Zaine

Congrats Bob!

What a fun movie. My kid and I loved it. She immediately starting trying to mimic the moves after the credits.

I'm literally sitting down to watch it with my kiddo right now! We're both so excited.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you.

So I have a few hypotheses here, so bear with me. The first is that Japanese Karate isn't as influential as some claim. Korean Martial Arts has been around for much longer than Japan's occupation of Korea. We know that there were systems of what we think of as Subak and Taekkyon that were existing in Korea around the 1st century CE. It's likely that Korea, much like Japan, got some form of codified martial arts system from the Chinese, who systems of Kung Fu can be traced to before 1000 BCE. So it's not entirely correct to say that the Japanese taught the Koreans Karate, Korea already had codified systems. What they did do, however, was ban the practice of native Martial Arts in Korea. This, in turn, did everything but kill the native Martial Arts today. This leads us your question. Why would the Japanese teach the Koreans karate if they were an oppressive force. I'm not entirely sure, but I do have a few guess based on my understanding of history. The first guess is that either they didn't, or it was done by some sympathetic Japanese nationals in secret. I don't think that this is very likely, as something like this tends to make its way into the mythos of a system. Japanese relations with China was constantly tense but our systems still venerate people like Kusanku and Chinto, so it stands to reason that there would be a little more overt veneration of some specific Japanese figure in Korean systems (and maybe there is, I'm not as familiar with Korean lineage as I am with Japanese). The second guess is that the Japanese were trying to assimilate Koreans into their cultural practices and, essentially, make Korea a second Japan. This is what I think is the most historically sound reason that Japanese style karate made its way in to Korean culture. If the idea was to erase Korean nationality and create a Korea that was just a Japanese country, then it makes sense that they would outlaw expressions of Korean nationalism and insert their own. This includes martial arts. So in that, the Japanese weren't doing the Korean people a favor, they were trying to erase the lineages of Korean martial arts and replace it with their own.

You and I agree with one another here, I didn't think that you were lauding Dillman in any way.

That is also the story of Dillman as posted by James Coffman. Knowing what I know of Dillman, I'm more inclined to believe that than Dillman's account. I remember first encountering Dillman via a documentary about chi, in which he gave some stories about how he could use it. I also know that he claims that he learned it from Soken himself with 3 other black belts, but as those people haven't confirmed the story, I think that it's just something he says.

I'm really bad with Japanese terminology, I didn't learn it when I was first learning karate, but this is a side block, right? I Googled it. In Matsumura Seito we did two different uchi uke. Mostly, the stuff that came from the Matsumura lineage had the uchi uke with the thumb facing inward toward our bodies. Anything that we did from Shorinji-Ryu was thumb facing outward. That said, having the palm facing toward your opponent is interesting. Our open hand blocks and shuto uke did this, but I don't think we ever did it with a closed hand. That's an interesting way to do it, I'll have to play around with it.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

I agree with this. Something that I tell my child often is that she does not have to apologize for not knowing something. It is enough that she seeks the knowledge. As for completeness, to again echo Bob I think it's a folly to chase it. A complete system would be the only system. There would be no need for others. We would learn Karate, with a capital K, and EVERYONE interested in karate would learn Karate. For me, however, that doesn't work. I don't want to learn every system out there. As far as karate goes, I've stuck to Okinawan styles because they fit my personal martial arts philosophy more than mainland karate does. Nothing at all against mainland styles, I think they're awesome, I just prefer Okinawan styles. Similarly, I prefer Longfist to Wushu. Fiore to Meyer. Nothing against those style, I just like to play to what my body does a little better. This is the crux of completeness for me. There are 7.6 billion people in the world and we're all different. Some of us are short, some tall. Some portly, some lithe. The myriad of systems allows someone interested in martial arts to find something that works best for them. They don't have to be complete, they have to be effective. As Bob is fond of saying, the proof is on the floor.

Congrats! Well deserved!

Now that's an extreme circumstance! If you've got one loaded, that is....I believe it was Matsumura "Bushi" Sokon who said "an effective karateka always keeps one loaded."

I like your point here. I think most religious organizations, regardless of what their particulars are, believe in some sort of connection between taking care of the gifts that we are given. I can say with certainty that the major world religions do, at the very least. If our bodies and our time here is a gift, then we we should take steps to care for these things and keep them healthy. That's some good perspective you're bringing to the MA scene in your area.

Welcome to KF! It's great to have you!

That was more info than I expected and I love it! Thanks for explaining that to me in such depth. When I googled it I didn't get any results so I wasn't sure what to think about it. I thought that it might be a weapon of some sort. I looked around and asked a few people but couldn't find anything other than a couple of people offering to build one for me, which is great for me but doesn't help you. I'll keep an eye out for you, though.

What is a kamidana?

My suggestion, and I am not a doctor, would be the same as your doctor. I know that half squats might seem like they aren't doing anything, but the point isn't that you shouldn't go full squat, the point is that it moves in general. In a half squat, you're still getting flexion in the knee. You're still using it and making it move. When we injure ourselves, the best way to get back to 100% is to lightly begin moving the injured part and slowly increase the stress we put on it. Maybe your knee will never be 100% again, but starting with half squats and slowly, safely increasing the deepness or length of your squat is the best way to regain strength in that area. As always, make sure you talk to and heed the advice of your doctors or physical therapists. None of us here (to my knowledge) are doctors so our advice isn't backed by years of study. If you're unsure that your doctor is giving you the best information, seek a second opinion at a PT.

I'm glad you caught that earlier rather than later! Dehydration is no joke, I've seen people hospitalized over it (in that case, however, they were dehydrated because instead of water that almost exclusively drank Coca-Cola. In another case their drink of choice was SlimFast). Something that I do when I exercise, especially when I know it will be rigorous and ESPECIALLY when I do it outside in the Texas heat, is that make sure I hydrate a lot before I go to workout. I have found that prehydration is great prevention.

That's an excellent point and I don't want to take away from the good, real self-defense discussion. However, I recently saw a video on this topic where the person suggesting just pooping yourself. It was a joke but, I mean, would you want to hold on to someone that had just pooped themselves? Seems pretty effective to me.

I don't know if this is just my perception because of where I live, but it feels like most of the ones I encounter are faith-based in some form. When I was looking for a new dojo earlier this year, 3 of the 4 that I considered where faith-based. I ended up choosing the one that wasn't because it had the most similarities with what I already knew. I think more-and-more faith-driven people are realizing the similarities in the discipline that is typically called for in both martial arts and having faith and are therefore coming to martial arts with the goal of incorporating that devotion into their lives.

Congrats!

Congrats Rusty!

This one was for Shobayashi and Shudokan.

I believe Kise split the kata in to two different ones and called them the Matsumura bo series, which would explain why you have a different Matsumura Bo Shodan than us Americans. I find that MSSR in the Kise line (which turned in to Kenshin Kan) is a little different sometimes. Similar, to be sure, but it's clear that Kise made some changes overall to MSSR and felt that it was enough to base a new system off of.

I don't know how I missed this but yes, I'm familiar. It's a Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu Kata. The second half of the video is Matsumura Bo Shodan, first half is Matsumura Bo Nidan. Matsumura Bo Shodan is learned around 6th kyu and Nidan is learned after you become a Shodan. They're very straight forward kata, with Shodan being mostly the same 6 techniques in 4 directions. They're meant to get you comfortable with handling a bo.