Jag-Isshinryu

Alas, it's true. Luckily, it wasn't a belt test or anything, so I was able to cover up quickly and act like nothing had happened. We were going through class kata exercises, so the instructor was busy with a brown belt who's getting ready for his blackbelt test. We managed to keep it between the green belt and I, to this day. On another note, we had a guy come in drunk off his whistle on sparring night. He actually did really well... instructor wasn't impressed, but he's a good guy.

Yeah, the only reason Chris Lieben is back is to tick off Josh Kroschek(sp). They've gotta satisfy the drama requirement. I feel really bad for Nate, I liked him, so it's too bad about his ankle. I looked at Diego Sanchez's past fights. It's nothing spectacular, but he's 11-0 wins to losses, usually by submission, but he's responsible for a few TKOs. Maybe he has some more striking experience than we've seen. We need a see a really good striking match next.

"Home" is where the heart is, and my heart's in Japan (mostly). I'm currently studying an Okinawan karate, but I want to start a Japanese karate additionally, and intend on beginning Judo this summer. JJ and Ninjitsu are interesting, too, but not offered around here. I don't like TKD because I feel it's limiting in techniques, and none of the Chinese arts (outside of Kenpo) have ever appealed to me. The only non-Okinawa-Japan art I've been interested in was BJJ.

I was recently writing a paper on Bushido and Chivalry, and that made me think of this article. I talked about how codes of honour can still impact the modern world, how some people try to follow these ideas. I agree, chivalry isn't dead.

Anybody watch this last week's episode? Diego Sanchez dominated Josh Rafferty on the ground, taking the mount in seconds and proceeding to pound the living crap out of him until taking a win with a rear naked choke hold. Man, Diego is seriously going to win the contract for his weight division. No contest.

I loved this movie. Between the individual fight stylizations (water, autumn leves, the red, et cetera), the ending, and the plot twists... Well, Zhang Ziyi is smokin'.

I'd doubt it, as every martial arist would be different, as would the art. People tend to adapt stances to suit their height, build, and style. But I suppose there could be a stance said to be more effective than most, from a physics point of view. I personally don't know if such a thing exists.

Well, we sparred tonight. I've got a lot of practicing to do. If we'd been counting points, I would have beaten one of our sensei and another kyu, but I got owned by the other blackbelts, a brown, and green (small class). I spoke with one of the blackbelts after. He pointed out that I spent a lot of time trying to block low kicks with my low block instead of a leg block. Uh, oops? I also left my head open alot, trying to parry strikes. Stupid mistakes, really. Does anyone know any good drills I can perform solo for protecting the head and blocking low kicks, aside from our basics?

Sounds like a book worthy of investment. I think I'll search around for a copy.

Manitoba, Canada, eh. Nice to see so many Canadians around.

Okay, every newbie gets their obligatory "Stupid Newbie" question. I'm sure I'll smack myself for realizing that it's probably common sense knowledge. What is/are the martial art(s) used by the Samurai? Mostly driven by curiosity, but I've been pondering for a few days.

I have no TKD experience, and we're taught to keep almost all of our kicks below the solar plexus, but you're making me thinking about hammering the outside thigh. In doing so, do you find that opponents block your strikes or tend to try and capture your leg? We have a blackbelt at our class that loves capturing, so kicking needs to be either lightning fast or devastatingly effective. Actually, I notice that too. With the Isshinryu we learn, we're taught to keep low, deeper centre of balance, thus making most kicking tougher. After you said that I realize I favour punching in a deeper stance, but kicking in a higher stance. Yeesh, this is giving me wonderful ideas for sparring tomorrow.

What you're describing sounds just like our cat stance, Kicks, and you raise an interesting point. You're right, a seasoned fighter would interpret a front-kicking opponent from my stance, but it makes a feint to start the fight off with. You can even go so far as to feint a front kick, but turn it into a jump kick if you think you could get away with it, or drop the foot to slide forward, or apply a spinning backfist if you're any good at it. With the sparring partners I've had (aside from the best blackbelts we have, who have 15+ years of experience for the most part), feints have proven to be especially effective, so I tried to adapt that into my stances and techniques. This might be impractical, that I may be growing too familiar with something that won't work anywhere else.

Tony Jaa is the man, but my favourite veteran would definately be Jean-Claude Van Damme, based on movies like Bloodsport, Kickboxer, and The Quest. Maybe not good movies, definately not great, but fun to watch anyways.

I watch it every week. It's about time they made a soap opera for martial arts. It's cool to watch their training and warm-ups, catch the advice from Couture and Liddell, Willa Ford is hot, and the fights. Oh, and the drama between the fighters can satisfy your drama requirements.

I want to, but university exams start on the 11th. I have some Navy buddies posted to Halifax who will hopefully record it and have it sent to me. Here's hopin', but I'm sure it'll be great.

I like to think I'm completely focused on the class and instructor, but the times I remember drifting off were quite humourous. Once, I remember stopping half-way through a kata, thinking about a certain girl I'd seen earlier that day. A greenbelt I know well asked me what was up, so I told him. We shared a healthy laugh.

...when you find yourself going through kata or techniques at school/work, like I often do during university classes, while seated. I'm guilty of both being at the gym before my instructor and inadvertently assaulting a friend in a high-five, except I applied an armbar.

I have a sparring class coming up this Thursday, and as I went over some basics and techniques in my basement, I started paying more attention to how I held myself and the specifics of my sparring stances. Do you have a particular stance you assume for sparring or fighting? Does it reflect your style/discipline, or is it wholly you? Personally, I've come to adapting a neko ashi dachi (cat stance) or teiji dachi hanmi (raised-heel T-stance) for a lot of sparring lately. My Sensei noticed it first, remarking on how odd it was, but it seems to work for me. Otherwise I use the traditional parallel foot fighting stance, with my hands en guarde, fist and knuckles canted forward, as if to grab. Now that I've noticed it, I seem to devote a lot of time thinking about stances and their impact on my sparring. Thoughts, observations, or comments?

That's a really interesting look into kata, especially for someone such as myself who has only began. It's hard enough to learn something so drastically new, especially without knowing why you are doing what you are doing. Sure, the Sensei teaches you the whys and history, but thinking about it yourself and why you're doing it really open the kata up for your personal understanding and appreciation.

Well, I've posted here a few times already, but an introduction is in order... I'm Richard, frequently go by Rick, but am Jag to all but my family. I'm a university student taking History and Geography, and in about a month I will be a commissioned Artillery or Logistics Officer in the Canadian Forces Army Reserve. Currently, I am only a white belt in Isshinryu Karate, but I am rising quickly. I'll probably have a belt test within the next month. I am looking into beginning a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu class, but we'll see how funds pan out. That summarizes me well right now. Life pretty much solely consists of university, martial arts (and physical training), and the military. Oh, and chasing girls during downtime.

Full-time University student, majoring in History. In a month, though, I'll be an Artillery or Logistics Officer in the Canadian Forces Army Reserve.

We've got Isshinryu here, in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada. I just started recently, but I'm way ahead of most people. In my short time, I've got a more-developed Seisan Kata than the white belts and yellow belts in my class. I'm not sure which lineage we follow, but I'll check with my Sensei this Thursday, because I'm curious now.

My Sensei has a sheet of terms (all of our basics, katas, important terms/words) that we're not so much expected to know, more that it is of our benefit to know. We go over our basics almost every class, and the basics are announced in Japanese, so if you don't know your language, you're going to be behind. Especially 1-20 in Japanese, for warm-up counts.