Skeptic 2004

Capoeira shares roots in being a dance-fight-game developed by the Afro-Brazilian slaves in Brazil, hence its aesthetics. There was a time when the practice of Capoeira was outlawed by the Brazilian government (shortly after 1888 when Brazil abolished slavery) and the movement went underground (the Black/mestizo Brazilians constituted most of the practicioners at the time, so it was unseemly to the White/Euro-Brazilians who held most of the power). It was during its underground phase that Capoeira was set upon by Brazil's criminal elements. In short, these elements turned Capoeria into dirty fighting. They used to conceal knives and/or razor blades and used them when an opportunity presented itself during execution of a technique. The fighting was so effective that the police couldn't combat it unarmed. Thus, there's more to Capoeria than meets the eye.

I recommend getting a copy of John Sells's Unante. It is the most thoroughly researched and comprehensive text on karate history to date.

There are two things which I find fascinating about the beginnings of Wado Ryu from historic/stylstic perspective. First, Ohtsuka did not begin training with Funakoshi until he was almost 30 years old, which complicated or at least gave the appearance of complicating his adjustment from a grappling art to a striking art. History bears out that he did just fine inspite of the age barrier. Second, he learned from Funakoshi because he wanted to learn how to hit. He felt that the atemi he was taught from his jiu-jutsu training was too weak, and he wanted a way to finish his opponent. Absolutely fascinating. I hope anyone who does Wado gets a chance to see the ~1965 video of him doing kata. I think it's a Tsunami Productions video.

Amen, brother. I wrote a pretty convoluted article more than a year ago on this same subject (and if you want to read it, let me know and I'll point you to the right link), but what it boils down to is along the lines of what Shorin Ryuu has been saying: sometimes a punch is just a punch, a kick just a kick, and a block just a block. Unfortunately, people do not train these techniques well enough to perform them with the requisite destructive power and technique to make them effective. As a result, we have a host of "creative" meanings; "Gee...my punch just doesn't feel strong enough...maybe this isn't a punch...maybe it's supposed to be a throw. Hey! That's it." I think individuals who are searching for meaning in kata should go back to basics and really examine the science of their movements. Take the punch for example. How are you punching? Are you just flinging a fist out there? How does your body begin to move the moment your hand moves? What is your posture? How are you breathing? Where is your weight? How much pressure do you exert at your feet? In your calves? In your thighs? When do you start to move koshi? How do you put in hara? How tight are your tendons in the forearm? Which knuckle do you use to strike? At what point do you kime? How far is the kikomi? What is your timing? These are just a fraction of the questions one should ask as they do kata, and these only cover one technique - a punch. These questions must be answered precisely; my toe being a fraction of an inch off during execution can literally mean the difference between an effective, destructive punch and a strike with half that power. When an individual understands the execution of technique to that level of detail and strives to perform at that level, a simple meaning in a kata such as a punch-kick-block sequence is effective and destructive to your opponent. If you don't understand the science behind your movement, you will either execute a movement wrongly or assign a wrong meaning to that movement: both meaning and execution are degraded as a result. Err...enough rambling *goes back to the nowhere that he came from*

It's also called Jitte

Then I guess my dojo is ludicrous. There is no rank other than sempai-ship. The dai-sempai is the guy who has been continuously training the longest (30 years). Having gone from a ranking system (reaching shodan) to one where there is no rank, I prefer the system without rank. My instructor stopped wearing his belt 20 years ago (long story) and has not given out rank since then. His students who still train with him gave up their belts as well. It is actually quite liberating on both a conscious and subsconscious level when we're all equals - my instructor says, "We're all just a bunch of guys who really love karate and like working out together. I've been training longer, so if you want, I'll show you what I've learned." It's a simple, realistic philosophy, and my training and growth have jumped leaps and bounds since adopting his idea and working with him to become better at karate. Needless to say, we don't have small children in my class, nor do we attract younger people. I'm the youngest student (at 24), and the average age of these guys is mid-50's, and their average training duration is between 15-30 years. We are not part of any large martial arts organization; my instructor struck out on his own after his teacher passed away in 1969. I'm not sure how well our system would work with a younger, more impetuous demographic, or if we were under a large organization.

Shorinkan Shorin-Ryu is not a bad place to get your start. I began with Shorinkan myself a few years ago, and it gave me a very good foundation. I've long since branched off into a different flavor of Shorin-Ryu, but Shorinkan is still my roots. I think I may have met Mr. Green when I visited Kyoshi Perry's dojo about 2 years ago. If he is who I think is, you're probably in good hands.

A little known fact: Miyagi Chojun was still training with Higaonna Kanryo when he met Itosu Ankoh. After observing Itosu's karate, he asked Itosu if he could train with him and learn Shuri-te kata. Itosu politely told him no. Why did Itosu turn Miyagi away? Because he observed that Naha-te and Shuri-te were inherently incompatible. You couldn't mix the two without significantly diluting them because the two worked on opposing principles. And significantly diluting them would take away the effectiveness of both. Naha-te's use of hara is completely opposite of Shuri-te (Naha-te generates power from the hara by lifting it for the osae; Shuri-te generates power from hara by dropping it for the osae). Naha-te's blocks are close-in, designed for upclose fighting; Shuri-te's blocks reach out to meet the opponent. Naha-te is inherently defensive; Shuri-te is inherently offensive. Itosu told Miyagi that his Naha-te was very strong, and Itosu did not want to weaken him by teaching him Shuri-te. He told him to stick with Higaonna. While Itosu did indeed train some Naha-te kata (Niseishi, Seisan), he "Shuri-tized" them. He turned the Naha-te moves into Shuri-te moves (for example, in Itosu-Seisan, stances that are normally Sanchin stances in Naha-te became cat stances for Shuri-te). If you were to mix Shuri- and Naha-te kata, you would end up either having to Shuri-tize them or Naha-tize them. Trying to do both...well...would be counterproductive. Higa Yuchoku was one of Miyagi's strongest students and one of the most senior - had he stayed with Miyagi, he would have been the dai-sempai and possibly even ato-tsugi. When he met Chibana Choshin and saw Chibana in action, he decided to learn some Shuri-te. Eventually, he left Miyagi all together - there were no hard feelings since Chibana and Miyagi were friends. I'd venture to say that Higa Yuchoku left Naha-te because he couldn't reconcile it with Shuri-te and decided to go with just one. This isn't meant to rain on anyone's parade. This is an interesting theoritical exercise. I'm just not sure how it would actually pan out in application.

Chibana Choshin used to play sanshin (lit. "three strings"), a three stringed Okinawan version of the Japanese shamisen. While I've recently found out that a lot of Okinawans play sanshin, Chibana used to play it to maintain dexterity in his fingers. He punched makiwara all the time, and if not for playing sanshin, he would have lost dexterity in his fingers.

In terms of martial arts, from what I've read the Tengu are mostly associated with ninjutsu. According to folkore, the Togakure Ryu style of ninjutsu is said to be descended from Tengu from the mountains in Iga province. Ninja played on the mythology of the Tengu by wearing Tengu masks when conducting certain missions. Some of the "supernatural" abilities patusai listed can probably be done by a skilled ninja in a Tengu mask - except the whole shape-shifting and dreams thing. The white haired Tengu Sojobo is widely believed in Japanese folklore to have taught Minamoto Kuro Yoshitsune fighting techniques when Yoshitsune was a youth and training to become a priest on Mt. Kurama.

Fa-jin is supposedly a massive discharge of internal energy. Physically, it's explosive power from little movement. Back when I messed around with pa kua, I was introduced to fa-jin while doing some basic circle walking exercises. While I had trouble most of the time, there was one particular strike where I sort of got the hang of fa-jin. Having delved deeper into my karate training, based on my experiences and the muscle kinetics at work, I've come to the conclusion that physiologically, fa-jin is the same as kime. Understanding kime, I can do the same pa kua strike much easier, a lot easier than I did when I was concentrating on my "qi."

Why not?

Two individuals - yourself and Stonehart - mentioned Shorei-ryu as an American derivative, but the gist of the conversation concerned confusion over the Okinawan "style." This is not the first time such confusion has aroused (nor will it be the last), so I felt compelled to clear it up. The last line of my post was not definitive as I allowed for the fact that somone could have indeed created a Shuri-Ryu based on their study of Shorin styles. I was just too lazy to google Mr. Trias - I'm in the middle of writing a paper that determines whether or not I graduate this semester. I'm actually fairly familiar with the history of karate in Hawai'i (seeing how I live and train here), and Okinawans had been practicing te in Hawai'i since at least 1900 when they began to immigrate here. They formed an instructor's association in Honolulu in 1933 called the Seinenkai, implying that they had established dojos and were teaching students (no haoles, of course) on Oahu since before then. Yabu Kentsu visited in 1927 and Chokki Motobu in 1932, and during these stays, they accepted and trained local students (no haoles, however, or naichi if I remember correctly). The bottom line is that except for Mr. Trias and the Shorei-Ryu off-shoot from his lineage (I'm presuming), I've done my homework.

Chosin Chibana was the first to designate any of the te practiced in Okinawa with a Japanese Ryu name, renaming his practice of Shuri-te "Shorin-Ryu" as early as 1928 (the kanji can also be read "Kobayashi", and that is the name that ended up sticking to distinguish Chibana's Shorin lineage from Nagamine's "Matsubayashi" or the Chuan Fa/Shaolin influenced "Shobayashi" whose kanji can also be read "Shorin"). Miyagi Chojun followed suit, renaming his practice of Naha-te "Goju-Ryu" around 1933 (?). "Shorin-Ryu" and "Shorei-Ryu" were the Japanese Ryu names used to distinguish between Shuri-te based and Naha-te based styles respectively. Classically, karate was never sorted into Shorin vs. Shorei. It always came down (and continues to come down) to THE THREE BRANCHES: SHURI-TE (te developed and practiced in Shuri, mostly influenced by the indigenous te) NAHA-TE (te developed and praticed in Naha, mostly influenced by Chuan Fa and other Fuzhou and Fukien Chinese boxing styles) TOMARI-TE (te developed and practiced in Tomari, an amalgamation of both Shuri-te and Naha-te attempting to combine the best of both worlds) I stress THE THREE BRANCHES, because if it has anything to do with karate, you can always trace it back to THE THREE BRANCHES. By the way, there is no Shuri-ryu...unless someone recently made it up based on their study of styles derived from Shuri-te.

I don't want to sound like a negative-nancy, but I've never heard of doshu outside of aikido. "doshu" - "master of the way." Literally, the kanji reads "road master." If I'm not mistaken, they started throwing this title around after Morihei Ueshiba died, calling him "doshu." They also used this title to delineate his blood descendents who have inherited the style and run the Aikikai; i.e., his son and grandson have been called "doshu." It's a very honorific title if I'm not mistaken, but the purpose is the same: to identify the founder of the style and his blood descendants who inherit the style. Given how erai a title like doshu is (especially when the first thing that comes to my mind when I hear it is Ueshiba), it just seems funny to me to see a "Doshu" Mertz. I'm not passing judgement, and I'm assuming that he founded a style of some kind (Saishu Ryu I'm guessing from the avatar?), but it still comes off a little weird to me.

That makes sense. I did some refresher research, and discovered that the menkyo kaiden was awarded to praticioners of classical weaponry and not just kenjutsu; the focus of my research earlier dealt strictly with kenjutsu. I looked at your avatar thingy and noticed you had chuan fa, bjj, jjj, and shotokan listed (all empty hand), so I assumed that one of those instructors was throwing around the "Menkyo Kaidan" title, and it sounded shady to me. Thanks for clearing it up. Hopefully you convinced your friend that the title is less important than his function, and that "sensei" is actually the best and most honored of titles: think about it, you as a sensei are responsible for leading and guiding your students while continuing to walk point on the path.

I'm assuming he received the Menkyo Kaiden for his study of iai? Like I mentioned, I don't know of any weaponless arts that awarded a Menkyo Kaiden. Like I mentioned, I call my instructor "sensei" because I think it's appropriate. He really doesn't see himself as a master or much of a teacher; he thinks that we're all a bunch of guys that like to work out together, and it just so happens that he's been doing it longer than any of us so he knows a little bit more (he's the one who informed me of "sensei" not meaning teacher so much as what I just explained above). He never specified a preference when I met him.

A break down of titles, if you will, as I understand them and their kanji: "Soke" - "Founder." Guys who found a system can sort of legitimately call themselves "soke." Blood descendants of the founders can also sort of legitimately call themselves "soke." "Sosai" - "Commander-in-chief." I mention this title only because Mas Oyama adopted this title when conducting official business on behalf of the Kyokushin organization, but yeah, it means "commander-in-chief." Mas Oyama originally adopted the title "kancho" which means "captain" or "leader", but it's also the same word for "enema" in Japanese, hence the switch to "sosai." "Hanshi" - "Exemplary person." While typically used to denote the master of a system, it is actually an honorary title given to individuals who have distinguished themselves in their art and who are...well...exemplary human beings. It isn't a title someone gives himself just because he starts his own system or takes over a system; traditionally, this title is awarded to an individual by his students or by an organized body of instructors. "Hanshi" could best be thought of as a Ph.D. "Kyoshi" - "Master teacher" or "Teacher's teacher." An individual who obtained a significant degree of mastery of a style and was competent enough to open and run his own school was given a shihan no menkyo and could officially accept the "kyoshi" title. A "kyoshi" could best be thought of as a master's degree. As an aside, in Japan, college professors are also called "kyoshi." "Shihan" - The same as "kyoshi", and obviously derives its name from the shihan no menkyo. "Renshi" - "Expert." Literally, the kanji reads "practicioner" - "ren = practice, shi = person." I'm not familiar enough with the history of the use of this title, and I have only known two people going by this title. However, think of it as a bachelor's degree. "Sensei" - "One who has gone before." It would be simple to say "teacher", but in Japan "sensei" is also used for doctors, lawyers, and other professionals. The kanji means something along the order of "one who has gone before." In terms of martial arts, your instructor is further along the path than you are (ideally), and it is his job not so much to be better than you than it is to continue to be further ahead on the path and serve as your guide. I'm sure you know guys or have students that are/were way better than you are/were, but as a "sensei" it is one's responsibility to be the pathfinder ahead of the students in order to guide them. "Sempai" - "Senior." Actually, not quite that easily translatable as "senior" really doesn't do it justice. But, the sempai-kohai relationship is basically a senior-junior/mentor-mentee relationship. Someone could be "sempai" because they are older. Someone could be "sempai" because they are higher ranking. Someone could be "sempai" because they are more experienced. It depends on the basis of the relationship. For example, Mr. Bobby Lowe is the Sempai of the entire Kyokushin organization; that is, he is the oldest living and longest training of any of Mas Oyama's students. However, there are obviously people in the organization that outrank him, seeing how he is not involved in running it. The basis of his sempai-ship is age and time spent under Oyama. "O'(fill-in-the-blank)" - an attempt to make a title honorable. You might see references to Ueshiba O'Sensei as an attempt to honor him and his accomplishments in aikido. "Dai'(fill-in-the-blank)" - an attempt to emphasize seniority. The most senior assistant instructor in a dojo (the master's right hand man) was traditionally referred to as "dai-sempai." For example, Chosin Chibana was the dai-sempai in Itosu's dojo during Itosu's latter days. Mr. Bobby Lowe would properly be referred to as the dai-sempai of Mas Oyama's kyokushin. I've also seen awkward combinations with references to "dai-sensei." "kodansha" - "high dan holders." Literally, "high dan society." You might have a group of senior instructors who call themselves "kodansha" ot will call their group a "kodanshakai." "yudansha" - "holders of dan." Literally, "have dan society." If you have a black belt, you are a "yudansha." "mudansha" - "no dan holders." Literally, "no dan society." If you have a brown belt or below, you are a "mudansha." That about rounds out my knowledge of possible titles one may encounter in a dojo. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle...

Before I answer, I thought I would address something that sounded very odd to me: As far as I know, this is not a title. The menkyo kaiden is a Japanese adaptation of the Chinese secret scrolls a disciple would receive after having trained and learned under a master. The menkyo kaiden was primarily passed on by practicioners of kenjutsu and served three purposes: first it served as certification of an individual's mastery of the sword style. Second, it contained either the "hidden" or "secret" techniques of the style. Thirdly, the holder of the menkyo kaiden was the successor of the style. As far as I know, use of the menkyo kaiden was limited to swordsmanship. The shihan no menkyo is the karate equivalent, absent a scroll possessing the "hidden" or "secret" techniques since karate does not have any (everything is in the kata). The shihan no menkyo served as both certification of one's mastery over a style and as an endorsement by the master of one's qualifications to open his or her own school and teach. Kenjutsu schools also issued the shihan no menkyo (Sokon Matsumura received a shihan no menkyo from a Jigen Ryu kenjutsu master during his sojourn in Satsuma). To make this really long story really short, someone calling himself "Menkyo Kaidan" sounds fishy. Students calling him "Menkyo Kaidan" do not understand what it means. I'm not passing judgment on anyone, and I know nothing about this particular individual or his students, but "Menkyo Kaidan" sounds odd to me. I guess this sort of leads me to a not so minor point: people run around calling themselves (or overly eager students call them) all these titles, and they generally have no idea what any of these titles mean nor what they connote. And sadly, because of this, many of the titles have lost their weight and/or meaning. All you have to do is look in the phonebook for martial art schools to see what I'm talking about. To answer the question, I call my instructor "sensei" because I feel it is appropriate and because I understand what it means when I say it.

My instructor always reminds me to never give up my independence. He encourages me to take what I want from him, and if I find something lacking, find it, even if it means going elsewhere. To him, training good karate is far more important than the politics that naturally flow from a single instructor-student alliance. But far above that is respect. Being respectful to him is more important than being loyal to him. And that is all that he asks of me. This attitude puts the impetus of my training on myself. I am responsible for my own karate. Too many times under the guise of "loyalty" people tend to place the responsibility of their karate upon their instructor, and when things like this happen, they continue to hold their instructor responsible for their training. YOU are responsible for your own training. If you don't like something or feel that something is lacking, find it elsewhere. If you're going to be loyal to something, be loyal to your training. This isn't a blank check to tell your instructor to go stuff it; respect is paramount. But, bear in mind that he is not the end-all-be-all of your karate or whatever it is that you do. If he becomes a barrier to your training, respectfully remove that barrier from your training. Period. He isn't responsible for your karate: YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR KARATE. I cannot stress that enough.

I'm just curious to know what kind of time span you have between learning all of those kata as well as to how many you learn at one time. I would also like to know if you are expected to be somewhat competent with (know) the kata, or if you're expected to obtain some level of mastery of the kata. I've been working on one for the last 5 years and I'm not even close to mastering it...I can't imagine what kind of burden that places on an individual who eventually would have to master 60.

I can dissociate very easily. I experience at least one episode of dissociation a day, and it's usually in the morning when I look in the mirror after shaving. It's usually a pretty surreal and eyeopening experience, but it starts to scare me when I think that doing that as frequently as I do I'm a step closer to dissociative identity disorder (multiple personality disorder). Dissociative identity at the light end of the spectrum is separation of mind from body. If you've ever driven somewhere for a long time, and your body is driving the car, but your mind is someplace else you've experienced dissociative identity (aka "highway hypnosis"). Daydreaming, being swept up in a good book, fantasizing, meditation, and hardcore karate training where your mind severes connection with your body are all manifestations of dissociation. On the far end of the spectrum you dissociate your identity of yourself by disconnecting memories, thoughts, and feelings; enough of this recreates an alternate identity of yourself. I'm in the middle. I go much farther than the light end, but I'm not crazy like people at the deep end (I think). When I look in the mirror for too long, I start to step outside of myself like I'm having an out-of-body experience and I'm looking at myself. Then I start asking myself questions like, why am I here? What is my purpose in life? What happens to me when I die? I'm pretty sure other people do this too, but probably not as often as I do (which is everyday).

I've been turning over an idea for a personal project. This question is more of a feeler question just for me to get a general idea of what exactly is common knowledge about Chibana-sensei. Tell me what, if anything you know about Chibana Chosin. I've even included a handy-dandy poll. Thanks.

According to Chibana Chosin, many of the Hakutsuru kata in Okinawa were originally based on Hakutsuru no Mai, a traditional dance. I'm presuming that Bushi Matsumura was watching this dance one day and said, "I bet if you do this...and then do this...you can apply it to fighting!" and then proceeded to create the Matsumura Hakutsuru katas listed above. This shouldn't surprise you if you've ever watched traditional Okinawan dance - it's just like traditional karate kata with fighting moves and the like, only more ornate. Unfortunately, Chibana Chosin said that Hakutsuru in general were not really "fighting" kata. They were appropriate for developing posture, coordination, and breathing timing; but if you wanted to do all that and have a good "exercise" kata, there's an easier kata one could learn - Jutte. Having been taught the Hakutsuru kata (the So, Tan, San Hi, and Matsumura Hakutsuru Sho), and training them, I can see Chibana's point. There are fighting applications to the kata, but they are far and few in between. Even watching John Sells's Hakutsuru videos (quite excellent videos by the way) where he demonstrates the meaning of the moves, I'm hard pressed to believe that those tools could readily be applied in a fighting situation.

I hate to be a wet blanket, but edited or not, I'm not impressed. Even if he can move that quickly, why would you want to? There is such a thing as TOO fast.