Elky

It's shobu ippon kumite (one-point fighting) - basically Judo rules applied to karate. The first person to throw a clean technique which renders the opponent defenceless wins.

Elwyn Hall has had a bit of a resurgence of popularity on the internet thanks to that video clip. He was a member of the KUGB (karate union of great britain) squad in the '80s and was well known as one of the scariest people you could face in competition. He was generally sent out as the first competitor in team competition to put the fear of God into the other team. As far as I know he doesn't teach or compete any more. You can see some of his team-mates (Ronnie Christopher, Frank Brennan) in this vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=292RJFjGCKA

There are some god-awful bunkai clips from WKF competitions on youtube, but very little of any use. Thanks for bringing those together Mike.

Hey dude. Do some running if you feel like it, but mainly relax and exjoy the break. I find that when I've had a break, I tend to return to karate felling even better than when I left as all the nagging injuries have recovered and your body's had the chance to rest.

Tang Soo Do / Dangsudo is Koreanised Shotokan. Tang Soo Do is the Korean pronunciation of the Okinawan words kara te dō (Tang dynasty, hand, way). The forms of TSD are shotokan forms performed slightly differently and the techniques are given a Korean flavour but it's still Korean Karate rather than some amalgam of MT and TKD.

Can you explain this further? I've been thinking about this term lately and wondering about the origin of it. I think it's due to the abstract use of the term. If you asked an English speaking person (who didn't do Karate) "what does knife hand mean", they would probably look at you blankly! Where as in karate circles we know what the term refers to. Its probably more of a colloquialism than a direct translation. So does "shuto" literally translate as "knife hand"? My instructor uses the term "shoto uke", which I think means "knife block" or "short-sword block". I've also heard the term "te gatana uke" ("hand sword block") for that maneouvre.

Can you explain this further? I've been thinking about this term lately and wondering about the origin of it.

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I didn't watch the vid as I'm at work, but it's probably the same one I've seen before. They are very impressive. I occasionally worry for those guys' brains though - some of the heel kicks to the head are concussion material.

I don't know if I agree. Surely you should follow your instructor; I think if you were to ask Mr Kanazawa he would say the same thing. Don't worry about it, if you did shotokan you'd be bored as heck with it by the time you're brown belt

Yeah, basically, if you're using weights, only practice techniques slowly!

Haven't you asked about side punches already? http://www.karateforums.com/yoko-tsuki-vt31258.html If I understand correctly, jun tsuki is another name for choku tsuki / kara tsuki - i.e. a relatively "hip-free" straight punch. So basically, from your starting position, thrust your fist at your opponent using your arm and shoulder muscles but don't change the stance of your feet. Simple as that!

http://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/08/29/appropriate-usage-of-osu/ <-read that

I'd like to add a vote to "tell your instructor". If you're lucky, your instructor will kick the crud out of him and it'll be funny for you and instructive for him.

^^^^ I take it you watched the latest CroCrop fight then In general, we don't instruct students to kick higher than their own waist--but mainly to the knees, groin, and shins I don't really like UFC but Mirko Filipovic is a good example of how kicking works if you personally can do it!

If you can hit someone hard with it, it's useful. If you can't, it isn't.

Looking good!

Define a tai sabaki drill, then I'll know if I do them or not! As I understand it, tai sabaki is evasion techniques - we certainly practice getting out of the way when someone tries to hit us - is there more to it than that?

Moira Higaonna? Is that Morio's wife? Ho ho!

To the OP: Just keep practicing amigo! It'll come! We've all been there and it just takes a while to get your body used to the movement.

Tekki shodan (naihanchi shodan), last move.

I'm not a big fan of "the bunkai revolution". I think karateka should be taught throws, restraints, joint manipulations etc without having to "justify" these techniques by wedging them into kata. Judo is karate. Jiujutsu is karate. Your techniques are limited only by what your instructor knows enough to teach you. I like the stuff that Ian Abernethy teaches, but I think some of the connections to kata are a little tenuous. I don't really mind that, but I think the moves justify themselves by their effectiveness, they don't need to be "in the kata".

Yoko tsuki is a side punch.

Non, mon ami, j'habite en Angleterre.

Yeah, give Mr Oyama a break dude, he got old! It happens to the best of us!