Dan Grading

[Fish]

Lachrymosa, you are pretty much right except surikomi is to gain ground by stepping up with the back leg to the front leg. Ashi barai is a sweep applied with the flat of the foot to the lower leg.

[Lachrymosa]

Surikomi and Ashi barai is not in our syllabus (we have different terms for those moves) so I searched on the internet to find them but as you can see Google is not always right!

Thanks to have taken the time to correct this.

[bushido_man96]

Thanks for the clarifications.

[Fish]

Well, the big day came and went yesterday. Part 1 of my Dan Grading, devised by my Sensei to be merciless...

I started with a 30 minute written test, which wasn't too hard, consisting mainly of translating English to Japanese and vice versa, plus naming various techniques.

Then straight on to a selection of basics performed with the Black Belts in front of the class, then, when I was nicely warmed up, my 5 combination techniques followed immediately by my 11 kata. I was already out of breath, but I enjoyed the kata. This was my grading, and I was going to perform them the best I could.

By this time I was sweating and panting, but then I had to do my 5 pair techniques. I made a couple of small mistakes in my combinations and pair techniques, but nothing serious.

After all that, I was beginning to feel quite tired, but there was no rest for me, it was straight on to ohyo gumite with all 16 of the other students there, mostly brown belts but also 4 black belts. They were told to line up against the wall and called out one after the other to fight me for a minute or so until Sensei called "change". Then a completely fresh opponent...

Now, I thought this was going to be the kind of controlled sparring we normally do in class, but none of it - it was full on. I found the first 4 or 5 not too hard, despite being out of breath and tired. 6th Fight, and I took a low kick to the goolies. I put my hand up to stop, but "no" Sensei said - "stop and you fail...."

During about the 8th fight, I slipped over, and when I got back up, I took a hard shot to the side of my head, which caught my eye, and ruptured my contact lens. Sensei said, "30 seconds to sort it out - if you don't then you stop and you fail." So I fought on, with no vision in one eye. The last few fights were with black belts and they came full on. Elbows, knees to the ribs, hard sweeps and throws onto the (wooden) floor, and then sitting on me and hitting me while I struggled to get up. And all the time Sensei is saying "you can stop whenever you like". Then the last two fights: adult black belts, came bouncing out as fresh as anything and yelling "Do you want it" while hitting me. I tried to fight back, but there was nothing in the tank. My arms felt like I was pushing them through treacle, and my legs had disappeared somewhere. Back on the floor again. More punches to my head. Finally I struggled to my feet. Then, last of all, a bout with both of them at the same time.

Then it was all over. I felt sick, my heart was pounding and I could hardly breathe. There was blood on my gi - but I don't think it was mine.

I thought I must have failed - I spent so much time on the floor. But Sensei came over and congratulated me. He said he spent a lot of the time on the floor during his dan grading as well - the important thing was to get back up and fight on.

So, I've passed Part 1!

Now to let my bruises heal and prepare for Part 2 on 12th October.

[Zanshin]

Yeah! go Fish you nearly yudansha!

Well done fella.

Tell me though, amongst all of the blood and guts, what Kata (solo and paired) did you have to perform? You explained that you did Oyho Kumite, did you do Kihon Kumite as well? Just interested really as the format you have described is not typical of a Wado.

But who cares really well done.

Who examines you for your big test later in the year! Is it Steve Rowe par chance?

[Patrick]

Congrats.

[Fish]

Hi Patrick

I did kihon kumite, but they were the 5 pair techniques I had to devise myself.

Kata were the 5 pinans, Kushanku, Bassai Dai, Seienchin, Gojushiho, Naihanchi and Niseishi.

It won't be Steve Rowe that I grade with. We used to be part of Shikon, but my Sensei moved over to the EKO, so I will be grading with Dave Sharkey. But Part 1 is my Sensei's own test to see if I'm ready to go forward, and I think the format is based on the dan grading he had to go through.

[Zanshin]

Hi Fish,

Actually, it was me that asked about Kihon Kumite not Patrick.

Nonetheless, thanks for answering the question, I think I understand now.

And well done for passing your provisional exam.

By the sounds of it, the group your school is with now, is not Wado but more of a governing / examination body covering a variety of styles. In saying this, I don't mean that it is wrong or bad for one second, just not really traditional Wado.

As I understand it, Mr Sharkey is a Shotokan man and katas like Bassai Dai, Seienchin, Gojushiho do not feature in the Wado spectrum of things.

As I say not knocking it, but out of interest, what style will your Dan grade certificate say you are graded in?

Z

[Zanshin]

Hi Bushido Man, the 5 combinations each consist of about 8 or 9 techniques in sequence, so, number 1 is:

junzuki, gyakuzuki, surikomi mawashigeri chudan, mawatte uraken, mawatte ushirogei, jodan uke, gyakuzuki chudan, ashi barai, gyakuzuki gedan.

It takes a while to learn them all, but it's easier to do them than to write them down!

Hey, Fish. Thanks for the reply, but that is pretty much Greek to me. Could you give me a translation?

See Bushi, I knew exactly what he meant

(I refer of course to the earlier KF thread on whether it was better to use Japanese or English in Karate classes.)

[bushido_man96]

Hi Bushido Man, the 5 combinations each consist of about 8 or 9 techniques in sequence, so, number 1 is:

junzuki, gyakuzuki, surikomi mawashigeri chudan, mawatte uraken, mawatte ushirogei, jodan uke, gyakuzuki chudan, ashi barai, gyakuzuki gedan.

It takes a while to learn them all, but it's easier to do them than to write them down!

Hey, Fish. Thanks for the reply, but that is pretty much Greek to me. Could you give me a translation?

See Bushi, I knew exactly what he meant

(I refer of course to the earlier KF thread on whether it was better to use Japanese or English in Karate classes.)

Yes, I figured you would know. Besides, I am a TKD guy. Korean here, not Japanese....