a good karate school

[Guest]

Watch out if the guy offers you a membership in his black belt club, or if he has some strange bowing cerimony at the end of each class.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Watch out if the guy offers you a membership in his black belt club, or if he has some strange bowing cerimony at the end of each class.

 

I agree with the black belt club thing...but what's an example of a strange bowing ceremony at the end of class???

[Guest]

An example: Instructor gets down on his knees facing the front wall of the dojo, the students follow. The teacher cerimonially spouts of some japanese prose, and the students repeat after him. The students and instructor bow down with thier foreheads on the ground, such as a muslim would do. They all sit back up, the instructor faces the students, then they do it again. Everyone makes some gesture with thier hand as if they were throwing a frisbee at the ground. Everone gets up and leaves.

 

This is my opinion of a strange bowing cerimony. I've seen this before. I could barely contain my laughter when I saw this being performed.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

Hmmmm...well, at the end of class we face (kneeling) the "founders" of our art, represented by pictures on the wall of Matsumura, Hohan Soken and Yuichi Kuda, bow once..then I turn and face the class and we bow to each other. No hand thingy's though, then get up and leave. Is that so bad???

 

I feel it's important to show respects for those that came before us, and that we are trying to copy. I also feel it's important for an instructor to show respect for his/her students, and likewise.

 

At the beginning of class we do a standard standing bow, then start warming up.

[Guest]

To each his own. Personally, I am a bit more liberal in the bowing department. I just think that sometimes it is taken a bit to the extreme. I really think that a firm handshake goes a long way in America. It is my opinion that no man should be heralded in such a manner, but that is just me. Come to think of it, I don't ever remember bowing towards a photo of Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein when I entered my physics class in high school.

 

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I just noticed that you practice Matsumura Kenpo! I practice Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu in the central Illinois area. It is nice to see just how successful and broad reaching the system is becoming.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

As far as I know, Seito/Kenpo and Orthodox are all the same thing, depending on who you're under and what they're calling it (this monh).

 

I'm practicing according to Yuichi Kuda, one of Sensei Sokens top students. You?

 

As for the bowing, we do it as a sign of respect. No religious significance is attached to it, nor any mystics either. Basically, liek you said, a handshake to our founders, and as a sign of repsect.

 

Outside of a quick bigging of class bow, bowing in/out of breaks, at beginning/end of kata, and at the end of class..that's all we do. Not excessive, respecting the tradition I suppose mostly.

[Jussi Häkkinen]

Heh, seems like a traditional end of the class. First: Shomen ni rei (bowing for the dojo). Second: Otagai ni rei (bowing for each other).

 

I don't find this as a "strange" seremony.

[Guest]

That's not so bad. I find that when it becomes ritual, it is a bit too much.

 

Shorinryu Sensei: My branch of the style also comes from Yuichi Kuda. There is more info about how I practice at https://www.bushido.net. This is the head dojo around these parts. I plan on changing to this school within a week or two.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I checked out that site...I'm not sure if I've heard of Sensei Koepple or not. Looks like he's studied under both sendei kuda and Sensei Kise. I don't know how familiar you are with the differances between what the two Sensei taught, but they're about as different as night and day.

 

I'm currently under Sensei Larry Mason, 6th Dan, who is in the process of moving to Maryland or Vermont I guess. Our group is headed by Sensei Ken Penland, who I haven't had the pleasure of meeting or working with yet. This is Sensei Mason's website..there are pictures of me at the bottow working with Sensei Kuda in 1978.

 

http://www.geocities.com/rohai.geo/page.html

 

We're trying hard to preserve the teaching of Sensei Kuda as much as possible. I personally had the opportunity to work with Sensei Kuda twice, once in Montana where he gave me my shoday (1978), and again in Seattle where he promoted me to my Sandan in 1990.

 

He has since passed away, and is missed by all that knew him.

[Guest]

I have seen that page before. I was wondering who that tall guy was ... lol. I am not certain the differences between Fusei Kise and Yuichi Kuda's karate, however Phillip Koeppel karate is as close as I'm going to get right now. He was my instructor's instructor. I feel like I'm not getting any better where I'm currently at, so I think that a change is in order.