johnnymac

Yoga and Karate do go hand in hand. Especially when you are talking about muscle development. Nothing bad ever came out of a little extra streching. John

The best way to stay calm is to work on your sparring inclass. When I spar in class I am at total peace and can see everything coming at me, nearly feels like slow motion. I have been in a few street fights in my day, and all of them have felt the same way. It all comes down to training. The more calm you are in your practice the more calm you will be in a real situation. Johnny Mac'n Biggie D! < ---- Loser LOL

No prob with the clarification. Just not use to hearing it that way. Usually it's ashi barai (foot sweep). Happy holidays. John

What exactly is a "Dachi Barai". From my understanding of karate terms Dachi means Stance, and Barai is a sweeping motion. Just wondering if you could clear this up a bit. John

What I was wondering about is, is Kunemura No Hakutsuru a real kata? I have been doing some research and I haven't found any reference for it before George Alexander. I talked to my Sensei about this kata and he thinks that it was made up to turn a quick $. Just wondering if anyone knows the history of this kata. Merry Christmas. John

The whole trick to street fighting is closing the gap, and keeping yourself aware of the situation. As soon as the guy you are fighting's buddy decides to hop in, make sure you can get your opponent between his friend and you. It's all situational awareness.

Doshu Mertz from the Saishu Ryu karate Jitsu school is going to be up in England in March 2006. He's doing a seminar I think in Kent. John

Anyone out there know the Hakutsuru no Kunemura kata?

Kumo, Kaminari, or Tsunami.... Those are ripoff Tokaido Uniforms. I have bought from Tokaidojapan.com before and those are real uniforms. Good quality and stuff, just takes forever for them to get to you from Japan. I would recommend them to anyone, just make sure it's something that you don't need quick. John

I know a guy who teaches Chinese Kempo. He is in the Columbia/Laurel MD area. Privage message me if you want his e-mail address. John

I think it's because a lot of people don't practice it. You should take the time and write a book, probably a good market for it. John

When doing this imagine a compass. You start in the North position facing south. The east is to your left, and the west is to your right. Chinsu Kata Begin at north facing south. 1. Rei 2. Step Left Shiko Dachi 3. Circle hands so arms are straight and fingers are pointing up 4. Pull left leg up to right leg (Tsuru Dachi), right arm in ude uke, left arm gedan barai 5. Shove left leg down to Zenkutsu Dachi, left morote uke 6. Returning wave kick from left leg, then right gyaku tsuki 7. Step south with right Shiko Dachi, circle both hands out so arms are straight fingers up 8. Pull right leg up to crane stance (Tsuru Dachi), left arm in ude uke, left arm gedan barai 9. Shove right leg down to Zenkutsu Dachi, right morote uke 10. Returning Wave kick with right leg, left gyaku tsuki 11. Move left foot back into Shiko Dachi turn your body so you are now facing east 12. Push both hands out head level (like grabing someone's head) 13. Pull hands to left hip 14. Push hands back out 15. Pull hands to right hip 16. Step through (going north) and stop in Shiko dachi facing west 17. Push hands out to head level 18. Pull hands to right hip 19. Push hands out 20. Pull hands to left hip 21. Move left foot to sanchin dachi facing south circle hands in unsu motion 22. step back sanchin dachi and circle hands again 23. step forward with left foot zenkutsu dachi double first knuckle strikes (kiai) 24. step forward right foot to shiko dachi both hands out fingers up 25. pull right foot into left facing south hands still out 26. step forward left zenkutsu dachi, left empi uchi 27. step back hands out 28. step forward right zenkutsu dachi, right empi uchi 29. step back 30. put right foot behind left foot and about face movement, right hand in gedan barai on turn 31. pull right foot back to neko ashi dachi, move hands to reverse chicken head position 32. shift forward strike with finger tips 33. shift forward strike with finger tips 34. shift forward strike with finger tips (kiai) 35. turn on hips so now facing south, feet together stance with both arms out fingers up 36. Rei We still practice this kata a lot, especially under Sensei Boyd White. Hope this gets everyone on the right foot, because the one above is kind of off. Happy Holidays Everyone. John

Where did you get this from? It starts off right, then is all messed up. Chinsu is a shorter kata, and has a feel of Hakaku and Chinto. If you want I can post the correct one. John

There are a lot of kata out there that are from animal forms. Hakutsuru is a kata of a white crane Heiku is black tiger Paiku is white tiger Pachu is a dragon (but was originally a white crane system kata) Hakucho is white swan and there are a few others. A common mistake though is Anan. Anan is "suposedly" the name of the monk who taught the Ryuei kata's in Taiwan to Nakaima.

you should try https://www.katamasters.com those guys have everything.

You know you shouldn't just hop kata like that. Ryuei Ryu is more than just kata, it's a whole different mentality than Shito Ryu. If you really want to train Ryuei you should find a qualified instructor. I train with Scot Mertz, and he is a Ryuei Ryu guy. He was showing us stuff before he left that was blowing my mind away. Ryuei is pretty damn aggressive, esp when compaired to Shito. The kata are only one part of the equasion, you really need to learn the inclass drills to get the full experience. If you are in the US there are quite a few Saishu Ryu guys here, and we use a lot of Ryuei drills in our training. However with the Happo Sho (do you mean Haku Cho?), you might want to look at the Hakutsuru Katas. There are like 4 of them that I know, all of them are over 300 techniques long and take about 4 to 5 minutes. If you are just looking for challenging kata, you should check them out.

Are you training with anyone in NJ? I know Eric Whitsell is there as well as Jim Branch.

Pachu is from Ryuei Ryu, so it is a dragon system kata, however it is based on a crane kata. It's very quick and powerful. I love this kata. And I do have a clip of our chief instructor, Doshu Mertz, performing Haku Cho. He actually made DVD's of all the katas and gave them to the Yudansha before he left for Iraq.

The kata haven't been to bad so far (I'm only a Shodan). But I know some of the more senior guys compain some. I was taught 12 kata in about a year and a half. On top of that we have required escapes, throws, joint manipulation, ground work, sparring, and a whole bunch of other stuff. I was working out for 5 nights a week, and nearly every class when I left I felt both physically and mentally exhausted. I know the system slows down significantly after you make Shodan, but the whole up to Shodan is pushed pretty hard. Mostly because nearly all the class where i'm at is military and police.

Yeah, you have to know them all before you can go up for Godan.

I am only speaking from personal experience on this one, but from my experience the Japanese Jujitsu I was taught was more of a standup grappling system with no strikes. Kind of like Judo, but not so much of a ground game, more just throwing and basic locks.

Just wondering how many other people are out there that practice Saishu Ryu. If you do practice, who is your instructor? I know this system is growing like crazy on the east coast, just seeing who is practicing. John

We practice quite a few Crane kata in Saishu Ryu. Happoren Wanduan Fukien Hakutsuru Sho Hakkuto Pachu Hakutsuru Hakku Cho Nipaipo Hakutsuru Sho (From Shorin Ryu) Hakutsuru Dai (From Shorin Ryu) Hope this helps.

I practiced BJJ under Dean Taylor from 1995 until he got his dojo established in 1999. Then I got stationed in Brazil at the embasy from 1999 till 2002. Came to Maryland after that and worked BJJ with Ceasar Garcia and a few other guys. I switched to Saishu Ryu because there isn't very many grapplers in this area that are worth anything, and also I figured it was time to try something else.

In Saishu Ryu our head guy is only like 30. He is in my mind a master. I have learned more from him in 5 months than I have learned anywhere else in my entire life. I think a master of an art has an aura around them, and when they get on the floor and teach it shows. There is a level of maturity that goes along with it as well, but some people have that maturity at a younger age than others. It's kind of like our Doshu says "Any 18 year old could be called a man, but his actions will show if he really is a man." John