saishu

Its not that they train you to take a hit. It's that for the most part TKD and Shotokan (and other styles) teach the point system of sparring. The people who practice these system have a tendency to lightly hit then back away (because that is what they are trained to do). When they are in a match with a Kyokushin person they still have problems getting out of that mindset, so when they run up and "love tap" the Kyokushin guy he just gets mad and pummels the TKD guy. That happens 9 times out of 10. Now there are some good TKD guys out there who actually train in the traditional (Korean TKD) ways which include taking more hits and not point spar. However for the most part TKD doesn't fare well in full contact bouts.

I'm going to be honest with you. I have seen more injuries in 6 months of Saishu Ryu than I have in the 15+ years that I have been training. Doshu Mertz has a belief that when you train you have to make it as real as possible. So that is how we train. We have had a few civilians stop by, but most of them quit after the first time they are really hit or really thrown. I know if I wasn't in the military and going to Iraq soon I would have quit as well. Every training session is more brutal than the next. I have heard stories from Sensei Whitsell about Doshu Mertz when he got back from doing 2 tours in Iraq. I have heard that his classes were a bloodbath. He once got mad at a SFC for not paying close enough attention and kicked the dude one time and shattered his hip and left him on the floor for the rest of the class. Saishu Ryu is no joke and it's whole purpose is for military combat readiness. The few civilians that I have seen have all been police force types and most of them dont stick around for more than one or two classes. If you'd like to talk more offline about this, just send me a private message, i'd be happy to answer anything about what we've been doing or what i've seen so far. Tomo

Not really sure what it is, but this is a pretty good website about it. http://www.keysikfm.com Looks like it hasnt really been around very long, but might be something worth looking into. Tomo

Takezo, I wouldn't worry about the Shotokan guys much if its Kyokushin rules. If any of them are JKA fighters they would be kicked out of the organization if Mr. Okazaki caught word of it. So they are totally out of their game. Your biggest competition in my opinion would be the kickboxers. However they tend to not be well trained. Most of them tend to be very amatuer. If there are any Dai do Juku guys they could be dangerous as well, but those are far and few between in the states. Kung Fu guys tend to be very flashy but have no real striking power. Lastly, the TKD guys. They are usually fast, and will throw kicks to the head a lot, but they tend to want to strike then back away. They train to do this because of the typical rules that they train with. I use to do lots of competitions when I was stationed in Korea, and at the time I was Shotokan. I never had any problems with them. They would come in and strike fast, but if you got a good Gyaku Zuki you could nail them nearly everytime. Good luck with your competition. I'm sure you will do fine. Tomo

We don't use gloves or gear of any kind other than a mouthpeice and a cup. Head shots are fine, open handed or closed hands. I know Sensei Whitsell is wanting to hold a tournament before much longer, just trying to get enough people together for one. It's kind of hard because right now Saishu Ryu is only being taught in about 20 places throughout the world, and 99% of the people involved are military. I remember Doshu Mertz saying that there were only like 5 civilians currently in the system.

The kumite that we practice is pretty much full contact until submission or knock out. The standing portion of the match reminds me of Kyokushinkai, but as soon as someone gets ahold of you it's very judoish. There is a time limit of 10 minutes, and if no one wins in that much time it goes to points. The way the points work is that there are 2 judges (usually a senior student and Sensei Whitsell), they stand on the sides and have a number clicker. Everytime they see aka make contact one of them clicks and gives the point and same with shiro. The match doesnt stop though when points are made, just keeps going. When it goes to the ground it's till submission. If times runs out the fight goes to who got the most hits before the fight went to the ground. If you knock your opponent out before you go to the ground then you win. Otherwise you have to make them submit. We haven't done much full speed kumite since I've been going, but a few weeks ago Doshu showed up and gave a demo of kumite with Sensei Whitsell. It was absolutely amazing, Doshu had him down and made him submit in about 20 seconds. A lot of the time when we do kumite it is in slow motion with Sensei Whitsell overtop of us giving direction, and asking us questions like if you stike this person with your left fist what do you have, or if you pull his sleeve here watch how he will roll off of you. All and all I have been very impressed with Saishu Ryu, and i'm happy I made the switch.

http://www.ehow.com/how_12884_perform-wrist-lock.html This site is pretty good, you should check it out.

I don't personally believe that Shotokan karate is to effective, however it is great for tournaments and things like that. I have been training in Saishu Ryu Karate Jitsu under Sensei Eric Whitsell and it is very impressive. I trained in Shotokan for nearly 15 years, and in 5 minutes I was on my back and couldn't figure out what happened. If anyone is looking for a good hybrid art that is traditional and not traditional at the same time you should really look into Saishu Ryu. Very good stuff. Tomo