patusai

by the way...I agree withv Kicks. Try them all and see which one best suits you

I'm curious..maybe I missed something...why is this

put me down for david carradine

compared to the rest of my life... I give it a 2...and I will not tell you the details the test or of the rest of my life..of course that was way back when and between then and now I have a lot more of life experience to compare it with.

lower X block

I am a student of my teachers. Nothing more. Isshin Ryu Shorin Ryu So Ryu

Why? Why do you need more belts? This is more traditional. That is the belt progression I had back in the early 70's. Now, some styles have a dozen colors and striped belts before black. No, it's not wrong just a bit much IMO. I would be proud of the fact that your school is more traditional in it's belt progression.

Chatan Yara no Sai

It's probably partially an oriential thing. Whereas Japanese and Okinawans are not the best of friends Japanese and Koreans also are not the best of friends. After all, many Japanese and Okinawans think that the belt levels used in TKD where the red belt is below black was a slap in the face to traditional karate masters. The other things is that Americans always want whatever it is that they do be the top dog. "Mine is better" kind of an attitude. Fact is none are the "ultimate fighting weapon" Karate (all forms and styles...including Korean, Chinese etc) are a "way" of self defense and not the ultimate. Far too many, even those who say what I just said, really don't believe it and even less act like they believe it. It's sad. We are all in one big sandbox and we need to learn to play together.

That needed saying. Thank you

I'm not sure that there really is a single most important kata. I heard that Chosen Chibana has others teach students the Pian kata 1 - 4 but personally taugh students Pian Godan because he felt it was inmportant...but that could be because he enjoyed teaching it more than the rest.

Perhaps Funakoshi changed the kata and was working on it to a point but died before he could complete it? Afterwards it was added? It would be interesting to see both kata performed together.

Permissions? Don't know. Everything is incorporated into the system at some level (probably hafter shodan---but I am not sure. It's been a long time and I don't stay in touch. I just read bits and pieces every now and then. As for pure systems, there are variations on kata even within systems and between teachers. I believe that he got rank in Canada by some high (really high) ranking guy. One of the conversations between him and the high ranking guy was "I was not taught the kata exactly like that" The way that he saw another student do it. The high ranking guy said someting like it doesn't matter it's the technique used. After that point he changed some kata to suit himself. I'm not saying that it is a bad things either. Many masters adjusted kata based on student ability in the way back past. Even such kata as Jion (which I know is done in Wado Ryu and that this kata is the most similar to the one that I learned I hear) has tons of "versions." Itsou learned it (changed it???) taught it to a variety of people who became masters of their own styles and most of them changed the kata (since each of the students from Itosu that moved on to form their own styles) and show different versions.

Thanks for clearing that up. I always wondered. The guy received rank in Wado Ryu many years ago, changes some katas and, from what I understand added weaponry techniques and kata and other arts such as Aikido and Judo to the system... Apparently it is his own creation... Such is life. Thanks again

It was a story told me that was passed down (although after this long of a time I have not told it as well as I was first told it I believe that the point that they were trying to teach was it takes a long time to really know a kata. It does not take weeks or months or even years. sometimes it takes decades...if it is really achieved at that point. Whereas actually seeing your opponent in kata was suppose to be some ultimate goal (much like floating when reaching the ultimate level of meditation) I am not too sure it is realistic for someone or anyone to achieve such a thing...ever. I know, myself, years ago thinking that I knew a kata after performing it maybe 25 times. The ultimate goal is perfection of form., balance and power. The path to that goal was time...a great deal of time As you suggest after time you can imagine your opponent in any and every application both inside and outside of kata. Is this realistic? Don't know. I have performed kata and bunkai for specific kata which were called Ura kata (Ura Jion, Ura Patusai) as I was taught them. I have yet, even after over 30 years, to reach that level of seeing my opponent. I'm still working on it. Maybe someday....

Regardin visualization...we use to hear something like this... Perform a kata correctly 100 time and you will remember the movements Perform a kata correctly 10,000 times and you will be able to perform the kata near perfection. Perform a kata correctly 100,000 times and you will actually 'see' your opponent.

Wondering...I knew someone who received rank in Wado Ryu but is not in Wado Ki...Any relationship or was this some "new" kind of style thing? I suppose I am asking is there a Wado Ki and if there is is there a relationship.

You make a good point about Japanese vs Okinawan. Already 15th dans! Well, well. Such a shame. I guess I just wasn't meant for these times....thank God I'm an old man.

Americanization is the answer! Americans wanted to (and still do) re-invent Karate better. I'm afraid that as a result much of the wisdom of the past as it relates to karate has been lost. Some American "Masters" made changes to kata and karate because they did not understand why they were asked to do what they were doing. The philosophy of "Well it makes no sense to me so let's change it" is American. The thought of deeper study to better understand something that you don't understand in a kata...sometimes never happened. After all, "I'm a 'Master' you know!" All of these changes really started in some styles from day one after Americans received black belts in Japan and returned to the USA. It's be "growing" ever since with each new generation. It's not going to change. Someday you will see 15 kyu levels and many more black belt levels too. I know that they go up to 10 but waaaaay back in the day (Shotokan) did not they go up to 5? Back in about 1971 or 1972 our dojo was talking about a guy our west who sewed two white belts together one op top of another to make a much wider belt and he claimed himself a 12th degree. Never heard anything more about that. Pretty soon, if there are not already, you will see belts beyond 10th....perhaps colors such as Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum...that would take it to 14th dan. Sorry about the rant....the other day I saw a kid, maybe 15, coming out of a Dojo with a belt that had at least 3 different colored full length stripes(I think it was) Black, Red, white and Blue belt and it appears that this belt is either high kyu or lower dan level.

Gen_Tora, That was very well put!

Ouch! Double ouch!!

Oak! A man's board!! Ya can't say you can break a board until you break an oak board. If you really want to impress, break an oak board 12" long and 10" or less in width. The more narrow (with the grain) the more difficult. I hear that there are harder woods too. Balsa, pine...pretty much same thing. One single pine and cedar boards are for non BB to practice on. Of course do three or more (no pencil spacers between the boards of course and no highly warped boards that create space between the boards) and that's pretty good too. If someone has that much power as suggested then they could, in reality be able to go topple a live 2 inch pine tree in the ground. Now I'd like to see that one!! Mmmmm, Kiai! Ouch!! I broke my hand!!

Rohai (Shodan - Sandan) various styles (Shito Ryu I believe and others)

Kokyu (may not be spelling it correctly) kata (I hear that there are 7) from ShudoKan. Don't know too much about them...from what I understand nobody really does except highest level dans

This hurting people when they come up on you has confused. If I am not paying attention to my surroundings and someone snuck up on me I could maybe see this happening. MA training usually conditions you to react but also to be aware. Being aware reduces the need to block and strike because i was taken by surprise. As a young karateka this happened to me once. I talked to my sensei about it during a conversation. I even remember remarking how well conditioned karate was making me because I was able to react so fast. He kinda smiled at me and told me that I should have seen the guy coming and recognized that he meant no harm.