Zaine

I got it from Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu, from Soken, Kise, Coffman, Gagne, and then my teacher.

Wado gives a lot of great information here. If you go to YouTube and search "no sai" a lot of Sai kata show up. For me, I learned Ananku at 5th kyu and then Ananku no Sai at 3rd. I would say that most Japanese (and specifically Okinawan) styles tend to have Sai kata so if you find a style from these regions near you that you're interested I would definitely call them.

When I was teaching Elementary and Middle school we ran in to the same problem all the time. Parents just don't understand the process, or they think their child is ready for the next step before they've put the effort in, or they want to argue that there needs to be an immediate retest for a failed grade. Overall, parents just have a difficult time understanding the function of learning and this probably doubles when it comes to Martial Arts. It's cliché to say something is about the journey, not the destination, but for MA that's true.

Congrats on the double promotion! It's like my signature has said for the past however long, 70% of training is at home.

I think something cool that will come out of this is that MA will start being more inclusive to distance learning. Yes, in person will probably remain superior. It's important having in person corrections and tips but as far as accessibility I think that there a lot of people who would love to zoom in to a class and drive up once or twice a month to a class to get that connection. It's especially great in instances where the student is rural and can't justify driving to a school 30-60 minutes away 3 times a week.

Good stuff. I like the emphasis on using the stronger parts (elbows, in this case) to work for your advantage. Why do more work when it's easier to let biomechanics take its course?

My thoughts on Dillman aside, the punching thing is familiar. It was always treated as a warm up with us though. Our punching drills (which were done during the "40 basics") were always just about warming up the body. It was made very clear that chambering at the hip would get you a hit to the face. I have also heard of the practice of publicly teaching one thing and privately another. It's where a lot of the secrecy comes from. Like you, I get it 100%. No one wants to teach secrets to people occupying their land after a war. That said, like you get at, why continue now? Especially outside of Japan. There's no reason that Coffman and Gagne couldn't have taught my instructor and his class everything up front. I get the desire to maintain some mysticism and tradition, but in the information age you also run the risk of us finding it somewhere else. One of my peers would constantly scour the internet for more information and our instructor always had to correct him about the differences. It just seems easier to have a database up front.

I'm so excited for the Shang Chi movie. As a long time comics fan, I'm so pumped that the character is getting screen time. I found myself watching a lot of old MA movies at the beginning of lock down along with some of my favorite classics as a way to pass time as I worked from home. Like you, I'm in need of some new material.

I can't wait for the update! I'm sending good thoughts your way.

That's great Zaine. As I get older I take the view that I should just train if I'm feeling good, rest day or not. Also it's ok to take a rest day if I'm not feeling so good. That was a hard lesson to learn. I used to feel so bad about not going when I was feeling bad. Now? I still feel a little twinge of guilt but I'd rather take a rest day and not push myself to an injury.

Thanks everyone! It's a honor to be recognized by such a cool community. Thanks to everyone who posts and chats with me here.

So I can't remember my instructor giving any hard reason as to why we did it one way or another. The American canon of MSSR seems to be rooted largely in doing things based of tradition and so I got the impression that other things were lost in the fervor of wanting to stay true. In regards to biomechanics, his reasoning that the Matsumura style of blocking was more solid and stable than the Shorinji style blocks. This made sense at the time and still does. He offered that Matusumra might have been better for uneven terrain of Okinawa, and at the time I bought in whole sale but as an adult I'm less inclined to believe this. For me and my own reasoning, it seems to be a difference in how the block strikes. Do I want to strike the arm (e.g.) with the knuckles on my index and middle fingers or with the side of my arm with a closed ridge hand? It seems to me that Matsumura is great for offering stability if sacrificing some power while Shorinji is the opposite.

Acceptable to whom? Just to be clear, I get what you're saying up front. You need approval from your hierarchy. What I mean here is that you shouldn't go in worrying about if you're enough. You are enough! You've put in the work, you've done the research, and the next step for you is to open a dojo so that you can become better. Go in with that attitude! As someone who has given honestly far too many presentations and proposals, your best bet is to take a breath, understand that what you want is not only reasonable but necessary to your continued growth, and act that way. You got this.

We had (and I'm not entirely sure why the American tradition went this way) a few Shorinji kata in our program. So I'm holding on to Seisan, Wansu, and Ananku as well. I've actually been mulling over the idea of making an online repository for MSSR (and other systems, but MSSR is what I know). It seems a little silly that in 2021 our system can be dying off due to lack of knowledge. There has to be someone in the world who has knowledge of the things we're losing. I'm involved in HEMA as well and every fencing manual from the Medieval and Renaissance period are easily found on Wiktenauer, a free online Wiki. I know that MSSR can be secretive, that seems to be a trait of MA at large but I've never met another MSSR practitioner who wasn't at least a little guarded. I totally understand this, as well! Like you, I balk at the idea of making changes within the kata and various traditional techniques. I don't mind those techniques being adapted in sparring etc. but I believe that we should learn the original technique before adaptation. That said, if there was, at bare minimum, a drop box file that held kata information that instructors could share with their students as they came to these kata that would be awesome. I know that for my purposes it would be great to see some kata again to knock off some rust. So like I mentioned above the American program has incorporated some Shorinji techniques. So the MSSR I learned had both blocks with the knuckles facing toward and to the side of the opponent that we separated into "Matsumura" and "Shorinji" blocks (we had punches in both of these techniques as well). That said, in practice and sparring, we were mostly encouraged to use the Matsumura techniques, which is the knuckles facing the opponent.

I'm definitely with you here. I've been known to drink a cup and them immediately lay down and go to sleep.

Today felt great! Planks: 3 minutes in total Leg lifts: 3 sets of 10 Oblique lifts: 3 sets of 10 on each side (16 kilo weight) Army press: 3 sets of 10 (50 lbs) Arnold press: 3 sets of 10 (30 lbs barbells) Lateral raises: 3 sets of 10 (20 lbs) Smith back shrug: 100 (50 lbs) Barbell upright row: 3 sets of 10 (50 lbs) Barbell shrug: 100 (50 lbs) Revers wrist curl: 3 sets of 12 (40 lbs) 30 minutes on a stationary (7.5 miles) Today was great. I was in the zone, got some good reps, sweat a lot. I really enjoy doing the stationary because I can watch anime and then suddenly it's done! Tomorrow and Friday are designated rest days, but if I still feel this good tomorrow I might go on a little jog.

A lot of questions! I so rarely meet another MSSR person! Unfortunately, I never got the chance to learn Chinto or Hakatsuru. My instructor kept Chinto behind Shodan and didn't know Hakatsuru (I'm also not entirely sure that he was well versed in Chinto. He kept putting off teaching me despite my constant asking). I made shodan but then moved away for school about 6 months afterwards. By the time I got back he was no longer teaching and had moved away himself. As you may know, MSSR isn't super easy to find, so I haven't had the chance to continue my training in my home system. I might just have to travel. Oddly enough, he did end up moving not a small amount of katas around towards the end of my time with him, but the overtly crane stuff wasn't part of it. I have found that it is nearly impossible to find the katas as we do them online. A lot of Shorinji, Goju, and other branches but no MSSR stuff. I know that MSSR people can be a little secretive, and that attitude gets passed down a little through the ages, but I would love to see some good uploads on YouTube. My lineage goes Soken>Kise>Coffman>Gagne>Pinder (my teacher). We learned the katas in the line that my teacher did so we started with the Pinans and Nihanchi came around 6th kyu.

So I can speak for Asian tea culture itself, but I can say that I will often drink green and jasmine teas on an empty stomach. Black teas are a little too strong for me to drink on an empty stomach, however. Tea culture in general is incredible, and if your interested to learn more you should definitely go to your local library and ask a librarian to help you with information. Finally, if you're worried about where the tea comes from and the soil content, then you should try to buy from local or regional growers. There are a lot of "specialty" growers and it might behoove you to check them out.

I came here on 8/31/2005, my mother's birthday. I was 15, stupid, and roughly 2 1/2 - 3 years into my MA journey. I sometimes look back at the posts and cringe. Having reminders of the kind of person I was a teenager is rough. I remember a lot of posts being removed because I was an edgy boy trying to be dominate. I've mellowed out a lot since then. At 30, it's hard to imagine the kid that joined KF, but I'm glad that he did. The things that I remember the most are learning about stretching and health from the pages of this forum. I remember being asked to be part of the mod team, which was and remains a huge honor. I remember having to give it up to focus on school and be successful, which was harrowing. Throughout that time, the biggest impact on me was the supportive environment that Patrick and the mod team tirelessly creates. A lot of what I remember is how supportive people are here, even at a disagreement. The people here are committed to creating a good dialogue. I'll always be grateful.

Leg day! Squats: 3 sets of 6 (90lbs) Leg press: 3 sets of 15 (90lbs) Hack squat (the worst): 3 sets of 8 (90lbs) Leg lifts: 100 (40 lbs) Deadlift: 3 sets of 8 (90 lbs) Leg curls: 100 (40 lbs) Calf raises: 3 sets of 10 (120 lbs) Calf raises round 2: 100 (40 lbs) 30 minutes on a stationary bike. Tuesdays are a day for sweat. Nothing gets my heart racing like doing legs. It feels great though, even if hack squats kick my teeth in every time. No MA training today. I haven't had a school since the pandemic started so I've just been focusing on strength training.

I think your best bet is to call your doctor with any questions. It's tricky for anyone here to give medical advise and, legally, a minefield. Give you doctor a call and have them talk you through it.

I think that 40mm matts are probably the best way to go. That said, jumping shouldn't hurt one way or the other. It might be worth your time to take a look at your technique or even see a physical therapist/chiropractor to give you a consult.

Welcome to KF! This answer has changed so much for me over the years, but when it comes down to it Naihanchi Shodan, Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu is my tops. It was the first one that I learned that made the reasons we do kata click for me.

I did a lot of this while in college and felt embarrassed to go outside and do it. I have less shame now and realize that no one really cares in the long run so I go to the park. What I ended up doing was making it an exercise on how do do kata in place. How can I improve my footwork in a single space? How can I use my space as efficiently as possible? When I ended up being able to return to a dojo it definitely helped in sparing.

A KF meet up would be awesome! Unfortunately, Okinawa is a no go, but if there was one in the American South of Midwest then there is a good chance that I would be able to make it. Something to think about for the future.