Shorinryu Sensei

Living where I do, I haven't had the exposure to all of the different Okinawan karate systems...but I DEFINITLY recommend Shorinryu (especially Matsumura Orthodox) also.

HEY! somebody call the avatar police!!! Ninjanurse stole my avatar!!! OK...so I stole it from an avatar website...so sue me! lol

That doesnt'; sound right to me either. I've been a judge/ref at tournaments for around 25 years and never heard of not inviting a school back because they win all of the time. We have not invited scvhools with bad attitudes, rude behavior, indifference towards the rules, etc...but never because they won!

I live in Northwest Montana in the middle of the Rocky Mountains...how much more secluded can you get? Heck, my internet connection is two soup cans and a string pulled tight to the phone company!

Try throwing a bucklet of cold water on them. I'vew had that "issue" before in my dojo also, and about all you can do is have the sensei talk to them about it.

People...you can now, if you will, visualize a 6'6", 240lb, 52 (as of tomorrow) year old man standing up and bowing to Shorin Ryuu for his last post. EXCELLENT!!! Please...feel free to ramble anytime you want to bud! Personally, I think you need to submit that as an article.

Good question. Actually, maybe 15 years ago or so, I had the opportunity to work with an Aikido black belt locally and we did some comparisons. We do what is called tuitte..or joint manipulations...essentially the same thing as Aikido in manipulating joints. The execution may be a bit different in some cases, but both are similar and effective. Most of the differences are in what you do after you manipulate the joint. Aikido takes them down and holds them, whereas we we do that also, or might kick out the knees, attack the groin or specific nerves with kicks, etc. We're talking Fords and Chevy's here mostly. Same thing, just different approaches.

That';s always been my philosophy my entire life about everything. If it ain't broke..leave it alone! I find the system I practice is logical, efficient, effective and just to darn good for me to get into making any changes. That's my opinion of it anyway, and I'm sure there are those that would say otherwise. So far I've been able to prove detracters wrong when they try to show me something better within their own systems. I'm not saying my system is perfect...but I haven't seen one yet that I like better.

You know...I've been involved in thsi same art for 30 years as of this coming January, and I don't feel even remotely qualified to be making any changes to something that I feel works quite well. Who am I to think that I know more than the old masters did? Self defense is still self defense. A knife attack is a knife attack..whether 200 years ago, or today. A club is a club then, as it is now. What changed? OK, so 200 years ago the masters didn't have to contend with Uzi's and AK47's inb their faces...at a distance, what can you do anyway? Nothing people...absolutly nothing except dive and roll and try to get out of the way.

Sematics...yes. There are definitely blocvks in kata and everything else in karate...but those blocks can also be used offensively as strikes also...so what do you call them? lol

Did you know that there are more "Masters" in any given US city (LA, NY, etc) than there are in the ENTIRE Orient? What's wrong with that picture?

Here's my $.02 worth. Every move of every kata...from the opening bow and hand "salute", to the the closing of same...have both an offensive, AND a defensive application. Usually, they have numerous applications of both if you get into them deeply enough. the traditional thought is that kata start and end defensively, which is true...but that defensive move can also be used offensively in a given situation if you know what you're looking at. It can be quite subtle.

This is true. When I started, I had the choice of a TKD dojo, a kenpo dojo, or Shorinryu dojo. The Shorinryu dojo was new in town, whereas the other two were well established and had been for at least 10 years at that time. I had watched the TKD and Kenpo classes many times, but the attitude of the instructors (both were frequently STARTING fights in local bars), wasn't my vision of a good attitude. The Shorinryu sensei was new in town and fresh out of his stint in the Navy, stationed and trained on Okinawa. My best friend had joined his dojo a few weeks previously and invited me to come watch. The rest is history. Beginners usually have no idea ofwhat is going on in a dojo they join, and don't understand what is good, or bad about a particular system until they have been in it for a while. Down the road, they will see possible shortcomings in what htey are learned, as opposed to what they might want out of an art, and start to seek out something else. Hopefully, that "something else" will be available to them. I was lucky from the first. I knew I didn't like the TKD or Kenpo classes..if nothing else because of the sensei in them.

I'd never heard that before, but of course, it's entirely possible. As I understand it he pretty much taught it they way he learned it. I've never been to Okinawa myself, but all of my instructors studied primarily there under Sensei's Kuda, Kise (all of them left Kise and went to Kuda though) and most under OSensei Soken also before he retired. My primary Sensei, Dennis Miller, studied exclusively under Sensei Kuda and a bit under OSensei.

As has already been stated, a lot depends on what sort of tournament you're going to be participating in. If it's a "flashier the better" tournament (ugh!), then go with the lightweight bo. If it's more of a traditional oriented tournament, from my experience as a weapons judge for the past 24 years or so...use a heavy bo. I'd mark you down before you did anything if you came before me with a light weight weapon.

Personally, the only reason I see to take more than one martial art is if you find the art that you are currently taking lacks in some areas, or you're just not happy with what you are taking for some reason. I was lucky from the first and got involved in a system that teaches everything that I wanted to learn about the martial arts. What we don't do, I have no interest in...such as competition, board breaking, flash, etc.

Just for clarification purpose's, in my nearly 30 years of study in Shorinryu Matsumura Seito/Orthodox (we call it Kenpo now) I've never personally heard of a RyuKyu kata. KyuKyu refers to the island chain that makes up Okinawa. Not to say that there isn't a kata by that name, but it would no doubt be localized to the schools in Brazil perhaps? Also, when talking about Okinawan kata, it is Passai...not the Japanese pronunciation of Bassai. I have seen a number of Japanese versions of Bassai kata, and although similar in execution, they are not the same kata and are, IMHO, lacking. Another note is that Sensei Kise's versions of OSensei Hohan Soken's are with many modifications. I have not personally worked with Sensei Kise, but have talked to many of his former students that had trained with him for years and left him because of many of the changes he had done to the system. He is an awsome martial artist, but has wandered quite a bit in his teachings...or so I've heard. My bud Shorin Ryuu will dive in here soon I'm sure and add further to this thread. he has better knowledge of a lot of this information than I do.

Hmmn, so you saying that might as well be 11th, 12th, 13,....etc..? (Not speaking about Master Yuichi-OC) I'm assunming what you're asking is what I thought about the "other" 10th Dan's I've met? Let's just say that skill-wise...I wouldn't have ranked any of them higher than maybe a 2-3rd Dan....some not even that high.

I agree. Movies are fun to watch, but the majority of the martial arts techniques you see in them are for show...not effectiveness. Seek out a good instructor that knows what they're doing...and that can be difficulet to find a lot of the time. Be patient if your instructor is teaching you now, as he/she will give you more to work on when you're ready. Working the basics over...and over...and over again is never a bad thing, as they...like the basics in karate...are the foundation of more advanced techniques.

Since 1978, I've had several deaf people, one blind person, two wheel chair bound people, one that had polio since childhood and walked with two of those forearm crutches..and God knows how many with bad backs, knees, necks, etc. I have taught them all and had to modify what I taught them, or my teaching approaches for them. I see no reason at all why any handicapped person can't progress through the arts. It all depends on the instructor and his abilities to adapt and to accept these people for what htey are.

Call me a cheapskate if you ant to, but a 10 year old isn't going to be kicking hard enough to warrent buying something that is real heavy duty. Personally, for cost effectibveness, go to WalMart or the thrift store and buy some cheap cushions.

that's definitely NOT the Matsumura Seito/Orthodox system of Shorinryu. We almost never kick above the belt. An easy way to get neutered!

Ditto!

Although I have met numerous "10th degree masters" over the years, I think that in reality, I have only met and worked with one. That was Master Kuda Yuichi of Okinawa...a true master of his art. He was a gentleman and gentle man in the truest sense of the words.b He is missed by those that knew and worked with him. The other 10th Dans I've met...well...no comment.

Why change what has worked well for quite a few years? No kidding! Same here. Years ago at a tournament, a competitor...just happened to be a TKD black belt (sorry kicks) wanted the gym that the tournament was held in as dark as possible. It was pretty dark in there with the lights out and no windows! lol Anyway, he fires up these flourescent nunchauku and starts this twirling stuff. Oh yeah, it was pretty! Thought I was watching fireworks! Trouble was, it was so dark in there, you couldn't see the guys technique...just these pretty spinning lights. Come scoring time, we have an agreement among the judges to not score black belts lower than a 7 (out of a possible 10)...due to repsect and not to embarass anybody. I scored this guy a 7...and said "with reservations". The other judges scored him higher..but not to much higher. He came over to me after the event was over and asked why I scored him so low. I told him the citeria I used for scoring...good technique, power, accuracy, speed, timing, etc...and with the lights out, I couldn't see a bloody thing he did along those lines...so how could I score him? I told him also that I could have done just as well as he did with a flashlight in the dark. He didn't like that...oh well! It's nice to be a grumpy old man sometimes!