SenseiMike

I think these are WAY to general assumptions!! 1)if they give you your next belt easily/fast. I hold testings the 1st sunday of each month, if you've come to class enough, and some of my guys come 6 days a week, then you could easily get your yellow belt in one month. 2)if your not being worked hard enough. 3)doesnt tell you your faults in your kata. 4)does not participates in tourterments. Most of the tournaments around me, are from mcdojo's. 5)plays games during class. 6)bend the rules for certain people. precept # 5, spirt first, technique second....some people's bodies naturally move different than others, they should perform that tech. in a natural way 7)does not teach you basics. 8)more then 3 stripes on your belt I use 4 stripes to test...but that's just me, doesn't really matter I guess. 9)does not aim for perfection. 10)lets kids run around during class. 11)does not take action if students have there Belt on the floor. If your school has 2 of these symptoms you should probably should leave.

I am looking more in the avenue of a tournament sanctioning body, something that would keep records of tournaments held under it's name, hold semi finals, finals and such. as well establishing a union of karate schools that're offer more serious training than the larger commercial based schools. I.E. knock down kumite, as opposed to point sparring.

really I'm looking at starting a federation that deals with traditional ma styles with an interest in full contact tournaments and hand to hand combat in general. I'd like to see an organization that holds regional and national tournaments / championships etc.. I'm interested in running it as a non profit, and posibly getting media attention for it. Any one interested please PM me.

really I'm looking at starting a federation that deals with traditional ma styles with an interest in full contact tournaments and hand to hand combat in general. I'd like to see an organization that holds regional and national tournaments / championships etc.. I'm interested in running it as a non profit, and posibly getting media attention for it. Any one interested please PM me.

I've had nothing but problems from christians. My karate deals heavily with zen and ki after a point, and those aspects bother seem to bother them. but, I don't dislike anybody, and I gladdly take anyone with an open mind.

I have, a young african-american kid kept getting really out of hand, calling us crakers and such. wasn't a student tho, he was just watching, and impressing his friends by his ammazing ability of trash talking. not really what you were asking, but it's all I got.

I'd really love to host a full contact/knock down tournament aimed at open syles, tkd, karate, even bjj. But i have no Ideas how about the dos and don'ts, anyone have any helpful advise?

typically, anyone who uses the words "useless beliefs" is part of a mcdojo. Philosophy is the heart of martial arts, You may not of meant it to sound the way I intrupreted it, but I think that phrase sounds pretty bad.

sweet, apparently this post earned me a yellow belt

Just trying to kill time and let this coffee kick in, but I was curious, how do you guys fight? What's the contact like? what are the rules? how much bunkai do you use as opposed to just "kickboxing"? At my dojo we incorporate a lot of kata moves into kumite, particulary (sp?) the grappling aspect of it, It usually brakes up if someone hits the ground. Contact is light, light to meium with pads on. only the eyes, front area of the throat, and groin are off limits. other than that it's pretty much fair game. I'd say on a regular day, we work on bunkai for 45 minutes, then spar for the last 30.

I've been looking, but I think that TN is pretty dead on kyokushin. We're chock full of wado and tkd, a few scattered kung fu schools, but no kyokushin that I can find. Heck, not even many shotokan schools around.

I'm a 25 yr old sandan, will be yodan soon.....but my belt looks brand new. 'course before I opened my dojo I practiced mostly in sweats. I think 19 sandan is kind of young tho.

well, I know it sounds odd coming from a shotokan guy, but I think kumite wlks hand in hand with kata, if not just a little more important. Kumite offers the chance to practice kata techniques with a live partner. You never really know what will work for "you" unless you spar, and spar a lot. Even my beginner classes, tho no free sparring, practice kumite to a degree.

that's true about the insurance, but I guess you could always cover your butt with enough paper work. Having insurance tho, might be more of a draw to people. How about a non-profit, anyone have any Ideas on how those work?

hmmmm..........I voted okinawa, but as I read the replies, I almost wished I voted Japan. A lot of people, and I mean a LOT, credit the 36 families from china with the beginning of Karate. but we forget, or never learned, that between the 700-1100 AD a lot of samurai fled to Okinawa bringing with them forms of kempo and jujitsu, the 36 families did not reach Okinawa untill 1396 AD.

I've been on a quest for a while to find an organization that serves karateka in cheap and professional manner, and hosts a good ammount of tournaments, knock down and/or full contact specifically. I haven't really found anything that fits the bill, and I've developed this pipe dream of starting my own....but to me it seems a bit lofty. any one got any Ideas on how posible an option that really is, or how to go about it?

wow........this is a tuff one...... ummm........budo vs. the american school social structue...... I say you did the right thing, but only 'cuz I remember being the fat kid in school. Eventually I had to fight, the first time against a smaller kid that I actually did slap. It's sad, but the state of kid's enviroments today, he has to fight, or he'll be beaten up on a daily basis. one or 2 fights tho should do it, it'll keep the heat off of him. Train him, but NEVER, EVER, EVER, encourage him to provoke a fight.

thanks for the reply! hmm.....I know Mas Oyama was a student of Funakoshi for some time, but in joining one of those organizations would I have to switch styles? That would be a little to much. Starting my own....tho.....interesting.....

I'm looking for an alternative organiztion to hook up with that might be cheaper on me and my students. In particular I'd like something that deals primarely with karate and offers a good ammount of tournaments (knock down tourney's a plus). If you guys know of any, please lemme know. THANKS!

makiwara man -In regards to Shotokan, it is not a weak style per say as it has very powerful striking techniques. It is however very linear in it's movements and in a restrictive way very platform dependent. I noticed these differences when I actually sparred with my new group. The rules were different the results were way different. In Shotokan you can't attack to the lower limbs and groin and most sparring is controlled and rarely full contact ( I know we do hit each other but not this hard ). Okinawian Kempo not only allows low kicks and grion strikes, it encourages them. They go all out full contact. They wear full armor ( face shield, chest protector, groin guard (make sure it's a good one!!!!), hand and foot protectors. The sparring includes stand up fighting taken to the ground until finishing. Joint locks, choke outs, submissions. at my school, take downs, and leg hits are the norm. I teach them, I use them, I emphasize thm during sparring. If you're stance is good, you won't be taken down, so If my students constantly end up on the ground, then they need to work on their stance. We spar semi-contact, but that's more for liablity isuses then anything else, I don't wanna get sued.

Skeptic, i agree with this "My observation of Shotokan is that it suffers from poor body mechanics. In an attempt to be powerful, the way I've seen Shotokan karateka move actually robs them of the very thing they seek. Their stances deadlock the transfer of weight and energy into what otherwise would be really strong techniques. It looks good, and I've seen Shotokan guys train HARD, but in the end they are their own worst enemies in terms of moving and execution, based purely on what I've seen." but that's because they generally have poor training. I do the same stances that most shotokan schools do, but I do them while hitting the 'ol makiwara thus learning how to channel power through them. I also have a few friends a the local bjj club, they've never taken me down, because I spend so much time developing those stances.

really, you should train with both I think. Heavy bags ar great for building combos and speed, but nothng beats the makiwara on building power. In my dojo we train with both, heavy bgs at first, and the makiwara in the advanced classes.

I've been trying to figure this out too. Honestly, I think the difference is completely based on the school. The way my school trains, you'd think it was kyokushin, but it's Shotokan to the core.

All I got for you is hard dates: between 794-1185 many refugee samurai from Japan came to Okinawa, this constituted the first outside infulence on "te" which is believed to have been simple boxing before that. in 1393 the 36 families were relocated to Okinawa from China. This brought kung fu, along with a great love of Chinese culture that extended for centuries after that, re-bolstered by the Satsuma invasion in 1609. Karate was originally known as "te", then "to te" or "Tang Hand", to te also became known as kara te, both meaning chinese, but kara having an alternate meaning of empty. Funakoshi popularized the use of Kara when he went to Tokyo.

But these are legal rules, and I don't need to register with any local government bodies to authorize the fights? PS all of the other schools here are wado ryu, or tkd. so most likely I'll allow pads instead of bare knuckle.