AnonymousOne

Hell no I am not joking. A martial arts teacher has to have credibility. A martial arts teacher must be able to demonstrate what he expects. An overweight teacher is no example to students at all. A martial artist who is worth their salt, wont have any extra fat at all. They should be at the peak of their physical fitness. One would never expect to see an overweight Miss Universe nor an overweight martial artist. They are as compatible as chalk and cheese

Ahhhhh Kiba dachi the killer stance. Back in the 70's when I was a kyu grade I had a hell of a hard time with this stance. Our school are fanatics at having the stance right. In Kiba Dachi, the feet must be perfectly paralell to each other stance must be low and deep. For some people its a killer. There is only one solution. Practise, practise, practise. Practise moving in and out of it over and over and over and over and over !! Also sit in the stance for as long as you can, preferably with a weight on your shoulders, on a regular basis There is no short cut with this one

I do not see how a serious martial arts, especially a teacher can be overweight. Obviously they are not training. Find a new teacher

Sames rules as the World Karate Federation Kumite http://www.wkf.net/html/rulesenglish.html Kata http://www.wkf.net/html/kataruleseng.html

Thats not correct. Funakoshi was the founder of Shotokan, and he himself was an Okinawan and the first to teach Karate in mainland Japan. When the first karate dojo was built in Japan, Funakoshi's students erected the sign "Shotokan". Shoto was Funakoshi's pen name. Funakoshi objected to his karate being labelled as Shotokan. Its a term others used and not him... see his autobiogrpahy. Shotokan came from three schools. Tomari, Shuri and yes Naha. Many miss the Naha connection in Shotokan, but its there deep in the advanced Kata. If you study Gojuryu advanced Kata for awhile and then Shotokan advanced Kata you will soon discover "Hey, thats a highly modified Goju Kata". One must remember that Funakoshi studied with just about every comtemporary master of his day. So.... Shotokan is a mixture of styles from Okinawa. Giko Funakoshi the son of Gichin Funakoshi had a huge influence in the last 1920's and 1930's in the development of Shotokan. It is said that Giko changed the stances and made then deeper and wider. Albeit with the modifications, which Itosu and Azato (Funakoshi's foremost Masters) endorsed, Shotokan is Okinawan. Founded and modified by Okinawans for the Japanese people and the world.

There is two ways to get a good snap with your gi. One is to have strong technique, the other is to use a lot of starch on your gi. I prefer the former option

Depends on what you believe will happen to you when you die Mathew 13:50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. As for me? Nope John 5:24 "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has (already possesses, past tense) eternal life and will NOT BE CONDEMNED; he has (past tense) CROSSED OVER from death to life. You see. If its not true, it doesnt matter, but what if it is true?? Ohhhh thats going to upset some!!

In the strictest sense of the word, being a warrior is fighting in battles or I guess preparing for battles. The philosophy of warrior-ship various enormously depending what your bent it. Just about every country in all of history has had some kind of warrior code. Its interesting to study this, especially ancient Greeks, Romans, Phillistines, Israelites, Persians, Huns, Goths, Gauls, Celts and so on

This is getting into MA mysticism and parlour tricks. If there were such a "special power" with all the billions of dollars riding on sports performance dont you think professional sports and Olympic athletes would have also discovered it? Modern scientific research shows there is no such thing. Ki is simply focusing your mind in the same way as athlete does.

Study the physics of athletes in relation to speed. There are no magic tricks or secret formulas. Speed takes just that, working harder and harder to go faster. Read James Fixx's book on Athletic Performance, this explains speed development in minute detail

If you call me a coward, I am outta here!!

What Drives a Martial Artist? Goals

Our school places no special emphasis on breathing compared to other schools. We just breathe naturally like most athletes do. Some seem to think you can conjur up special powers by breathing a certain way, but I have never seen anything profound myself

We dont do this in our school and I wouldnt anyway because of my religious beliefs which excludes this and no I am not going to expound or argue why

I simply make sure I eat meat, breads, fruit, vegetables, and cereals. I avoid processed and junk food. Having a balanced diet is important. I dont think one needs to have a special diet, just a balanced diet and eat the things we all know we ought to and avoid the foods we all know we ought to avoid.

To say Bruce Lee was the best martial artist is not accurate. No one knows who the best is/was. It would take a fight to the death to prove that and also having fought every known martial artist. I have no doubt Bruce was extremely skilled and I respect him. He never fought in any contests, he only trained and taught a selected few. Yes his concepts were radical in its time, but then again many masters were. To prove conclusively "he was the best" is an impossible task.

When you worry about what others think, then you are handing control of your emotions to others to play with. Is that what you want? On that basis, who is in control of your emotions and life? You or them? I too, years ago, when I was young and quite shy, always worried about what others thought and this definately limited me. Then I woke up one day and realised what was really happening. A light bulb went on and I realised that my path in life was only determined by what I thought and what I thought was the only thing that matters. We live in a negative world. Many people do not want you to have what they cannot have, so they discourage you. They are negative. Set your own goals and be only justified to yourself! When you need advice, get it from a positive person that is actually able to help you with your goals. Ignore and dont even tell negative people what you are seeking to achieve. They will derail you every time

Thank you so much. If I can help others, then I too have achieved a goal!

An Alternative View of Kata Training An Alternative View of Kata Training I am not going to go into the “why” for the essential need for kata mastery. (Note I said mastery not just competent). I am simply going to outlay my experiences in experimenting with this for over 20 years since I decided to do things this way. Pick a kata. Pick one that is difficult for you to perform. Think about the selection long and hard. Think about one that is evenly balanced and provides one with a lot of technique and covers many of the basic techniques. In my first departure into this type of training, I selected Kanku Dai. But maybe your school doesn’t practise that or you are not that advanced yet. Albeit, pick one that enables you to have a broad spectrum of technique. Perhaps you are training with a particular kata for contest, then use that. The next step is to write down all you know about this kata. Pull it apart and put it back together again. Write down all the bunkai you have been taught and alternative applications you can think of that is your own creation. Ask yourself questions like: The master that invented this kata, why did he invent it? What is the central theme? What message was he trying to transmit? What are the benefits of mastering this kata? How will I know when I have mastered it? What are my weak and strong points in performing this kata? How long does it take to complete? Why are certain moves done the way they are done? What are the weak points of the kata? What are the strong points of the kata? What muscle groups are trained in performing this kata? What muscle groups are left out? Why is this kata so important to you? What will the consequences be, if you do master it? If you do master it, how will that make you feel? What will the consequences be if you don’t master it? If you don’t master it, how will that make you feel? Break Your Kata Down Often in a dojo, a teacher will break your kata down into component parts, in order that you will be able to follow his instruction to the count. Know these well. Sometimes a teacher will have one count for one move. Other times he will have one count for a series of moves. However it is done, it’s important to know these. Take these component parts, know them well enough to be able to follow along and get a good tape recorder, or computer with recording abilities, and make a training lesson. I cannot recommend highly enough this type of self training. If possible, make your training sessions far harder than you experience at your dojo. I suggest making at least a 2 hour lesson. First take the first movement of a kata. For ease and example, I will assume that first two movements of a kata are a down block (gedan barai performed in left zenkutsu dachi) and (then a step forward) lunge punch (oi zuki). In your recording, count “Itch (pause) Ni. Both movements are performed to the count. Then start again. “Itch (pause) Ni. Then start again. “Itch (pause) Ni. Then start again. “Itch (pause) Ni. Then start again. “Itch (pause) Ni. And so on. Perform this repetition one hundred times. Then reverse the order. Instead of starting with a left leading leg and left block, start with a right leading leg and right block. Then make your recording make you perform that 100 hundred times, as well. Also ensure that you balance left and right sides of your body for balanced muscular development. (In time you will be able to perform your kata just as well in reverse order). Work your way through your whole kata this way. Have each component part performed one hundred times, on left and right hand sides. You perform one component part 100 times. Then you perform the opposite way around one 100 times. Then move to the second movement and repeat the process. The then third, then the fourth etc etc, until you have completed the whole kata. If this falls short of two hours, then start from the beginning again until 2 hours is up. By the way, do NOT have a rest period in that time. Train until you fall from exhaustion. Training like that enables you to practise each component part over and over repetitiously and methodically. When you perform each movement, imagine you are really under attack. Picture your opponent in your mind, block his attack and counter attack with full velocity. Focus your total power into the block and attack. First attack his attack with your block. Imagine you are breaking his arm or leg with your block. Then in the counter attack, you are launching yourself into it like a Kamikaze pilot. Your ability to do this will grow. Remember, this is war, not dancing! Practise as if you were actually in battle. That’s the only way!! For me personally, I use a computer to make mp3 files and link them together to perform a two hour training session. I have a lot of fun just making them. I have an audio editing software programme that allows me to speed things up. So as I get better at something, I can easily speed the pace up to make it harder and harder. So… now you have a completed audio instruction training programme of your kata broken down into component parts, to the count, for a very hard 2 hour training session. Now comes the work. Simply start training to it. In winter I follow these training sessions in my dojo at home. In summer, or just nice days, I go outside and practise them in my back yard. I always take my CDs with me on a holiday, find a park or some other suitable place to train and follow along. This often sparks the interest of the public and they come and watch or ask me questions. It’s a great chance to share the benefits of Karate and encourage them to train. As you progress and start getting fitter and better at the kata, speed the pace up. You may need to record another one at a faster pace. If that’s a case, rejoice because you are progressing! Follow these “lessons” on the days you are not training at the dojo. Or if you can handle it, do it the same day as well. Many years ago a friend of mine and I use to make a whole gasshuku (weekend training camp) audio’s and follow along. We used to find an appropriate facility and stay there all weekend. We often stayed in a factory that was empty on the weekends (we had permission Haha). We also went camping, or did it in the backyard or garage of one of our homes. We had a rule: “When the lesson starts, no matter what, we finished it!” This way we always had access to high quality and extremely hard training programmes. We did not need to rely on our sensei to motivate us. So you have a broken down component part training session. Now also have a training session where you perform the kata in the normal fashion. That is, you start from the beginning of the kata and complete it until the end. Make a 2 hour kata lesson, non stop on that basis also. I highly recommend using these training audio’s, alternatively, for 3 years on one kata. In that time you will know that kata extremely well and your technique should be looking good. But within this 3 year journey, you will learn so much more about your kata. By concentrating on it, analysing it, pulling it apart and putting it back together again, you will glean from it all sorts of things. You may well come up with alternative bunkai that no one else has thought of. That’s ok, that’s what you are looking for. Be careful about what you will learn, some will consider you a heretic! Haha. Don’t worry about it, its your knowledge!! If it works that’s great. Now about bunkai… Yes your teacher will teach you this. If you are fortunate to have a like minded training partner, practise your bunkai with them in the same strict regiment. Make a tape and practise the bunkai over and over and over and over and over and over!! Make sure that you master every possible movement. Not just the movement of the kata, but the actual application in a combat situation. This is one of the most neglected areas of Karate training. Too little is applied to this. I know dojo’s may have you practise them a few times every now and then. But you want to get to the point where those movements are a total reflex in battle conditions, and that takes a lot of work and repetition. Stance development One of the more difficult parts of kata performance is moving into and out of correct stance. Make a tape with just the leg movements. As you perform this, watch your leg positions very carefully to ensure proper form. If you are as crazy as I am, carry a weight behind your head and resting on your shoulders as you perform this. This additional load is great training. In time, you will be able to “feel” the correct stances, rather than observing them. The look of a kata is greatly enhanced by have good performance of the stances. You can tell an awful lot about a karate-ka’s ability, simply by watching how he moves in and out of stances. Our school advocates low, deep stances which plays havoc on your legs but quickly builds strength and mobility. An alternative way of developing stance is, as our school often does, is to get a person to sit on your shoulders as you perform your kata stances. This is damn hard work. I have seen many a student pass out or vomit from this type of intense training. Summary Make a lesson on: Component Parts of Kata (with high repetition of component parts) Whole Kata from start to finish Kata with stance only (perhaps holding weights) Bunkai (applications) with partner I feel, in time, a student training this way will not only glean and awful lot of knowledge but there martial abilities will be permanently changed in a overwhelming way. I will not share what I believe it has done for me in the interests of humility, but I highly recommend a student give this a serious “shot” for at least a 6 month period to personally analyse the results. I believe it will turn the sceptics into believers and every student that I have ever seen that has trained this way all report, in varying words “My kumite abilities, have grown in leaps and bounds” It is suffice to say that after years of experimentation for myself, that kata is the central theme of my training now. If you are unsure about the benefits of training in Kata assiduously or if you are even sceptical, give it a real try for at least 6 months to a year and then analyse your abilities. I think you will soon see why so many advocate it. As always, I recommend training daily. Kata IS the heart of Karate.!!

We teach students to break fall very early on in the kyu grades. The reason is because we use foot sweeps and take downs a lot. No use sparring if you cant learn to fall properly because sooner or later in our dojo someone is going to take you down!!

I have put this here because I love Karate and this is of course a Karate area. Running, Karate and Peak Performance The purpose of this article is to outlay some of things I have personally done, observed and advised over the last 41 years in Karate. My main purpose is to encourage, guide and hopefully inspire the younger generation to set high goals and shine in Karate. It’s designed for the adamantly serious student who ardently desires to achieve their goals. I don’t mean mildly desire, but I mean that grit your teeth kind of “I WANT THAT GOAL!” attitude. Assuming you have thoroughly analysed and planned out your goal and set a strict training programme and that you have a good set of running shoes (don’t be a tightwad, get some good ones) and consulted your doctor before embarking on what I am going to outlay, then we will proceed. First up, the best way to start your training is to understand what you are doing. A running programme, properly designed and followed will build your strength, aerobic and anaerobic fitness, endurance, speed, co-ordination, power and most importantly your mental discipline. The benefits to the Karate-ka from running, are quite profound. I train in a very hard school and two hours of training in the evening, is extremely exhausting for most students, but you are bigger than that aren’t you? Of course you are, you are a Karate-ka! So, after every lesson you do with your Sensei, go home, don’t hesitate, put your running shoes on, do some light warm ups and hit the road jack! Start off by having an even pace. Let your breathing be only slightly laboured. In the beginning look for longer distance to build aerobic capacity. Make sure you time exactly the how long you run and accurately record the distance. This is important to measure development. Go as far as you can go and make sure you have a good workout and cool down properly. Go home, have a hot bath and afterwards do some light stretching. This helps get the lactate acid out of your muscles that may cause soreness. Keep this regiment up daily. Yes daily, don’t be slack! If your dojo is not open that day simply increase the distance. I recommend you start running on grassed areas and on the flat. After each dojo lesson never fail to go running afterwards. Now a word of advice, if you are training properly, when you go to the dojo you should be finding yourself totally worn out during the lessons because your running is biting you. But don’t worry about it, just keep going, because not too far in the future you are going to stand out in the dojo if you follow what I say. I have been personally so exhausted in lessons, I have started to get delusional Haha. I mean when the teacher said turn left, I turned right. When he said face the front, I face the back. But I wasn’t worried. Initially build up to five miles per day, every day. If you can already do that then you are ready for a more advanced stage. When you are running, you are not running, you are karate training! Once you have built yourself up to a solid and honest five miles per day after each dojo lesson you should be finding yourself with a lot more energy, endurance and capability than other students. But this is just the beginning. Ok then. Assuming you are able to meet the above criteria you are ready to get brutal on yourself. The next stage is hill training. Your goal is to find the highest hill or mountain road that is within five miles of where you live. If there isn’t one, then drive to one in a car as I used to do. Or find a multi-story building about 10 floors or more that has stairs and run up them. Work out a route that is five miles long. Guess what? Yes that’s right this route is now your new road after karate training. When I first did this back in the 1970’s it took me six months to get over the hill I chose because it was so steep, but that damn hill was not got to beat me!! And I eventually conquered it! So off you go night after night battling those roads and hills, the rain, the hail, the thunder, the cold, the wind and also the heat. If possible find a route that has up and down hills on the way to your major hill. Never let an exception occur of not going. If you cannot run, then go and walk the whole damn thing just for the mental discipline. And I am not asking you to do anything I have not done. Once you are able to do that route non-stop, as you go up the hills lift up onto your toes as you run. This requires a great deal of work on your calf muscles. Keep doing this because it’s very hard and exhausting. Pacing As you run, pick out markers on the road. Perhaps electricity poles or road markers of some kind. The idea is to pick regular spaces and as you are running and pick up the pace for 100 – 500 metres and then return to your previous pace. Be careful not to slip into anaerobic loading. Keep it within aerobic work but simply pick up your pace. Alternatively you can simply do it by stop watch. You can be running at one steady pace and then increase your pace for say 3 minutes and then return. The idea here is to gradually build up your pace to longer and longer periods, with the view of eventually doing your whole route at that pace. Keep records of your increases, times and measurements for accurate assessment and growth. Steadily build your pace up until your route is done at a much faster pace. So there you are running up hills, putting added stress on your calf muscles at a much faster pace. Within 6 months to a year of doing this daily and especially since you have done this straight after dojo lessons, you should find yourself full of endurance and stamina. Now you are ready for the next phase. Training Others Will Call Insanity First rule here is to not be influenced by the negative influences of other people. To hell with what people think, you are training! Get yourself a hitch hikers back pack, a strong one. Throw into it a 20-30kg (40-60lbs or so) weight and when you go running guess what? That’s right, same route, same routine of hill work and pacing and run the whole damn thing every night with that weight. Gradually build up that weight to as heavy as possible.! Try it and see how hard it is! Do that for a year or so. After that your fitness level should be starting to look pretty dynamic! Anaerobic Development After your daily run, pick out a grassed area and do sprinting. Start off gradually. You have just ran 5 miles or so and will be very warmed up. Do 4 sprints with 2 minutes rest in between of 800 metres. If you cannot do 800 pick a distance less than that and work on it to build it up to around 800 metres. Gradually build up the repetitions to 8 or 10. This will really chew into your body. By the way, take the weight off before you sprint. Or if you are as mental as I am, leave it on. Gradually build up the distance you sprint and speed. In addition to that start sprinting backwards! Yes backwards! Its awkward for your body and may throw you a little and yes you will look damn silly doing it but it trains a whole different group of muscles and is excellent for developing your ability to retreat fast. Agility Training You have seen the army guys training running and jumping through old tires? Do it. Old tires are easy to get. In the back of my properly (live on 5 acres) you will see all sorts of weird things!! Haha For training of course! If possible get some old logs, the bigger in diameter the better and line them up end on end on the ground. As you run along side them, suddenly jump up over them onto the other side and then as soon as your feet hit the ground, jump over to the other side. Simply run and jump from one side to the other as you move forward. This sounds easy but its not. It develops springiness in your legs and helps develop your ability to suddenly move sidewards. Do this after your running and sprinting training. But you are saying “Oh man, I have to do daily running, then up hills, then with weights, then sprinting, then agility exercises?” Yes that’s right. If you want to develop yourself to the fullest potential you must pay the price. More on this later. Another way to develop agility is while you are running is to suddenly stop, do 5 squat jumps or burbees and then return to running. Of course you can mix this in with your jumping over logs routine. Ardent Strain Before I went up to Japan in 1982 I wanted to prepare myself for the arduous road ahead. I had heard how tough the Japanese instructors were and wanted to prepare myself as best as possible. I went and worked up in the mines in North West Australia. My sister and her in-laws were living and working in a mine and I got a job. I arrived in October 1980 which is the begining of Spring. Apart from work, I dedicated myself totally to Karate training. Apart from my daily Karate sessions, I ran of course. As the summer wore on the heat started to really set in. We had many days when it was 52C , that’s 125.6 F. That’s hot! I often worked nightshift and got to bed at 6.30am. So when I awoke it was around 2pm, the hottest part of the day. In this blazing heat I used to catch a lift out to the Gypsum Mine, on the road train trucks from the main town and run back. The distance was 12 miles exactly and had many steep hills. So there I was at the hottest part of the day running. The locals, my relatives and my work friends said I was crazy, but they used more colourful words. I must admit it was incredibly hot, but the harder it was, the greater I felt challenged. I was 23 then. These conditions put an enormous amount of stress on my mind and body but I figured it would be easier to face than my eventual lessons in Japan, so I didn’t hesitate. Often I would wait until the hottest part of the day and go running over sand dunes. This was really hard because your feet sink deep into the loose sand and it’s hard to pull your legs out. I also mounted a makiwara out in the desert 6 miles away. I used to run over the sand dunes to the makiwara, then workout with it and then run back. I found running in this heat truly soul searching. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done and turned out to be harder than my Japanese teachers. I totally recommend you find the hardest possible conditions to train in and commit to challenging your mind and body. This system of running has kept me in good stead and allowed me to get to the peak of my physical fitness which I have maintained ever since. So much so that my sons non martial arts friends call me the “Dangerous Old Bastard”. Haha Respectively of course. Goals It all comes down to goals! What do you really want? What inspires you? How far do you want to go in Karate? What are you prepared to pay in return of the goal achievement? If you are a normal healthy person, with a dedicated commitment, you will be amased at what you can achieve. Don’t listen to others. Set your goals, write them down, plan out a strategy of action to achieve them and you will, but you must commit. You must pay the price for it! The way is long and the road is hard, but the benefits are truly profound. As a young man I had one simple goal. I simply wanted to be able to get to the peak of what I was able to do. I didn’t want to compare myself to others, I purely wanted to get to my peak in fitness, skills and abilities. I was in an internal battle. Of course there were some external things that motivated me and I used them, but the main motivating factor for me was getting to my best. I figured that if I was at my peak I would be a long way ahead of others I wanted to be ahead of. And this certainly proved true. I was fortunate in one sense. My father gave me the trait of never giving in. My father would often stay up all hours of the night fixing something he simply didn’t need to fix. He just wanted it fixed. I am talking about the likes of old radios, TV’s, lawn mowers or what ever. He simple stayed up and never gave in because he didn’t like being beaten. That clock or radio was not going to win the day and he kept at it until he triumphed. It was something I was bought up with and pre-programmed with as a very small child. However that attitude did cause one problem. The self discipline I have has one negative aspect, I have the ability to over do it. Think of the hardest Karate lesson you have ever had. Well, I have the ability to make myself to that and more. Even to the point that I have trained myself so hard, I have had to stay in bed for days because I was so exhausted. This gets to my next point. One must learn to understand your own body and learn very exactingly where your peak training levels are. You have to learn what the right amount is. Too much is no good, and too little is no good. Only by accurately watching yourself carefully, will you eventually gain knowledge of when to stop or carrying on. This is very important. If you want to be at your absolute best, you must constantly stop at your proper training point. Never fool yourself!! This is one down fall of dojo’s. You only can work at the pace of the class. You will build yourself up where you can do 1,000 of one technique easily but the teacher only ever makes the class do 100. Under those circumstances, you are in no way approaching proper training levels. You are under training and probably degenerating. This is why I firmly believe that after Shodan or Nidan level, that you train once a week at the dojo under your teacher and then the rest of the weak stick to your own arduous training routine. The reason is also this. Imagine the worlds greatest marathon runner. They run between 100-160 miles, yes miles per week. It’s usually a solo routine. Imagine training for an Olympic game and being made to train with someone who is half as slow as you and can only run 40 miles per week. What will soon happen to your fine conditioning? Down the toilet it goes. You must constantly work at your optimum level. Some instructors would be horrified at my suggestions here, but I am not talking about beginners and kyu grades. I am talking about a student that has gone well past shodan, and has a deep desire to improve, has the self discipline to commit and an exacting training programme worked out. You gotta have goals!! I initially went into Karate as a very small boy to improve my health and to learn to defend myself. When I got well past the point where I would never be defeated by any street thug, I thought “Now what?”. So I turned my goals inward rather than outward. I wanted to defeat myself. I wanted to see how far I could go. I have been labelled a fanatic. I have been called eccentric etc. But I don’t care. I have worked on and achieved my goals and I am constantly expanding them to explore new horizons. I have been given a wife that is incredibly supportive. She will drive me out to lonely locations and sit and read a book while I go and do my training. I have a son who is a first rate Karate-ka in his own right and he helps me train also. Gather people around you who will help you and are positive about you achieving your goals. Stay away from the “neggies” and gather around yourself motivated people. Find someone in your dojo who has the same or similar goals and work out together. Share ideas, work out a training schedule together and have a healthy competition between you and them. I had a dear friend I used to train with and we were constantly trying to out do each other. In fact he was so competitive he gave up a good paying job to run behind a rubbish truck to get added training!. He was always so incensed that I had much longer legs and could sprint better than him. Haha Sadly, for strange religious beliefs, he gave up training long ago. We as humans are capable of such incredible things. Karate has never enjoyed a better time. We have more knowledge now. We have scientific analysis and medical understandings that they never had in the past. We can fine tune our training so much better now. Humans are constantly breaking barriers. We run faster, and longer than ever. We jump higher and longer than ever. We perform at sporting levels that was beyond our imagination 20 years ago. New records are being broken all the time. Why? Because humans have the innate ability to measure the past and desire better for the future! What once was thought impossible is now a long past achievement. Believe in yourself, believe in your art, set the goals, commit to the work programme and let your dreams soar as high as the stars! You can do it, I believe in you!

I do a style called Chidokan. Its a derivative of Shotokan and is hardstyle. The founder pulled out of Shotokan when Funakoshi died after training for 10 years directly under Funakoshi himself. Its noted for its deep stances (deeper than Shotokan) and fanatical observance of tidy technique. Its a very tough school. Its not well known out of Japan, Australia and New Zealand. They are not ones for marketing campaigns and purely rely on their reputation to have students. The founder Kancho Sasaki introduced 15 new kata of his own but all the slightly modified kata of Shotokan are taught. In my mind its a mix of Shotokan and the brutality of Army special ops boot camp. The head teacher here, in his own right, is a master in the old sense of the word. He was awarded a gold medal for Karate excellence by the Japanese, something that has not been repeated since. The school has been successful in the All Japan champs. Sasaki, although not pubically stated too often, because of his senior rank has a great deal of influence within the JKA. He also is senior to the iminent Hirokazu Kanazawa 10th Dan, who won the All Japan champs 3 years in a row and one time won while having a strapped up broken arm. So in terms of Japan, hes a "big wig". Not many have heard about Sasaki mainly because he is very humble and takes a low profile

Hmmm well in my 41 years experience here and in Japan I cant say that Kyokushin stands out above the rest. In fact here in my country in competition Kyokushin has been everything but outstanding. Our school is a hard style as well and since karate was widely practised here since the 1950's Kyokushin hasnt done well at all. Not that I consider contest as a true means of a test but some seem to. If it is a measure then one would have to ask how many All Japan Champs has Kyokushin actually achieved. How many Japan Karate Federation endorsed competitions have they won in comparison to other schools. I see no trend pointing to Kyokushin being anything special and especially not in my country. Our school is one of the oldest in our country and totally dominated competition for years. In fact between two of my teachers, they held National Champion for 10 years in a row. Maybe I should tell people our school is better than all the rest? Haha I admire your pride in your school I must say that, but I dont accept its the best school. I have been to Japan, I spent two whole years there (1982-1984) and got a good look at the whole karate scene over there. I visited Kyokushin, Gojuyu, Shotokan and many other schools in Tokyo and also Shorin, Kempo, Gojuryu in Okinawa. This is starting to sound like a Protestant/Catholic or Chev/Ford debate Haha

In our school the belts remain black from 1st to 10th Dan. The only difference is that your dan rank is in Japanese writing on your belt in red. So most cant tell anyway.

Thats the attitude!! Try, experiment, adapt, retain or disguard!! Bruce would be proud hehe