P.A.L

There are deeper and more fundamental aspects to hard/hard-soft/soft theories in martial arts, the transition from one to another and the overlaps in between. The article is interesting for its historical look in this matter during the early years of MA competitions in North America,

this about Iranian martial art history http://www.pahlavani.com/ish/html/ph/new/phmain.htm

ok guys/gals your advises cost me 10lbs, i was a happy 175lbs guy, now i am 184lbs and counting the only thing different was that i tried all these pizzas , plus another friend intrduced me to hot Chitos. i got addicted to dip dish cheese pizza from Pizza Hut. if i fall for soda too then i 'll be doomed.

this kind of justifications are normal, We got 2 brothers training with us, started at the same time, come together and leave together, the younger one (2 years younger) is a natural , the older one is normal but we can't let the better one skip ahead, may be it's wrong but that's the way it works, as for Sensei picking on you, it's a good thing he asks for more since he sees your potential every body may know a kata but they don't performing it in a same level. my sensei says, if an old Okinawan sensei starts correcting you in a seminar, it means you are good enough, for the rest they don't even bother.

look at the timing in this takedown http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JsdIAKDXB8

Yeah that guy was 74, he didn't look like he had arthiritis though, but then maybe he didn't condition as heavily as the younger guy. P.A.L- I don't think in a self defence scenario one would switch to a particular style, you just use what works. I wouldn't start performing a kata on an opponent! But punches, kicks, and my fave, eye hitting techniques are all practiced in a kata. With the exeption of some grappling, although there are some holds etc in kata. (Which is why I train in Ju jitsu also!) Allbeit against an imaginary opponent at full speed, they are there, but I wouldn't try 'kata traps'. I do totally agree with you, but the purpose of kata aren't to 'trap people'. of course it's not like switching from Boolean to fuzzy, each kata breaks into single techniques or sometimes short combinations, so we have a collection of techniques from different katas, then you have some of your favorite games which may not even come from a kata, then you have your boxing knowledge and grappling , if you feel the opponent is capable of countering your moves effectively , then brain automatically shorten the list of techniques and you go more toward basic techniques this gives us a faster reaction. Against a weaker opponent brain has enough time to use a longer list of techniques, for me when the scope gets shorter most of techniques from katas will fall out for the same reason I only concentrate on less than 10 combinations from different katas for simultaneously blocking and hitting eye/air pipe/side of the head ,that's my game plan. I know my brain and muscle memory is not capable of effectively using 100 of techniques I know from 25 kata I practice. when i spar with my sensei , i don't think about techniques at all i just react faster and i use simple evading and hitting moves i also try to get into clinch since it gives me some time to think and recover, against others lower than me I enjoy controlling them, trapping them, set a pace and using all the creazy locks/chokes.. I love doing all the katas but I don’t spend equal time for practicing bunkai of all them, I do it very selectively.

Again this is not the type of instructor I would want. I hope you find something quickly. I hate hearing someone is out of work. i wouldn't go back either, last night i was guest in a dojo and after class one of the students came and said "i know i am 3 months behind , but i am working on it to pay you" sensei said "no problem" and it was so natural to me. i hope you find a better job with a better pay soon.

i read your posts and although i practice katas everyday, i think your points is valid for any kind of fight between two trained persons,if it happens to me ,i am not gonna go for my kata traps , i switch to boxing and jujutsu and white crane eye hitting techniques, i would use kata traps against somebody who throws blind punches or hey makers though,

you gotta start karate for a change, you have been in karate section for a long time and know a lot, so just get in , i think you will be perfect for Okinawan Goju ryu.

agree, i think any kata can be performed with a short weapon, I think Hohen soken once said that they used to do Kusanku kata with hair pin. as for 8 katas he mentioned i could see Sanchin Seisan (naha version) chatan yara Kusanku

He has very few (local) personal students, most are seminarians and yudansha who have trained with him for a lot of years. I haven't trained with him for many months now, but his dojo never had that rattan/wicker chair set-up with the flags before. I'm wondering if it is an old video, although to tell you the truth he's looked the same for some time now. Anyway, I agree that his kata are always perfect, but some forms are just better to look at than others. If you understand good Matsumura Seito (or other Shorin/Shito/Goju/Uechi) at the BB level then you should understand the crane aspects of Okinawan karate. How have the crane forms helped your overall practice of Kobayashi? I practice shorin ryu shorinkan (from Kobayashi school of shuri-te) i was fortunate to practice with many sensei in many styles but i gotta tell you the last 2 years in White crane karate jutsu has changed my whole understanding of budo. it was my sensei first then white crane and i was lucky to find them together, when i was guest in a dojo and he was the guest instructor , he has pushed my abilities beyond what i could think, although each round of fighting him ends up to a bloody mess but it made me more resilient in all aspects from boxing to grappling on the floor, i work on may be 10 white crane technique for self defense and i am pretty sure i can make them as ugly as you can imagine and that's enough for me. i honestly don't need shorin ryu anymore as a fighting system but will continue it as my base style . i think white crane should be taught as a complementary system over a base style like uechi ryu/goju ryu/shorin ryu(a high stance okinawan style as the base and can be started as early as 3rd -4th kyu when we have all the basic moves covered) , i have 11 white crane and 14 shorin ryu katas for the rest of my life.

Anan was a chines boxing master , Anan is a Naha-te kata , the most famous Anan is Ryuei ryu version which won a world title (performed by sakamoto) Mabuni also had his version so shito ryu also practice Anan, Konishi learnet it from mabuni and adapted to Shindo jenin ryu as well.

people who understand white crane also are aware of it's soft nature. his kata is perfect. i found this not long time ago, i sent a message to the poster but he/she didn't repply, it could be one of the students in bastrop or some body in a seminar, the dojo is in Texas but i am not sure if it's Mr. Lindsey's dojo or not.

i never heard of Okinawan kata name "Anom", may be you are reffering to "Anan".

There is no rush, you buy your Gi when you decided to stay, try to avoid signing a contract, pay monthly with no contract, they may ask you to sign a limited liability paper in case you got injured. first day go with a loose pants and T-shirt that's all you need.

first 14 katas goes to shodan , last 4 are nidan and higher, bare in mind that Nagamine wanted his students practice each kata at least for 3 years and 10 years for kusanku.

the answer goes back to old DOS , "con" is a reserve name for controlling keybord and monitor there used to be a command like >/ mode con .... i guess XP looks at "con" as a port name like "LPT1"

have you ever tried to make a directory (folder) name "con" in XP?

I have trained with 7-8 instrucors till now, i never heard of any thing like "very good" "perfect" it's mostly goes like "Ok" "not bad" "something like that" , you pay him and he teaches you , that's all. you can ask question and he should answer as long as you are not wasting the class time. they normally show the technique with somebody who knows some of the basics otherwise you will hear this " i said middle punch ,this is high punch, ok right punch, NO the other right ". in many dojos , you pair up, then after the fist technique you move one step and will become partner with the next person, sensei stays and become partner with another student. this way you practice with many people. these are just some small details you see in old traditional dojos which makes the life easier, don't be upset, train harder.

let's check you fan club directory , myself with that romeo guy.... then.. dropping pants guy.... now this guy, you are so cool , we need somebody like you in our dojo, it so boring here plus you got lots of MA movies we can borrow.

i think your style is Ryu-te which goes under shuri-te. what katas do you practice?

welcome to KF, shorinkan and Okinawan white crane

is this the same guy you pulled his pants down?

here is Mr. Alexander performing, kunemura Hakutsuru http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9XwrJt9cMg this is sensei Matayoshi doing Hakucho kata (what i hear on the tape is "Hakutsuru no kata karate" maybe somebody can help here with translation)

i am pretty sure you know all of these just as reminder pick up a target for your punch and just hit the same spot over and over work on kicking under mawashi gery and following take down, it 's a usefull technique in kyokushin