Zanshin

Quality literature, particularly Bushido, and PS1's choices. What about The Bubushi?

Blinkin Flip! I hope your black belt presentation ceremony was up to matching the exam. Did you sacrifice some virgins or something lol!

It comes under the World Karate Federation Kumite Rules, article 8 (Prohibited Behavior), Category 2, sub section 6 "Techniques, which by their nature, cannot be controlled for the safety of the opponent and dangerous and uncontrolled attacks"..... Apparently!!

Hi Eric, The reason why you wont see this sort of kick in a lot of karate competitions is because it is an "illegal" technique according to "WKF" competition rules. That said, the WKF does not rule the world (well not at least anyway), and I believe the Axe kick or "Otoshigeri" (dropping kick) is alive and well used in kyokushin comps, as it is widely practiced in most good karate schools. I think basically, there is no one technique that a style does, that is not practiced by others.

That is a cool idea. Neat that the certificates are hand written, too. Sadly I don't have one as I am but a boy in this great Koryu art, but because the Yudansha in Daito (like my sensei) are so rare these days the certification is something else. No glitzy gold razzmatazz, but written on paper hand made by one of the 70 "living treasure" of Japan. Sounds great in theory but apparently you can wait for years for your certificate. My sensei achieved the equivalent to the Gendai rank of Nidan in 2000 but has yet to receive his certificate, and he is now the equivalent of Sandan. Still I would wait to get something that quite frankly would be priceless.

Well you see thats exactly my point. Doing your research on a style over the internet obviously has its benefits, but sometimes people feel this "empowers" them and as a result they walk into the dojo with preconceptions. When, in reality the actual training does not match what they perceive to be correct (from their very limited knowledge), they automatically assume its wrong! I am not suggesting that you are one of these people but, I believe there is something to be said about starting your training with an aware sense of ignorance. You have to know what you are letting yourself into, but also when you commit to your training be open minded. Now that takes a very special kind of person. In Japanese Budo they have a reference to "Mushin" - 無心 which basically means mind of no mind or empty mindedness. The inference being that you take no baggage into combat but in our case into the dojo. A little bit of knowledge.....?

This is very sound and solid advice for any martial artist. Good post as usual zanshin! Domo!

Sounds like a case of in-appropriate pairing. Good instructors will always make sure that their "newbies" are paired with an experienced student, who can ease them into the system. Quite honestly it sounds to me, that the scenario in question was not so much about ego as it was lack of understanding on both sides. Whilst you may be new northerndragon, the guy you were paired with was probably no expert either, so don't feel too bad. Also, not wishing to sound harsh, but it does seem as though you have been bouncing between dojos and styles etc. I am afraid there comes a point where you have to commit. Being a "theoretical" martial artist is great, but there is nothing like forging your skills in the furnace of a good dojo. Hard work, where you take the rough with the smooth and if that means coping with the odd heavy handed partner, then so be it. I am afraid karate is a fighting art and in such you will get hurt learning it along the way. Its down to a good instructor to mitigate that and to give you the best tools available to avoid it, but at the end of the day, its going to happen.

Although not so much a long the ceremonial lines, my Daito school has something pretty nice. Dan grade certificates are made out of hand made paper and are hand written / painted by Shihan himself. Here's the cool bit though. The certificate is in two halves. Prior to tearing (not cutting) the certificate in two, the "Shihan" puts his unique stamp across the tear line. Then the certificate is torn in two, ending up with half a stamp mark on each part. The successful candidate gets his half and School's Shihan keeps the other. The theory being that if anyone should bring into question your training and qualification, they can offer it up to the school's "official" copy and the Shihan stamp will become complete (tear and all). Nice touch me thinks.

Hi KyoSa Not bad site, a good starting point anyway. As far as the "hook" is concerned, maybe think along the lines of a beginner. In other words, what things would you have enjoyed looking at when you were a beginner? Forms are always good, as people use them as a reference point for when they are learning, and also any paired kata (or pre-arranged sparing) that you may include in your system. If you do them well and think they will stand up to scrutiny, put them on you tube and tag them back to your web site. The only other thing that struck me instantly was the domain name. It means nothing. Or at least it means nothing to me, the average “Joe” that is looking at Google for the Karate clubs in my area. I am sure that there are loads of more catchy domains still available!! No disrespect intended BTW. No point having a spangly new web site if it is not propagated correctly. It comes back to the poster / flyer thing. You have designed a good one, now it’s up to you to display it in the most prominent position.

Good looking sites are great but the content is key. When we built our club web site, we looked at it as an old fashioned poster or "flyer". As such we worked on the principle of the 4 W's IE; What, When Where, Why?. What = Martial art and in particular what makes you different to the club down the road. When = Training Times. Where = Geographic Location. Why = Reasons and benefits to train at you club. Along with a quality look, all of the above will capture most of your needs, but we went a bit further and created a "Hook" that made our website stand out a bit from others. We did it by putting some unique resources on the site that can't be found anywhere else on the net. Depending on how "dynamic" you want your site to be will require continued input from you. IE if you need to update it and change it on a regular basis be sure your ready for that as it can become a chore and there is nothing worse than a site that is years out of date. Your Google rangings will drop if you dont update your site. You will also have to "propagate" your site and make the correct high value links (of which this site is one). You can use sites like linkpopularity.com for this. So... Best of luck.

Interesting really, as mawashi-geri is never seen in any Wado kata, but today we did some excellent "Tanto-dori " at the club which featured a drop out of the line of attack and a Mawashi (from kneeling) with josukuto, ala Unsu Kata. Correctly, the kick goes into the right groin of the oponent, and because of the line of Uke's attack, you can only do this with ball of foot. Works well.

Well, you might do it if you have a good pair of shoes on maybe? Personally, I quite like it as an option as it seems to me that it would hurt your opponent more, but then I guess thats just me. I am not a nice chap really!

I think that you should ask you instructor for his/her definition. Both have validity but, if you are talking about specifics (ie application from a kata) then that may be different. Often moves in basics (that are extracted from Kata), are practiced out of context and then (more woryingly) taken as a "standardised" way! My take on the whole "Enpi" thing starts a little earlier on the evolutionary track anyway, as "Enpi" does not mean elbow it means to "thrust" or "force", but the use of the elbow or "Hiji" is a good example of how to manifest this power. Importantly though, you should be able to discern the difference between a forward elbow strike and and a "mawashi" or circular strike. Very different body mechanics but both have equal value in a punch up!

Hmm! Personally, I would be reluctant to "chuckle" at things just because they are not done in a similar way to how I understand to be correct.

How you "chamber" your Mawashi (although personally I don't much care for the expression "chamber") could also be down to where you are in the spectrum of your Karate training. Bigger moves are often introduced at early stages to teach good form but over time these will give way to more direct and therefore faster techniques. With regards to what part of the foot you make contact with, I would say practice each and every option. Whilst practicing shin and/or shin and instep is perhaps better for "you" and is certainly safer in competition, kicking with the ball of foot does bring a different dimension into it, as the leg does not need to travel as far in order to meet the "Kime" point. Good for penetrating guards that would otherwise be an obstruction. This option is certainly favourable if you have got a good sturdy pair of shoes on. Drawback is you limit your range. As far as it not being traditional, well I am not sure, as it is what is used to execute the mawashi in Unsu.

Maybe he thinks it will improve his timing Sorry couldn't resist.

Kiai does not necessarily mean to shout. The shout is often how it manifests itself. "Ki" (or chi in Chinese MA) = internal energy/will, and "Ai" = Harmony or focusing of. You can actually perform kiai without making a sound, but that usually comes with a few years of study. In other words, Kiai means to focus intensely in order to summons your strength, in much the same way as a tennis player may give out a shout at the point of doing a serve. So if its good enough for John McEnroe (he is a god in my eyes), its good enough for me.

The way I look at it is that Kata has many different levels of function ranging from the "physiological" (and the training of the body for strength agility, balance and timing etc.), to the explanation and therefore understanding of martial techniques. The key is to get a good instructor who can unlock all of katas potential for you. Can you post a link to a vid of "Toi Gye" so I may compare. Thanks... Z

I prefer this explanation as opposed to blocking a kick with your arms. That said I think the guy doing the counting in Japanese needs a bit of "crash" course in pronunciation. Still, bought a smile to my face.

I haven't looked back in a while, but what would the move represent, in your eyes, Zanshin? Hmm... I think that X blocks in general could represent numerous techniques. Maybe it is better to look at it is practice for co-ordination of two techniques at the same time for example:- 1. The moving down / pressing of an opponent's guard with one hand so that you can punch them over the top with the other. or... 2. The parrying of an opponent's kick to the side again freeing up the other hand strike. But thats just a few off the top of my head and NewEnglands_KyoSas throw is another.

Why would you do that?... Although blocking a kick with both your arms is an option, it is a dangerous one. Also, if you use both hands to stop one limb of an opponent, you are effectively tying up both hands, giving yourself nothing to block/parry a secondary technique that might follow on from a kick from an opponent. Basic Budo rule of thumb, try not to use two limbs against one as you instantly reduce your defensive options. The technique in the kata may be representative of an X block against an opponents kick, but I would be reluctant to teach that as an reason for doing it.

My Brain.

That's no problem. Actually I was just getting started, but never mind, I will have to reserve my mental energy for the next one.

If you want to experience how to throw (and be thrown) correctly, then do some training with people who know the "soft" arts like Judo, Jujutsu and Aikido. Throws are great, but need a lot of work in order for you to understand how they work, and how they can be applied to your Karate. I think trying to do that from books or the Internet is hard, as it is very difficult to understand what for example, the breaking of an opponents "Shisei" (or body posture) actually feels like, until you have had it done to you. Without this, I think you would struggle to import this effectively into your Karate.