Shorinryu Sensei

That's interesting Sens55. I don't like it or agree with it, but that's interesting. In my mind, I see that as pure and simple...FRAUD! Representing yourself as something you're not. From personal experience, that TKD "Master" I mentioned earlier came to watch my class a few times, and during one of them he presented me a certificate for a 3rd degree black belt in his organization. He told me it was as legitimate as any other his organization gives out (which to me, doesn't speak very well of that organization). Nowhere on the certificate did it say honorary or anything other than a full fledged 3rd Dan in the AKKA. I politely thanked him (in front of my class remember), but afterwards I told him I really didn't like it because I had never taken a TKD class in my life. Come to find out (this is after class), he asked me if I would give him a 1-2nd Dan in Shorinryu in exchange for the one he gave me. I politely refused and told him if he wanted to join my class..wait about 3 years or so..yeah, I'd give him a 1st Dan when he was ready. It wasn't long after that that our friendship died out, and I don't miss it at all.

I agree G95champ. I've also forwarded the "Soken Secret pressure Point Notes" url to my sensei, who has traiend extensively on Okinawa under one of Soken's senior students for verification. Obviously, those are not copies on that website of the actual notes though. They could have been written by anybody. In Soken's own hand would have been a much better chance at "proof" I'd say.

I'm thinking more in physical locations. For example, I taught my fist class in 1978 on a high school auditorium stage. I've also taught in: garages -- this is my present location at my home. parks -- gets kinda tough in the rain or winter! basements (sometimes cement, tile or carpet floors) church recreation hall telephone building meeting room college classroom after hours grocery store basement gymnastic school floor with springs under it my living room health club aerobics room How aobut you sensei or students? Any interesting locations you've had classes?

As others have stated, more money for classes doesn't always mean better. Commercial dojo's will charge more because they have more overhead, whereas YMCA's and "garage karate" (that's where I'm at) can charge less because we have lower overhead. Personally, I've charged as little as nothing (but nobody comes when you don't charge anything), to what I charge now..which is $40/month for two, 2 hour classes/week. That's $5/hour, which I think isn't unfair considering it is a small, personalized class environment taught out of my home.

I agree with everyone else, 15 is a GREAT age to start the MA's! Myself, I was 22 when I started (50 now). In most TMA's, you don't actually reach your peak until your mid-60's. One example is the late O Sensei Hohan Soken who personally taught classes in Okinawa until he was in his mid to late 80's, and was still tossing "youngsters" around on a regular basis. Good luck with your training, and welcome to the board!

My guess would be honorary degrees. I'd say it's impossible to get a 10th dan in 25 years..period! Let alone several of them, plus others. BAH! One of the first clues is to look at the guys nationality. Americans tend to overinflate themselves, particularily in the martial arts. And yes, I'm also an American..so let's not go there! I personally used to know a TKD guy that was a tested 4th Dan in TKD. He decided to start his own organization (American Korean Karate Assc.) and declared himself a 9th Dan. He then went out and contact numerous other heads of systems and exchanged rank in his association, for rank in theirs. In other words.."You give me a 5th Dan in your system certificate, and I'll give you one in mine." sort of deal. The last time I was in this guys dojang (he's since deceased) he had about 7 high rank certificates in as many systems. None of which he had ever taken so much as one class in.

Interesting...somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but as I understand it, you can't be sued unless you're at least 18 years of age (in the USA anyway)..correct? Now, your parents can be sued though for your actions, since they are responsible for you...right?

The key to fighting two people at once is work them against each other. Don't stand stationary, but rather...MOVE! Try to keep the worst fighter between you and the best fighter until you can take taht guy out, then it's just you and one other. Another thing that has always worked good for me fighting multiple attacvkers is get in a corner. This has several advantages, such as limiting the direction they can come at you, and also allows you to lean in that corner so that you can use both hands and one leg constantly. Of course you can come out of the corner if you want to for an attack, then retreat back to it.

My, aren't you the sneaky one Tao! I didn't check out the site, otherwise I "might" have been one of the ones that said "Be careful, it's a Dillman dojo!" lol

OOP! I thnk I misunderstood the topic here. This is a camp just for kids? I put on a camp years ago out at a boy scout base camp for everybody/all ages. I wasn't aware that there were camps just for kids. Cool idea, but why limit it to just kids?

I've only been to a few camps/seminars. The last one was in 1990 in Seattle by the Okinawan head of the system I practice. It was a wonderful experience, except for one jerk in attendance. This guy was as white as I am, and in normal conversation talked as normally as I do..yet during practice, I was (un)fortuante to pair up with him for self-defense practice, and this guy immediately switches his speech to "pidgeon-english", or talking like an oriental with poor English skills. I asked him why he talked like that, and he says "Like what?" I asked the host of the seminar about the guy later in the day when he and I and the Head Grandmaster (I felt very honored to be asked to attend lunch with just these two and I), and he told me..."Oh, just ignor him. He does that in his classes too. We don't know why." Have fun at your camp. Usually you can pick a lot of brains while there. You might want to prepare a list of mental questions to ask higher-ups if given the chance.

Uhhh...maybe you are Bruce Lee reincarnated?

I bow to your knowledge Hohan-1..but I wasn't aware that O Sensei Soken was in Taiwan at all? Do you know when that was, and who he studied with there???

I'm sure you're correct that not all aikidoists are that formal, but the one here locally sure is. To the point that if the sensei wants a student to come out on the floor to demo a technique, they bow low from a kneeling posture, then walk out while on their knees, bow again to the sensei (basically almost kissing his feet literally), then stand and begin. Sorry, that's not me. On two seperate occasions I had the opportunity to work with the head Okinawan sensei of my system, and I was rather surprised on how laid back he was. Sure, we did a certain amout of bowing at the beginning/end of class, and a few times in between, but it was really quite relaxed and rather informal, which for me, is the way that I prefer it. I know others that like the strict "YES SIR/NO SIR" bit where the sensei is the God at the head of the class..."ALL HAIL SENSEI IN HIS INFINITE POWER AND WISDOM!!! sort of power trip. But again, that's not me.

I might possible help to know what system you're involved in? As for karate fighters looking like kick boxers..most that I have seen don't in point competitions. Totally different types of contests. Are kata bunkai, low stances, etc to dangerous to use? No, but the bunkai is designed for street combat, not sport competitions. Also, the bunkaifrom kata's are designed to teach you how to move, to flow from one technique to another, positioning, exercising and teaching the muscles to mvoe certain ways that they don't normally, etc.

OK, this is a matter for a physics professor, but standing on one leg does NOT give you good balance. That's pure and simple nonsense. Any reputable karate/kungfu/whatever instructor, gymnast, dance instrutor, etc will dispute that one...and I sure do. Sorry, but it's true. It's a physical fact that the worst balance anything can have is with one stationary support (one leg for example), followed by two. Three (tripod) is the least amount of stationary points needed for good, stand alone stability. If your balance is better standing on one leg with that leg moving, than with 2 legs planted on the ground while punching, you're not punching correctly., and I'd guess you need major work/practice on your stances.

I used to teach my karate classes at a health club locally, and just as I finished my class, an Aikido class came in to sue the same room. I had the opportunity to watch them on a regular basis, and did so at least once/week (my wife hated those nights). The instructor was very experienced, having been involved in the art for around 25+ years or so at that point. I believe he is one of the higher ranked inbstructors of the art in the United States. He and I had a very good relationship and frequently watched each others classes our of pure interest in seeing another art form. I found Aikido to be a very worthwhile martial art, but a bit to strict and "traditional" (bowing and scraping to the sensei to much for me). I got to know the senior black belt student pretty well, to the point we would meet occasionally and have a brew and talk "shop". One thing that has always stuck with me in our talks was his acknowledging one big drawback to Aikido, and that was that they had no defense against a boxer-type jab. One that shoots out fast, and retracts just as fast. Aikido, as I understand it, primarily trains against the full-blown haymaker types of punches where the attacker totally commits his/her body into a blow. They are also very effective against grabs. But if you stand back and just toss jabs at them, they don't know what to do, and will eventually (I've not done it, but it only seems logical) get frustrated and tired of getting "tagged" on the nose, and would no doubt lunge in looking to get their hands on you. Again, I've never trained in Aikido, and I do think it is a very viable martial art..but I can see that one weakness in the system.

This is true! I kept runnning over trees and tearing up sidewalks when I was driving a M109 in the Army over in Germany! lol But give me a Jeep...and I could go ANYWHERE!

Same here SMR! But, I'm also glad that I learned what paragraphs and punctuation was used for too! lol No offense kid...I used to be a junior high teacher way back when..... As for suspensions when fighting in school..absolutely YES! However, if there are reputable witness's that would attest to the other person starting the fight, and you were just protecting yourself, then no, I don't think you should be suspended.

Practise is the Key--if you don't have someything intelligent and worthwhile to add to the discussion, please refrain from saying anything at all.

I'd say that unless you're studying TKD, you'll no oubt have problems finding the same system where you go. TKD schools are on just about every street corner now, and I suspect in a few years will have one midway down every block!

I suppose defining a martial artist is an individual thing, depending on your way of thinking, and what you consider a martial art to be. For me, a martial art is anything having to do with warring arts. This includes all forms of karate, kungfu, etc that pertain to fighting, or have roots in fighting arts. This would also include boxing, wrestling (although WWF might be questionable ), track and field events..maybe even swimming? Certainly archery and anything gun related I would classify as a martial art of a sort. Oh yeah...one last thing. Yes, if given the chance, I'd love to fight Mike Tyson in the ring You bet!!! Any day buddy. Just let me sign that contract for $10-20 MILLION dollars first, and I'll be glad to let him knock me out in the first 10 seconds (I figure it will take him that long to catrch me).,

OK..I just had to dive in here. I, personally, see no sense in demo teams anyway. Sure, I have no problem giving demos if you want to for whatever reason (we need an excuse? lol), but the way I see it..why do you have to have a SPECIAL demo team? What's wrong with the rest of your students, that you don't want the public to see them??? If I was a student, and wasn't picked to be on the demo team..the first thing I'd think was.."I must really SUCK!" Is that the message we want to send students..regardless if it's true or not? OK..this is what I do for demos. I tell everybody in my class that I have been asked to give a demo in the mall at 12:00 on Saturday. I would really appreciate it, although not require it, if everybody would show up and help out with this. We will be doing yadda yadda, this and that, and I'd like everybody to meet at the dojo at 11:00 for warmups and to go over what I'd like to do. Please make sure your uniforms are clean and looking GREAT! Basically, EVERY SINGLE PERSON in my dojo is on the "demo team" at my school, from little Suzy that just joined class last week and doesn't have a gi yet, to the old fart of the group...ME! Good or bad, I am very proud of my people and want to show ALL OF THEM off to the public when we do a demonstratiion. Anyway,that's my opinion on it.

Being able (certified?) to teach will vary from system to system, so the best place to get your answers is from your instructor. However, this is what I do in the system that I practice. I believe that in order to teach (your own dojo), you should have at LEAST a 1st degree black belt...PERIOD! Any less than that, and I would think that you aren't fully versed in enough techniques, and mostly EXPERIENCE (very important) to pass the fundamentals of your system on to others. I have been teaching classes since September of 1978 (longer than many of you have been alive I think). You needs LOTS of patience to teach martial arts. To prepare my students to teach, when they get their 1st of 3 possible brown belts, I have them start to teach basics to new students, including the first kata. I also will have them take lower students aside if need be to help them with something specific that I feel needs improvement, and they aren't getting it in the classroom environment. When a student reaches his first degree BB, I consider them an assistant instructor (not paid). If for some reason I am unable to make class (very rare occurance), then they are expected to take over the class and teach it. I don't expect them to teach the class as I would, but rather let them teach what they want to teach. I then will ask them the next time I see them..."How did it go? Questions/problems?" As for pay...no, I don't pay my students to teach, as I consider taking over my class or working with junior students as part of their ongoing training to prepare them someday for their own classes.

My personal opinion of the existance of "ninjas" is this: I feel that what the public percieves as ninjitsu is a Hollywood hype, and outside of Japan, somewhere in deep, dark and secluded locals, there is no true ninjitsu being taught. I think what happened was that Hollywood got the ninja craze, and some smart cookie in Japan decided to capitalize on it and announce to the world that he was the such and such reigning master of this or that ninja clan, and he's decided to make his knowledge public and start teaching massive amounts of people his system. All for a price, of course. So this guy that probably had a black belt or two in some martial art, jazzes it up, slaps a black gi on with a hood and a bunch of fun toys like throwing stars and such, and markets it to the gullible people of the United States (hell, we'll swallow ANYTHING if it's different and makes us look cool!). Anyway, that's my opinion. yes, there are real ninjas out there, but I don't think you'll find any of them in a "ninja school."