KU

Well this is just the tradition that has been instilled in me by my sensai, you do tend to have a great deal of respect for that black belt when you get it. Just a tip when you first get your belt to stop the colour running out, try soaking it in a dilute vinegar solution (1:5) for a few days, this should lock in the colour. I wouldn’t do it to one of my belts (I like to keep them as traditional as possible) but I know people who have and it works quite well.

It’s only a belt, it is only as important as you make it. If you feel it isn’t disrespectful to wash your belt then of course your going to wash it and vice versa. Everyone has there own traditions that they uphold, but it doesn’t really matter as long as you do what you think is right. Personally I would never wash any of my belts (the only time my belt goes in the water is when we do water training), I don’t sit down whilst wearing it (in a chair I mean) and I always go to one knee or into sieza when I take it off. All other times it is folded into eighths (unless it’s hanging out to dry). Obviously I’m very respectful of my belt but that’s just me.

Our dojo is the same as many we start by teaching the first 3 taikyokus and then move on to the 5 heians. I have been shown 21 diferent forms of the kata taikyoku but it would take too long to list them all (honesty I can't remember them all). The only difference between each one is that a different block and strike is used in each different kata, so really you could make up 100's of different taikyoku katas using all the different techniques.

We have a massive party that lasts all day (for the kids) and into most of the night for those of us older karateka.

Are you talking a mechanical weapon.

As lead is soft you could make lengths of lead a little longer then the width of the suburito and burr them over like rivits ( but this might look a bit ugly). A bit of wood filler over the ends of some shorter lengths should do the trick as well. As long as the holes Perpindicular to the motion of the swing (as justb said) the lead souldn't need too much to hold it in.

It's all in the wording. Each man pays $10- total $30 Bell hop gives each man back $1. Therefor each man really pays $9 each- total $27 Bell hop takes $2 Now you are asked where the xtrea $1 went when you go $27 + $2 = $29, but that is actualy the wrong sum to be doing. The $2 (given to the bell hop) is part of the total ($27) paid by the men. eg $25 (room) + $2 (bell hop) = $27. The $3 differance between the initial $30 and the final $27 is the $3 that was given back to the three men by the bell hop. So $25 (room) + $2 (bell hop) + $3(refund)= $30. See theres no mathimatical trick its all in the wording, the question they ask you is actualy a fulse question that has nothing to do with it. I hope this maks sence I'm almost positive that it's right.

G'day mate!!

I think you have to look at it on a case by case basis it is your job as a teacher to ensure your students progress, so if a student needs to be told he is doing good then do so (for people lacking self-confidence) or if they need to be punished do that. The only problem occurs if you appear to be favouring one student by praising them up and wiping down another, so you must be discrete in handing out praise.

I like it, the thought of a 125147574 dan it quite a scary one. But what you have said is very true there are a lot of people around more worried about how many gold tips they have on there belt then putting all that they have into there training. Then again if that’s what they want. Anyway back to the topic at hand, I would have to say I totally disagree with freestyler (IMO of course), it showed a lack of a fundamental understanding of traditional karate (as many of the people above have said). You talked about hands on hips, stances and sparing as being basically a waste of time as they had not real fighting application, well at a basic level this may be true as the understanding of what your actually doing isn’t great. However, at a more advanced level the real fighting application of these things becomes quite obvious. They are simply the foundation of good karate, no I wouldn’t try fighting from a horse stance but basic stances give you the ability to place your feet anywhere in a fight and still be on balance (you can’t always stand in a standard fighting stance). A real fight is very unpredictable and it is these basic thing that prepare you for any situation. You also talked about lower grades practicing basic techniques too fast, well I personally haven’t seen too many places where this is encouraged (maybe you have) the whole point of basics is so lower grades can get the technique right before the attempt to apply speed to it, (in some cases speed is to lower grade technique to try and loosen them up as lower grades have a tendency to get very tence). I don’t know if you have done much training in traditional karate (I’m talking years), maybe you should if you want to understand why traditional karate contains these elements.

Well I'm 21 (and lov'n it) I started before I was even a teenager so my training life has gone through many different stages. I do think that my training is different (maybe better) to when I was around 15-16, but this isn't just due to my age it would be more due to the time I have put into traning.

Good to see someone getting back into training after a break, I know a lot of people that have tryed and found it too hard. Hope you have more luck Gumbutte ne!!! P.S welcome

I'm not going to change a thing I like the direction my life is going, so if it an't broke don't fix it

I understand what your trying to say. Does it really matter what kind of person Funakoshi was I personally think he knew what he was talking about and that's all that matters to me. As long as your enjoying training in shotokan and you find it forfiling why worry about it.

The way I see it what is winning or losing what's the difference between them, is the winner the one at the top of the podeum at the end of the day, he may have betten everyone but he may be disapointed with his preformance so even though he was the winner he still lost. The same is also true in reverse. So I revert to a saying everyone will know "It doesn't matter if you win or lose it's how you play the game". So just play the game whatever it may be and don't worry about attaching a tag to your preformance winner, loser, good ,bad. As far as fear in concerned as someone up further said the only way to over come your fear of doing anything is to face it.

I think the point of this exercise is to show that you don't need to use muscles to be strong, to maintain that relaxed feeling and still have an unbendable arm. With exercises like this it is very hard to tell someone how to do it, everyone has a different way inwhich they project there energy you just have to find yours. At first it maybe good to think about resisting the force aganst your arm and then eventualy you may find it has become automatic and you can resist the force on your arm without thinking about it. Things like this take years to even start working.

Too right as long as the student is enjoying what they are doing whatever that may be that's all that really matters.

As a sufferer of extremly bad coordination I can say that it wont really matter, as SaiFightsSM said you may progress slower but if your looking to improve your coordination MA's is the way to go, I'd still be a terrible un-co if I hadn't started MA's. You will find once you build up your selfconfidance you will also build up your coordination.

I know it's not on the list(that's just a guess as I can't seem to bring up the link to the poll) but if it was an olympic event (it wasn't last time I checked) I would have to say Kendo. Some would say it's boring and slow but I just think it's intence gets my heart pumping any way.

In one of the other topics I gave this advice. "If your looking for fast effective self defense knockouts simple is always best, a palm heal strike to the forehead along with all the strength, adrenaline and vocal spirit you can muster is a sure fire way to knockout ever the biggest aggressor." This is a relativly safe way to knock someone although all knock out techniques have there risks. I wouldn't use it in sparring but for self defence I'll give it a money back guarantee.

I guess you could argue that by teaching the teacher is also learning at the same time, you can find out so much about a technique just from showing someone else how to do it. So if someone learns as they teach they are always a student. I hope that makes sence.

Well put omnifinite, I'm unsure if science does have the answer for everything but I agree, why wait and find out. If I've seen it, felt it and experianced it well thats good enough for me.

In some cases the belt system can be a scam, seeing $500 black belt grading is a bit much especialy if the money goes straight in someones poket. In our dojo grading costs decrease the higher you get making all dan grade tests free.(Why should all the people who have put in all the blood and swet have to produce the big wods of cash). As many others have said the belt system has it's advantages allowing mainly the sensai to tell what level you are at however, (IMO) once you reach black belt thats where it should stop, I know at a very advanced level red, red and white is use (among others) and this I think is warented as they are reserved for very high level martial artists, but below that I think that just a black belt is enough to have all of these gold bars is a bit much and a bit egotistical. I have probably stepped on some toes with that one but remember this is IMO and hence my signature.

Is there any particular reason why you don't want to take up the katana or maybe bokken??

Jutte (sai) is my favorite however, the kendo kata are quite enjoyable, there short, sharp and shinny.