armanox

Karate was a martial art to the denizens of the Ryukyu Islands. It is an Okinawan art, not Japanese.

The character 唐 referes to the Tang dynesty in China, and can be pronounced To (as seen in Tode, referecencing your use of "Te") OR Kara. Also as I said above, the Japanese would not have considered karate a "classic" martial art since such arts were no longer used in combat.

I am not certain that it was. I believe that it had been shown in Japan, but, 唐手(kara te, Chinese hand) probably would have been a name that the Japanese avoiding learning (Nationalism and all that). Also, by the time that karate was being brought to Japan the era of classical combat had ended.

I felt the same way with my Shorin Ryu class back in June (I'm a 1st Kyu there). So, I took some time off. I went back to Aikido class in the middle of July (6th kyu there). Didn't go back to Shorin Ryu till the beginning of September, and then due to my work schedule changing didn't go back again until a couple of weeks ago. And, it felt great to go back (felt great to do Aikido again as well, never learned so much in two months before it feels like).

As a UNIX Admin in the field, I find it funny that colleges want me to take courses such as Introduction to UNIX, and someplaces even Introduction to Computers.

I have Lowery's Bokken book. It is based on Aikiken, but, is a good reference. I also have found "Flashing Steel" by Shimabukuro to be a good sword reference as well (book focuses on Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido).

Go and have fun, like everyone else has said. If you go to win, you'll probably be dissapointed. And, like others have said, every tournament that I have been to has had divisions by age and rank, so you should be fine.

Wow...just...wow...(not in a good way either)

Thank you everyone. This was unexpected.

The local community college here in Baltimore County offers Tae Kwon Do and Tai Chi for credit. Also, a friend of mine put together and taught a "History of the Korean Martial Arts" (HU 234) course at my college that ran for a semester (and might run again). That course used Dr. Kimm's book for it's textbook and Hap Ki Do was taught as a lab component to the course. At the end of the course students tested for yellow belt.

As I said, upon searching again on youtube (was different the first time I looked a few years ago) the kata came up. The only difference is the stancework. I turned the wrong way at one point in the kata and will be re-recording to correct. That, and my yard was a mud-pit at the time...

And the video is in (for Maezato), and will be reposted shortly.

I practice kata, weapons (kihon and kata), and ukemi on my own. I do bunkai and kata with my girlfriend. I do bunkai, randori, ukemi, and kumite with some of my college friends.

We practice Hamhiga in my school. Yaka does not sound familiar, but, has a lot of familiar components to it.

So I am not the only one wearing Marine Jungle Boots and with a Mag-light in the car?

I beg to differ on sai, they've saved my rear before...

Made me smile. Also, use for high kicks.

It is sad that there are so few double kata that aren't a gymnastics and twirling display...

In MD swords are a permitted weapon. The question seems to be more about trying to prove that the sword strike was made in self-defense, from my understanding of the articles. I would imagine if no one can say that the student did not act in self defense then the student will not be charged. Also, there is no "retreat clause" in MD law when defending one's person or property.

I've never seen that particular kata. If you ever decide to post it, I'd be interested to see it. I'm always curious what katas from other schools look like. I will be more then happy to post it when I learn it. Sadly, I don't have a video of it to post. The three schools that we have in MD are the only schools in the States that practice that kata and Aguni ni Nunchaku (a double nunchaku kata). It is not an old kata, but is practiced in some schools in Okinawa.

I am not easily discouraged...lol I've taken a stab at Kobu Nunchaku, and will again at somepoint. The next nunchaku kata that I am going to learn (in class mind you) will be Aguni no Nunchaku

Shihan Mikio Nishiuchi's kata. I've tried to learn the kata from video a few times, and managed to hit myself in the face in the middle of it twice now...

Cool beans.

and you raise a good point tallgeese. If karate were added, what would they do? Kata, Kumite, or Bunkai? And what restrictions would exist on Kumite to make it different then TKD? Most of the TKD schools in my state are just black belt factories for children, and spend very little time training on martial techiniques. The ones that do train hard - more power to them.

In someways it would be awesome, but, seeing what the Olympics did to TKD I don't think I would want karate to got the same route.