Karate-addict

http://www.uga.edu/karatedo/history.html http://www3.sympatico.ca/jeffrey.muir/jeffkdev.htm http://www.wonder-okinawa.jp/023/eng/006/001/index.html I hope this helps.

Chito ryu is a karate style founded by Tsuyoshi Chitose. http://www.chito-ryu.com/index2.html

Okinawan masters studied chuan fa in China or chinese masters came to Okinawa and then tought the local people. Anyway, karate came from China, mostly from Fuchou city in Fukien province.

Mark Bishop: Okinawan Karate: teachers, styles and secret techniques One of the best books about okinawan karate. Somebody also mentioned Unante which is probably the best book on the subject of karate's history. I highly recommend it. You can also get it here http://www.monabooks.co.uk/ .

Uechi Ryu

Uechi-ryu is considered a sister style to Goju-ryu because they are very similar. A few years back I was able to go to a seminar to train under Mr. Thompson in my experience he is one of the most knowledgeable karateka. So my advice is go for it.

We let people do jiyu kumite only at the green belt (3.kyu) level with strong emphasis on control and not useing kime. And it doesn't matter if a larger person is sparing with a smaller person or a man is sparing with a woman, because on the street you will not be able to choose your opponent so why should you in a dojo.

When I went to a seminar in Germany a few years back, everyone was looking at me a little bit strange because i wore a blue belt, then I noticed that germans had a sistem of white, green, brown (green and brown belts also had 1,2, or 3 brown or black stripes so they had 8kyu ranks before a BB), and black belts, so some of them especially the lower rankes have never seen a blue belt before. So it depends on the organization or school which colors they're gonna have, but the kyu ranks are more or less the same 8 or 10.

I think that everyone is talking about sport karate fighters in this topic, so I guess those guys that won most of their fights are considered "great" in sport karate. But as far as "great" in MA is consered I think that those martial artists that devoted their lives to practising, studying and teaching MA for decades are "great".

Back in the 80-ies Frank Brennan of UK was the best in Europe but the one everyone feared the most (from the UK team) was Elwyn Hall.

I don't do sport karate so I don't really know anybody except some of the older bunch . Hirokazu Kanazawa - winner of the first JKA tournament back in the late 50-ies.

Welcome to the forum and congratulations to both on passing your exam. (Još jedan Slovenac ) Perhaps there will be some karateka from slovenia but who exactly I wouldn't know. How big is this camp and does it include all karate styles or just shotokan?

I agree, in my Dojo we accept students that are around 15 years old, younger students consider karate as a martial play instead of martial art.

In Japanese Bujinkan Ninpo or Ninjitsu, you can go as high as 15.DAN!!

You are probably talking about Keinosuke Enoeda, or am I wrong?

I see what you are getting at and I totaly agree (like every time I read your posts ) That is why when we do meditation in class (usually no longer than a minute or two before or after the lesson) as soon as we close our eyes we clear our minds like we would in a fight, so for us meditation is a way of training our minds for a potential street fight and at the same time it gets us ready for practice (if done before the class) that is just a bonus for me and defenetly not the primary thing. So when confronted outside the dojo I would not need to meditate to get ready, I would turn on the switch in my head in a second (just like in meditation) and be ready.

I see a lot of techniques in sumo that are similar to karate, lots of open hand strikes like shuto, haito, boshiken, teisho etc.

Here is my list of books aldo some were allready mentioned: G.E. Mattson: Uechi-Ryu Karate Do Alan Dollar : Secrets Of Uechi-Ryu Karate And The Mysteries Of Okinawa C.W. Nicol: Moving Zen: karate as a way to gentleness Donn F. Draeger / R. W.Smith: Comprehensive Asian Fighting Arts Eiji Yoshikawa: Musashi Eugen Herrigel: Zen in the art of archery Miyamoto Musashi: Gorin No Sho Funakoshi Gichin: Karate-Do: my way of life Takuan Soho: The Unfettered Mind: writings of the zen master to the sword master Yagyu Munenori: The Life Giving Sword: secret teachings from the house of the shogun Inazo Nitobe: Bushido the soul of japan Yamamoto Tsunetomo: Hagakure the book of the samurai Mark Bishop: Okinawan Karate: teachers, styles and secret techniques Dave Lowry: Sword And Brush: the spirit of the martial arts Dave Lowry: Autumn Lightning: the education of an american samurai Donn F. Draeger: Ninjutsu: the art of invisibility; facts, legends, and techniques Donn F. Draeger:Classical Bujutsu: volume1 Donn F. Draeger:Classical Budo: volume2 Donn F. Draeger:Modern Bujutsu & Budo: volume3 Robert W. Smith:Martial Musings: a portrayal of martial arts in the 20th century Gozo Shioda: Dynamic Aikido John Stevens: Three Budo Masters Gichin Funakoshi: Karate Jutsu Gichin Funakoshi: Karate Do Nyumon Dave Lowry: Moving Towards Stillnes Dave Lowry: Traditions: essays on the japanese martial arts and ways Morihei Uyeshiba: Budo Masatoshi Nakayama: Dynamic Karate Masatoshi Nakayama: Best Karate 3: kumite 1 Masatoshi Nakayama: Best Karate 4: kumite 2 Shoshin Nagamine: The Essence of Okinawan Karate Do Tetsuhiro Hokama: History and Traditions of Okinawan Karate Aleksander L. Co: Five Ancestor Fist Kung-Fu: The way of Ngo Cho Kun Patrick McCarthy: Bubishi: the bible of karate John Sells: Unante: the secrets of karate Diane Skoss: Keiko Shokon:classical warrior traditions of japan volume 3 MAGAZINES: Bugeisha Fighting Arts International Dragon Times / Classical Fighting Arts This is not the complete list of all the books I have read over the years, just the ones that are in my personal library.

During meditation you should try to achieve the same state of mind as when doing a kata, which basically means you should try to achive the state of mind as when doing karate. The mind of no-mind or no thoughts that is called mushin also zanshin or total awareness.

After my shodan grading I got my black belt after 6 months by my sensei, it came from Okinawa with my name in katakana on one side and the name of the style on the other, this is the last belt I will ever wear.

I agree!

Welcome

Welcome to KF !

If you read the kanji of Chuan fa in japanese you get Kem po. It's just another word to use instead of Karate. Ryukyu kempo or okinawan karate same package different wraping.

Kumite is sparing and every karate style/dojo does it in one way or another. In my dojo we do: Yakusoku kumite = prearranged sparing Ippon kumite = one step sparing Jiyu ippon kumite = one step free sparing Jiyu kumite = free sparing