Montana

Am curious about this - from the description it sounds very like a 'question mark kick'. Is it the same kick in execution of if not i am curious how it differs - always good to learn some new techniques I have no idea what a question mark kick is. Like I said, come up to the knee first straight out like you'd be doing a front snap kick, then twist the leg so it roundhouses to the persons knee, side, stomach, etc.

I had to reach out to other sensei within my chosen system to learn, as my sensei moved out of state abruptly and left our class hanging. I was one year as a shodan at the time. I was in a small town (12,000 people) in north central Montana with limited financial resources and I was pretty much on my own with the remnants of my sensei's class. I found a 4th dan sensei that my sensei knew in Minnesota and took the train there to work with him for a weekend. He literally changed EVERYTHING that I had learned. After about 2 years I heard of a sensei in Texas that was a 7th dan, contacted him and we talked several times over the phone (pre-internet days). He sent me 3 VHS tapes with some GREAT stuff, and changed EVERYTHING back to the way I originally did it! boy, was I PO'D! Then I heard of a 6th dan in Seattle and he was hosting a weekend seminar for the head of our system, so I drove there to attend that. I did this twice over a 6 year period. I was pretty desperate if I wanted to continue in my system.

Depending on how your opponent is standing and what area you are going to be striking, all of the stated weapons are options. One thing I'd like to point out about Shorin Ryu vs other systems that I've seen over the years is the way we execute a roundhouse kick. Most systems I've seen telegraph the kick really badly. It leaves the floor and arch's around in a wide circle. Ours does it differently. Envision: How do you do a front snap kick? Whether front leg or back, it "should" come up to the knee first then forward to contact, right? Our roundhouse does the same thing. It comes up to the knee first, THEN starts it's curved path to it's target. To your opponent, it appears to be a front snap kick coming at you, until it curves over/past your front snap kick defense and gets you. I've pulled this on karate, TKD, TSD, Kempo and a variety of other disciplines and it usually surprises them because it's deceptive as hell! Try it and let me know how it goes.

The 5 Swords is pretty much the same as we'd do, however, more likely we'd use ONE hand to block the punch by stepping inside the punch and simultaneously as throwing your block you'd be throwing a punch to either the face or the solar plexus. Followed up by other punches, kick to the groin/knee, etc. We tend to like to shift to the side, as Kempo does, then move inside an opponents attack and counter. Sorry, no videos.

Your students are your best advertisement. Word of mouth.

My original sensei charged a whopping $30/month for the first couple of years. He taught in his living room of a 1 bedroom duplex. When he bought a house he had a small single car garage that we insulated and tossed old carpets on the floor (it was in Montana and the winters are COOOOOLD!) After a year or so he decided to teach for free because he had a good job and didn't need the money. Our small class of about 15 students dropped the first month down to maybe 10, the next month down to about 7. What we found out is that if people don't have anything invested ($$$) in their training, most put no value in it. Personally, I loved it because I was a poor college student! lol I taught in many different locations, but my favorite was in my basement when I had full control, no rent, easy access, etc. I liked a small class and had around 15 students, which was good. Quality over quantity.

EXACTLY!

If he's Shorin Ryu, we don't use hips to generate power. Just an FYI. If I was testing him for a dan rank and he used hips, he'd fail. What's the reasoning behind this, if you don't mind me asking. I generate power in my techniques using my hips, so that's why I'm curious. Using your hips in punches and kicks does generate more power, but it also throws your weight off balance or can leave you exposed if you miss. We generate out power in Shorin Ryu Matsumura Seito (we call it Kenpo now) with speed and technique. Balance is stable, and if you miss you're still stable. Tomato-tomatoe

AGREED! You'll do what you practice. It's ok to take it slow and easy while you're getting comfortable with the movements, but once you have them, I, as your sensei, expect to see the speed and power that's supposed to be there.

If he's Shorin Ryu, we don't use hips to generate power. Just an FYI. If I was testing him for a dan rank and he used hips, he'd fail.

I started my Shorin Ryu Matsumura Seito journey in January 1975 under Sensei Denny Miller. I tested and received my shodan from Sensei Kuda Yuichi in June, 1978 on his first trip to America. The katas I learned from Sensei Miller and Sensei Kuda were Pinan 1-5 Nahachin 1-3 Passai Sho and Dai Chinto Now, I have never met Sensei Alexander nor worked with any of his people. I understand from others that have that he is very arrogant and a "know-it-all" kind of guy, so I wouldn't get along with him anyway. Years ago I bought a few of his basic kata tapes to share with my students for their home studies, but found them flawed and very poor quality, and returned them to him. In order to return them, I called the number from ordering and spoke directly to Sensei Alexander. He accused me of copying the tapes and trying to rip him off, which I didn't do. I explained to him that his students doing the kata, IMO, were sloppy and not very good, and that really set him off on a rant! lol So anyway, my opinions on Sensei Alexander aren't that he is an authority on Matsumura Seito.

I got the belt a few days ago, exactly as I ordered it. no complaints other than the website was a bit misleading on how fast it was supposed to arrive. it was a custom order, so I guess that's what took the extra time. I'm happy.

the belt is supposed to be here today, but of course, it's not. They did send me tracking info, and as of right now, that info says: "Moving Through Network In Transit to Next Facility" Soooo, there it is.

Agreed. I got a tracking number today, so apparently it's on it's way. It was a waste of $10 doing faster shipping IMO.

We'd do about the same thing, but with balance. That guy is soooo off balance I'm surprised he didnt fall down! Also, being off balance, he's losing most of his power. He'll hit the guy, then he will fall backwards.

OK, FINALLY got a response. The belt ships out next Monday.

Hi all. I have a problem. I ordered a new belt with custom embroidery on May 24th. I paid an additional $10 for faster shipping as I had an event coming up. I "should" have gotten the belt by easily the end of May, and it's June 2nd now. I've called the company 3 times, but nobody answers. I get a message that says "Nobody's available to take your call now, please leave a message and we'll call you back". No call back yet. I've also left a message on their "Contact us" page of their website. Again, 3 times. And again, no response yet. Generally they have good reviews that I've found, but you sure can't tell from my experience with them. My bank says the funds have been taken out for the belt ($55)

I don't mean to start a flame war, but to which groups do you refer when you say they have bastardized the style? A legitimate question: I mean where sensei start to change the system dramatically. In this instance, some Shorin Ryu sensei start adding breaking into the system, which Shorin Ryu doesn't do (traditionally). Kicks higher than the belt are also not in the system, nor flying, spinning, flashy garbage crap.

I understand that, it just seemed, after a 15 year absense, that what I was seeing was really, really bad, including from the sensei's. Total lack of power and good technique. There were a lot of people doing "sword" kata. Horrible was the first thing that came to mind.

I'm retired now due to medical reasons, but I was a student of Shorin Ryu Matsumura Kenpo under that late Kuda Yuichi. Although I only competed once in a tournament, I enjoyed judging and refereeing them for over 25 years. I judged empty hand kata, weapons, just about everything except breaking (buncha crap IMO). Last month I had an opportunity to judge again at an open tournament locally, and boy, was I DISAPPOINTED in what I was seeing! There were a few really good (IMO) martial artists with great technique, but I'd say that 90% of what I was seeing, whether student or sensei, SUCKED! No power, bad stances, sloppy, SLOPPY technique, and just plain incompetence! Are the arts dead???

The way it was explained to me was this (for Shorin Ryu anyway). Students wear all white gi until they get their Shodan. At that point they can wear either black pants/white jacket, or black jacket/white pants. ONLY the head sensei can wear all black in the dojo. Why? Dont know. Now, I taught for a long time, students always wore whitye, I wore whatever I liked. For years I had students askign if they could wear black, I always said no. Then maybe my last 10 years of teaching I got to think "What difference does it really make?", so I announced that aybody could wear black, or white gi. No mixing. I sold a heck of a lot of black gi's that week!

I studied Matsumura Seito as taught by Sensei Kuda Yuichi for about 20 years, then Sensei Kuda made some minor changes to differentiate what we were doing from some others that were really bastardizing OSensei's Seito.

I was at shodan for NINE YEARS! No, it's not because I'm slow, but rather because I lived so far away from anybody in my system that could teach me, or test me. I didn't have the time or money to travel all over the world and train/test. It was GREAT when video cameras came out so I coukld send videos to higher ups and get their help. I did take me 9 years to eventually scrape together a train ticket to Minnesota and tain with a 6th Dan that tested me for Nidan. 4 years later for Sandan in Seattle.

There is a slight twisting of the torso during the double punch to either side.

There's Okinawan Karate, Japanese Karate, Korean Karate, American Karate, African Karate, etc. Pick a country, they have their own ideas of "karate" But historically, Karate, as an organised system, began in Okinawa. Funikoshi took it to Japan (Shotokan), Japan took it to Korea (TKD), yadda yadda yadda. In each case, it was a watered down version of the origional. Shotokan developed from Okinawan karate, but only took the hard elements, adapted it to the Japanese mindset of more disciplined and warrior like. Wehn it went to Korea they added a native system into the Shotokan that emphasised more kicking, less hands. Each country took what they saw as good from a system, discarded the rest, then made changes to it to make it their own.