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G95champ, One place you could try is a small maker of gis called Anshin. They aren't cheap, but no more than Shuriedo or Tokiado. They are made in the USA and will custom make one for you. Good stuff and they make different tops that are different lengths. Just a thought. The web page is https://www.worldpath.net/~anshin/ It's a small company that makes things to order. Rick.

jc4199, Thanks much for the replies, but I too can't PM yet. I/anyone needs 25 posts to do that. I'm no there yet. So how old is GM Brock? He's gotta be what,.....in his 60's or so? That's great that he still teaches. From what I've heard, he was quite a tough guy in his prime. (maybe still? ) Thanks for the link to the school. I was hoping it would have a bit more on GM Brock on it, but I'll tell my Sensei about it for chuckles. I have a throw away e-mail address at Yahoo that you can use. If ya' send me a note I'll give you my real address. It's crhc191@yahoo.com. Talk to Ya' later, Rick.

jc4199, Are you serious? That is so cool. How old is Grandmaster Brock? I've seen pictures of the one My GM trained with from the late 70's and he looks to have been in his 40's to 50's then. Could this be him or maybe a son? His name I don't know, he's only referred to as S. A. Brock. If this is him, does he still do the breaking of baseball bats with his overhead block? We're told he could do this at some point. Someone could swing a bat at his head, and he'd do a #2 block (overhead) and break it. Does his dojo have a website? This is cool. Definately need to talk, let me know. I could use some dirt to razz the GM from our system. I guess, also, tell him that I train with Peter Rose. If it's the same GM Brock, I would think he'd remember GM Rose. Rick.

Sohan, Yes that's correct about the lakes. The whole region is dotted with them and refered to as the "lakes region" of New Hampshire. Most people if they have any exposure to the area either grew up around here, know of lake Winnipesaukee, or come to bike week....aka the Laconia Rally. (oldest one in the country) Thanks again for the kind words, Rick.

Sohan, Wow, thanks for your interest and the kind words. The liniage of our association is listed under "roots and philosophies", but in a nutshell....... Grandmaster Rose trained with Grandmaster S.A. Brock. Brock trained with Grandmaster Toshio Hanaue, who trained with Grandmaster Toyama. FWIW, if your really bored I train at the Sachems School. It has a link from the association page under registered programs. Thanks again for the kind words, Rick.

I have used a place called AWMA.com. I've had good luck with them for years.

I wash mine in a gentle cycle with warm water. I have one of the tumble/front load washers that are more gentle on the fabric. I use Tide powder, and no fabric softner (it can yellow the fabric). As it gets yellow, use a product called laundry blueing. (works to make it white with a slight blue hue...remind ya'all of something?) I size mine to be able to dry it in a machiene at lowest temp, I think the tumble of it as it dries makes it softer to wear. Oh, and I'm real carefull to wash it alone or with only other things that are just white.

Sohan, There are 26-ish in the school I'm at. Some are, of course upper dan ranks, and not talked about to lower kyus like me, so I'm not exactly sure of the total. For Shodan, I'm told that there is a need for 12.

Sohan, I realize I'm a bit later to respond, but this is what attracted me to this forum. Whenever i tell people I study Shudokan, I get either a blank "what is that" look or they think I mispronounced Shotokan. Count me in as another karate-ka od Shudokan. I study at the Sachems school of self defense, which is part of the C and S self defense association (there is a website if ya' got nothing else to do it's csselfdefense.org

Yeah, nice story. I've felt some of this as I recently ...well okay, a year or so ago, got back into the arts. I had trained for 4 years before, but was treated at first differently by some of the more advanced students untill they learned, at times in sparring, that I wasn't quite a complete novice. I never hid my prior training, but the white belt was all they saw. In any rate, back to the first post, I think the piece of paper question depends on how it's done. A certification from a larger organization, has merit, and if the group has a history of being credible, then you should have met some real standards for the certificate. Does it make you better? No, but it shows you met a realistic threshold to achieve it. Think a degree on the wall. Can mean nothing or can mean much. Do you remember all/what you were taught? Well.....not always, but at least at some point you knew enough to get it. In my school, we're part of a small association (C & S Self Defense Association) that registers all black belt dans, and anyone can look them up to see if someone is legitimate. It even lists the disgraced ones who are no longer "certified".

We have two. One is the association patch, and the other is the school patch