johnnymac

LOL, that is outstanding. You know that is total junk. Jigoro Kano introduced the belt system in the early 1900's. This whole thing is an urban legend and has no basis in reality. John

I appreciate the kind words, just the guy is so fast when you are there face to face. It's hard to get kicks and stuff in just because of the way he shoots in. John

OMG I got freaking killed tonight. Was going up for Ikkyu, and had to spar Doshu Mertz. The fight only lasted like 20 seconds and I had no control over the situation at all. I ended up getting rolled back into a full body rack with a headlock. Tapped out nearly instantly. Does anyone have any suggestions of what I could do? Here is the match John

I do have a video of it, this kata is from Matsumura Shorin Ryu, it's one of the highest kata. It's about twice as long as Supraimpei and way more complicated than Chatan Yara Kusanku. I always thought the longest kata in Shito Ryu was Haku Cho from Gokenki. John

well here's my 2 cents. I would get BB in TKD then walk away and practice Jujitsu. The reason for this is because at least you would have the satisfaction that you made BB in TKD, and that experience will help you in Jujitsu more than you know. John

There use to be a guy in Memphis named Don Crenshaw who use to be a great Shotokan instructor. If you want to keep them in the same system you should really look up Don. One of my old Shotokan instructors from a long long time ago use to train with him quite a bit. Heard nothing but good things. John

So you would make TKD into Traditional Karate?

http://www.saishuryu.com/terminology.php Some basic terms here.

in Saishu Ryu this is how our belts work. White (9th Kyu) White w/ 1 stripe (8th Kyu) White w/ 2 stripes (7th Kyu) Green (6th Kyu) Green w/ 1 stripe (5th Kyu) Green w/ 2 stripes (4th Kyu) Brown (3rd Kyu) Brown w/ 1 stripe (2nd Kyu) Brown w/ 2 stripes (1st Kyu) Black - Shodan Black - Nidan Black - Sandan Black - Yondan Black and Red Panel - Godan White and Red Panel - Rokudan White and Red Panel - Sichidan White and Red Panel - Hachidan Red - Kudan Red - Judan John

That is true, but it's still the real thing when it comes to combat.

Kunimura no Hakutsuru is the longest kata I know. It's over 250 step and takes about 3 minutes. John

I know this is going to be kind of off the wall, but have any of you guys seen bumfights? I got one of the DVD's from a friend of mine over the weekend, and I have to say from a real perspective it's not to bad. Just mentally block all the dialogue and just watch the street fighting. This is how actual fights look, not UFC or any of that junk. Anyway, if someone wants to see what real people's strategies and stuff look like, you might want to take a look at this. It's kind of a shocker, but it will put your training in perspective. John

some of the big names that I know and deal with are people like Tomohiro Arashiro, Tsuguo Sakumoto, Jerry Offutt, Masayuki Azato Ward, Phillip Porter, Shinohara Nobuhiro, Takazawa Masano, Scot Mertz, Cesear Garcia, Joe Mirza, Tsutomu Ohshima, Mitsusuke Harada, and a few other people like that. Hope this helps. John

I like Hirota karate gi's. They tend to last a little longer than the other brands that I have tried.

Saishu Ryu dosen't use padding of any type. We train like everything is for the street, so no padding, and no point system of sparring. It's all for submission or knockout. John

I use to know a Michael Milon, he was a French karateka. He died not to long ago from a heart attack. John

Yes he is, Mr. Mertz is in charge of my organization. However I mostly train with Cesear Garcia. If you can ever attend one of Doshu Mertz's seminars I would highly recommend it. He's a fantastic instructor, very down to earth and easy to talk to. John

Okay I talked to my Doshu, and what he said is that the reason we are practicing Channan is because it teaches distancing that the Heian's don't teach. The stances are much shorter, and it brings out all the highlights of the Pinan kata that were lost when the Heian's were instituted, this can be taught in one kata vice 5 katas. That is why we are practicing Channan. John P.S. The more I am doing this kata I have to say it doesn't remind me of Kanku at all, more like Nipaipo or another kata like that. The stances are very short and the whole embusen of this kata is only like maybe 6 ft.

I thought this thread was about the Heian Kata's and their order and why. Not where does Channan fall in the big scheme of things. I have noticed that a lot of Shotokan people are touchy about this subject, and I was just trying to shed some light on this. If you want to know more about Channan you should really contact my sensei, or someone within my organization. I am just starting to learn this kata, so I'm not really qualified as of yet to say what this kata is trying to impart. Right now I'm just trying to get the order down and stuff. John

Well, Channan has shorter stances for one. It has a lot of Nekoashi Dachi, which is kind of forign to Shotokan, since they opt for a lot of the longer stances like Kokutsu Dachi vice Nekoashi. However if you are talking Shotokan Kanku Dai, it's a whole different ball game. Channan is compairable to Chatan Yara Kusanku. The Shotokan version of Kanku Dai is a whole different ball game than the okinawan versions of Kusanku. Stances and distancing are totally different. I think it's a good kata to add to a system like Shotokan because of the extreme differences in the stances and how the techniques can be applied. Compairing the two is like compairing Pinan to Heian, they are suppose to be the same, but they are so totally different it's day and night. John

well the original kata was called Channan. It is very similar to the first 3 heians put together. The opening of this kata is like Heian Nidan. Anyway, Itosu broke the Channan kata into 3 smaller peices to teach it to school children back in the 1890's. The other 2 Heian katas were added much later. Anyway, originally Pinan (Heian) Shodan was Pinan Nidan, but because of the difficulty it was changed to Nidan around 1920 and Nidan became Shodan. We still practice Channan in Saishu Ryu, it is one of the kata that I personally feel that Shotokan should still be practicing at around black belt or higher. Just because the application in it is great, esp with the shorter Nekoashi Dachi's and whatnot. John

okay some of the changes have been made. Still looking for opinions. Thanks everyone for the input.

we have a custom made access database that does pretty much everything. If anyone would like a copy just drop me a pm.

now we have a semi-online type of instruction going on with Saishu Ryu. However it is mostly for testing people who have trained with us in the past, but are either deployed (we have a large number of military), or have changed duty stations out of the area. We still do require our members to train with our Doshu at atleast one seminar a year, and he does travel to their locations. Needless to say, we accept video examinations for our members, and provide guidance through our members area's forums, and also dvd's of our kata. Personally I think with modern technologies, there is nothing wrong with doing business like this.. however the student has to have had some prior hands on time, be self motivated, and be willing to accept critisizm when they get feedback from their videos. I know this isn't really the best explaination, but for some of our guys (especially the ones in places like Iraq and Afghanistan) this is the only training outlet they have. Better online and them sending us videos to correct them, and advance them when they are ready than nothing. John

See we are the same way. Lots of kata, but only a few that you really really practice. There is something different for everyone. Like for me I love Heiku, Paiku, and Nijushiho. So I work on them a lot. We have guys who come in who just want to work stuff like Nipaipo, or Hououmaru. We know them, but only really practice those that fit you. John