Gradings

[Tobias_Reece]

Hey guys

 

As you may know, I am grading for my Nidan in September. I have just found out that this grading will be done with Kickboxers, Aikido-ists and practitioners of other styles of Karate.

 

My Dad did a similar grading for his brown belt, and it lasted for 5 hours.

 

Included in the grading is an hour warm-up (50 pressups - GO! etc), self-defence, fighting and some techniques (but only after u are knackered)

 

My Shodan grading was done with a different association, and it was all about technique, will little fighting.

 

Now I train in Shotokan Karate-Do, not Brithai Karate or Karate-jitsu. Do you guys think that this is acceptable.

 

Please give me your POV.

 

Cheers

[jdoub]

Tobias-san,

 

What does your association expect from the encounters?? Are they teaching [or sponsoring] a Sport version of the Martial Arts (by conducting point sparring tournaments), or do they teach reality based application [Classical] Karate?? IMHO, most Shotokan-Kai or Dojo (and nearly every other Japanese style) teach a Sport; they teach kata from the perspective of historical ideal, but do not apply the techniques within the forms in combat.

 

It has been my experience that Sport versions of the Martial Arts do not prepare you for a real street fight. In general, Sport versions encourage point attainment and not fight stopping techniques that can cause quite a bit of devastation to your attacker. If for your test they want to see you in action against other stylists, then they will see who is a better performer since no one really wants to hurt someone correct...?!?

 

Either way, good luck on your test!! Keep training hard and get out of your training what you want and not what others tell you (including me).

 

OSU!!

 

John

 

 

[Tobias_Reece]

Hi John

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

The club I am attending at the moment was not the school that I began training at

 

The head of my association is very much a fighter. When I met him, he asked me if I liked fighting. I said that I believed more in the traditional type of karate, so he began to "demonstrate" moves on me (we weren't even in a dojo!!).

 

My sensei is the head of a sub-association, and the next dan grading will only be the 3rd that has been done that way, so it is all very much in the testing phase.

 

But anyway - my father doesn't believe in this Brithai/Karate-jitsu grading, so its both of us facing the world.

 

Oh well, time will tell....

 

Oss

 

Tobias

 

 

 

[ This Message was edited by: Tobias_Reece on 2001-05-31 16:39 ]

[iamrushman]

tobias;

 

no matter what what type of testing you have in store for you we as martial artist must be prepared for the unexpected.

 

good luck and always rely on what you were taught.

 

 

[Angus]

Dude,

 

I think that this is sort of grading would rock... If u haven't already then u should check out my introduction in that intro thing u have in the index... people from the kickboxing.com message board will know me and i usually am able to help with a lot of problems...

 

Having crosstrained i know how just about every technique i learn can be applied against another technique... U have aikido guys there as well!! excellent! Grapplers and the sort are the best to try your ballistic skills against. there's nothing better than smacking up a grappler with your boxing techniques. Grapplers are very often feared by non-grappling arts because they act as a spider web would.

 

This sort of cross-grading would be excellent i reckon.

 

Respects,

 

Angus.

[thaiboxerken]

Uhm.. what's a Nidan?

 

Does anyone speak english in here?

 

 

[ts757]

It's all japanese terms, which we all start to use instead of English when learning a martial art. Nidan basically means 2nd, though in this context it means 2nd degree black belt. Just quickly, I think that your grading should reflect what you indend to use your karate for. If like me, you use it traditionally, and as a means of bettering yourself, then your grading should reflect this. The same applies if you are using your karate as a means of keeping fit, or for competition, but getting a person to do 100 press ups, and then have chairs broken over them isn't karate, it's toughman stunts and has no place in a dojo.

[Angus]

Ahhh, but what if u have a chair broken over u in a fight?? It may be toughman stunts but everything is useful... being a tough man aint bad.

 

Angus.

[Karateka]

The strength should come from within, not from without.

 

You may find that it is the teachers that matter. My sensei is a Kumite man, but he teaches the finer points of Kata as well as the Bunkai. The Bunkai for those who don't know is the application of the technique in a real situation. By studying bunkai, it helps your kata become more of a fight, which is what they really are.

 

So the gradings have their ways of teaching you what you should know. You may come out stronger, but you may also come out wiser.

 

_________________

 

"In Kumite, there are two techniques; one is to stop him, the other's to drop him!"

 

Senei Ron Bagley 5th Dan (my teacher)

 

http://www.ifroggy.com/karateforums/forums/images/smiles/karate.gif

 

[ This Message was edited by: Karateka on 2001-06-23 22:42 ]

[ts757]

It's all well and good having chairs broken over your head in a bar room brawl, but not in a dojo. If you want to learn how to deal with that, you should go to self defense classes, or Liverpool. Karate is not about pain, it's an art form. If you were in an art gallery, would you rip the paintings off the wall and beat people round the head with them? actually, dont answer that...