GOM

If your sensei said you passed, then you passed.

No not really. We just wanted to go another way. I do thank Yamazaki though for opening our eyes a little into the world of applications of kata.

I think it is also called the Japan Karate-do Ryobu-kai, if my memory serves me. My club joined the Ryobu kai i the early 90's, but decided to call it quits a couple of years after that through various reasons I don't want to get into now. I believe it was started by Yasuhiro Konishi, and it has shito-ryu and shotokan kata mixed in the syllabus. The head chief in the US is a Mr Kiyoshi Yamazaki who's head dojo is in California.

Yeah good on her. Did you notice they called it "Karate", even though there was a Korean flag on the wall? And what was with the blue gi and yellow stars? I thought her technique was awful, but, credit where credit is due, she did defend herself against a grown man.

"Karate" originally meant "China hand", or "Tang hand". It was changed to "Empty hand" by Funakoshi around 1930. Many of the karate-ka did practise kobudo, but they would usually train under a kobudo teacher, not their karate teacher. Does Karate have weapons? Yes, if you refer to your body as a weapon. No, if you refer to other objects.

We used to practise some Yamanni bo and sai kata a fairly long time ago, maybe 10 years or so. But, for some reason that I don't know of, my instructor decided to drop Yamanni styled kata. There is still a little Yamanni influence in our Kobudo kata though.

Hehehe, I have been living in Korea for the last year and a half and you see TKD, Hapkido and Gumdo buses all the time. You also see after school private insitutes (hakwon) with big signs on their vans. What they do is pick the kids up after school, take them to the dojang and drop them home after they have finished. It is a good idea in Korea because everyone lives 5 minutes from the dojang. At first I found this strange, but now I am used to it and don't even blink when I see one.

I have to agree with elbows and knees about the awarness. Self defense starts when you walk out of your front door and anyone, anybody, can be out to get you. Taking note of where you are, where the closest exit is, what you can use as a weapon (in my case my wife), etc. The best self defense is not to allow yourself to get into a situation that can cause you harm.

My ball and chain is also very supportive. She realised that if I didn't go out and teach, I would be around to bug the hell out if her more often.

I would have to choose myself. Why else would I practise self defense if I didn't think I could take care of myself?

I used to watch my father train and teach. I had my first class when I was 4, and cried the whole way through.....

Yeah, I will be going there....

It really depends on the person standing out the front calling moves. If they want you to call them Sensei, call them Sensei. If they want you to call them Bob, then call them Bob. If they don't care what you call them, call them whatever you feel most comfortable with. Myself, I would rather people call me my birth name when I am teaching. The reason for that is I am not Japanese. I will call ONLY my instructor Sensei, I will not call anyone else Sensei.

Well, this the is the first time I have ever heard of kids judging Karate at competition level. Of course kids (sep 9/10 year olds) shouldn't judge competition Karate. There are no 2 ways about it, they don't have the comprehension of being fair and true. CFletch, what kind of competition was it? Who ran it? Were there other styles?

Jaymac - Why not look for a more traditional based Karate competition, rather than an All Styles tournament? I see no benefit in entering and competing in a competition that doesn't have traditional Karate kata if you are a traditional Karate student.

Yeah Gumdo is a Korean version of Kendo. The same as TKD is a version of Karate, and Hapkido is a version of Ju-Jitsu. There are a couple of differences, but essentially they all spawned from Japanese MA.

Hehe...moose. I sometimes use my wife as a weapon. She is small enough to pick up and twirl around, so if we are in a self defense situation, I know I will be able to pick her up, and use her body as a shield and strike with her. She doesn't know it yet, but I do....

Sohan- What if you practise both?

Jaymac - What kind of tournaments are you going to? WKF? ITKF? JKA? Or are you going to mixed styles?

I agree. I think people like the romanticism of using a wooden post makiwara, whereas a punch bag is better for your knuckles and wrist. The 2nd video looked like to me his wrist wasn't straight when he was punching.

Sounds like traditional Okinawan Te to me, and for those fortunate enough, karate as well.

I think striking and grappling is best used together. Strike, strike and lock them up. In this day and age with law suits flying around, it is better to restrain them in an arm bar than knocking their teeth out.

Bo, Jo, Eku, Tonfa, Sai, Kama and Nanchaku.

21 years here. I still train under my father but have also been teaching for around 10 years.

Original kata had no jumping movements, these were added for a sporting element. If you look back at some of the old kata, you will have a better understanding of the aplications. As far as "kick an opponent from behind you and immediately drop to face the front for an oncoming attacker", that would only work in movies.