Holland

We do very few tournaments...my adults almost never compete. Now, we do have a deal where my school and two other large okinawan karate schools (both shitoryu) get together twice a year and run a 16 years old and under tournament. But we break the kids down into groups of four and judge them in a small group...that way everyone wins something. It sounds kinda cheesy, but it really is a good set up. The fees are only 25 bucks and the kids receive pretty nice medals. The whole thing about competing in tournaments is the fact that the whole process is way to subjective. I have had a classmate get knocked down by a korean stylist because he believed that student should not do tension breathing at blue belt (seiuchin) because in his style that is a black belt technique. If a person goes to a tournament and takes it for what it is (a chance to do your katas in front of critics and play a game of tag in points sparring) then its all well and good. Some people get way too caught up in it though.

Yeah I can see that point. My obi has never reeked, but if it started to smell like butt crack, then I would probably break down. Though I would wash it by hand and not stick it in the machine.

Actually, as far as my skill as an instructor goes I think the truth of it is that I got lucky. Unlike many instructors, my first 7 black belts are age 37, 29, 38, 29, 34, 42, and 53 respectively.(number 8 and 9 are junior black belts..both 14...with number 10 being 24) This gave me a really mature instructor base that has really made a huge impact on our school. We have managed to keep older students around and their patience and skill at teaching has made all the difference in the world. Our pastor is a wonderful person as well and has had all the faith in the world in us. Thanks for the post and the nice comments. Glad you checked out our website!

I prefer hardcore music like Air Supply, REO speedwagon, Yanni and Floyd Cramer...

I used to like swiss army knives, but I always lose the tooth pick and I have no use for a cork screw.

I was raised to wear white...you could wear black once you got black belt or mix and match tops and bottoms...but that was reserved for danchin. Now, about the time I started running my own school my sensei's sensei passed down the word that we were joining an association that wore black uniforms and that we needed to do likewise. I gave my students the option and all of them (at the time there were all of 4 students!) chose black...so black it was. Now, years passed and to make a "Long" story short, I got into a bit of a disagreement with the association that resulted in my dismissal from the group. (if you can call it that...since the disagreement was over the fact that I did not want to rejoin and would not force my student to join) Anyhow...so here we are, not affiliated, still wearing black. My preference of course is white. Over the past year we have been kind of transitioning as many of my students now own both colors. At this point kyu grades are allowed to wear one or the other, but not allowed to mix the two (white top, black bottoms) Black belts can still mix. Down the line I would like to go back to all white, but doing that when you have a class of 75ish is kinda tricky.

There is a student at my home dojo that has been a black belt around 3 years that has a belt that looks like it has been through heck and back. This person is definately an "out to impress" sort. Its funny when you look at it though because, first, this persons belt is as worn as mine (I have been wearing since 1992) and it is worn in some odd places (Like at the ends of the belt...where no knot ties) Now my belt is relatively worn, especially where the knot goes...but I treasure my belt and do not want it to wear out. I now only wear my original belt to my students belt tests and when I go train at special events. See, I want my belt to still be tieable one day when one of my children get sho-dan...and since I am currently childless, that thing has a few more miles to go! An exhausted looking belt worn by a 45 year old student is nice looking, one worn by a 19 year old looks ludicrous.

I have been running a dojo now for 5 years and I now have about 75 active students. I have promoted 10 to black belt and I am very top heavy with upper ranks...especially in my adult class. We do a fund raiser once a year in which our kids get sponsors to pay them to stay up all night at the dojo. Half of the money goes to our church and half goes to help pay off the building (which I get to use for free) Last year we raised about 1800 bucks this way...so we had about 900 dollars to upgrade equipment. Other costs of the dojo are taken care of by the fact that I get some of the money we collect from dues...with 75 student we get about 400 bucks in dues total a month. (I have many families that only pay 15 bucks per family and I don't charge black belts) I give more than half of that to the church and the other half goes to pay off minor expenses the dojo incurs. Students pay six bucks for their belts, which covers that cost (I use Ronin, which are quite nice for the price.) One of the other things that I chose to do when I started this school was to only teach two nights a week. On Thursday I have the kids class (ages 8-13) from 6:00-7:15 and the adults from 7:30-9:00....we do a small chanbara class after that. On Saturday I have weapons from 2:30-3:30, kids from 4:00-5:15 and adults from 5:30-7:00. Now, you would think that having the chance to train only twice a week would be a disadvantage, but I see it the other way around. The attendance to any given class is well over 75 percent of the total roster. There are many times when my adult class, who has about 35 participants, will have more than 30 present. I am also really good at delegating duties...which is necessary as we continue to grow. I have a really great group of black belts, including my older brother and wife, that help with alot of class chores. By only running two classes a week, and having such a high attendance, we have people gettting a great education, but one that does not completely dominate my time. Karate is my passion, but sadly it can not completely run my life. As for other things...if you look at our website (https://www.capefearisshinryu.com) you will see a site totally created by me and updated by me. This creates fewer headaches than if I had to deal with a designer. My older brother (a ni-dan) is the head photographer for a pretty decent sized newspaper (New Bern, NC) and does all of the good camera work on the site. About limiting class sizes...I have not done this yet. I do limit the number of white belts we have at any given time, because they are a time sink and I do not like to have more than 3 or 4 in class at any given point. My students always approach me when they have someone they know interested in working out. Because of word of mouth, and extremely low prices, I do not have to advertise at all. Now the nicest part about this all is the fact that I am not financially dependent on my school...whether it be to pay my house rent or just to keep the dojo afloat. This means that I do not feel the need to keep bad eggs around just because they are dilligently paying me 50 bucks a month to train. If a student is not progressing, whether it be physically, mentally or spiritually...they might find themselves stuck at a particular rank for a very long time. What then happens is that kid, or adult in some cases, either gets with the program or quits. Either way it is win/win for the dojo. Now don't get me wrong, I am not knocking people who charge...I understand that it is necessary for many dojos to function. I have been blessed with a church that is willing to have martial arts as an outreach ministry and provide an exceptionally nice training facility for no cost at all. I have an amazing adult class that contains right at 20 regular attendees that are over 30 years and thus are mature enough to help and be counted upon. I am lucky in many ways that I am alllowed to teach the way I want to, and to who I want to.

The truth is, the more you are exposed to, whether it be fighting or kata, the better a martial artist you will become. Sadly among many isshinryuists, there is belief that everything that you need to know about karate comes from our 8 open hand katas. To anyone who has trained in multiple styles, or a style that teaches many katas and techniques, this seems somewhat ludicrous. About the origin of this thread...I love kata and I think that it is the heart of what we are doing. I would not train in a dojo that did nothing but fight as I think the spiritual nature of such a class would be lacking. Just my opinion of course.

I actually have learned the kata he performed on that video. I was told it was called shorinryu shorinkan no eku dai ich, but names are often different in different circles. Its a pretty neat kata and I teach it in my kobudo class. If you are good with a bo, you will do well with an eku.

I was instructed never to wash my belt and thus I do not. Now, as for it smelling bad...come on guys, do you people bathe? I mean, geez I was promoted to sho-dan in 1992, and while I have several black belts, my primary original shureido is the one I wear most often. I have sweat in it plenty...I mean I am 6'1 and 235lbs and I sweat like a maniac at times and yet my belt never reeks. Found this after a brief search on the internet. Look on the internet and you will find out alot about why people smell and that smell does not come from sweat itself. (as noted above) I guess for me the process of regularly bathing and washing my gi after workouts has kept my 14 year old belt from smelling bad. I don't know whats up on your end, but I personally have never smelled a ripe belt. Maybe its a regional thing... One of the differences I have seen is that the "don't wash their belt" people have often just said "its the way i do it and thats that..." The "wash their belt" people have been much more adamant in their views and debunk anything said by the other group as false. I mean, ok, I can buy that our belief is based in myth, but how do you know? It seems to me that the you would have just as hard a time proving its a myth as we would proving it isnt.

I have always done Chinto or seiuchin. I have seen unsu and suparempi do well often though.

Isshirnyu is not formalized in testing patterns but this is what I do at my school. I set a minimum time in rank that you must serve at each belt. The minimum time is what I set for absolute top of the line students who rarely miss class. As the rank increases, so does the time it takes to get the next one. For my school White to Yellow (minimum 2 months, but most take 3-4) Yellow to Orange (minimum 2 months, but most take 3ish) Orange to Blue (minimum 2 months, most take 3ish) Blue to Green (min. 4 months, most take 5-6) Green to Purple (min 6 months, most take a good while longer) Purple to Brown (min. 6 months, most take longer) Brown to Black (1 year minimum...some take as long as two or more.) In theory someone could ride the minimums to black belt in 2 years and 9 months...but I have run a school for 5 years and only 2 have beaten 3 years to black belt and both of those were fantastic students who barely did it. Most students, even the good ones, take 3.5 to 4 years to get sho-dan)

There are some high ranking dans that pass out rank like candy in Isshinryu. I have not seen people skip dan rankings, but I have seen a person promoted from 8th dan to 9th dan in less than a year and a half...which in my estimation is pretty much the same thing.

I find this statement as valid as saying "You guys live in china, you don't have to eat." No particular style has a monopoly on Ki.

Nix and I seem to have come up the same way. I too came through the ranks from white belt to 1st dan in a double garage. We usually had 4-7 students at any given time and the class was fun. (I did this from the time I was 13-20) One thing that my instructor did well, and copied when I was teaching at my house (before moving to my current location) was making sure that at least once a month or so he would take me and one or two other students to train at the dojo (about an hour away) that was his home school. The classes were much bigger and it allowed us to gauge our training against a much bigger group of people. Its hard to see your improvement when you are in such a small environment.

I have two different philosophies depending on the ages... I am a high school physical education teacher and thus I feel the need to make sure that my kids class gets plenty of exercise during a session. Now we do not do boring repetitive things like push up and sit up, but rather do engaging activities that are both fun and work on karate skills. With my adults the principle is similar...I do not make my adults do sit ups and push ups as they are adults and if they want to train like that they can do it in their own time. Now that is not saying that we do not get a good work out....its just that the things that make us sweaty are karate things...plenty of kicking and punching and combination drills. These work the same muscles, but are much more useful in making a well balanced karateka.

In my dojo we spar with no gear on...so we generally do not hit as hard as we can (seeing as how we like to keep our bones in tact.) We use alot of power but also a lot of control. I guess you just get used to hitting people, or get angry enough to strike back after taking repeated butt whippings. As for beating people up...I don't practice that at the dojo per se...and in the few cases where I have been in a street situation, all of the training has just come back natural to me. When you are used to sparring with trained fighters, people in the street look like they are moving in slow motion.

As a child I did two years of Taekwon do...but I do not count that. I took Isshinryu from 1988-1995 actively...got sho-dan etc. Then our dojo closed and I worked out on my own and some at a shitoryu school. In 2001 I started traveling to Tarboro NC which is about 2.5 hours away and have since been promoted to Ni-dan and san-dan. All in all a bit over 11 years active...16 if you consider the semi-active years.

Isshinryu is a combination of gojuryu and shorinryu...so basically what we are talking about. Supposedly Shimabuku taught Gojushiho early on, but got decided to drop it for Sunsu. There is alot of speculation on the reasons behind that. Why shimabuku dropped Passai is not clear...it was reportedly one of Kyan's favorite kata. He did add a few of the moves from Passai into sunsu,(shimabuku created) but decided to ditch the kata on the whole. If I were combining the two styles I would certainly put Passai back in...I would also put in Tensho for the naha-te lineage.

Isshinryu here...some shitoryu as well.

http://espn.go.com/page2/movies/s/simmons/020830.html This article is classic.

If you love the karate kid movies, you need to read this http://espn.go.com/page2/movies/s/simmons/020830.html It made me laugh out loud several times.

Shaolin Soccer. My wife hated it, but I thought it was hilarious. Also loved Kung Pow...I guess I have a demented sense of humor.

The first weapon I learned was the bo...but the first one I teach now is the sai.