isshinryu5toforever

Those points are right on, but he had mentioned what sounded like specific words. I understand ki flow theories, well as well as I can for not being a Chinese medicine student, but I don't know what he meant about different meanings IN Japanese.

Judo uses the same principles as Aikido. You just learn how to slam people to the ground. I'd say that either one would compliment Isshinryu well, but Judo is generally cheaper and more widely available in the US. I'm a big fan of Judo and what you can learn from it about momentum and body mechanics.

As someone that transitioned from Isshinryu to Jidokwan (WTF) Taekwondo, I can tell you Taekwondo will definitely help your kicks. It will help you build dynamic kicking ability, your creativity, and your leg strength. I'd say give Taekwondo a shot, with an open mind of course, and take from it what you want if you plan on going back to Isshinryu at a later date.

Ip Man is pretty good. As long as you're not into movies for the historical accuracy that one is good. Fighter in the Wind is pretty decent.

Kyokushin has sabaki techniques (evasion) in it. Two small fighters, Kenji Midori and Yuka Kobayashi (woman) used sabaki a lot in winning tournaments. Midori won one of the World Tournaments and Kobayashi won an all-Japan open weight class tournament. Kyokushin is about taking a hit, but it can be just as much about avoiding one in close quarters. And what you're talking about sounds more like MMA than pure Kyokushin. What are the rules of the competition? You mentioned some people doing Sambo or Judo. If this is MMA, then I'd suggest you start learning some Judo or Sambo as well. You're shorter, but you should have quite a bit of muscle at that weight. Throwing people could come quite naturally.

You pose an interesting question. I am a similar sized fighter to you, and I have done full-contact, knockdown competitions before, but not with Kyokushin (yes other Karate styles do them too). You will be outsized, but you should be much faster than the other competitors. You need to make sure your technique is perfect, and you MUST work on sabaki. Sabaki will save your life. I'm assuming by "professional" you mean world-class. As far as I know, Kyokushin doesn't have real professional bouts. If you want to see someone who is great at Sabaki, very small, quick, and extremely powerful, look at Midori Kenji. He won one of the world tournaments at about 5'6" 155 lbs. Also, why don't you pop over to the introduction forums and let us know a few things about yourself. Welcome to KF!

Now I see where you are coming from. As I said before, I was simply responding to what other people had brought up about Buddhism. I definitely think your religious and philosophical ideas shape your psychology. That's why I said what I did about perceptions of reality. Your religious of philosophical perception of reality will influence your psychological perception of self. That's just where I was coming from, and why I said what I did about Buddhism.

Everyone has crosstrained to some extent, and if we're going to paint Toney as a boxer, then we'd likely have to paint Couture as the wrestler, not the MMA guy. Couture was a Roman-Greco wrestler, and if memory serves, an Olympic alternate at one point. I would say that anyone who hasn't trained in all areas of the game from standing to clinch to takedown to ground work isn't going to see much success in the modern UFC.

Ah, I see your point. I think you're right. They both lead to a similar end using the same vehicle. The way they get to the end, and what they do when they get there is worth taking a look at though. Thank you for your insight.

Anyone who hasn't received transmission in Buddhism isn't part of the faith, and I haven't. I have simply studied the philosophy behind it. There is a philosophy in it even if it's tied to a religion. A clarification seemed to be needed, especially because Eastern and Western philosophies do have trouble co-existing based on societal ideas and constructs. Buddhism is as much philosophy as it is religion. Someone else brought in the idea of Buddhism, I was simply trying to clarify where the idea comes from. Thus it wasn't tangential, it was in direct response to a point brought up prior by another poster. If you notice, I responded to this post earlier from my own point of view. Maybe it would help if you actually told us whose philosophical idea you are using for the discussion.

Hello, I am new here so hope you don't mind me chiming in. On the subject of "Budo" and how it fits in with Japanese martial arts - this is a very noteworthy article I think: http://www.budophiladelphia.com/What%20is%20Budo.html Sometimes the distinction between "Budo" and "Bujutsu" is often too readily made here in the west. It is less black and white in Japan. Best regards Sojobo That's definitely a good point, but my point was more to the effect that Budo is a Japanese concept that was applied to Okinawan kempo jutsu when it made the jump to the Japanese mainland. The whole idea that "a nail that sticks out is quickly hammered down" by Japanese society. Okinawan kempo jutsu had to adapt to the Japanese idea of Budo to be accepted in Japan. It was too haphazard when it made the jump and needed to be more rigid.

Actually, no. It's the perception I have of myself, that this is my face. No fear at all regarding adults and students. (The only concern would be my children, but they should be off-limits in this discussion; besides, I'd already had the beard for eleven years straight before they were born.) I did say in the OP that I'd had it on-and-off for years, then kept it. That would be from when I was nineteen to when I kept it permanently at age thirty-eight. People during that time saw me with and without it. It was old hat to have/not have it during that time. I have to have a legitimate reason to alter my face from what it truly is to me. Shaving for the sake of repeating an experience I did for nearly two decades wouldn't be legitimate to me. I said that this is my face, while nearly every student said my face was beneath the beard. Tony is speaking from a Buddhist standpoint. Anything you view as real in samsara (the world) is just an attachment. It's fear-based attachment, and an unwillingness to admit that everything around you is false. The world in-fact does not exist, therefore all the discussion of alteration of your appearance doesn't matter. Any emotion attached to what your face is doesn't matter, because it doesn't exist. These are two schools of philosophy that have trouble co-existing. Western philosophy generally tries to figure out what life is about, why there is difference in man, and they ponder the small things that make us who we are. Buddhist philosophy tells us that nothing around us exists, and it's all an emotional attachment that keeps us from being truly enlightened. Therefore, any discussions about reality are moot, and are just a product of our fear of the truth (enlightenment).

Thank you!

It's about your perception of yourself. I can't remember which philosopher described each person as being a mirror that reflects an image of you back to yourself, which helps create a construct of the real you. You can't actually see yourself, so you have to rely on what others see. When you have a beard and then shave it, the reflection is altered, which creates a new you. Think about Rorschach from the movie Watchmen. His face is the mask. When the mask is removed, he no longer has a face. A face exists, but it's not HIS face. He has worn the mask for so long that every reflection of self he has gotten from other people has included the mask. Therefore, the mask is his face in both his own eyes and society's eyes.

Since your style is listed as Shotokan, I would suggest looking into Tokaido USA. They're the US distributor of Tokaido brand products. They produce belts for the JKA. Another brand you could look into is Satori. It's a Canadian based brand. Their website looks cool, but isn't fully developed. The easiest way to order is to call them. All belts should sit approximately the same. They'll all break-in to be less stiff. You can find pictures, but as I said before, they won't give you a great approximation of what the belt will look like on you unless you have the same build as the model they use.

I think years is a bad measurement. The amount of time spent training is the key. If someone trains twice a week for a few years, and they're reasonably skilled, they can probably be a black belt at most US schools. If someone trains every day for 5-6 hours a day, almost like a full time job, they'd probably be a qualified black belt in a year. Really depends on the person and the school.

Search for it on the forums. There are a lot of old threads about best gi.

Japanese karate came from Okinawa originally, but is very heavily influenced by Judo and Kendo. The very orderly and rigid manner of practice came from Kendo. Another big difference comes in stances. Japanese Karate focuses on deeper stances than Okinawan Karate. There are a few other differences between the two, but most of them come in the form of philosophy. Japanese Karate is considered Budo. Budo as a term is difficult to define without going into a lot of Chinese character (Japanese kanji) work. In a direct translation that loses a ton of meaning, budo is martial arts. The word do though, which means path (also a bad translation), has a much deeper meaning. Japanese Budo is a practice, an appreciation of aesthetic. Okinawan Karate is kempo jutsu. Jutsu is another word that's difficult to describe. Jutsu is considered application. If you hear kendo or kenjutsu, there is a difference between the two, a minor one, but it's all in the kanji used and what meaning they carry. Since we can't capture the essence of the character, to make things easy, we'll use the word application. Okinawan Karate systems were developed as self-defense and fighting systems to be applied in real life. They don't involve the idea of Budo present in Japanese Karate systems. Budo is a Japanese idea, not an Okinawan one. This is why things like Okinawan Budo don't make a lot of sense to me. Basically, Karate went from Okinawa to Japan, and then adapted to the Japanese culture. The Japanese idea of Budo was applied to Karate, and that's what you have now. I would say modern practice in the United States adheres more to the idea of Japanese Budo than the idea of Okinawan kempo jutsu. As far as American Karate systems, they're adapted from Okinawan and Japanese systems. I haven't done Ed Parker's American Kempo, but I'm betting it's adapted to a more American mindset and body.

I'd say the basic kicks need to be solid, but not always the stances. The punches definitely don't, they just have to be there once a while. Still cool to watch.

It's true that some of them don't know how to fight, and it's also true that a lot of UFC fighters are cocky, but that's part of being a fighter. You have to be absolutely confident in your skills to the point that you think you're bulletproof so to speak. If you don't have that absolute belief in yourself, you'll lose. The first time you take a big shot, you'll curl up into a little ball, and you'll get beaten by TKO. That's why they're so cocky, it's a survival thing. The casual martial artist, or traditional, non-competitive martial artist doesn't really need to worry about that kind of confidence. You should trust your training, but you aren't professionally fighting another highly trained fighter. I'd be willing to bet the top judoka and BJJ guys in the world have a bit of a swagger once they get out on that mat. They know they'll win, they're confident of the fact, and to bruise your psyche, they'll let you know it.

I got a bo made from purple heart from this company http://crane-mountain.com It's a good, solid wood, and it takes impact well. I've had it for about 5 years. It's made to your measurements. If you really want one, ask your instructor what the ideal dimensions are for a bo for you, and they can make it.

I did a quick Google check, yeah it looks pretty thin out there. Mostly Taekwondo, and one guy who has his students put their uniforms tops on wrong, at least in the East Asian sense wrong. They're all wrapped right over left, which would be right...if he were burying a bunch of corpses. I'm all for either writing a book or taking up a new language. Not sure if you speak any already, but taking up Japanese in your spare time might be nice. Even though the price is steep, Rosetta Stone works quite nicely. I wonder if someone has an Okinawan dialect, Hogen, version. Although, that's almost a dead language. If it doesn't exist already, you could put together a Shindokan Karate guide for your school instructors. Go over basics, advanced techniques, kata, theory, etc. That ought to keep you plenty busy.

I think it's Chloe Bruce too. She's the only one I've seen successfully pull off the scorpion kick in a competition. She might be the only one that can do it period. Her athleticism and flexibility are definitely impressive. I sometimes wonder about the basics of XMA competitors. Sometimes I think they concentrate really hard on impressive flips and multi-rotation spin kicks that they forget the basics.

Not only is it part of the showmanship, but those guys can back it up. That definitely separates them from the riff raff.

Maybe try learning another language? haha Not much for you, I'm still young, 24. I'm shocked that there's no Judo near you at all. Judo seems like it's everywhere in the US.