What gives Life to a new style?

[pers]

Isn't this what karate has been suffering from ? Too many chiefs and not enough Indians ?

taekwondo which is an off shoot of karate has been in olympics for years ... why do you think that is ? isn't it becuase of their unity and staying together ? otherwise karate should have been in olympics years before taekwondo

[Harkon72]

Isn't this what karate has been suffering from ? Too many chiefs and not enough Indians ?

taekwondo which is an off shoot of karate has been in olympics for years ... why do you think that is ? isn't it becuase of their unity and staying together ?

True, a strong governing body with a continuity of style gives them a more consistent base for rules and dress throughout the world. Judo has the same advantage.

[pers]

Isn't this what karate has been suffering from ? Too many chiefs and not enough Indians ?

taekwondo which is an off shoot of karate has been in olympics for years ... why do you think that is ? isn't it becuase of their unity and staying together ?

True, a strong governing body with a continuity of style gives them a more consistent base for rules and dress throughout the world. Judo has the same advantage.

I remember a purple belt in our club who got kicked out of our club by our sensei for being arogant and stupid but a year later he was teaching in a neigbouring town as a second dan !

I am sure other people have similar stories to tell about micky mouse karate instucters and cowboys who gave karate a bad reputation , for every bonofied instructer and club there are 10s of cowboys ruining the dignity of the art .

[DWx]

Isn't this what karate has been suffering from ? Too many chiefs and not enough Indians ?

taekwondo which is an off shoot of karate has been in olympics for years ... why do you think that is ? isn't it becuase of their unity and staying together ?

heh "unity" is not the word for TKD. The politics is atrocious and we have tons of different organisations and sub-styles. We have so many chiefs it's difficult for us Indians to keep track of. Outsiders only tend to see the WTF/Olympic TKD so it appears we keep it together but in reality its not the case. WTF got in the Olympics because they wanted to be there and were proactive about it. Also helped that the Korean government were in support. But you can see what it did to TKD, what's in the Olympics is sport, not martial art.

In answer to OP, I think its just evolution. If the instructor is changing little bits over time and incorporating other techniques, when their style is different enough from the parent style I think its only fair enough to call it something new.

[Harkon72]

Cowboys???

I know of a 7th Dan so called Master who failed his shodan grading and then proclaimed himself to be a 2nd Dan a few years later. He has an international following, but his grade is not valid. I say good luck to him if people are easily fooled and ready to part with their money.

[Dobbersky]

Isn't this what karate has been suffering from ? Too many chiefs and not enough Indians ?

taekwondo which is an off shoot of karate has been in olympics for years ... why do you think that is ? isn't it becuase of their unity and staying together ?

True but there are still organisations out there where its more politics than martial arts.

Even Sensei Funakoshi's students couldn't stay together after he passed. The current split is:

1 Japan Karate Association (JKA), and descendents

1.1 International Traditional Karate Federation

1.2 Shotokan Karate-do International Federation

1.3 International Shotokan Karate Federation

1.4 Japan Karate Shotorenmei

1.5 Japan Shotokan Karate Association

1.6 Karatenomichi World Federation

1.7 World Shotokan Karate-do Federation (W.S.K.F)

1.8 International Karate Daigaku (IKD)

1.9 World JKA Karate Association (WJKA)

2 Shotokai

3 Shotokan Karate of America

4 Kenkojuku Karate Association

[jaypo]

Justlike- you sound exactly like my sensei. He began training in Okinawa when he was in the Marines 20 plus years ago. He became a black belt in Shorin Ryu and then began studying Shotokan. He also trained in Aikido, Kenpo, learned some Tai Chi and Kung Fu. He also has developed a few of his own forms using more tecnhiques. But to grade in his system, you grade as a Shorin Ryu and Shotokan student. He just loves to teach the other techniques as a bonus!

For example, to test, you learn about 75% Shotokan/Shorin Ryu forms with 25% of his. I personally love it. In my previous JKA/ISKA training, we never learned any arm locks, throws, breaks. Now, we do. But it is all done from the same katas and/or bunkai. I never learned the applications for "tekki Shodan", but doing "naihanchi", I learned more applications that weren't taught in the JKA/ISKA system.

[Harkon72]

Unfortunately many sensei only teach the bear minimum of Bunkai. This is whether thy know more or not. I'm very lucky, my Sensei is an open book with thirty years of experience.