Dragn

My main goal is to live as a true Budoka. Face every day to day challenge with confidence. Speak the truth. Face my own weaknesses with honesty, and strive to overcome them. Treat all people with respect and humility. Tend to all my responsibilities without excuses. Strive to keep balance with all things. Train my body and spirit to be strong, and keep an open mind. Unfortunately I'm not always successfull in my goal. Its a day to day commitment. Of course I have short term goals to inspire me along the way. One is to do my kickboxing pro test. Another is to face a Thai in the ring. But my most intense goal, is my dream to open my own Dojo here in Japan, and pass on the skills and lessons which I learned through practising MA, to enrich the lives of a new generation.

Dont forget technique. You may be strong and fast but if your technique isnt perfect you wont be able to utilise all your power. Work on really getting up on the ball of your foot and thrusting your hips. The knee should rise and then drive in forward rather than just rise. For speed make sure you're relaxed till impact. Practise on the pads and on the bag.Get the tech right first then add the power and speed. It should all fall into place.

Thanks Andrew that made alot of sense. I dont know if I agree about the MT fighters laking dangerous punching skills though. It may have been true many years ago, but these days fighters are alot more competent with their punches. I've seen hundreds of fights and there are just as many KOs by punches as elbows and Kicks.

Yeah I know Kato sensei. Hes a good buddy of my teacher, so he often attends kick boxing matches with us, and comes and hangs out with my teacher at tournies etc. I dont know him well personally though, and unfortunately I havent had the opportunity to train with him. I think he teaches at the head dojo in Tokyo, which is about 1and1/2 hrs from my house. I'll have to make the effort to go in there some time soon. My teacher is Iimura Kenichi.

Andrew, I'm curious about what you said about not flaring your elbow on the jab. I presume you meen keeping your elbow in close to your body as you punch. I've always tried to punch like this, as I was taught the importance of not letting your elbow rise out when you punch. But recently in Thailand I was told not to punch with my elbows in. The Thais seem to think this is a weak way to punch. They taught me to allow my elbow to rise slightly out and use the shoulder more for better power. I found my jab got more power behind it when I did it their way. Now back in Japan I'm being told to keep my elbows in again. I'm wondering if its a bit like hooks. Some gyms prefer to turn the palm down while others use a vertical fist. Just different preferences.

Woah na thats a bit long. We only run about 2 km. Its just for a warm up. Long distant aerobic runs before a technical workout just fatigue you and have a negative effect on your training. Better to do your aerobic running at a separate time. I've heard that some of the camps do a 10 km run before their morning session. But then all the Thais do is eat train and sleep. So they can handle that level of intensity.

Ive been training at the WMC Muay Thai camp, in Lamai, Thailand, for 4 days now. First day just killed me. The hot weather combined with the non stop pace of the training sessions really pushed me to the limit. The type of training is a little different to what I usually do in Japan. For a start they dont spar in rounds here like I usually do. They just go continuously in blocks of around 15 mins. So you have to go really light and focus on technique or you get gassed out after about 20 mins. Generally we start with jump rope or run then shadow box. then knees sparring at grabbing range then kicks only sparring then kickboxing then boxing then clinching and finally the pads You can finish up with some heavy bag work and conditioning. The breaks in between each block are minimal. Just enough time to quikly douse yourself with water and put on whatever protective gear you need for the next exercise. These blocks of sparring are also interspersed with frequent pushups. I'm used to doing pads near the beginning of the workout when I'm still fresh . So I found doing them at the end, after all the sparring really hard. There are a bunch of trainers here. Almost 1 for every pair of fighters. So there is always a trainer close by watching you and giving you pointers on techs. I've adjusted to the climate and pace now and really starting to loosen up and relax more. Only 4 days but I'm noticing improvement already. Yesterday the owner of the camp, a visciously serious European guy showed up, and started taking us through a bunch of high paced tech drills that really pushed us to the max. Hes a hard no nonsense man who really has a good knowledge of the intracacies of MT and nows how to push his fighters. I think it was a real wake up call and learning experience for all of us. Today is a day off, thank goodness, cause I'm really feeling battered and run down. Back into it again tomorrow morning....

A karateka is trying to sue his opponent for breaking his jaw in a tournament? Thats so rediculous I just dont know what to say. What has happened to real Karate?

I've experimented with various stretching methods over the years including yoga. I found it very benificial, but I can see some sense in what your saying. Where did you learn this? I'm interested in finding out more about this theory. What sort of stretching would you do as a warm up?

Yeah its really hard on the wallet. Thailand isnt so far from Japan so the jet lag isnt so bad. Besides Christmas in Japan isnt all that great anyway. And its the only time of the year I can get 3 weeks off work. I wish I could go for a few months! I'll mail from Thailand if I get the chance.

Thanks elbows. So how long are the rounds? How many? And protective gear? I appreciate the info.

Yep, I'm heading off on Dec 24 for 3 weeks in Thailand. Spend a few days in Bankok and then off to the WMTC camp at Lamai beach, Koh Samui. I've been there before. Had a great time and got some good training. Nice beaches, great food, bars, bikini clad babes, and a MT camp. Aaaah, paradise! If only I could get more time off work and have a longer trip!

Well done man!

Yes, if there's a sound educational structure in a society. You learn respect and the rules of your society in school, not in martial arts. That way, you can better concentrate on whatever you're learning in MA's, instead of having to study things that you already know - that it's generally a bad thing to kill or maim people in modern society. It's already common knowledge and one doesn't need to study that when studying martial arts. If you think that there is a sound moral educational structure in our society then we must be living in very different worlds. The decay of values in modern society is a major point in my arguement for the importance of self development in the teaching of a martial art. Perhaps we all have a basic understanding of whats right and wrong, but do we have the discipline to act on these values in the heat of the moment? Besides, many of us will never need to use the fighting skills we train so hard to develop. But the mental aspects of our training will help us in every aspect of our lives. To ignore the development of the self in your training is to loose a very valueable tool.

Because you view Okinawan te as the true form of Karate our points of view will continue to conflict. I do not consider Okinawan kenpo to be the only true MA. Just one small peice of a much larger picture. Actually I was thinking about the very points you mentioned just today. Its true that the perfection of good character was very much a part of the culture of both Okinawa and Japan. And particularly true in the upper classes. Therefore it is only natural that it was emphasised in the training of warriors. To try and separate the physical and inner discplines is to be in total ignorance of Asian thought. It was part of their life AND part of their training. One does not go without the other. In the writtings of Funakoshi you can see that development of moral character was of prime importance in his Okinawan Karate. Going back to the roots of Kung fu, the influence of Zen Budism from the Shaolin Temple and Taoism are also clearly present . Martial training and spiritual training have always been closely intertwined. Times of peace may have led to these aspects being emphasised, such as in the Budo arts. But even Muay Thai has various spiritual traditions. Perhaps not so focused on perfection of character. But Thailand has a strong Buddist culture. Young men will often spend a length of time as a monk. So perhaps this is why there is less of an emphasis of this kind of teaching in their fighting arts. Its taken for granted that the fighters know the importance of developing good character. In todays troubled shallow world, it is of even more importance that we do not reduce our arts to mere physical violence. It seems to be a habit of some western martial artists to try and strip the fighting arts of the cultures that influenced their development, and turn them into mere methods of violence to suit their own violent natures. IMHO this is a lack of understanding caused by the cultural gap in our ways of thinking.

You're talking amature fights here right? It sounds a little different to Japan. I presume it varies from 1 org to another there, like it does here. The amature tourney I've competed in here has 3 classes. The lower class fights 1 round with full face head gear, a body protector, 16 ounce gloves, knee and shin pads.No elbows or knees. B class fights 2 rounds. Full face head gear, 16 ounce gloves, knee and shin pads.No elbows. No grappling. A class fights 3 rounds. Open face head gear, 14?ounce gloves, thin shin guards. No elbows. All rounds are 2 mins. What are the typical amature MT fight rules in the US?

So you think its Ok to teach people how to kill each other without teaching them the necessary disipline to control their mind and emotions. Sounds like a recipe for disaster. With great power comes great responsibility. Good MA teachers have all understood this and have placed great importance on the training of the inner self. To ignore this aspect of your training is to risk becoming an egotistical thug. Thats not the true MA as I have always been taught.

The more I learn about the way things are going in the west, with these so called "karaadee" schools(Mc dojos) I feel increasingly revolted. I never really had a problem with the XMA that I saw on the discovery channel because I didn't think of it as Karate. More like a kind of performance art that evolved from Karate. But it seems that this kind of ego related flash is more mainstream than real karate. Is it really that bad over there?

I really think you need a balance of the 2. The problem with just training in vital point strikes etc is that its hard to do any realistic resistance in your training. If you dont have any experience in full contact competition then you wont be prepared for the phsychological efects of adrenalin and fear that you will experience in a real life threatening encounter. Even full contact sparring in the dojo dosen't compare. It can just freeze you up and create panic in your mind making your techniques useless. Neither will you have the experience of testing your skills against a fully resisting opponent who is intent on not just defending against your attacks but on knocking you completely senseless. Also the effect of adrenalin/alcohol/drugs can have the effect of making your opponent oblivious to pain. Strikes and locks which drop the average guy in the dojo may not have the same effect on the street. I feel alot safer with the skills I've developed through full contact competition than the so called deadly techniques I've practised under controlled training methods.

Why? Japanese karate is different from the Okinawan arts. The influence of Japanese culture altered many aspects of the Okinawan arts making it something quite different. And it was named Karate. Wouldn't it be more accurate to refer to Okinawan arts as Kenpo? While I would agree that perhaps there was alot lost in translation, Japanese Karate is a distinct art in itself, and played a very important and influential role the evolution of Martial Arts. There is deffinately and old school mentality which is missing from many modern Karate dojo.

Mas Oyama was a true warrior. His life and teachings have been a big inspiration for me. Unfortunately I feel things have gone downhill a bit in the kyokushin org since his death. Too many politics and emphasis on competition training and not enough Budo. I have respect for kyokushin practitioners, but I'm also very critical about inadequacies in the style. But I'm critical about every style, including my own. I beleive in closely scrutinising everything we do, and constantly looking for ways to improve it. For me the Budo roots of Kyokushin are of the utmost importance. While technically what I practise may be somewhat different to traditional Kyokushin. My heart is traditional.

0 katas Daidojuku dropped the use of kata from the kyokushin system. I think because bunkai wasn't really being taught in alot of kyokushin dojo anymore , and with the introduction of Judo throws and submission into the system, there was just too much material to cover. Kata were probably regarded as not being as practical as other forms of training, so they got dropped. If we did have kata I just dont know how I would fit them into my already busy training sessions. I do miss doing kata though. Every now and then I'll break into a spontaneous set of kata moves just for a bit of something different.

I've started over in a few arts and visited a number of dojos. I find its always best to just be honest about your background. Humble but honest. I wouldnt try to purposely hide my skills. But I dont go out to prove them either. If I'm in a new dojo or just visiting, the only thing I am concerned about is trying to learn as much as I can about their way of doing things. So after I went From TKD to Muay thai, I didnt try throwing TKD back spin kicks etc. Even though there were oportunities to. Even if it meant being battered a little, by someone who I could have beaten if I had used all my techniques. Once I had gotten a good foundation in the basics of MT, I started integrating some of my TKD skills into it, and my classmates appreciated it. Similarly when I visit Karate dojo I dont go throwing elbows and knees etc, if its not something they train in. If you want to test your skills against other arts there are plenty of competitions around. When visiting or starting out in a new dojo you really need to empty your cup as the saying goes, and be respectfull of their ways. Oh, and I always wear a white belt! To ask if I could keep my previous rank in a new style is just unthinkable. The new instructor will * your skills at your first grading and award you with an appropriate rank for the new style. Rank isnt really important anyway. Just focus on improving your skills.

I just watched it. Great movie! I usually dont watch much anime because its hard to find them with English subtitles here. So I watched it in Japanese. Some of the technichal words were a bit difficult, but I managed to understand about 60% of it. Enough to understand basically what was being said. I quite enjoyed it. It really captures the experience of a ring fight. More so than anything else I've seen. I'll have to try and get a copy with subtitles from somewhere. Thanks for the tip!

Without full contact you cant get a realistic perception of the dynamics of a real fight. Its all theory till you take that step, and pit your skills against someone who is intent on knocking you out. Alot of MArtists live in a fantasy world of their own delusions because they've never been truly tested. I was once one such person. Now I firmly believe that fullcontact sparring and competiton is an essential part of the learning process for anyone who wants to be able to apply their techniques realistically.