Montana

I started during the Bruce Lee Era way back in January 1975. During that time period there were only 2 instructors in my small Montana town of 12,000 people that I lived in. One taught TKD, and the other Hawaiian Kenpo. neither of these instructors was "desirable" in my opinion as both would go out into the bars on the weekends and pick fights. Not my idea of what a good martial artist should be. When I got out of the Army in September of 1974 I started back into college and pretty much gave up the idea of ever learning the arts, until January of 1975 when I called a friend of mine up to see if he wanted to go out drinking and chasing chicks! lol A favorite pasttime of ours. He told me he would meet me later after a karate class he had just started. I asked him which of those 2 guys he was taking from and he stated "Neither, there's a new guy in town..." Long story short, I went with him to the class just to watch and ended up in line and continued for about the next 30 years.

Yeah, I know the guy. He has a year (or month) or two of this and that training and is pretty much self-promoted. That Shorin Ryu he has listed there is maybe 4 classes from me before he left...no belts. He's a nice guy, but has little formal training in anything.

I just got home from a 12 hour graveyard shift and I'm beat, but when I have time I'm going to come back to address what you, from a Shotokan perspective, view as "sloppy and weak", as the entire focus of Shorin Ryu and Shotokan are like totally different. In a nutshell, Shorin Ryu doesn't 1. "generally" train for a one punch knockout (seldom happens that way in a real fight) 2. train to put their entire body into a techique. 3. And what you consider sloppy, weak stances in Shorin Ryu are done that way intentionally because Shorin Ryu is a fast moving, VERY mobile system that incorporates "body change" (or change of body) in nearly every technique taught. I'm retired now due to joint issues, but practiced Shorin Ryu for some 30 years, and taught the system for 26 of those. I trained with Sensei Kuda Yuichi and several other high ranking and respected sensei's of the system. I don't know who you're learning Shorin Ryu from now (or in the past?), but as in all systems, there are good instructors..and not so good instructors. Maybe the one you're working with isn't the best? *YAWN*...what started out ot be a quick, short response ended up a bit longer than I wanted to in my tired condition, but I hope it made some sense.

Wow..Kalispell? lol Now this is funny...as I moved OUT of Kalispell to Spokane, WA at the end of Feb, 2008..and i taught Shorin Ryu in Kalispell (and Columbia Falls) from 1985-2005. I quit teaching because of knee and back issues. I have several students in the kalispell area, including a Sandan, but as far as I know they all quit training when I quit teaching. Finding an Okinawan school ANYWHERE is not easy, as it's not nearly as prolific as some systems out there.

1 on 1 with anybody more knowledgable than yourself is always a good thing. That turning on your heal insted of the ball of your foot concerns me...can you share more about that?

First time in this forum in a long, long time. I agree with the above...anybody that practices karate is considered a karateka imo.

My 4th Dan test consisted of a single 7th Dan, and his class, asking me questions and performing that which he asked of me. it took all of maybe 25-30 minutes.

AGREED!!!

You will do what you are taught.

I'm in 100% agreement with this!

I also do Shoring Ryu Matsumura Seito, but under the late Kuda Yuichi's teachings, not Sensei Kise's. There are differences. Both were students of the late OSensei Soken Hohan and chose different paths after OSensei died.

Never...however,I'm getting old so I tend to doze off now and then...does that count?

We use a "minimum time period" before testing as a general rule, but not necessarily set in stone. The tiem period isn't juyst there for your annoyance or to force you to stay in, it's there so that you get "seasoned" in a belt and allows time for you and your body/mind to get used to new movements and materials you've learned. \ If belt progression was gauged solely on your ability to successfully pass a kata test, then most martial artists with experience in other systems could progress rather quickl;y in any system. Take mtyself for instance. witgh 30+ years in the arts, if I joined another system and only learned their kata to progress, but not their philosophy or why they do things the way that they do, I could conseivably progress to black belt in a few months with kata alone. Would that be right? Absolutely NOT!

Any instructor gets asked the "When do I get my next promotion?" question. It's to be expected. I simply tell them they will get promoted when I think they are ready for it...not before. Each and every one of my students knows what they need to work on, whether to learn or to improve. When they are ready, they get promoted.

Geeze guy (gal?)..if it's such a burden in your life...QUIT!!!

Agreed.

I have no problems with anyone coming into my class, as long as they are respectful and behave themselves. I had a guy that was just passing thru on his way somewhere else and saw my dojo and popped in. He said he was a shodan in something-or-other system and asked if he could dress out and work out with us. I had him sign a release form (yeah I know) and he joined the class. He was quite good and limber, but didn't know our drills and system, but gave a good effort. He told me he was mostly into tournaments and asked if we sparred. So we switched to that aspect of the class (I thought it would be fun to spar with someone outside the dojo for a change). Well, this guy basically made me look like a novice beginner in sparring! Come to find out, he was a nationally ranked competitor that attended some 30 tournamebnts a year and he was on his way to one Man, this guy was FAST! All he did was spar, and he'd been at it for about 20 years at that point. I don't remember his name (over 20 years ago) but he was a nice guy and wasquite impressive in sparring.

No FB, no website...nada, zilch and nope! lol

I charged $40/month for 2, two hour classes/week. Works out to about $2.50/hour.or $5/class

I've had the oppoprtunity to work with several top notch Shotokan sensei, and believe me, there are HUGE differences between the two systems. Nothing that can't be overcome with a lot of effort, but you'll have to relearn your entire way of thibnking, from stances to blocks, kicks to strikes, and just moving your body from Popint A to Point B is different. If you can make the adjustment, I think you're goibng to absolutely LOVE Shorin Ryu.

Speed without accuracy is going to be inefficient and inaccurate, but also having accuracy but not the speed to get into the target isn't going to work either. You need both.

1. A 6 year old testing for 5th Kyu? BAH! It's a sure sign of a Belt Factory/McDojo IMO. 2. I don't test a student until I know they can pass, so few fail. But to actually fail while doing the test? Nope...sorry, you failed!

Methodology...it's a wonderful thing. Our knife hand waza's are quite compact; no big wind-ups or the like. Everything in Shindokan is kept compact as our Tuite requires it. Shortest path between two points is a straight line. Same as Shorin Ryu...short, compact, strike, grab or block, all done the same.

I'm not sure what you mean by brand management, stuck in the past or no meaniful purpose, but I'm pretty sure that all of these applied to me when I had a commercial school. I advertised when I first started, with no results to make it worthwhile doing again. I abhor contracts, but see the purpose in them. Website? HA! Define brand management please. I got inb the phoebn book the 2nd year I was open...VERY expensive for a businbess, abnd I found it not to be worthwhile. What is #8?

I ran a commercial school for 3 years back in the late 80's and charged $40/mo for classes. My rent was $300/mo in a small, 1200 sq ft run down buildinbg in a run down part of town. I did ok during the school year, but classes dwindled to nothing in the summer time. I didn't use contracts, advertised primarily word-of-mouth and tried hard to keep expenses at a minimum. I didn't pay for insurance at the suggestion of my lawyer as he looked over my release of liabilkity form and told me as long as it was expressed, and not implied that injury could occur, the onkly way they could "successfully" sue me was to claim negligance and prove it. In the 30+ years of teaching, I have never even heard of a sensei getting sued, let alone successful at it