SanKyu

[mudansha]

I passed!!!

Good luck!!!

Just out of curiosity, I've never heard of the Taekyoku katas. Maybe SKI is different from JKA, but my dojo requires at least Bassai Dai for brown belt.

I put a link to our belt requirements below.

I did my research about these basic katas and you are right. I apologize for my ignorance, but allow me to explain:

When I first started, it was in a college required gym class so it wasn't super serious or like a dojo, that's how I got my yellow belt (though it was more of a symbolic yellow belt for feel good). When I started liking karate and decided to pursue with a real dojo, I already had my yellow belt and knew Heian Shodan so my sensei must've assumed we know those basic ones (he was also angry at how bad my technique was for a yellow belt hahaha).

From what I see, Taikyoku Shodan is much like a watered down version of Heian Shodan and has never been part of any exam requirements with JKA. Heian Shodan is the most basic kata we need to know.

From what I have been told, JKA removed those katas when Funakoshi sensei died. Even SKI does not officially recognize them. Many dojos have brought them back, including JKA and SKI affiliated dojos.

One of the people that trains at our dojo came from JKA and never heard of them, Kihon Ippon Kumite, or our Kihon Katas.

No Ido Kihon?

I've never heard of it.

Here are our requirements:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=440127210&albumID=738476&imageID=457153

[Fearun9033]

CONGRATS!

[Dr. Frank]

Not all Shotokan schools/instructors do the Taikyoku (translates into "First Cause") series. Some only do Shodan. I learned all three at the old Way of Japan in Fresno back in the early 1970s.

Back then the brown belt tests were the roughest. Sensei Halliburton said that he wanted the brown belts to demonstrate "attitude."

My brown belt test was one of the toughest things I have ever endured. There were 6 of us testing and it was survival of the fittest, let me tell you. It took about two hours and I thought I was going to die before it was over. A couple of guys were puking half way through and another was urinating blood for two days after the test.

By comparison my Shodan test was a piece of cake. Two katas, some kihons and two broken boards. Took about 10 minutes. Halliburton considered brown belt the "make it or break it" rank. If you could pass that test, it was just a matter of time and practice for black belt. Few people made it to brown who didn't go on and earn the black belt. I think he hated folks dropping out as brown belts.

[Blade96]

I passed!!!

Yay! =]

good job.

[mudansha]

Not all Shotokan schools/instructors do the Taikyoku (translates into "First Cause") series. Some only do Shodan. I learned all three at the old Way of Japan in Fresno back in the early 1970s.

Back then the brown belt tests were the roughest. Sensei Halliburton said that he wanted the brown belts to demonstrate "attitude."

My brown belt test was one of the toughest things I have ever endured. There were 6 of us testing and it was survival of the fittest, let me tell you. It took about two hours and I thought I was going to die before it was over. A couple of guys were puking half way through and another was urinating blood for two days after the test.

By comparison my Shodan test was a piece of cake. Two katas, some kihons and two broken boards. Took about 10 minutes. Halliburton considered brown belt the "make it or break it" rank. If you could pass that test, it was just a matter of time and practice for black belt. Few people made it to brown who didn't go on and earn the black belt. I think he hated folks dropping out as brown belts.

You must know my Sensei... Abe Belardo. He trained under Halliburton Sensei in the 70's. He follws Halliburton doctrine to this day when teaching. "Give 100%, or leave".

[Fearun9033]

Wow that must've been some crazy training and hardcore stuff. My dojo is strict but nothing TOO hardcore. Emphasis on discipline. I remember this dojo I visited while in China and that's where I passed my orange belt and it was hardcore as hell... the requirements, in addition to the kata and kihon, were 2 sets of 25 pushups on knuckles, 50 situps and 2 rounds of froggy jumps around the dojo...

I was not able to hold chopsticks for the rest of the week without shaking haha

[DWx]

Congrats mudansha

[Dr. Frank]

Yes, I would see Sensei Belardo at tourneys and at seminars quite frequently in the 1970s and 1980s.

I saw him sweep a very tall nidan to the ground in a match after the nidan had bragged that nobody had ever swept him. It was pretty funny.

[rmcfee]

A bit off topic but - do you have 2 more steps to get to shodan? And if not wouldn't you call brown belt ikkyu?