NinTai

I know this may be a little late but if they question weather or not 440 can take the abuse just show them this classic:

Actually there are several ways of pronouncing "tonfa" It all depends on where you com from. You you say "te" or "ti"? "Makiwara" or "Machiwara"? "Bo" or "Kon" (Rokushaku-Bo - Shushi-no-Kon)? "A tonfa by any other name would still hurt."

Ko = old, ancient Bu = Made up of 2 characters that together basicaly mean stop fight Do = Way Nishiuchi Sensei has and excelent breakdown here: Note: Kobudo by itself does not indicate Okinawa or any other lineage. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobudo RyuKyu Kobudo indicates Okinawan lineage (RyuKyu = Chain of islands that Okinawa is a part of.) Kobudo on mainland Japan could also refer to the Koryu arts.

The artwork on your personal site is excellent.

They did not have to intentionaly miss as muskets were not that accurate. "Muskets were very inaccurate weapons and it was only the discipline of a large number of men firing them shoulder to shoulder - creating a wide wall of lead - that made it useful at anything over 100 metres. An expert said in 1814 that: "I do maintain ... that no man was ever killed at 200 yards (180 metres) by a common musket, by the person who aimed at him."" http://www.napoleonguide.com/weapacc.htm Here one of the thing Napoleon said about war: Remember , gentlemen, what a Roman emperor said: The corpse of an enemy always smells sweet.

If you look around i think its a cultural thing. Go into any "hip" cloathing store and you can buy a designer pair of ratty, stained and torn jeans. Usualy for a premium.

I have not seen this used outside of Uechi Ryu. My understanding is that it progresses like this: Shodan - Godan - Plain belt Rokudan - One Gold Stripe Nanadan - Hachidan - Two Stripes Kudan - Three Stripes Judan - ???

Is that pain on your gun side or both? It could just be your myscles compensating for the extra weight. I know my belt weighed in at around 20 lbs. Also do you wear your belt low around the hips or up around the waist?

I also look at the flip flop issue when driving or on a plane. I wouldn't want to end up in an accident and have to walk around torn metal and broken glass bare foot. Bushido_Man when you carry off duty how do you coneal your weapon. I got tired of wearing the "not a cop" vest and had to be concerend about beeing able to draw unimpaired.

Sanchin, like anything else, if done incorrectly can damage the body. People say the same thing about makiwara practice. If you look at most of Uechi Ryu they do not use the forced breathing that Goju uses. There are also other contributing factors, if it was just Sanchin then all those who practice it would shou similar signs.

Thanks for the replies. To continue the thought how have you copensated for the clothing. I.e. I try to be extra attentive when i'm wearing a tie. I haven't found any clip one or break away ties that look desent. Do you avoid certain dress options? i.e. I tend to avoid flip flops because the afford no protectin for my feet. Thanks

Storyteller, For what its worth try giving Satori-gi.com a call. There in about the same ballpark as far as price but they will make it to your body measurements.

Yes, basically the went from a newspaper format to a magazine format. They are also going to a glossy paper format for the whole magazine wivh ups the cost to 7.95 but still worth it. BTW Any one with an extra copy of issue 11 CFA? I moved and missed that issue in the process. Thanks.

I second CFA also Dragon Times (It's predacesor you can still get back issues) http://www.dragon-tsunami.org/Dtimes/Pages/Dthome.htm Jounal of Asian Martial Arts is also very good. Expensive but with it.

To me a kata is a set of movements designed to teach concepts and to engrain proper movement and sequence into muscle memory. If you look at Koryu (old family systems from japan) most of their kata consist of 2-5 movements. The difference between a kata and drills like you mentioned above are the use of pr defined movements or lack there of. Example: Drill: Go to the heavy bag and work for 3, 3 min rounds. Kata: Go to the heavy bag and work jab, jab, cross, jab uppercut. The second example is a predefined set of movements that you want to work on and ingrain into your muscle memory and to develop proper power generation from technique to technique. Its mostly symantecs but if I say I'm going to teach you a compbination of techniques or a kata in my view the purpose is basically the same.

"Itosu did make the Pinans, and he made them the way that he did so that he could teach them to children. He had a purpose, at the time. However, does that mean the purpose still holds for today?" Absolutely, nothing has really changed in this case are you going to teach school children the more vicious techniques or something that will be safe and get them training. "Don't get me wrong, here. I love forms. I always have. I think that they are beneficial to MA practice. However, as I previously mentioned, I don't think that they are a holy grail of the Martial Arts. There are many different styles out there that have thrived without the use of forms as a training tool. I think that Bruce Lee obviously felt that there were better training tools out there, as well." Kata are a way of instruction. They are not the holy grail they are just the way our styles have chosen to pass on knowledge. In reality all forms of combat have some sort or “kata”, when I was in the academy we were taught the Avery Method. There was a way to draw, acquire the target, shoot and reholster the weapon. Well this was a kata, a way of practicing the movement so it became second nature, and in the same way you did’t change the “kata” you just did it. "With the years that Lee spent in Wing Chun, I would be willing to bet that he had some level of competency in the art. I would also be willing to bet that he had some knowledge of the use of transitional movements (stances) and how they related to fighting. In his readings, he was a big proponent of the use of footwork." He did but according to William Chueng Lee’s senior, friend and teacher Lee was not allowed to learn the real wing chun because he was not of full Chinese blood. So we can’t say if Lee’s attitude would have been different if he was allowed to learn the full art. "I also don't think that Lee was in the habit of "bashing" other arts, as you mention. He did have his opinions about them, but he also had many friends that were practitioners of the more "traditional" arts. I don't really think that he would have spent time in their workout sessions to "bash" their arts. I could be wrong here, but I think he had a little more respect for them then that." Lee’s biggest quote was about the “classical mess”. Quotes from Lee: "A guy could be clobbered while getting into his classical mess," he told reporters. "To me 99 percent of the whole business of Oriental self-defense is baloney," Lee once said. "It's fancy jazz. It looks good, but it doesn't work."

Vashogun, I don’t believe that learning a new kata is what is the issue. The question was: “Can I take katas from other MAs and adjust them to Shotokan by changing the moves to the closest ones there are at Shotokan?”

But what is you definition of street clothes?

Greeting, I was wondering for those who set aside certain training sessions dedicated to training in their "street clothes" what clothes do you wear? For example in my day job I wear slacks, shirt, tie and dress shoes. If I were one of your students would you encourage me to wear this to that training session or something more comefortable like sweats and sneakers. Thanks

“How do we know that Bruce Lee was misinterpreting the arts he learned? He may not have liked the way things were presented, and felt that time could be better spent on other facets of the arts. The same goes with many other styles that don't incorportate forms/katas. “ From my reading Lee did not study many of the arts he bashed in his books and teachings. As for his “misinterpreting” you just need to look at his original book when he talks about all the “traditional” stances and how they would not be effective ways of fighting. If he had taken the time to learn the systems he would have understood that you don’t “fight” from these stances (another thread in and of itself) they simply represent a body position that occurs during a fight, you are not standing like that waiting for an attack. ”The Martial Arts are not the same that they were when they were conceived, no matter what style we look at. People get so caught up in what a form is that they forget what else there could be. They worry about "tainting" their "style" and don't want to go against the grain. In the end, it stagnates learning.” You are correct. But the people who made those changes made them for specific reasons and after they reached a certain level of understanding. When Itosu created the Pinans he did so after many years of study, and for the purpose of introducing karate into the school system. He did not just learn a kata because he liked the way it looked then change the moves to resemble moves that were in his style. ”I am not a proponent of what I am going to say, but think about it. Take two individuals. Put one in a Martial Art to study for two years. Put the other on the street to fight for two years. Who will be more the Martial Artist at the end of the test period?” Who will be the more Martial Artist?? Well, that depends on you definition of a Martial Artist. For me the person who just fought on the street of that time became a fighter and probably nothing more. The person who trained (And here’s the other debate in what, who was the teacher etc) should have not only leaned how to fight but also a “professionalism” or “bearing”. For example take the professional soldier. If you drop one person in the middle of a war and place the other person in boot camp who will be better in the long run?? From my point of view the person who you “dropped” in the war really only has one goal, to survive. The one that went to boot camp will have learned to survive also but will also have been taught about team work, leadership, etc. My point about the original post was if your going to take the time to learn another systems kata then do it right and learn what it has to teach you. Don’t try to fix what’s not broken.

Some good thoughts all around. As a former LEO I would definitely suggest contacting the authorities after the altercation. If someone only saw part of the event they maybe calling the police to report you as the assailant, also if it was a mugging or other violent crime chances are the person is wanted and police are looking for him/her. As far as providing first aid, if you do not feel like you are in safe surroundings or are not trained in first aid there really is not much you can do. Lastly you want to get yourself check out medically. You may have been injured in the altercation but don’t realize it because of all the adrenaline in your system.

I'll have to agree with Shorin Ryuu. Even “ART” has rules. Poems are judged buy set standards of rhyme and meter, painting and sculptures are divided into categories based on realism, medium and so forth. A great sonnet would be a horrible haiku. We even judge who can or can’t sing on American Idol. “Your sensei is a teacher and a guidepost not your master or your god.” Yes, and if you go against your teacher’s instructions or wishes when why go to them at all? [rant] This seems to be a pervasive attitude in the U.S., “If it feels good it is good…” and so with that standards and quality go out the window. [/rant] It’s pretty simple in my view. You change the way a kata is done you lose what it has to teach. People often point to Bruce Lee as their inspiration to explore and come up with their own interpretation of things but they miss 2 big points: 1. He completely misinterpreted the meaning of the arts he was bashing. 2. He was not that good in Wing Chun so he had to make up for his shortcomings. I think I’ve reached the point where I’m just rambling. I’ll collect my thoughts and maybe post something more cohesive later.

No, it's completely different. Here's a good article on the different pieces of equipment: http://www.bushifitness.com/hu_training.htm What I like about the bushi power stuff is that you can adjust the weight. I do have t say that the Nigiri Game handles don't really allow for the proper thumb placement but it's cheaper that a 250 pair from Shureido.

Kante, In addition to the above you could also use traditional methods like, chisa, sashi and nigiri game. Here's a place to get a set that uses regular weights to keep up with your progress. http://www.bushipower.com/pbpc.php