legkicker

I did Aikido for a few years while I was doing Shito Ryu and I liked Aikido but I didn't have the best instructor. My instructor at the time knew I also did Karate at the YMCA and 2 other private dojo so he would use me in demonstrations a lot having me throw strikes while he tried to show the effectiveness of Aikido techniques. This was ok with me a few times but it happened a lot and a lot. I got the impression he was trying to show Aikido was much more effective when in reality this was a demonstration without me resisting anything. One time he asked me to throw a rear left leg roundhouse kick/hidari ashi mawashi geri to jodan/head. I complied and had to pull back or I would have connected. He looked startled by this and said something weird like "oh, I thought you were going to throw with your lead leg, not your rear" and he had me do it again. Same thing, I had to pull back and he had me do it again. On the third time I connected and dropped him. Now, this was coreographed and he knew it was coming. Also, head kicks aren't the hardest thing int he world to defend against, especially when you know they are coming. I was 16 or 17 at the time and quit Aikido after this. I never showed back up again. Personally, Aikido isn't for me, at least right now but maybe when I'm older and can't spar "more full contact" anymore. I have to agree that for most people Aikido takes much longer to be able to applly. I think this has to do with too much compliance and not enough resistance in training. Aikido is done heavily as an art and not applied by too many people for combat....I said, by not too many people but by some. Seagal is not Tomiki Aikido but he is known to do a more "street focused" style. As far as I know Seagal is Aikikai. Seagal also doesn't run the dojo in Japan anymore. That was his father in law's dojo and his x wife(fujitani) is in charge of it from what I understand, anyway. As far as supplementing Aikido with other arts or "having to". This can be said for any art. Many "masters" and such have also studied more then one art. Jason DeLuca who was one of the guys to fight Royce in the early UFCs now teaches a more combat oriented Aikido style that is worth looking into. Other people also try to apply Aikido more "realistically".

I didn't know that, and I've talked to him in person. He's got rank in kendo, judo, aikido and karate, but I was unaware that the karate style was shito ryu. "Sensei Seagal holds black belts in Karate, Aikido and Kenjutsu and has also studied Judo, Kali, Kendo, Eastern Philosophy, Shinto Religion, and the Holistic Arts (including Acupuncture, Herbology and Calligraphy). Seagal is a Shodan in Shitoryu Karate and has trained briefly under Master Fumio Demura." I got that info from this site: http://www.journaled.com/MA/Aikido/SSeagal/main.htm But I may have been hasty, when I think more about it I don't know if Demura is who Seagal got his Shito Ryu rank from. I don't think I ever heard who he got it from but if he had a shodan I wouldn't be shocked. considering he is a nanadan in Aikido. I've known for years about Norris being a Shito Ryu black belt but I just found out about a month ago that it was Demura that he got it from.

I'd like to say I caught someone in the act of "sawing" on their brand new Tokaido belt outside a dojo once. The funny thing about it is that this individual is very good and has legit rank from Teruo Hayashi(his shodan-yondan). Anyhoo, I think it's kind of cool to have a worn belt but I have a silk kamikaze belt now and have had it for over 4 years and it just barely has a white speckle that probably only I can see in the knot area. The wear is starting to show around the label and that's about it. In all honesty, I'll never buy a silk belt again. I'd like to say that if you go to Japan or Okinawa seeing very worn belts isn't as common as it is in the more "westernized" countries. In fact if you go witha very worn belt they might kind of tease you and ask you to "wash your smelly obi". Yes, you heard me and this has been discussed on here before..they wash belts in Japan. I've lived in the USA my whole life so I think it's kind of cool to have a worn belt but to have it to the point of being all white when it was a black belt is kind of going to far but this is just my own two cents. I highly reccomend reading this article: http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/09/urban-legends-of-karate-belts/

Yeah, Wallace has trained with a bunch of different people but I think Goju was the first art Wallace got his shodan in, wasn't it?

as a hayashi ha shito ryu yudansha I had the honor at a young age to train under Hayashi Soke(rip)after he was present when I was in a closed door training for instructors for 96 USANKF nationals. Basically, I was a guineau pig doing kumite with other competitors in nationals for the refs to practice on to prepare for nationals. I was 16 or so at the time and Hayashi invited me to train under him which I will never forget. I have also had the honor of training privately under Master Toddy who is a grandmaster in my camp of muay thai but everyone knows him as Master Toddy. A lot of people have trained at Toddy's gym but not many people have privately. I'm probably one of the few non world champions or people that are on a TV special that have trained privately under Toddy. I was more lucky if anything because of timing and what not to train privately under him. Toddy is very, very busy, to say the least.

Pat Johnson, a 9th Dan in Tang Soo Do is the one who coreographed the fight scenes in the Karate kid movie. He trained Morita and Machio for the movie, too. Fumio Demura was Morita's stunt double and he's a Shito Ryu instructor. I've met Demura a few times and am not sure if he's a hachidan or a kyudan. He is very, very good, though. In fact, he's probably the most famous shito ryu instructor in the USA. Norris got his shito ryu black belt from Demura, and so did Steven Seagal. Seagal studied shito ryu before he went into Aikido. Pat Johnson: Senior N.T.C. Black Belt, 9th Degree Black Belt Master & Film Maker Pat Johnson was introduced to the Korean art of Tang Soo Do while serving as a US Army Chaplain’s Assistant while stationed in Korea. Master Johnson was named Captain of Chuck Norris’ Black Belt Team which went undefeated for seven years, racking up more than 33 National and International titles in the process. Master Johnson’s personal competition record was 196-1-1. In 1975 & 1976 he also received a Golden Fist Award as “Outstanding Karate Referee.” Master Johnson has been inducted into Black Belt Magazine’s Hall of Fame, the Ocean State Hall of Fame and the NASKA Hall of Fame. Adding to his growing resume of accomplishments Master Johnson was voted one of the 25 most influential martial artists of the 20th Century by Black Belt Magazine . Master Johnson is an experienced stunt and fight choreographer with over 25 films to his credit. Fumio Demura: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fumio_Demura

A lot of BJJ guys, submission/no gi guys, and MMA guys know this move but you don't see it much in MMA because most people in MMA are actually good sports to some degree. This Korean guy was a jerk, and to add to that he wouldn't even shake the Japanese guy's hand. I nominate him for jerk of the year.

I actually know Frank Dux and no I'm not a believer in his Dim Mak. I had one of his black belts once tell me that he was only one of 2 people that learned the dim mak from Dux. I couldn't believe he said that to me with a straight face. Weird thing is this guy that told me that is actually a good kyokushin competitor and muay thai fighter. He fought Kongnapa in a close fight once. Kongnapa is a former lumpini champion from thailand, too.

not to sound politically incorrect but this is also known as a "russian arm drag".

That's good to hear, I'm going to ask my friend about it but she seemd pretty adamant about a pinan roku-jyu.

Some of the Tengu were literally called Yamabushi Tengu just like some Ninja were also known as Yamabushi. Yamabushi means something along the lines of mountain person/hermit depending on how it's used. No native Japanese speaker that I know would ever call a ninja a Tengu. Seriously, find proof or don't make weird claims because people that don't know any better might believe ninja are also known as tengu.

This show would impress the general public if it used more of an Enshin/Kyokushin(knockdown karate)format. Most of the competitors have great sportsmanship on the show and are athletic but I don't think much of the fighting ability I'm seeing on the show.

This is true about the mask but a Ninja isn't referred to as a Tengu. I seriously doubt Hatsuumi told you that. I could say that Vitor Belfort, Carlson Gracie(rip), Francisco Filho, etc. have told me some crazy stuff but it doesn't make it true even though I have met them. What I'm getting at is if you're gonna make some weird claims like that have some proof.

I can't say but it's a full contact style with a lineage to muay thai or kyokushin. I'd almost say it has some Muay Thai in it more because of the hands being out. In more of the classical strategies(don't see it in the rang hardly ever now) of Muay Thai we have different stances/hand positions where we stick our hands out to "blind" the opponent from seeing our kicks, etc. They also were sparring without unches allowed to the face, or so it seemed. So it was more of a knockdown karate rules match with guillotine and other stand up submissions allowed? The stance being high could be an indication of many styles such as muay thai, kyokushin, tkd, etc. He also threw more of a kyokushin style "brazilian kick"/maha geri a few times to the head/body.

Interesting, just move on and do something else. I don't even see how this instructor can expect to collect back dues if he wasn't teaching. It doesn't matter if you were on a contract, because he wasn't teaching. I think deep down he knows this and is just hoping you and the other students(former)of his don't realize he has no legal right to collect tuition from you. It doesn't matter if he uses a billing service, it will be a hassle but you can call them up and say "my instructor was in jail/prison and wasn't able to teach me".

It's Dim Mak and I have met Frank Dux. In fact, he yelled at one of my students before.(I'm not a Dux Ryu practitioner) I honestly have no clue where to start about fake martial arts: Bufukan Konigun Koga Ryu I could go on for al ong time but I reccomend going to the baffling/bad budo section of ebudo. I don't want to offend people on this board by putting other styles they may study.

You can get them from the Kamikaze website too and something interesting about them is that if you owned Kamikaze stuff a few years back the stuff that is Kamikaze now is just the label..the new company for the old Kamikaze stuff is Kaiten.

Sorry, Toby, it just struck a nerve with me because of some other people that I know. If you have nothing near you I guess what you're doing is better then nothing. Too bad you're not near John Wayne Parr, he's a great instructor and I've met his wife before p.s. his wife is a thaiboxing champ

while we're on this subject didn't Mack in WA state add 5 more Pinan to the Shudokan syllabus? I'm friends with a female that got her shodan in Oregon that told me she quit shortly after this happened and was wondering how true it is. I'm a kata nerd myself, but I also do Shito Ryu...any shito ryu yudansha is a kata nerd to some degree.

Which Seido? Seido Juku, Seidokai..etc?

umm, Tengu are a mythical demon. I have never heard Ninja/Shinobi referred to as Tengu. Could you show something to back up this up? I'd be very interested.

I know a guy that's far from a newbie that still muscles his hook. I think a lot of it has to do with his physique, he's also a body builder. He's had to get surgery twice on his bicep because of how he throws his hook. IMO, this is the hardest punch to do correct so don't get frustrated just keep working on your technique.

It was intentional; it's a great technique for self defense but not for a Judo tournament.

I've joined many gyms/dojos over the years and at least half the time it's been a style different then what I have my black belt rank in. I have never even told what rank I held unless I specifically asked that question. I normally just say I trained for a few years in this art and that art and show up wearing a white belt. What has happened to me is that within a week or two I am asked what ranks I have and am told I should wear my black belt. The bottom line is if you are a quality black belt most clubs will recognize that and will want you to wear your black belt.

This kind of frustrates me when people think Muay Thai looks simple. It really isn't, there is so much technique in the knees and kicks, clinching, punching, etc. I teach Muay Thai at two different schools, with one of these schools being a Kempo school and the owner thinks it's easy. The only reason why he has me keep teaching is because all of his students prefer my class over his kempo class. He has quit coming because he can't seem to understand to just shut up and do what I tell him to do when I'm teaching him how to throw a muay thai roundhouse/dtae. You can't just teach yourself Muay Thai.