Shorinryu Sensei

As long as I've had my morning coffee..I'm good to go. I don't think there's a particular part of the day that is better, but generally most people work for a living, so evenings are usually the best and I think it's an excellent way to "de-stress". Most people "function" better at different parts of the day, so I would think it depends on the person.

The stance we use depends on the situation and experience (and confidence) of the practioner. Our front stance is similar. The length is generally a comfortqab;le distance apart..front footpointed at yoru opponent, back foot at 45 degree angle. Weight is around 50/50, depending on what you want to do. It can shift more to the back (25/75) easily enough to use front leg kicks or to move forward rapidly, but also allowing ease of leaping backwards also. This is taught early on, but is difficult to master. Our "natural" stance is designed for self-defense applications, not sparring. Your feet are about shoulder width or less apart where you are facing squared to your opponent (just like you'd be standing talking to a friend), knees slightly bent withg hands outwards comfortably like you use them when you talk to someone. It is a non-threatening stance, yet you are ready to defend yourself and can easily and quickly move in any direction if you need to. I call it my "Hey, I really don't want to fight you" stance, as it doesn't threaten like a front stance does, and gives the guy the option to attack you (which is OK with us), or to back off. As always, it's easier to show than to describe.

I'm always shaking my head when I see someone post "what should I take?" questions. Isn't the first thing we need to know..what is available in his/her area? I mean, what good does it do to recommend this system or that system, if it's nowhere to be found in his vicinity? It just seems to be a logical (got my Spock ears on today) place to start if you ask me.

I will periodically have a "street clothes" class and have people wear what they normally wear around town. The type of kicking that we do (no high kicks at all) works pretty well with all of our kicks in shoes. Myself, I wear either dress shoes (soft soles), low cut tennis shoes, or cowboy boots. The boots are teh only ones that limit certain kicks and aren't as stable on the floor, but they have other advantages such as shin protection against kicks, hard heel and edge, and are GREAT for foot stompin'!

I hate to state the obvious, but here it is anyway. 1. Tournaments have rules..the street doesn't. 2. Tournaments are one against one...the street isn't necessarily. 3. Tournaments have referee's and judges that can stop the fight...the street doesn't. 4. Tournaments are one trained fighter of the same approximate size and skill..the street isn't. There are probably others..but you get the idea. Do NOT EVER confuse success in a tournament competitiion as being the same being capable of defending yourself on the street. They are entirely two different things.

By confrontation, I'll assume you mean a real fight, not sparring or tournament. The "fanciest" technique I've used woudl probably be a backfist. I nailed the guy alongside the cartilage of the nost..possibly breaking it...I'm not sure, but he sure screamed like it did. Did I focus? Maybe..I don't remember. I saw it was wide open and I took it. I'm sure there was a certain amount of focus, as I hit him exactly where I wanted to hit him, and it had the desired effect.

well...I didn't EXACTLY tell the people at the store EXACTLY how I broke the mechanism. I just sort of "sat in in one day, and it broke".

Over the years, I've had the opportunity to watch a great number (but not enough!) of different instructors teaching their classes, and one thing I've thought was different about my way of teaching is that I frequently encourage my students to bring different "situation scenerios" into the class and we work on them An example would be defending yourself while sitting on the ground, or in a chair. We even brought my recliner out from the living room (my dojo is in the garage attached to the house) and worked on defenses from a sitting, or reclingin position. Now, that was interesting! To the point we broke the mechanisim on the chair and I had to take it to the store for repair. Fortunately, it had a lifetime guarantee on the mechanicals (Thank you LazyBoy!) and they fixed it for free. We also work a lot on if we're lying on the ground and our opponent is standing. Basically, we try to imagine any and all possibilities that we might have to defend against. Not all fights are started standing and squared off in a fair fight you know.

Where am I really at? Kalispell, Montana...US of A. It's in the middle of the Rockies about 40 miles west of Glacier National Park...60 miles from Canada..and maybe 80 miles or so from Idaho. Big city folk would say we're in the middle of nowhere..and they would be close. We can see "Nowhere" on a clear day. Yeah...we have the internet. It's a waxed string running from my PC downtown to the phone company. I have to crank the heck out of the phone whenever I want to hit send..plus feed the mice extra grain to make the juice to run the PC. You wouldn't believe what I have to do to scan a picture!

OOPS...sorry...double post.

Oh come on...I know you gotta be kidding here. You actually think celeb's would hire a monkey as a bodyguard..for real? Bud...it's a publicity stunt...nothing more.

Actually...more than that. Heck, we just got indoor plumbing last year too! No more falling in the houthouse pit for this guy! Not to get to far off the subject (to late!), you guys hear that new band...the Beatles that just came over and were on the Ed Sullivan show last week? Pretty dang good...but they need haircuts pretty bad! I used to pull that stuff on people when I was in the Army back in the early 70's. They thought we rode buffalo and are still fighting the Indians out here....no kidding!

We do a lot of stand up grappling as a matter or normal instruction along with the karate training. I'd have to say that the only real weakness of this system is on the ground grappling...but if you're a good standup grappler, you should "hopefully" not be going to the ground anyway. We do a LOT of shifting of our bodies for positioning and arm/wrist and leg locks and unbalance our opponents. I've had many people (wrestlers, grapplers, street fighters) over the years try to put me on the ground by diving at my legs or muscling me to the ground, and so far, they haven't succeeded. This is not to say that I can't be taken down by someone that really knows what they're doing (some of those people were VERY good wrestlers), but you're hopefully going to take some good lumps in the process (hands/elbows/knees) to the point that (again hopefully) you won't be able to get a good enough technique on me before I can get away. I may be old and getting grayer by the day (groan), but I'm a sneaky old bugger!

Outside of normal pushups/situps and such at the beginning/end of classes, I do no sort of weight training at all. Unless you count the occassional 12oz aluminum can lift and pour?

What you have here is no different than any other trained animal. For example, a bear riding a bicycle. Would the ape be able to use it in a fight? Very doubtful. The ape would revert to it's natural instincts and rip your arm off and beat you to death with it. Would that be considered kobudo?

In the nearly 30 years I've been doing this, I competed once. Won 2 trophies (3rd in sparring, 2nd in forms) and two plaques (outstanding judge and outstanding competitor)..then I retired from competiton.

Our philosophy also.

Well, I'm not sure if I belong in this catagory or not, but up until maybe 5 years ago or so, the system I practice was Shorinryu Matsumura Seito (orthodox branch) Karate....not Kenpo. However, there were an ever increasing number of Shorinryu organizations out there claiming this and that, so the late Grand Master Kuda Yuichi changed the name...because we have Chinese Kenpo roots...to Shorinryu Matsumura Kenpo. Our linage is Soken Matsumura to his grand nephew Soken Hohan, to Kuda Yuichi, then to various instructors that I have had..including Denny Miller, Greg Ohl, James Knoblett, and Larry mason.

Why you young whipper snappers!!! If I could get my fat, wrinkled old butt out of this chair, I'd sure show YOU what fer!!! OK..with that said...here's a reply from a nearly 52 year old (one of the oldest on this forum I think) with a bit of what we in this system affectionately call...a Shorinryu belly. Not huge..but a belly none the less. I've worked long and hard at that belly, and can take nerly a full force roundhouse kick to it without doubling over, losing my breath and going down. My students will gladly veryfy that. That extra padding is good for something! A lot depends on what you are practicing the martial arts for I suppose. If you plan on lots of tournament participation, where you're going to be fighting and doing kata all day long, or doing full contact competitons where there are rounds and clocks, then yes, being in as good of shape as you possibly can is to your benefit. I however, am an old, possibly archaic traditionalist that practices his art diligently for what it was intended for...and that is for the preservation of myself, my loved ones..or a total stranger in a life or death confrontation. Unlike the late Bruce Lee, who by the way had trouble keeping weight on because of an abnormally fast metabolisim, I am not planning in the near future to be making movies where my shirt will always be ripped off (funny how they always seem to do that, eh?) exposing yet again my 12 pack muscles (no, that's not a typo), nor am I expecting to have to fight 29 crazed Ninja masters at one time in a fight to the death. Nor do I expect a poster company to contact me ever to take my picture and sell millions of them to eager young children to hang on their walls. Now. as to my gut, and my inability to do 1 finger pushups..I am fully capable of sparring my 8-10 students, one after another without taking a break, at any given time. Can I defend myself against one...two...or maybe three opponents in a real life fight? I don't know, but I have in the past (yes, up to 3 people), and I feel my timing, knowledge, cunning, experience and reflexes are such that I could probably do it again if I had to. No...I won't be making any movies, posters..or even a cardio workout video ever...but can I defend myself? Yes, I feel I can...and have...and that my friends, is what the arts...as I see them anyway...are all about. Oh...and one final note. About 2 years before the late Ed parker died, I was honored to attend a seminar with him. I was surprised when I first saw him, as he looked like he was about 12 months pregnant! Yet this "fat man" was able to move quite effectively, surely and precisely with little effort. It's all a matter of training people. You teach the muscles to move..and they will move for you.

Sinar89...like I tell everybody else that asks the same question as you..."What style is best for me?"...the first thing that you need to tell us is where you live (city/state/country), and if possible, what systems are available in your area? For example...if you live in Houston, Tx, or any other large city, you will have just about everything available to you. However, if you live in Podunk, Montana like I do, then your choices are limited. It doesn't do us any good to recommend a system to you that isn't availble in your area. Make sense? *taking off my Mr. Sock ears now*

*edited to clean up my sloppy typos The system I study is over here: <--------------- As for rank...yeah, I'm, pretty rank after class. OK...OK..I have a rank or two in this system...does it really matter? Am I open to other systems? I'm not sure I understand what you're asking there, but if you mean do I incorporate other systems techniques into what I do to make it better or to strengthen what I perceive as a weakness in the system...then the answer is a firm and definite...no, I don't. There is no need to. Why mess with something that works? You'll only make it weaker (in my opinion). *let the crap fly over that last one! * *

What Iteach beginnning students is left or right foot forward (I encourage switching from one to the other and learning both) with the front foot facing your opponent, and the back foot at a 45 degree angle...sometimes 90 degree's, but that tends to open and twist your hips more. Lead hand (right foot forward, so lead hand is right) at around upper chest/chin height, back hand around lower chest/stomach level. In time, they will find what works best for them and they can put their hands where they want to. Myself, my feet are about 2-2 1/2 feet apart, legs slightly bent, very relaxed stance, with lead hand out about lower chest height and open, palm angled outwards and to the side a bit (45 degrees or so). Back hand lower, around belt height palm facing downward and out a bit (I had to get up and try it to see where I hold it ). Hands are also very relaxed. I've used this stance and hand placement for years and it works well for me. We don't encourage a "boxer" stance with both hands protecting the head, as the groin and knees are viable targets. We also don't use a wide stance because they are slow to move out of...and we like to move..and move quickly.

Here's a pointer ---------> <-------- take two..they're small The main thing I think that improves speed is hundreds...THOUSANDS of repetitions of the technique you're tyring to improve. The second thing I recommend is relaxing. Tight muscles are slow muscles. Be loose and relaxed even while throwing the punch/kick/block, and only tighten up just a split second before making contact.

And then send the repair/replacement bill to tommarker. He's good for it.

You have to do 225 PERFECT pushups for a belt test...ANY belt test? Buddy...you have a whacko for an instructor! What do pushups and martial arts expertise have to do with each other? Sorry, I can't help you with this. But just to give you some perspective, I'm 6'6" tall, weight 238lbs and can MAYBE crank out 25 pushups at one time. I also hold a 3rd Dan black belt in my system and have been in it for nearly 30 years and have no trouble bouncing people around when the need arises. Not once has any instructor, myself included, made a student do what you are talking about for a test. Sure, in class we do pushups as part of our normal warmups, but never as part of a test, and never the amount you're talking about. That's plain bogus IMHO. It sounds more like a health club training program, not a martial arts system.