee pain seen by Shotokan practitioners comes from the hip rotation. This puts a great deal of strain on the karateka's front knee in zenkutsu dachi.