Pros and Cons of Shotokan

[G95champ]

Shotokan is not one punch one kill. I agree to that. The one punch one kill idea means finish the fight ASAP. Don't waste time. However I still think most traditional Martial Arts have a one strike chance to beat a quality grappler.

 

Power is a rusult of speed. Thus to build power you don't lift weights as much as you practice getting faster. Speed + Techinque = Power. Simple Math. Muscle and Body Mass has little to do with it. Thus all good Shotokan students I have met are very fast.

 

It takes a very skilled fighter not to go down when rushed. From my experiance I have learned a quality ju-jutsu fighter or wrestler can throw you from almost any postion once they get a hand on you. Now I have counterd alot of those throws and takedowns but we still went down and once I was on the ground I was at a disadvantage. As most strikers will be.

 

As far as our ideas on not striking first. Sometimes the best defense is a good offense. We train by warning signs. Such as hands in the pockets, hand goes inside the jacket, clinching fists, etc. In such cases you can not afford to wait.

 

I have cross trained myself and picked up a lot fo ju-jitsu and hipakido. I use a lot of there self-defense and ground work in my classes.

 

If the world was a perfect place and everyone followed Martial Arts codes as they shoudl no one would attack becasue like you stated we do not attack first. Thus if no one ever attacks first then there is no need for self defense and martial arts.

 

Maybe you should study the Yin and the Yang. In all good there is evil. You can not have one without the other. You can not have offense without defense. You can not have power without speed, and you cant have strinking without grappeling.

 

I have came up with this bit on knowledge on my one. All Martial Arts leads to the same place. Think of it like a set of baseball cards. It don't really matter which card I get first or what rout of training I take in the end I will have compled the set and saw all aspects of training.

 

Shotokan has some really nice Guard work in the Tekki Kata series. It also has some great join locks hidden in other kata as well as weapon defense. Most of this is in upper black belt kata. WHich only a few of Shotokan students ever get to. However if they did they would gain that well roundness.

 

I have went on to long my fingers hurt.

[AnonymousOne]

The depth and application of Kata in Shotokan is truly indepth and deep.

 

I just finished working on Gojushiho Sho after 2 years of constant work. Its the only Kata I have worked on accept what I was made to do in the dojo, in that 2 years. It has so many applications its amasing.

 

Now in my Kata sessions I am working on Meikyo. I will hone that for 2 years.

 

They are like a map with where you cant see the actual end, but its an exciting journey

 

 

[G95champ]

What Dan are you in Shotokan?

[redbutt]

Yeah..grappling seems like a fun idea to control your opponent, until you realize that your opponent is now just as cloe to you as you are to him...and he has two buddies that are waiting to start kicking you in the head when you get to the ground. Grappling is just not practical in some situations. And if you are going to do it, you better be damn good at it.

On 2002-04-03 09:11, Taikudo-ka wrote:

 

Hehehe Score one for the strikers...

 

 

But I do like the idea of grabbing, tripping and throwing my opponent to the ground, where he's extra vulnerable to strikes if I choose.