armanox

The school i'm considering, the owner is from Okinawa I believe, or he's Japanese.Do they have a website to share with us? The 'branch' of Shorin Ryu will make some difference in the details - the main branches are becoming styles of their own as things evolve.

I will at times practice in my back yard (and sometimes videos appear on youtube from my yard sessions). I have a good friend that I sometimes train at his house with him. And, we used to use the amphitheater at college for space when we were there.

That's a case where being polite and respectful means a lot. You take the opportunity to talk with them about what you've found, your thoughts on it, explain why you are jumping, etc; and a good instructor will wish you well and tell you that you are always welcome back. From personal experience, not all instructors would be that gracious about it...and I'm guessing some students would rather not deal with the potential for grief. FWIW I know my current instructor would welcome input/feedback from students who are leaving (he's had cases where he didn't get any). Think he would like to know so if there are issues he can correct them. Exactly what I mean though - it's the difference between a good instructor and a greedy one. The good instructor will want to know why students are leaving and what he can do to improve his class.

It is one thing to know 130 kata, but another to understand them well Spot on and very well put! It's such a good point that I couldn't help but to tweak it as follows: It is one thing to know 130 kata and another to understand one kata well Like I said, I don't have a hard time believing that someone who has been doing martial arts for more then 60 years could know a very large number of kata very well. Especially when you think how many kata are very simple (see Chibana's 5 kihon kata, the fukyu kata, Taikyoku, etc), and how many are very similar to each other (Seisan/Hangetsu and varients come to mind).

That's a case where being polite and respectful means a lot. You take the opportunity to talk with them about what you've found, your thoughts on it, explain why you are jumping, etc; and a good instructor will wish you well and tell you that you are always welcome back.

It is one thing to know 130 kata, but another to understand them well That is true. For someone that has been doing martial arts for as long as he has, I wouldn't doubt that he understands (or at least, understood) most of the kata. Also note that he does not teach 130 different kata to his classes - Ones that he didn't like, understand, or thought were redundant he would have dropped. Note that he only teaches roughly 30 emtpy hand kata (and I really don't have any idea how many weapons kata he teaches all together. Seems like he's always teaching my instructors new ones every time there is a visit one way or the other. Some are 2 person weapon kata too).

Too many kata? Our head guy in Okinawa, Takeshi Miyagi, is said to know 130 different kata.

interesting conversation, my style is traditional tang soo do/shotokan karate mixed with boxing, i test for black belt in sept, i then learn hun gar kung fu exclusively untill second degree. Its a mixture but mostly in complete stages if that makes sense. i wonder if traditional schools will fight in a manner reflecting forms. yes, i totally agree it telegraphs the move, however this is an interesting Discussion in itself. I practice a bit of a mixture of traditional and new concept, we are taught to use forms (and the style of fighting within them) as a useful training method to teach us things like shifting into different stances, c-stepping for other purposes, hip movement for different techniques like the hook I showed! We practice actually fighting in a boxing style with kicks of course. think about it like this, any karate style or tae kwon do practitioner practices the forms yet they spar in a more realistic, and direct way. basically for me i learned to do many things in forms, to essentially derive fundimentals from it like stance shifting, power, and making them fast, BUT the style in which i was tought to FIGHT will never use a horsestance reverse punch or double knife hands like in the video. My hands protect my face, not chamber on the side..IE sparring! based on this aproach telegraphing is ok to allow students to learn to use teir hips, as long as they understand and practice their moves using forms as only a refference. Did i just ramble haha sorry. does that make sense, and do oters use forms as a direct mirror of how they will fight, or do most others feel they learn fundimentals from old techniques as I do, interesting thought! We take a different approach to sparring and kata. There are some kata (kihon kata, fukyu kata, pinan kata) that teach you the basics of the style. There are other kata (Seisan, Tensho, Naihaichi) that focus on a particular element. There are some kata that are more combat oriented. Notice in a lot of Shorin kata, especially the 'more advanced' kata, most blocks are 'reinforced blocks.' Is that really reinforcing anything? Or is it teaching you to keep your guard up? And also comes a difference between styles - we don't believe in a lot of exaggerated moves in kata. Too much telegraphing, and it's too slow. Kata is a teaching tool - and different styles use it differently. I've used the 'c-step' in sparring, but only when moving in on an opponent - using leading to a foot sweep as part of a throw. (I'd also point out, since you mentioned it, that we do not do punches in a horse stance, since it's not practical. Throws and blocks maybe, but not punches.)

Video is private.

Our Seisan has a rather different flavor to it: Part of my 'backyard' sessions: Older one from class http://i24.photobucket.com/albums/c47/armanox/Shorin%20Ryu/th_Seisan.mp4

so you never test your students for general knowledge of terminology and the like? We are simply expected to know it as a part of class. By the time you reach your first promotion (green belt) you should have a basic knowledge of terminology as it gets used in class (and it's a while before you get to green belt....) I never was a fan of the idea of a written test as part of promotion, but I understand that some schools want the students to have an in-depth understanding of the schools history (my friend's Hapkido school has a verbal history test as part of the black belt testing).

There are no such physical / strength training exercises as part of the JKF (Japan Karate Federation) grading syllabus in Japan. In fact, the requirements are quite sparse - you just have to do them very well. They comprise of: Kihon Kata Yakusoku Kumite and Jiyu Kumite And thats it up to Hachidan - as they don't grade above that. K. We are in a similar boat - though not JKA, we are a part of the Okinawa Shorin Ryu Karatedo Association, formerly headed by Katsuya Miyahira. And Seikichi Iha, who is also a part of that organization but has his own 'sub' organization here in the states (the "Beikoku Shido-kan Karate-do Association") grades on similar concepts: Kihon (technique execution, stances, etc) Kata Bunkai My main group in Baltimore is mostly older (I'm the youngest student by far, next youngest is probably in his mid to late 40s, and we have up to early 60s in class) would be quite different if we had running and such as part of the class, like some places do. Also, unlike Iha's group, our group doesn't do formal testing (as Takeshi Miyagi never did formal testing for our instructors), you are graded on your performance in class.

I tend to wear either a heavy weight cotton gi, or a Judo gi (also cotton). I am a big fan of the way Judo Gi are cut (shorter arms, longer body length, the "Okinawan cut" being described by others), as it doesn't catch on weapons when I'm practicing with them. I have had the problem with some of my older gi that the sleaves would stretch when soaked with sweat. Haven't had that issue with my current couple of ones. A tad of ventilation in a heavy cotton/canvas gi sounds like something I'd be willing to try. Since I've never had a gi with it I don't know if it would be a selling feature, but it sounds awesome (the temperature difference when taking the top off in summer heat training (gets to be > 40C in the dojo in hotter summers, this year's been mild) is insane).

I train in more then one school of the same style. The two head instructors, both now 8th dan, started training together in Shorin Ryu about a month apart over 40 years ago. But each has different experiences that influence what they teach, and how they explain things. The two also still train together at their instructor's school on a regular basis, and they discuss student progress from time to time. I do it mainly because of different focus at different classes. The one school does a lot more kata and stance work. The other does more self defense and weapons. So I get a more diversified training (which is what I'm after) by going to more then one. And I visit a cousin school of ours (same style, different lineage track) that's not far out of my way about once a month because, once again, different class (when I visit there I'm the oldest student for a change, instead of the yongest and the senior most student in rank) and different things covered as a result. Also, we are encouraged to train at one of the other schools in the style when events like instructor vacations come up (the head instructor of one school spends 3 weeks in another state every August, and classes aren't always held while he's gone).

I've got tons of videos of me. Maybe I could use more. Gojushiho, my last tournament in October (prior to breaking my leg): Matsumura no Passai (Passai Dai), tournament in June 2013: Getting used as a ragdoll, demonstration in April 2009: And just for you, an old video of me doing a slow Passai Sho (Itosu no Passai) (since it's apparently the only video I have of me doing it). It's upstream from your kata (and from Shotokan):

We teach the kata, and then the student begins to learn the bunkai before they move on to the next kata. They may not know off of the bunkai for a kata for years to come (simple bunkai vs 'more advanced' shall we say....things that later become more throws and locks that are applied as strikes earlier on, so many things to pull out of the same motions...). Personally, I believe in visualizing the bunkai while doing the kata - it makes your kata better and helps you to understand what and why you're doing something.

So you guys are a tad cheeky to borrow some from other schools. But hey every school borrows stuff from other schools I'm not sure what you mean by 'cheeky.' If the instructor feels the kata adds value to the curriculum, then who am I to criticize? All of the 'core' kata are Shorin Ryu kata, and then a couple of been hand picked to 'enhance' the instruction.

Thank you. I am quite happy to have the multiple angles.

Woot! Congrats all around. Making me miss competing.

Ah kata....we have a few that are 'borrowed' from other styles in the mix (non-Shorin Ryu kata I mean) Syllabus is as follows: White belt: Kihon I - V Fukyu I - II (Matsubayashi Ryu) Naihaichi I - III Seisan (Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu I think) Tensho (Goju Ryu) Green Belt: Pinan I - V Passai Sho and Dai Brown Belt (sankyu - ikkyu): Kusanku Sho and Dai Chinto Gyosho no Kun (Bo) Ichi no Sai Maezato no Nunchaku Black belt (Shodan and up): Gojushiho Jion Unsu Kopassai Sho Chatanyara no Kusanku Tetsho Other Bo kata (4 more that I know of, can't remember names) Chita Shitahaku no sai Tsuken shitahaku no sai Chatanyara no Sai Hamahiga no Sai Yaka no Sai Aguni no nunchaku Aguni ni nunchaku (double nunchaku) Hamahiga no Tonfa

Shorin Ryu Karate (Kobayashi, Shidokan lineage under the late Katsuya Miyahira)

More Video footage!

Indeed. I may not be the most active poster, but I voice my opinion when I think it contributes.

Thank you everyone.

I've been here that long? KF has been around that long? *Mind blown*