pers

Dr.flem ! I found out the correct name for the karate sensie in Australia, he is Frank Novak ,I am sure you can find out his whereabouts! Good luck

Traditional karate as you have mentioned had no mawashi geri and it is fairly new and I agree that low kicks are more practical in real fight situation and karate as a martial art is really designed for this purpose . how ever a low ura mawashi geri is not that effective because of its mechanism ,it is more effective when used against the side of the head for the shock it produces .I find for low kicking to the knee and tigh area ,mawashi geri and kekomi much more powerful and effective .One must master mawashigeri first before he can appreciate ura and then ushiro mawashigeri ! I used this kick with success in my nidan grading against the opponent that I felt confident with and scoerd IPPON !

Sorry ! I don't quite understand what you are saying ,If you do know how to employ this kick to do real damage then the size of the opponent does not matter ! If your distance and timing is correct and your target area is picked accoardingly then you have no problem against bigger guys.

It is a close quarter kick ,one must master basic kicks before he can truly deploy this kick successfully .This kick when badly executed would be very risky and dangerous to the executioner .In shotokan ball of the foot is used .typical senario is you move to one side to avoid a incomming attack and at the same time pivot on the supporting leg and raise the other leg as of mawashigeri ,the leg travels in an ark out and back in towards the target (back or side of the head ) and Bang ! then it is qiuckly withdrawn back and then down .did it make sense ?! hope so

Depending on the degree of punishment you want to do , If the guy is a lot bigger than you ,instead of big belly you go for hip joint , rib cage ,or the tigh muscle ,providing the execution and technique is good ,it would do a hell of a damage!

I totally agree with angela ,in fact all techniques not just the punch initiate from the floor .

Every one of us start at the same point ,even the greatest master of martial art ! the most important thing to have is bags of self confidence ,no matter what ! if you have this or develope it ,nothing will stop you learning anything you want including Karate even if you are old or have any physical condition .remember this and you go a long way my friend !

100% agreed ! standard of the dojo is more important regardless of the style .

I agree with the above statement.

Bowing is a sign of courtesy ,it doesen't mean that you are inferior to the guy you are bowing ,but a sign of respect .Obviously you are obliged to bow to your senior ,but this is respect like saying hello to your dad or uncle .I don't know why religion has come to this ,but personally I respect all religions who believe in God . and I feel I belong to all those who have this belief . As long as you believe in God then I am with you !

Depending on the level of the karateka ,kia will develop as karate skills are developed ,kia should come from abdoman and not from mouth ! diferrent types of kia also will develop in time depending on the technique used and the speed of it ,sometimes one or two small ones followed by a bigger kia ,what it sound like depends on the person .It is really to focus your energy at the point of impact .

You know what?? I sometimes find that! Moving from stance to stance smoothly is sometimes really tricky! I'm still trying to improve it! Dear friend ,If you find it hard to move between stances ,don't blame the style ! shotokan done proprly will allow you to move swiftly between stances .Basic training is to develop and condition the body for the next stage (free fighting ) ,when you look at two advanced karateka's fighting free style ,they move with such speed and fluidity that doesen't look much diferrent from other fighting arts.my suggestion is to find your range and train moving into diferrent stances ,there is a myth that people have this idea that the lower the stance th better and stronger it is ! but one must find its own range to have the fluidity of movement and a strong stance !

Never met your sensie but have greatest respect for him ,please say OSS for me ! respect .....

To have the right balance of the ingrediants of kata ,just like a good actor ,you must live the kata ! bring it to life as if you are really under attack from 4 corners ! apart from my sensie ,I saw a performance of sochin from osaka sensie and I said "wow !" and that factor was his spirit !

Find a good teacher and school ,The style is less important .I have practiced shotokan and it has what you are looking for but so is goju and wadoryu ,kung fu ,shito ryu ,and others . First is the teacher that must be for real and not micky mouse ! pay less attention to the number of dan grades and all the claims ,if you like me get lucky and find a good teacher then you are half way home ,it took me 8 years to get black belt ,5 years as a brown belt ! only because of the quality of the club and also the fact that I was in no hurry to wear the black belt and knowledge was more important to me .Good luck and don't forget to bow ! respect !

Yes that is why we train a lot of footwork to avoid having to fight toe to toe against someone bigger/heavier than you. I don't see where you get the image of Kyokushin fighters standing staticly exchanging blows. I got the idea from watching Kyukoshin tournements ,If you do extensive training in footwork then why is it not used in tournements ? It is like going to school and learn a subject but never take the test ,surely the tournement is the place to test the skills you have learned and practiced in the dojo !

In a good dojo , students gradually improve their skills of karate and that improves their self-confidence and they learn to relax more while training in order to gain speed and agility ,therefore they will be less nervous the more they train under a good instructer.

Alas, (like TKD) Shotokan does suffer from having many many instructors who are incompetent, because of the popularity of this art. Unfortunately there will always be "bandwagon jumpers" in any area of life, and Shotokan karate has its fair share of them - which only adds to the reputation of Shotokan as an outdated, incomplete and unworkable style. However, if you find a good teacher of Shotokan then it can be a great style to learn and very practical. In reality, there are a LOT of good aspects to Shotokan (such as the grappling and ground work techniques) but a lot of clubs do not train in these aspects and only do the 'stereotypical' Shotokan long low stances, chambered fists and unworkable blocking - all of which are NOT what Shotokan is about. I totally agree .There is a photo under the thread "shotokan fighting stance " that reflects above statement.

Hangetsu and sohin are my favourites ! I like them because of their dynamic charachteristics and power .but others like nijushiho and goju shiho and kankudai ansd unsu are also my favourites.

Yes it is the same in our club, it is practiced at brown belt level once the basics have improved .The diferrence in performing this kata is due to this fact.

Hangetsu is not really a beginners kata ,there are movements and concepts that one need to have had good basic understanding of karate to apreciate this kata. This kata with sochin is one of my favourites . It allowes my mind to experience the correct brething and focusing the energy in a exadurated way to condition itself. Needs to be practiced a lot to gain competency ,but will do wonders for your kime and generally conditions the karateka to omprove their technique and it is a beautiful kata.

Dear friend ,first OSS ! and happy new year ! I enjoy exchanging points of view and I have most respect for all martia arts and practitioners . My question is with kyukoshin tournement and the question of smaller against larger and open weight ,would you not agree with me that two people of diferrent size and weight face each other in a static stance and exchange blows without evasion ,the winner would be the bigger guy ? the smaller guy would have a terrible time if he just stand there and exchange blow for blow with the big guy.

As workshop mentioned ,kyokushin is close to kick boxing ,therefore we can assume that it is suitable for young ages for the physical conditioning that it demands ,however martial art should cater for all ages where technique of an old experienced martial artist would beat the young and physically superior fighter .that is what it should be about .I am 45 now and feel that my physical strenght is deteriorating gradually but hopefully as I have trained and gained experience and improving my technique should compensate for that .Kyukoshin certainly conditions physical strenght and mental attitude but is not suitable for everyone including me ! If you are a small guy or are over 35 you want to train in a style that would teach you how by superior techniques and adapting your body type you could over come stronger and younger opponents by using your soft tissues to hit their boney parts (so less damage to you) or using your boney parts (nuckles) to their soft parts (neck).

I have not noticed any bad points in shotokan ,only bad standards and poor instruction .Shotokan is a style which caters for any age and body type ,once basics are mastered the karateka will adapt his form acoarding to their body type and age ,so some one who starts at 60 will still benefit and improve ,maybe he find it hard to do the high round house kick but so what ? you learn to pick the things that work best for your body and use them to your advantage.