Montana

There are many reason IMO that an age requirement needs to be in place for Dan levels. Firstly, IMO of course, I feel a Dan level rank signifies that the holder can take over any aspect of a class and teach it to others if required. This includes kata, self-defense techniques, full/medium or light contact sparring, warm-ups, etc. This is one (of many) reasons I object to 6-14 year old black belts. Secondly, I feel that it takes time to "season" a person after a promotion. Meaning they need to mature into that new belt level and continue to train harder for improvement in speed, technique, strength, etc. That takes time. If all you had to do was learn and test on new kata, then it is conceivable that a person could be a very high Dan rank in a very short amount of time.

My thoughts EXACTLY! It's "Karate" Kid, not KungFu Kid..

Everybody's definition is going to be different. Personally, it represents work done and a specific level of skill. Again, my prsonal opinion is that a black belt holder "should" be able to handle themselves in a fight against the majority of the people he/she should encounter on the street, and should also be able to handle themselves against multiple attackers and attackers with most weapons (guns don't count obviously). Because this is how I define it, I am against children attaining black belts. There's no way a child of 6-14 can handle themselves against an adult...period! Well, there has to be SOMEONE that can teach, and criteria that allows them to determine whether or not a person has the skills and knowledge to teach. When I started my training in January of 1975 after a stint in the military, a black belt was pretty rare to see. Now, half the grade schools kids have them! Pretty pathetic if you ask me. I think a black belt is pretty meaningless now.

I also agree!

That's basically how I've been testing kyu ranks for the past 25 years or so. Dan tests are a bit more formal, but not bad.

I've taught karate classes in two different health clubs where we had the opportunity to do karate training ibn the pools, and it's GREAT! The water resistence gives you a great workout when practicing kicks, punches and blocks. The best way to do it IMO is to have everybody wear sweat shits and pants (clean of course) as the added weight really makes those muscles burn in a short while, yet you remain cool. I had everybody get in the pool so that the water was up to their necks and we went through the basic blocks, kicks and punches, just like we do every class, then started working on combinations. Everybody had a GREAT time and everybody was really tired at the end of an hour class. I whole heartedly recommend this type of training when possible.

I think that depends on the instructor, type of students you have (all beginners or a mixture of belts), ages of the students, etc.

Bo Jo Niton Bo Sai Kama Tonfa Nunchaku Cane (my personal favorite) Plus we will attempt to use any everyday item a students brings in a self-defense way.

They're going to be out camping, and they're eating LOBSTER TAIL??? Where's the steaks and burgers??? RV's? *tsk* OK, here's my opinion of this...not knowing how much they're charging for this seminar, I'd bet it's VERY expensive though, I'd guess that this is just another case of "Let the Buyer Beware!"

The first class I taught on my own as a new shodan (just 3 months) was in the Fall of 1974 in a small farm town in Northcentral Montana. It consisted of 27 junior/senior high school students. None of my new students had any prior experience in any form of the martial arts, and it was interesting...to say the least! After 3 months or so, I had students that were able to take new students to the side and teach them the basic blocks, kicks, stances, punches, etc, which freed me up to teach the rest of the class. There were times that I also was unable to attend the class and had to cancel on short notice. I made it clear to my students that this would be rare, but would happen sometimes and that we would schedule a makeup class sometime within a month to make it up. It was never a problem. As for teaching a class by yourself, well, I've had classes of well over 50 students and I was the only instructor. You have to intermix your more experienced students among your newer students so that they can help them as you go along. It works very well, as most people are more than willing to help others. If you can't handle 15 students, my suggestion would be to take no new students and the class will eventually decrease in size for one reason or the other, until you have a class size that you're comfortable with. That, or split the class into two groups (not recommended) that train at different times.

Well, since I don't have a facebook account (I know, probably the only person on the planet that doesn't have one...and doesn't WANT one!)...I couldn't see the vid's. Maybe next time.

I've had a number of instructors from "make it up as you go" schools inquire about joining my class. My problem with that is that they will take what I teach them and integrate it into their own class for their own students. That just sort of rubs me the wrong way. I teach somethign to them, they barely have a grasp of how it works and why, but they take it and teach it to their students. From a students perspective, if I knew my sensei was taking classes from someone other than his own sensei or someone with more knowledge in the same art, I would be concerned as to why. My thoughts would be somethign like "Is my instructor, or the system he teaches, so weak that he needs additional training in another system to mnake his stronger?" Personally, I'd probably look elsewhere for training, as this sort of thing doesn't instill confidence in my sensei.

I agree with sensei8, but there is one aspect that comes to mind where a rolled up magazine makes an effective striking weapon.. *SMACK!* BAD DOG!

How about some info on your martial arts background would be helpful, and your goals in opening a dojo. For fun, or to make a living? I've done both.

The wrist should begin its rotation late in the technique so that it is still in the process of rotating when it makes contact..the more rotation it is doing when it makes contact, the better. And here's a difference in systems, but at the end of the punch (our punch anyway), the elbow is still pointing downwards, not out...which makes your elbow less vulnerable to getting injured. Starting the roation to early means the fist can be totally rotated by the time it makes contact with its target, thereby losing any advantage you've gained by rotatinbg the fist. Starting the rotation to late isn't good either, as you'll make contact with the fist and transfer that power to your opponent and his body will be moving backwards while you are losing contact with your fist...essentially, there would be no advantage to the rotation.

In this age of belt factories, 8 (or younger) year old balck belts and 20-somethign year old "masters", I don't feel that a black belt means nearly what it did in the '60's and '70's. When I got my first BB in 1978 from the head of the system, I joined a rather elite group of individuals in the US that attained that rank "legitimately", and to this day the vast majority of sensei that are testing their students in THIS system still maintain a very high level of standards to reach that level. In my own dojo, I have been teaching since the Fall of 1978 and have promoted only 3 people to black belt. It's not that I'm a task master and hard core, but rather I seek that unique individual that is going to impress upon me their willingness and desire to rise above the average individual in the work ethic, training, diligence and perseverence to meet the standards that I set for my students. My own sensei has only promoted 2 others to black belt when he retired from the arts in 1980. Today, there are dojo's that promote students to black belt in as little as a year, master level in 5. Total crap if you ask me. And child black belts...BAH! They can have it! An exceptional student can realistically attain their black belt in this system in as little as 3 years, but very few are willing to do the work that needs to be done for it. The 3 people that I've promoted to BB were dedicated and worked hard inside, and outside of the class. They earned it.

Sincew we never do head kicks (unless you're on your knees maybe?), we use the cresent kick primarily as a sweep to the ankle or knee region.

Ummm, I don't think so. I'm very familiar with the "Issinryu punch", as we've been doing that same punch for about 200+ years now in our kata and in our techniques. We just do use it as exclusively as Issinryu does. As for it being faster...not a chance. Each punch is used for a different situation and application. I wouldn't say either is faster, just different. I've fought against them, and frankly, there was little or no difference in sparring them than most other similar systems. The punch made no difference what so ever IMO. I think you're listening to to much propoganda. This is in no way meant to be derogatory, as given the opportunity, I wouldn't mind cross training in Issinryu myself...which with 35 years in my own system, is meant as a compliment. There aren't many systems that I would consider cross training in. Two actually, now thaat I think of it...the other being Aikido.

Teaching Shotokan...for $1190.95 year. Essential;ly $100/mo..which for me sounds darn expensive..bit I guess you get the health club "atmosphere"..so if that's what you like, might be OK.

The "corkscrew" punch basically hurts more when you hit someone in a fleshy area of the body or jaw because it "screws" in somewhat and twists the skin as it does because the twist comes at the very end of the punch and is still "twisting" when it makes impact. It also has to do with positioning of the arm when you punch and if you over-rotate the "screw" you can go actually go around some blocks and still hit your target, which you can't do with the Isshinryu punch. It's easier to demonstrate than it is to explain.

We do both full contact sparring and light to medium sparring. Our full contact sparring utilizes bogu gear, similar to kendo armor (see link: http://www.kushu.com/bogu.htm for example), but different. Full contact is allowed to the face and sides of the head, and full contact to the torso except the back. The groin is always a viable target regardless of the type of sparring we do, buut obviously light contact only. The head is also always a target (stupid to not be if you ask me) for both hands and feet, although we never do head kicks in this system.

My students and parents know me well enough that they (or their child) will get a promotion when they are ready for it...not before. I have one adult that has been on the same brown belt (ikkyu) for over 8 years and should be a Nidan by now. He's probably one of the hardest workers with the best attendance record in the dojo..but he just has these two things he has problems with...getting his katas right and his control. He, and everybody else in the class, knows where they're at and what they need to improve or know before advancing to the next belt. I make that very clear to them frequently.

There aren't really any rules about belt stripes in the system I study, except not to over do the "decorations" of your gi/belt...such as tons of patches and such. We keep it pretty simple. I have 4 stripes on one end of my belt.

I've been testing that way since about 1983 or so, but I don't hand anybody their belt, I hand them a rank certificate instead and make them get their own belt.

Since the mid 1970's there have been more "masters" of the martial arts in ANY single major American city (New York, LA, Chicago, etc) than there are in the entire orient! Bunch of bunk if you ask me. That's one reason I like the art I'm in so much...very little of that sort of thing going on.