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I practice Shotokan, so sparring is no contact, but accidents do happen. It's just uncomfortable sparring without glasses, my vision is just too poor. today a blow landed a little harder that expected and bent the frame of my glasses, not a big deal, easily fixed, but it did raise awareness of the problem. Are there any types of safety glasses/goggles that work well for karate? I checked out a low cost optical shop in town and all they had was goggles that looked sort of like swimming goggles. They had a rubber pad just like swim goggles and looked like they would fog up easily.

Are Tokon and Kamikaze gis the same? They have the same naming scheme "America", "Europa", "Monarch"... but Kamikaze is cheaper. I'm looking for a good quality "value" gi, but I was trying to stay under $100 (so those are already a stretch of my budget). Maybe I should "settle" for the likes of Pro-Force

A couple of us are interested in forming a kata team for the local shotokan spring tournament. None of us has ever done tram kata before. any pointers?

My Gi is the most comfortable piece of clothing I have for practicing karate, especially the pants to do kicks. Sweat pants are too hot, synthetic fabrics tend to cling as soon as I sweat, whcih is just about as soon as I get started, so I do wear my gi pants if I can, even at home. As far as a top, nothing or a Tshirt works fine as a Tshirt is not too restrictive. On those rare occasions I don't wear a Gi in the dojo (because I forgot to wash it for example) I wear black sports pants and a black TShirt so I look "put together" even though we wear white Gis.

"mastered" is such a strong word Sensei is a Yondan in Shotokan and is still trying to "master" any of his katas. Just teasing, I know what you meant.

aim for the armpit, it ends up being at the perfect height

Happened to me at a belt exam, and even though it was Shotokan 3 step sparring (non contact) it was really hard for me because the kid was afraid of me (I'm a big guy) and throwing his punches about 4 feet away from me, so I had nothing to block/parry most of the time since they were not even reaching my "space" On the other hand when I was on the attack it's difficult to have good form when you attacker is 4 feet tall (and you though Shotokan had *low* stances?) That said, the best way to fail the exam would have been to show lack of control and hit the kid in any way when attacking/counter-attacking.

some would say that regardless of your sex of age, and regardless of the attackers' abillity, this is exactly what karate is supposed to prepare you for, and nothing more. In fact, Sensei tries to impress on us that in a real life situation, if you have to start fighting, then you have already failed, even if you kick the snot out of your assailant. Maybe not every style thinks this way. In Shotokan, this is the difference Funakoshi made betweem Karate-Do (way of life) and Karate-Jutsu (fighting system). never heard of World Oyama Karate, I assume it's got its name from Mas Oyama, the founder of Kyokushin? If so, read up on on his life and see how devastated he was after killing a thug with a single blow.

unless techniques are called in Japanese during your exams, in which case you better start learning the meaning of the japanese. My kid (7 year old) was confused when he was still a white belt, until I told him to remember it his way: Jodan: you hit at the jaw (jaw-dan, get it?) Chuudan: you hit at the stomach, because what you chew gets to your stomach (Chew-dan) Gedan: it's the the other one, i.e. below the belt. I have a mnemonic for it but it's not suitable for a 7 year old it's approximat but my kid never made a mistake after that. In my dojo during sparring (unless it's free sparring) the attacker announces the target (and possibly the technique) and the defender repeats it, only then can the attacker make his move.

I have those too but I prefer video also. If can also google for "single page diagrams" the summarize the katas, thoe are good as a kick reminder of the sequence of moves when you're first starting to leran it of if you haven't practiced it in a while (you do practice all your katas all the time don't you? )

anything starting with an H sound is easier to do as an explosive exhalation. The D sound would definitely "delay" the explosion which is not the intent on the kiai .

anything starting with an H sound is easier to do as an explosive exhalation. The D sound would definitely "delay" the explosion which is not the intent on the kiai .

I've been there too. feels weird doesn't it?

pinan and heian are the same, however heian shodan = pinan nidan and vice versa.

There are two parts I find particularly difficult to do well in this kata: - the transition from move 7 (the combined side snap kick and back fist strike) to move 8 (knife hand block). It's really easy to look like you're "falling" from one position into the other, even if you're careful to bring the kicking leg back to your center and pivot before you step back into the knife hand block. - the two soto uchi uke or "reverse inside blocks" (moves 16 and 19 by my count, your count may vary): I find it tricky to generate power for the block by twisting the hip with the "wrong" leg forward. I really like this kata though. Not sure why.