jkeeling

It took me about 5 seconds to see that this was edited. This thought was confirmed many times while I was watching it. It was a good editing job. But it is definitely edited. I find it hilarious that anyone would believe this is an unedited recording. Nice work, whoever did the editing!

That sure is some good video editing. Does anyone actually believe this is real?

If im not mistaken, Kahn or in this case kan means king or ruler. so, Shotokan would translate roughly into "the king among the waving pines". if you were to stumble upon such a creature such as a tiger in a forest while meditating on karate, you would so inspired, i know i would, as to adopt its image as your mascot. The King among the Waving Pines and picture a tiger walking among the pine trees under a moonlit sky...the tiger doesnt seem like such a bad idea now does it? This is a completely different "kan". The "kan" of "ShotoKAN" means "hall" or, basically, "studio". It basically just implies that this is the place where "Shoto"-type karate is practiced. The "rolled tiger" is a play on words in japanese. The tiger itself was not meant to be a symbol of Shotokan. It was just an interesting piece of artwork chosen for the cover of a book.

A small sample from an article I wrote 4 years ago about teaching different general types of students: Children Children generally have shorter attention spans than adults and this is more obvious the younger the student is. If possible, children's classes should be broken down into different age groups. Sometimes, boys and girls should be separated as well. Generally speaking, children under the age of about 13 are usually not mentally or emotionally mature enough (although they may be sufficiently physically mature) to join an adult class. Teachers of children must be able to tolerate less structure to the class at times, as younger students (particularly boys) may have a tendency to be disruptive. Mixing in physical games (including running or jumping) with their regular martial arts training may be a good idea, especially for the younger ones. Classes for younger children often have to be shorter, as these students cannot retain as much information and the instructors get tired faster while dealing with the potential for disruption and wandering attention of their students. Corrections should usually be more general than for adults, working on improvements in stages, over a longer period of time.

Exam requirements differ organization-to-organization and often dojo-to-dojo within an organization and sometimes even differ from one test to the next in the same dojo, administered by the same instrutor! So there is no way to know 100% for sure what you will be required to do. If you are a member of a dojo in a JKA-affiliated organization (ISKF or SKdI), I can could tell you what is "officially" required on those exams. But even those sometimes differ slightly depending on where/when you test. KarateForum rules forbid me from pointing to a link on my own website. So if you want the official JKA rank requirments, you can look up my dojo website and (no links there to point you to this so you must type it out) add to the end of it "/JKAexams.html" I think you may also still be able to find some info on kyu exam requirements on https://www.24fightingchickens.com. But I am not sure if it in the new version of that website.

If you are in southern California, you are likely close to some people who could teach you this quite well. Feel free to contact me privately if you would like my thoughts on instructors in your area. As others have already suggested, I would agree that breaking it down into its component parts is definitely something worth doing, particularly when first trying to get down a complex movement/technique. Work on the crescent kick, then the crescent kick with a spin, then how to drop and spin from there, then put them together gradually. Remember that the movement was not originally as much of a jump as it was a spin. The jump was really added to make it more spectacular in demonstrations/tournaments.

Go to the seminar. Pay whatever is asked. It will be worth it. I have met Hooper Sensei many times over the years, mostly in Tokyo. But I also brought him over to California to teach a seminar. He is "pure JKA" which means basically do basics, then more basics and then finish it off with some basics. But he teaches them at a level where even those with 30+ years of experienced can gain some valuable insight. If you do meet up with him, please have him write to me at jon@jkasv.com. Thank you.

I am a senior partner at Japan Direct International, the US-based company that runs the international internet distributorship for Tokaido in Japan (https://www.tokaidojapan.com). We are the most direct contact for Tokaido products and only authentic, made-in-Japan Tokaido products. There are many imposters out there, some of which go as far as to put "Tokaido. Made in Japan" on their labels. Anyway, our orders sometimes get backed up for various reasons. If you have ordered from us and would like an update, please write to us at sales@tokaidojapan.com or to me directly at jon@tokaidojapan.com. Thank you, Jon Keeling