SenseiMike

I'm really going to have to check out a kyokushin class some day. I wish there was one close to me. It's funny I was so concerned about the full contact sparring, and just an hour ago one of students ko'd the other with a punch. We were all in full pads too. It wasn't a bad KO, but it dropped him to the ground and left him dizzy for a bit.

really I'm fine with bare knuckle competitions, I just can't see full contact bare knuckle sparring in the dojo, I'd hate to bust some ones face with a kick only for them to go and try to sell a used car all busted up.

LOL that was one of the letters on that site what prompted me to ask the question It's just that I take a certain amount of pride in feeling that I'm one of the very few "Budo" teachers left, I just see the need for pads (atleast in the djo if not at tournaments), head punches, and grappling.

I'm a shotokan practioner (actually it's more of a sub-style of shotokan that stresses fighting much more than the JKA would ever allow), and I have a black belt in tkd. I advocate full contact Karate, I'm in favor of using all of the grappling techniques contained in the kata during kumite, and thus in my dojo sparring matches usually end up in ground & pounds. I really dislike point sparring and I honestly think that it has degenerated our art. Anyway, my question: I know the rules of knockdown karate mandate bare knuckle competition, I like to wear a full set of pads for kumite, I also like to use a full set of hand techniques to the head. I do this because we all have Jobs to go too, and showing up beaten up and bloody all the time isn't a good Idea. Does this make my Karate any less of a "Budo" style than Kyokushin from an Oyama type perspective?

Hey guys, I thought I'd get on here and mention the tournament my school's sponsoring on Nov 5th. It's Kfst, pronounced like k fist , short for Karate FreeStyle Tournament. There's 3 weight classes and divisions for colored belts, and black belts. I'll put a quick version of the rules here, but you should contact me for full info if your interested. It's $35 to enter, Trophies for first thro third place, and everyone gets a t shirt for entering that'll read "full contact fighter" on the back. Kfst Rules Rules: 1) Kicks are allowed to the legs (except for the front area of the knee), the torso, and the head of any fighter so long as they are on their feet. 2) Hand techniques (punches, knife hands, ridge hands, back fists etc...) are allowed to the head and torso. Elbows are allowed to body, but not too the head. 3) All judo, wrestling, jujitsu, karate style throws, sweeps, and take downs are allowed, so long as they will not send a fighter out of bounds. 4) There will be a 15 second submission timer, where as one fighter may hold the other in a submission hold. After 15 seconds the referee will separate the fighters. 5) There is a 5 second “grounding” timer where as a fighter may strike his opponent with hand techniques only, should his opponent be taken to the ground. The timer will be 15 seconds in the case of submissions. 6) All fighters are expected to ware a standard gi, that may be of any color, and feature any markings/patches/designs so long as they are not offensive. 7) All fighters must supply their own “sparring gear” and it must be worn in full. A full set is required, consisting of helmet, gloves, shin guards, boots (unless the shin guard includes an instep guard) mouth guard, groin protector, elbow pads. Fouls: 1) Strikes to the groin or front area of the knee. 2) Finger or other small joint locks. 3) Grabbing the hair, sparring gear, or groin of your opponent. 4) Strikes to the throat. 5) Strikes to the back of your opponent’s torso or head. 6) Single hand or finger chokes 7) Attacking the eyes 8 ) Spitting or biting 9) Un-sportsman like conduct.

wow, that last site was the freaking mother load

That's what you said. Personal development and "tradition" are not focused on ahead of self-defense, at least not in old school Okinawan karate. Maybe in modern karate, especially Japanese karate (some). The "tradition" you speak of...what do you mean by that? If you mean "kata", then I would argue that is still the study of self-defense. If you mean "meditation" and all that...that's not very traditional, at least not to karate. Shorin Ryuu...... um, on an island in the 1600's full of zen buddists, I'd say that meditation is the Most traditional aspect of karate.

I wouldn't say it's extremely rare but in comparison to tkd, shotokan, wado ryu, even kyokushin, it's rare.

sweet

the reason for checking out JJJ was I am also looking over to what our neighbours are doing more and more. I've reached the unsatisfied stage that I bet a lot of Shotokan karateka get to. The same drills and ineffective bunkai and pussyfooty kumite are dragging me down. sounds to me like you just need a different school. I find bunkai to be quite effective, but I guess that depends on the bunkai itself. And as far as kumite, well we routinely slam each other into a ground and pound at my school.

thanks Jay, great videos anyone got any non shotokan kata?

thanks trustkid1!!! that got me the last 3 shotokan kata I needed but I'm still looking for some other's too.

if you poke your head around online you tend to run into a lot of diagrams for shotokan katas, however I haven't been able to find to find wankan, Gojushiho sho, or Gojushiho dai any where. anyone know where I can find these? or any non shotokan kata? I'd love to see Superinpi, Kururunfa, Sanseriru or any other kata that are rearly seen. thanks

Sanchin31:How many kata in a system is too many? I have heard of styles with upwards of 20+ kata. Can anyone truly expect to really learn (meaning bunkai) that many kata and be proficient in them? Would it not be better to concetrate a few kata and really be able to learn them? By learning I don't mean perform them well, I mean to actually be able to apply the bunkai. The true bunkai,not the multiple opponent blocking overhead strikes bunkai. Goju has twelve,but IMHO I still think that's too many well, I don't know. I teach 15 kata to reach shodan, that's about twice what most shotokan schools require. But my classes are 1 hour & 15 minutes, at least 3/4 of that are spent on bunkai, no matter your rank, we start with heian shodan and work it up from there. So yes, I think it's possible to perform the bunkai well for 50 or more kata.

I've only seen it once, maybe it was just the way it was performed that made it seem so advanced.

But anyone know where this kata came from, info about it online is rare, and when I do find something, it's in a dif language. It's considerably more advanced than any of the other heian kata, I'd rank it about sandan level bsed on what I've seen.

never studied kyoukushin myself, but I admire the heck out of it. I know that I teach my Shotokan students a lot of in-fighting, actually I'd say that about 85-90% of our combat is in-fighting. we work it right out of the kata, I feel it's more effective than long range fighting.

any one know the roots of this kata? I really know almost zero about it, other than it looks great!! I think it translates into peceful morning, but that could be wrong.

in shotokan I'd say it's enpi

I really want to organize an open style ma tourney in my state featuring full contact/knock down & submission style fighting...but the only laws I can find on the books relate to boxing.....Can someone shed some light on what I should do to protect my butt on legal grounds? I'd like to award a cash prize to the winner(s) but I'm cluless on the legalities of such. I've heard that they just made the tough man contest illegal here, that makes me a little leary. thanks!

my shotokan belt system uses white, yellow, green, blue, purple, brown, red, thhen black

How important to you is it to have a "pretty" kata? I used to strive for perfection in Kata performance, but, now I'm starting to differ. I think that kata were designed as a way to focus the mind and body together in the practice of technique. I'm a very heavy application guy, I stress them in almost every class, but lately I've began to to think that running the kata should be more a complete meditation style acting of the techniques on a visualized partner. However, if you run them that way, they look a bit ugly.... any thoughts?

"Why belong to any federation at all? BJJ has no governing body, and it's doing well. It also has maintained its integrity without a federation. Won't find many BJJ McDojos!" I don't know about that, for one, I've seen a lot of McDojo's that are part of federations, heck, I'd wager that some organizations are nothing more than McFederations.

There's one in murfreesboro TN... The Rising Sun Dojo. We beat the crud out of each other on a daily basis it's not illeagal, and there's a lot more to it ofcourse, but we still fight pretty darn hard.

I'm not sure, I got 2 guys who come 6 days a week....I'm not sure if it'll take them much time to get a belt, oh, many times the come twice a day, so....well....I might end up giving them a shodan in one year's time.