P.A.L

last year I had to take Cipro for about 14 days in two occasions, a month later I pulled my Achilles tendon in the dojo after warm up while walking. I just wanted to give everybody a heads up to be careful about Cipro. for Example if you get intestinal infection, most likely they treat it with Cipro but it can be replaced with other antibiotics as well. https://www.webmd.com/osteoarthritis/news/20080708/fda-warning-cipro-may-rupture-tendons

are they junior black blets or full black belt? I can't imagin a 10 years old full black belt. No disrespect to your school or any other schools but if I have a school and I give a black belt to 10 years old ( I don't care if he/she is better than Rika Osami) it only means I need money and I can't even wait.

I think your Soke was absolutely right in that time. He was probably been seeking a mental/social maturity in his Yudanshas. quality is important for a new brand and he wanted to be known for the high quality of his art. a group of teenagers running with black belts couldn't help his cause. on a side note, What was the lineage of your Soke before leaving Okinawa. what did he change/add to his original art?

Do you spare like this in the ring? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6uEnFy7zF4 No body said kata is literal. Kata is abstract.

if you wanna see Passai as a fighting system watch this video from 1:45. it is like a 10 sec from the middle part of the Passai. http:// I watched the TSD variation of Passai. it is a rendition of Itosu no Passai which is not a full Passai Kata. to see real Passai you need to look into Tomari Passai where the whole Passai story started or at least Matsumura no Passai.

Motobu sensei once said that if you know Naihanchi then you know Karate and he was a real deal in Karate-Jutsu. Miagi Sensei didn't teach all the katas to all the students. each student was learning 2-3 Katas after Sanchin. Nagamine sensei believed that you need 10 years for mastery in Kusanku. So, I believe, not all but many old-school katas are a full fighting system.

I was without a teacher for a while in 2003, I found this very reputable dojo in Houston, the sensei was above 6th Don or above in 3 different arts of Karate (shindo jenin ryu) ,Judo and Kendo . anyway he said that I need to start from the white belt which I did, after about a year, twice a week practicing with him, one day he asked about my name, I asked him how come he doesn't know my name. He said that he doesn't care till I become a Yudansha and my name goes on the wall. that was the last day I practiced with him. I knew he was arrogant but he passed the line that day.

Your concerns used to be my concerns too and I changed lots of styles and schools till i found the teacher i wanted inside Hokama sensei organization. the point you missing is that Matsubayashi-ryu is A Karate-DO , this was the vision Nagamine sensei had for his style . you never see somebody say Matsubayashi-ryu karate-jutsu. you expecting to see something which is not part of their path. they tech you the kata and the obvious bunkai and you do yakusoku kumite and sparring. what happens at the beginning of passai frame by frame is not their way of doing things, they tell you how but you wanna know why. you wanna see more detail work on application of kata in self-defense then you need to do it on your own under supervision of your sensei or another teacher. the kata(s) of Matsubayashi ryu are among the purest you can find. your Rohai,Passai and Kusanku are excellent, you can spend years dissecting them like Ikehara in his man cave, he don't even have a commercial dojo. people like tajima or shinzato already done what you have in your mind but on their own way,they do karate-jutsu but it is not part of the classical Matsubayashi ryu.

they teach you the fundamentals , going to the next level is yours. knowing a particular technique is not that important (Oyo bunkai) , body mechanics and Koshi is more important. if you look at people like Ikehara and Shinzato from your organization, these people are at the highest level of understanding body mechanics. see how he moves in his 60s. Hokama (Goju) sensei sent my sensei to meet Ikehara for his understanding of Koshi. look at his Rohai http:// everybody does Naihanchi but look at Shinzato way of doing it. http:// https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZOgFABxEEw so when these people do the same technique (Bunkai) , it is not really the same. that's what we trying to reach. Ikehara told my sensei that Nagamineh told them that their actual learning of karate starts when they retired and have enough time to practice and refine their movements. that's why in your style they say it takes 10 years to learn Kusanku.

1- in the context of karate forms , Bunkai means analyzing the techniques within a kata. I believe kata is abstract so it is open to interpretation. old masters created kata based on the techniques they knew and been teaching. like the techniques in the Bubishi. 2- I heard Oyo Bunkai when i was practicing with Darrel Craig , in his class Oyo bunkai was a free interpretation of a move in a kata while Bunkai for that move was the official interpretation. the bunkai fits the block/punch karate like what you see in kata tournaments, a team kata always has a bunkai section at the end. 3- Masaji is more about Oyo bunkai. some of his bunkai are intersting.the Renzoku Bunkai is a continous bunkai. Higaonna has one too. it is a good way of putting techniques together nothing special about it. if you have Renzoku bunkai you probably don't need Yakusoku kumite. Charlie Beckwith the first delta force boss says that if you wanna be a good special force soldier , first you need to be a good regular army soldier. you need to know the rules before breaking them. So first We learn the block/punch Bunkai later we can create our own Oyo Bunkai

I am at work so I do not have access to my research material but off the top of my head... 3 - Saam Chien or Sanchin 13 - Seisan, Sesan, Seshan 18 - Seipai 24 - Niseishi or Nijushiho 28 - Nepai or Nipaipo 36 - Sanseiru 54 - Useishi or Gojushiho 108 - Peichurrin/ Pechurin - I believ this is Suparinpei if I remember right You may want to refer to the Bubishi as it has some links to the Chinese forms but again I do not have access to my copies so I hope this helps you out for now. Sorry if I wasn't clear, I know the Okinawan side ,I am looking for Chinese forms.

I am trying to find the Wushu forms with names related to these numbers. if you know any please list the form name, the style name. my main focus is on 5 animals boxing styles around Fujian province. some backgrounds: I practice Okinawan karate-jutsu and always try to find the background of the forms and the techniques of Okinawan karate within Chinese boxing and incorporate them into my training. I am happy with what I have learned from SAN-ZHAN ( or similar names related to number 3) in different Chinese styles and been using it. I have found some connections regarding number 8 but in general, I can't connect the dots on 13,36 and 108.

Wouldn't that be more of "Mushimi" principle, i.e., stickiness? I'd use Hikite deliberately (and differently from the stickiness that you describe) to secure an opponents limb (arm) to my torso and get it locked tight onto my body, which allows to apply the maximum amount of force (e.g., for most throws or breaks). OSAE is mostly a shorin-ryu concept, so Muchimi in its broad range could be Osae. in Muchimi you fill the void so you always have a contact in Osae I press forward keeping in mind that Shuri-te blocking is more of a striking not receiving as in Naha-te.

first of all , I really like to know the Matsumora Seito take on hikite, I practice with them time to time. So i hope you get into some details for us. We spend lots of time on hikite.I' been taught that it should never come back empty. We don't use it for counterbalancing a punch. during the last year my sensei been playing with the idea that punch and pull doesn't need to be 50/50. sometimes we punch a little bit in advance and sometimes We pull first before punching. sometimes We do a whole set of blocks/receiving with hikite in mind as our focus point. I feel like hikite has a deeper meaning in my Goju ryu compare to my shorin-ryu . in my goju-ryu I keep the elbow below the wrist like I am pulling in a Judo match. in my shorin-ryu I keep the wrist below the elbow or at the same level. in both Shorin-ryu and Goju-ryu I use the hikite hand for OSAE (pushing forward or holding down while in contact) . also hikite hand is my primary bocking/Receiving hand before my front hand. I do two hand blocks even in my Shorin-ryu Shorinkan katas, I just don't show it like Goju-ryu.

nowadays there is so much information over the net that with the help of your previous experience you don't need a teacher to start again. If you know all the basics then you can proceed to the katas. I think your self-learning program would suffer more from not having a Sempai to practice with. So I would make a makiwara and I would start learning the katas and I would look for a serious sempai. a good book about traditional karate is " the Essence of Okinawan Karate" by Master Nagamine.

I don't know how long you have been practicing TSD but I can tell you that I have seen at least three guys from off-shoots of Japanese/Korean Shuri-te in our Okinawan Goju dojo who couldn't adapt and left. the major difference is distancing, it is much closer than any shuri-te style even closer than Matsumura Seito shorin ryu. then comes the blocking/receiving , in shuri-te your block is your attack in Goju the block is just a sticky hand receiving while you cutting the distance short to do you open hand/finger techniques or your short elbow strikes. goju kicks are low like any other okinawan karate from waist down. We have the front kick and the low side kick. the biggest misunderstanding in Goju is Sanchin Kata. if you come in peace with Sanchin, your life in Goju-ryu would be much easier. I moved from Shotokan to Kobayashi-Shorin-ryu to Okinawan Goju-ryu and in each move my karate became smaller. I dropped the Shotokan all together but I still practice Shorin-ryu. if you are interested in goju ryu look into the Okinawan masters like Hokama and Masaji or Higaonna. http://

top ones 1- Tensho 2- Naihanchi Shodon 3- Tomari Passai 4- Goju Seisan

I asked this question from Hokama sensei. He said shiko dachi and Naihanchi dachi are both valid , it is your choice. if you practice with some Naha-te guys then your Naihanchi becomes like Sanchin. if you use to ride horses your Naihanchi is inward ,if you are a farmer then your more comfortable with shiko-dachi. Now, his shiko dachi is not low at all. also if you look at him doing Hojo-undo he goes down in shiko-dachi and comes back up ,in Naihanchi-dachi . Sensei Ron Lindsey says that in Naihanchi powder goes up and in Shiko-dachi in goes downward. Is it possible that Itosu got the idea from Naha-te and Sanchin dachi?

I put it at top 40% among Korean arts kickers but it was more interesting if you would have done it slower or with a moment of locking the technique. a hold would show the strength which comes with time and training. if this kick , is the best you can do and you don't have any major physical limitation, I can only say you are above 6 months practicing either at home or a club. I have two questions for you : 1- can you open your legs 180. if you can NOT then is it a physical limitation or you need more training time? 2-can you stay in Shiko dachi for 2 minutes ? if NOT, is it a physical limitation or you need more training time?

My 2 cents here : if you attack them ,they will get you every time. you got two counter ways. assuming you do point sparring: 1- fake an attack , let them throw you a technique then you do your counter 2- keep the distance and let them throw the kick , you counter on all the front kicks and side kicks, you just keep the distance on all the round house kicks. some points : tall people can let you in , then they pull back and throw you a round house kick . they can fake a front kick and turn it to round house kick. these are two common ways they can knock you down with kick. you can throw your round-house and reverse round house from inside . they throw while pulling back. so once you are in , you stay with them (you can control them at their elbow, face to face) until "yame". since you do Goju, try to fight close to sanchin dachi, never spar while turning to your side. in youtube search for " all japan open kumite" in open weight sometimes you can find very tall people. or search " tall guy kumite" some years ago, during a belt test a 6'-6" 3rd dan was sparring a brown belt 5'-5" (going for black). the 3rd dan was killing him. the brown belt wanted to win and attacking while the tall guy was waiting then tagging him every time. he only managed to pass once but it was a beautiful throw he did. so my advise is to play it very defensively.

We are planning for next year but a training day in Houston would be great for me.

Yes , you can do any kata from the approved list in any round (2013) and You can do your own ryu-ha variation. they also added the Okinawan names and variations to the list. you can find the rules for kata competition in page 28. https://www.wkf.net/pdf/WKFCompetitionRules2018.pdf

In 1982 Okinawan masters sent a letter to JKF asking them to execute competition katas like Okinawans and use Okinawan names so the practitioner of sport karate could study the past. here is a translation : http://ryukyu-bugei.com/?p=4965

All white or combination of white and black in Goju Class. Shorin ryu All white.

Finally watched a full white crane kata by Hohen Soken. there is a clip on youtube showing him doing pieces of a Hakutsuru kata which is mostly known as Hakutsuru Dai. this new one was different less complicated and pretty simple but complete. I am amazed by so much controversy around Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu. I guess the direct link between Hohen Soken and Mtsumura ( although they never met) fascinates people. I personally love to know if there are any direct students of Hohen Soken in Argentina and how they do shorin ryu katas. I have searched a lot but never found anything solid on the net.