Montana

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.

Well Grasshopper, hee's a little known fact that a lot of people don't know. Blocks aren't always blocks. They're more often strikes. In my chosen system, what you see as a basic block, is a block and counter strike simultanously. You don't usually learn that right away because people tend to forget the block part and go right to the strike. Remember, katas weren't developed by beginners. There are lots of things (called bunkai) in kata that it takes a long, long time to fully understand.

Yandan (4th degree) in Shorin Ryu Matsumura Kenpo 3rd Dan in Tae Kwon do (Honorary, I've never taken one class in it) Long story.

Ooooohhh, you guys are gonna hate me! lol OK, when I was working up the kyu ranks, our first few tests were about demonstrating the basics. Blockes, kicks, and punches, then doing one kata. Not perfect, but competently for the belt you were testing for. The higher the rank, the better it needed to be. No exercises, no papers. Unless you fell on yoru face, you pretty much were going to pass. Higher kyus get tougher. More kata, self defense techniques and kata. usually 2-3 kata, pme new one that is for your testing level, and 1-2 from your past, picked randomly by the testing sensei. Black belt testing was pretty much the same, but VERY picky on good technique, speed, power, balance, etc. I had to do 3 kata in front of the head of the system, Master Kuda Yuichi. But you know what, I didn't even know I was TESTING! It was just a normalk class, Sensen Kuda asked each student in turn to stand up, do this or that, then sat down. BOOM! I got my shodan! I taught and tested my own students for over 25 years, pretty much the same way my sensei did it, until the last 10-12 years or so. I started stressing students that they are tested EVERY SINGLE DAY while they were in class. The test started at the bow in, and the bow out. They were beign tested on speed, power, strength, accuracy, knowledge, attitude, skill, etc. Of course, like most ogf us, you ask your sensei "When will I test?" I just told them you're being tested today, and the next, etc. Now, my actualy tests went liek this. I, watchign them every class, have determined that they have reached the nest bell level thru their efforts, so I would stop class, have the students sit on the sides, call whatever student up and have them show me something they've been struggling with, and their current kata. When they wee done, I would bow to them, and hand them their next belt and certificate. Easy Peasy. Who knows better that their ready than their sensei that sees them training?

I'll just put in my $.02 here for the heck of it. I taught Shorin Ryu Karate & Kobudo classes for over 25 years, mostly in schools, basements, gyms, etc. Not once did I ever have insurance, business license or anything else other than a certificate of rank on the wall. I've had the opportunity thru those years to talk to many, many different sensei from many different systems. Some taught commercially, most taught as I did. Not one of those sensei, nor my superiors/instructors, have even ever heard of anybody being sued because of a martial arts related injury. Not ONE! I have a release of liability that specifically states that they, or their parents, fully understand that tey are entering an activity that has the potential to get them hurt. Before they begin their first class, I sit them down and explain that they will be attacking other students, and be attacked by other students. They can get hurt! In 25 years, a few brokent noses and teeth knocked out, knees damaged, etc, not one person has ever threatened to take legal action on myself, or my school. I realizw laws vary from state to state, country to country, but this has been my experiences.

Just another observation. Many of you are saying "more hips". We also do Chinto in Shorin Ryu, but we don't put hips into anything. Punches, kicks, blocks, etc. No hips. Why (you ask?) Because twisting your hips over commits your techniques. Sure, it adds power to them, but if they miss their mark it leaves you vulnerable to a counter strike. Anyway, about the kata itself, as a 25+ year tournament judge/referee, I'd say that is a solid kata, good technique, but needs a bit more power. I don't agree that waiting until 2 weeks prior to the tournament to start adding power. You have the technique, use the power NOW! My opinion. Wow, first post in a couple of years! lol

100% agree! Dillman is a fraud. His claims of learning all the "secret techniques" from Soken Hohan are totally false. Dillman met OSensei Soken in a motel room for a few hours along with one of OSensei's top students, Sensei Kise. They talked for about an hour, then OSensei and Kise left. According to Sensei Kise, No training happened, and they left with a feeling of disguest for Dillman. This comes from students of Sensei Kise that I have trained with.

Due to living in a small town in North Central Montana and not having the financial resources to travel to Seattle or Minneapolis to train with higher Sensei, I stayed a Shodan for 9 YEARS! I didn't care about rank, I just wanted to LEARN! I finally came into contact with a 4th dan in my system, Sensei Greg Ohl, and took the train to Minnesota and trained with him for a weekend. He said I had stayed true to the art in what I was doing and gave me my Nidan. That sparked me to save my $'s and travel to Seattle a few years later and train with the visiting head of the system, whereas I got my Sandan. Quite a few years later I received my Yandan, then shortly afterwards my journey ended with physical issues that prevent me from continuing. Rank shouldn't be your goal. Learning and improving is.

First of all, this depends on the system you ware in and their rules about this. From my own personal experience, I was a shodan when my sensei moved to another state (this was in 1979). I was allowed to promote up to 1st kyu because my sensei knew I was a picky bugger and wouldn't promote someone unless they deserved it. For myself, because of where I lived and with limited resources ($$$'s) to travel to train with higher ranks, I stayed at shodan for 9 YEARS. When I did manage to scrape up the money to travel to train with a 6th dan in Minnesota, he promoted me to nidan, but actually wanted me to skip to sandan because he said I was at that level in his opinion, but didn't feel that was the right thing to do. I was perfectly fine with it. 2 years later I did get to travel again to Seattle and trained with the head of our system, and did get my sandan from him. it was another 8 years before I received my yandan, then I was forced to quit shortly afterwards. I understand that a beginner wants that coveted black belt, but rank really shouldn't be a goal in the arts. Learning and perfecting is the most important.

IMHO, if you're training/learning totally online, without a partner to practice techniques on, you're wasting your time (and money). You learn the moves, but you're not getting the experiences of someone actually attacking you to see how the technique works. Without a qualified teacher to critique you, how do you know your doing techniques flawlessly? You may think you are, but ... IMHO, if you're getting certification from some online course, it's only worth the paper it's printed on. I had a guy come into my dojo years ago claiming he had an 8th Dan in karate. being ever the skeptical person I am I asked a few obvious questions, like "What system?" He didn't know. "Sensei's name?" He didn't know. I said "How can you become an 8th dan and not know the name of the system or your sensei?" He said it was online and took him ALMOST a year to get the rank. I asked him to show me a kata, he had no idea what that was. He did show me some stances and blocks, but they were very, very sad, slow and weak. His punch would have broken his wrist and hand, his kicks lacked any semblance of power or control, and he stood with straight legs. I asked him why he was there and he told me he wanted to be an instructor at my school. (I'm trying really hard not to laugh through all this). I asked him if he knew any of our katas, of course he didn't. Asked him to show me blocks, not even close. Philosophy? Nope. After about 45 minutes I sent him on his way with a little lesson on taking online course. I told him he's going to get himself killed if he started telling everybody he was an 8th dan black belt, because eventually somebody was going to challenge him and he was going to get a severe beating. I did offer to let him into my class as long as he NEVER mentioned his 8th dan or online training again. He left and I never saw him again.

How would I deal with it? Easy...LET THEM GO! If a student wants easy rank, and that's not what your thing (it's sure not mine!)..then they shouldn't be there anyway. LET THEM GO! Perhaps after a few weeks, months or maybe years, they will realize their mistake and come back...or not.

If you are a novice and have no background in the arts, you won't know what you're looking at in EITHER schools by watching a class, or talking to the instructors/students. See if both will give you soem free classes and go with which feels better to you. As for the instructor being the most import, I disagree with that statement, and always have. Yes, a good instructor is vital and very important, but there are some systems that are inheriently flawed IMO and nothing more than ineffective moving around the floor. You'd have a better chance of learning martial arts at a country western dance class IMO.

To be completely honest here..I haven't a clue about anybody in the fighting circuit, UFC or whatever. I don't follow any of it. Would I face them? Sure..depending on the distance from them, I assume I get my choice of weapons? And calibre?

I can't speak for Europe or its financing options (USA here), but I've bought sonme 25+ cars, trucks and SUV's over the past 45 years and one thing I learned is..DON'T BUY A NEW CAR! Why? Well, you'll take a major hit in depreciation the first couple of years. An example: My wife and I bought a very nice 2004 Saab 93 Arc (convertible) last summer. New, the car listed for $44,000! I paid $6,000 for it with less than 100,000 miles on it. It runs GREAT, gets good gas mileage (28-30 combined MPG), has a 2.0 engine with a TURBO that you'd swear was a V8 under the hood when you step on it. All the bells and whistles, etc. Why pay $44,000 and watch your money fly out of the exhaust pipe! BTW, we liked the car so much, we bought a 2006 Saab 93 Arc 6 months later. Total car count in the garage is 6 now..down from 8 last spring..lol.

Self-confidence

Shorin Ryu, the tuite is very similar to aikido techniques.

Of the choices listed, Shorin Ryu is the oldest (actually, 2nd). The oldest being Okinawan Te, which is still found, but rarely.

Good question' date=' if a dojo charges for testing fees. Does that student still get charged each time? What if it takes the student 20 times? Do they keep paying each time?[/quote] I don't charge testing fees. I was never into it for the money.

What if they don't pass?? There have been just a couple of times that the student didn't pass for one reason or the other, but it is rare. I changed my testing methods quite a few years ago and no longer formally test students. When they are where I want them to be now, I just hand them a certificate at the end of class and tell them to go buy the next belt..lol.