Jeff604

Hi, Straight to the point : were there locations in China around 500 AD where Wushu techniques were taught other than the Shaolin-Shi temple ? I was able to find a great deal of information about Chinese martial arts from -2650 to 500. Then everything seems to converge to Shaolin-Shi, and every subsequent styles of Wu-shu seems to stem from there, either "for real" or just in the mind of masters trying to attract new disciples with the "Shaolin" label. Any info on that ? thx

Maybe this question is politically incorrect, but I'll ask anyway : talking about money, how much are the fees in your dojo ? For mine it is 130 Euros (160$) for children, 160 (195$) for students and 200 (245$) for adults per year.

In France the list is set by the official karate federation (FFKAMA) : - The 5 Heians - Tekki Shodan - Bassai Dai - Kanku Dai

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "at all serious", but if you could get this information, it would be very helpful. Though, if you deem this would imply bothering people who have more serious things to do, just ignore my request. In any case, thanks for the proposal !

Hi all, I am currently planning to order the famous "Unante" by John Sells to complete my collection. But I have realized that two versions had been issued, one in 1995 and the other in 2000. Does anyone know if a potential third version could be on its way ? 1995, 2000, 2005, sounds logical , though I don't know why the author felt the need to make a second version. Maybe his final goal was already reached in 2000. Thanks !

Indeed it did, thank you very much for your input ! The same for me. Though there are many websites refering to him as a 10th dan. One example : http://www.shoto-kan.com/r/masters.php But as an old Japanese saying goes, "if you believe everything you read, you'd better not read at all."

Everything's quite right. To be a little more specific, Funakoshi set a 5 dan system, still in use in Shotokai and SKA (Shotokan Karate of America) for instance. Around 1965, under the pressure of the FAJKO (Federation of All Japan Karate Organizations) which wanted to standardize all the Japanese martial arts rank systems, the JKA had to adopt the 10 dan system. I'm still looking for my comprehensive listing though.

Hi, Does any of you know how many people were granted the 10th dan degree in Shotokan karate (JKA) ? I made some online research and found a few names, but no complete listing : - Gichin Funakoshi (posthumously, 19??) - Masatoshi Nakayama (?, 19??) - Hidetaka Nishiyama (?, ??) - Taiji Kase (posthumously, 200?) - Hirokazu Kanazawa (during his lifetime, 2002) - ... I'd like to fill in the blanks and complete the list. Any clue ? online "knowledge vaults" ? A comprehensive handbook of karate to recommend on that matter ? Thanks ! J.