RichardHangHong

Just thought I'd let you all know how it went last night. Well, I spoke with the instructor after class and told them that none of my students wanted to change over to their association. I respectfully mentioned that I thought the comments by the ACI were unfounded and uncalled for and that I was happy to join as an individual and retake my dan gradings if necessary. We spoke a little about his reaction towards our non-black belts who teach and he understood my situation that most of them had been teaching for between 1-4years so I could not take that away from them. After a long discussion I found out that his main concern was that the knowledge wouldn't be passed on correctly, considering that their lineage to the founder is VERY short and therefore the most accurate. He assured me that none of it was about money, just about knowledge and he is happy to let me continue to train provided I am actively encouraging my students to attend his open seminars so that they get even more correct tuition in their style, I have been doing this anyway and am always edifying him to my students whenever I show them things I have picked up from his classes. I said I would also start adding their open courses to our club calendar and he was fine with that. He finished off by saying that he respected me for coming back to his dojo (in his words) "considering I took quite a pasting the other week" and is happy to let me stay and train with him regularly. Thank you everyone for your advice, it helped a lot. It's amazing how things can be so easily misunderstood. I'm glad I sat down with the instructor last night and just talked it out. It would've been a real shame if it had gone the other way. Regards RG

P.A.L OMG! That was hilarious! I couldn't stop laughing the whole time!!!!!

You'd think the afro would've cushioned his head a bit eh? ROFL!

Is GKR joining the rest of the world and starting to do bunkai with their katas now? A couple of books that might help you get some ideas are Aiden Trimble's Kata Applications and Nakayama's Best Karate vol 7. The main application that I know of that move is grabbing your opponent by the crotch and throat and throwing them over your shoulder or to the side.

My mum took me and my brother to a wado ryu club when I was 6. I trained for less than a year but left when we moved house. I started up again 10 years later and haven't stopped since. For me, I wanted to get confident as I got bullied at school. Plus I wanted to be able to defend myself as I got into a rather nasty situation the year before involving me, my best friend vs 3 guys built like rugby players drunk as skunks kicking the seven shades of stuff out of us. A guy knocked on my door asking me to join and I haven't looked back since. Now I teach and run my own club full-time and one of the prime motivators for me is that I want to be able to teach others to protect themselves so that what happened to me all those years ago doesn't happen to anybody else.

I spoke with my senior students last night about what had happened with the instructor and they, like me, didn't like it just one bit. I've made my decision and next week I'll be speaking with the instructor at class and will have 3 main things to say. 1) I'm happy to/I'd like to join as an individual in order to continue my training with the instructor and will retest my nidan grade with them in their system if it is required of me to do so. I am also doing this with the other style that I train in and will be retesting my nidan at some point too (I told the other instructor about the situation with this club and he felt just as offended as I did and thinks its all about money). 2) Under no cicumstances am I going to bring my entire club over to just their style, it is not fair on the students or me to put me in that situation in the first place, especially after everything we've put into creating/building the club over the last year. Another big change like that would see the club disappear. If the students want to train in their style seperately, they can do so if they choose to, not to be forced to. 3) I was quite offended by the insults that the assistant chief instructor made towards me and what I'm doing. The comments were unfounded and uncalled for. I'm going to think about and plan exactly how I'm going to say all of this as I don't want to offend the instructor, although if I offend the ACI I really couldn't care less as they have never given me any reason to respect them for anything other than their karate skills. On a personal level, the ACI certainly won't make my xmas card list. Thank you everyone for your points of view, they have certainly helped me in understanding the other club's point of view and in making my decision. RichardGregory

I was just wondering if anyone here practices Iaido. I have been training for a little over a year now. I started training under Tom Grogen Sensei, through him I had the opportunity to train in seminars with Dave Ansell Sensei, Dave Hart Sensei, Okimitsu Fuji Sensei, 4th Dan and Mano Sensei, 8th Dan. I reached 1st kyu last summer at an open grading with Mano Sensei which I was quite surprised at considering I had not been training for very long. I now train in North Stifford with Steve Boyle Sensei, 4th Dan, who is also a former Essex Judo champion. I just got a new iaito for christmas and am trying my best not to give myself a haircut when I train, thankfully it's not a shinken! Does anyone else train in Iaido? If so, where do you train and with who? Regards, Richard

I our style we use both linear and circular techniques as we are based on Shotokan and Goju together. This provides a nice balance and makes us a little more well-rounded instead of just one-method only.

I agree with everyone else, that's the smartest thing I've heard someone say in a long time.

Nakayamas "Best Karate" series of books are excellent for beginner or advanced levels. The first volumes 1 (Comprehensive), 2 (Fundamentals) and 4 (Kumite II) are my favourites, although the kata volumes that follow are a superb learning tool with step by step pictures for getting the basic floor patterns for all 26 Shotokan kata. Shotokan Karate Magazine is an excellent quarterly magazine that has loads of great things to read up on. You can also get back issues on cd too. I've been subscribing for over a year now and have 10 back issues. It's non-political too so it doesn't get filled with all the crap you usually see in the normal MA magazines. https://www.shotokanmag.com Videos are hard to recommend as Shotokan is so huge there's a lot of diluted garbage out there. I haven't seen much good stuff in the way of videos, in terms of quality I mean. But some recommendations I'd make would be these: 1) Best Karate: Masao Kagawa. Available from SKM website 2) Kanazawas kata dvd: Hard to find, but worth the hunt. 3) Shihan Kenneth Funakoshi's dvd/videos are good. Has bunkai on each kata also. If I think of anything else I'll put it up later. Good luck with your training Richard

Hmmm, I have to agree on that one. Do you think that hangetsu dachi and/or fudo dachi amalgamate all three of those principles into one stance?

Personally, I find going into a locked zenkutsu dachi a little too rigid for kumite, tournament or othewise. I prefer hanmi(sp?) [zenkutsu dachi with the back leg bent slightly] as I like the feeling of being rooted when I'm sparring. Being of a smaller stature it comes in handy, especially when sparring with the bigger guys. LOL!

P.A.L,We are only switching the versions of the katas, not substituting their ones for our old ones. Basically, our katas were always slightly different from their originals. i.e. we say we are a style combined of A and B, but our katas aren't the same as A and B use. We're just trying to be true to what we say we are by making sure we're doing the same as everyone else. I hope that makes sense.

I was wondering what your thoughts are on this? Names and details have been omitted for respect and courtesy. I train in a mixed style of karate that combines 2 traditional karate styles and have been running my own club for the last year after leaving the organisation I was with. Since then I have been seeking out training from these 2 styles seperately to increase my understanding and also to bring what we are doing (katas mostly) inline with the other styles to make us more of a balance of the two instead of a mish-mash of several. I have been completly open and honest about my situation and intentions with all the instructors I have been training with, all of which seemed not to have a problem with this and warmly welcomed me into their classes. A couple of weeks ago, we had one of these (high ranking) instructors come and teach a seminar which was totally amazing for everyone. The instructors' reaction towards one of our junior level instructors didn't seem too good as non-black belt instructors wear a different belt instead of their grade belt (this is something we are phasing out soon though). Apart from that, everything seemed to go really well. The next day at their class, I was called in after the session to have a discussion with the instructor and the assistant instructor (also high ranking, but was not at the seminar the day before). The assistant instructor did most of the talking (I might point out at this stage that I have never received a warm welcome from this person, on many occasion I have tried to strike up a conversation with them, being very respectful and giving compliments, asking for advice, all of which generally result in me getting shunned). The AI said that they were not happy with me "onselling" what they do, said that I train in a style that is not recognised by anyone, anywhere, and compared what I was doing to going into a judo club as a brown belt, then putting on a black belt and teaching it to others. After this insult throwing from the AI had finished, I was given the ultimatum if I wanted to continue training regularly every week in the class, I had to join their association and bring my entire club across to just their style only. I would still be able to run my own classes and gradings up to 1st kyu, but all black belt gradings would be done through them. (I can't do black belt gradings at the moment anyway as I am not ranked high enough to do so, but my governing body says after my next grading (to be taken around Nov 07), I can then grade up to 1st dan). If I did not join them, I would not be able to train regularly with them anymore and could only attend their monthly open seminars. Being that they were completely aware that I had just left my previous organisation in March last year and that I had only started training with this club 6 months ago. The main instructor said that if I did not join, he still wanted us to remain friendly and is happy to come and do seminars for my club in the future if I wanted him to. He also added that he didn't want me to feel pressured into making this decision and has given me 1 year from when I started training with him to decide, giving me 6 months to think about it, during that time I can still continue to train with him as normal until I have made my decision. I found this all to be a little bit too much of a coincidence that this all came out the day after he had been to our club. I have a huge amount of respect for the instructor as he has taught me so much in the last 6 months and I thoroughly enjoy his classes and the people in it. One possibility I had thought of was suggesting that I join as an individual and train with them, retake my dan gradings with them, etc. That way it wouldn't affect my club and students, just me. I wouldn't have a problem with that. What would you do in this situation? Regards, Richard

Gekisai Dai Ichi and Ni are lovely kata, and the first of many that you will learn along the way. Who do you train with and where?

Oops! I forgot to include the address, it's https://www.tokaidojapan.com

Heavyweight gi's are far better than student gi's. Especially if you sweat a lot when you train. Student gi's are okay to start with, but after a while you will find the heavyweights are far superior. They're a bit stiff when you first wear one, but that just makes you train harder against its resistance, and it will soften up a little over time. There's the added benefit of it soaking up your sweat so it won't cling to you either making it much more comfortable to get on with your training in class. I used to have about 8 or 9 gi's but now I'm down to 4 (2 Tokaido's and 2 Blitz) as the others have either worn out or fallen apart. The best gi to get above all else I have to agree with Killer Miller is a Tokaido. The fabric is the highest standard, there are 4 different weights of fabric going from "ultra-light" to "heavyweight". My favourite is the mediumweight (AW no.10) as I find heavyweight gis take too long to soften up. I've had my latest tokaido heavyweight for about a year now and its still blue! Grrrrrr! But they're still the best. They are tailored for a better fit and you can even get it custom made to your own measurements, but that costs a bit more. I'm a bit of a gi snob so I only wear tokaidos now, the only time my old blitz gis come out is when I haven't had time to wash my tokaidos. If you can't afford a tokaido straight away (They're about £130 direct in UK) then I'd recommend Meijin gi's as they are probably the closest you'll get to fabric and tailoring to a tokaido but they only cost between £50-£60. There's a website for tokaidos that they are a bit cheaper than in the UK, and the price gets lower the longer you are prepared to wait on postage. I'm getting a TAW medium no.10 on 30 day postage and it's only £90. Not bad and worth the wait! Regards, Richard

MiccyNarc, Have you been training in Goju Ryu for long? What do you think of it so far?

I trained in a Goju/Shotokan mixed style for about nearly 10 years. Now I run my own club and also train in seperate Goju Ryu and Shotokan clubs. My Goju Ryu instructor is Sensei George Andrews, 7th Dan - OTGKA/IOGKF. Goju Ryu is very good for close quarter combat and the katas are both powerful and yet graceful.

Talk about having a bad day Killer! Just reading about those made me wince! LOL!

In our club all the instructors are called Sensei whenever in the dojo. But once the gi's are off and we are outside the dojo, they are called by their name. I train with 3 different senseis from different styles and 2 of them I call sensei in the dojo and their name outside the dojo, the 3rd for some reason I can't explain, I ALWAYS call him sensei. I can't bring myself to call him by his first name, even in an email. Does that mean I respect him more than the other two senseis who teach me just as much. He is a 7th dan and the other 2 are 5th dans. Maybe one day I'll feel comfortable calling him by his first name, but for now, I'll stick with sensei.

Ditto with everyone else. EH?

Hi everyone, This is my first topic so go easy on me. Although I have posted a few times in other topics already. Kumite - love it or hate it, at some point along the line we get one at least one of two things happen; a) We get injured or b) We injure someone else (ACCIDENTALLY) I thought about this last night after sparring with a 1st kyu and during a mawashi geri my instep somehow met with their elbow and now I'm hobbling around like an idiot. My own fault really for not wearing leg pads. Anyway, my question is this. What are the worst injuries you've caused and received? For me the worst injury I caused and received happened at the same time. It was just a couple of years ago at a tournament. The guy I was sparring was a lot taller than me but inexperienced. His guard was tucked in very tight against his body. When my foot connected with his arm from my spinning hook kick there was no give and subsequently it broke (his arm). We didn't know this at the time but I have to commend him for finishing the match before being taken to hospital. Apparently a few people heard it crack. . Later that evening at a club dinner my leg started to throb. It was getting worse very quickly and when I took my shoe off the lower half of my leg had swollen. By the time I go to hospital I was in excrutiating pain and was on painkillers and gas & air to calm me down. The doctor said that the impact of the kick caused my tibia and fibia to pull apart for a moment, causing bruising inbetween and the waves of pain I was feeling was the blood travelling through my leg. I was on crutches for 2 weeks. I later learned it is one of the most painful sprains one can ever have. My dumbest injuries received were getting knocked out by my friend when he caught me with a jodan mawashi geri but didn't quite get high enough and caught me on the side of my neck (where the corrotid artery is, only takes a little tap to knock you out). When I came too I found myself on the floor and looked across the dojo to see my friend taking a pounding from the assistant instructor for causing the injury. The other injury was as a 4th kyu again, I threw a chudan gyakutsuki and my partner (also a 4th kyu) lifted his knee to block it. My fist went over the top but my thumb caught on his knee and was wrenched back and getting hyper-extension. Very sore indeed. Okay, that's me, I look forward to reading the many replies. Regards, Richard

Co_Co, I trained with GKR when they first came to the UK in 1997, was a trm for a while too, then I left in 2000 with my instructors when the famous "split" happened. The standards were good back then, but when all the top people left the standards spiralled downwards. To keep people from leaving gkr started giving grades away. In the few months after the split the number of black belts nearly tripled! Doesn't that say something about their integrity? I even knew a few people from our area that went from blue to black in a year and believe me, they weren't THAT good, not by a long shot. Sorry, did I start rambling again? Oops! I have nothing against people who are new to gkr (as in after 2000). But its the lack of standards, ethics and morals that I have a gripe with. So good luck with your training, but if you happen to come across another good club along your journey, move across.

Hi jaymac, I just read an article by Mike Clarke which subtly referred to GKR in his article on "The Sensei Cult" in Shotokan Karate Magazine. He didn't say directly he meant them but for anyone who's had any experience of gkr it's pretty obvious. Who do you train with in Shotokan? I train with Steve Roberts here in Essex. Hopefully I'll be going to the seminar with Shihan Funakoshi in Crawley in March if I have enough money to get a ticket. I went last year and it was great! If you're local(ish) I highly recommend attending.