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[Patrick]

Welcome aboard, shotocalm. Glad to have you.

Patrick

[wagnerk]

...Question I have which is probably a common sense type question, on my time away from the dojo I decided to do some extra reading such as ordering certain books and dvd's mainly to look at other various bunkai aside from the ones my instructor and our black belts have taught me. Although I'm only at orange right now with current kata being heian nidan I wanted to study a little ahead for more strategy's to apply during our sparring sessions. Is it offensive for me a student do do this on the side?, should I just be strictly focus on only what my dojo teaches me?...

Is it an offence? Personally I would say no. There are lots of different interpretations of kata bunkai out there. However unless you have a partner to practice on properly, you're going to get a bit muddled up with the movement and placement.

I would say, be aware of the different bunkai out there, a great starting point would be watching Iain Abernethy, my instructor's mentality is similar so it's great to see others like that (more of a self-defence point of view, rather than sport). But taking into consideration you're also an 8th kyu, I would concentrate on learning and perfecting the movements of your existing kata's and maybe the next 1, 2 and maybe even 3 kata's ahead.

Well that's my opinion, anyway...

BTW, welcome to the forum

[Shojiko]

Thank u sir!

[ninjanurse]

Welcome to KF!!!

Reading list recommedation: Shotokan Mysteries by Kousaku Yokota

[Shojiko]

Thank you for suggestion

[bushido_man96]

I also wanted to ask you guys on what your opinion is on the form of arts my school has as a part of their curriculum. The dojo I attend teaches Shotokan and tae kwon do as separate classes but a student may attend either or in case lets say that person cannot make it on a day he usually trains shotokan, that student can attend the Tae Kwon Do class because they both train and look identical(like literally). They just count and and pronounce their forms in the language that art pertains to. I have taking WTF style tae kwon do before when I was younger, seeing this version which one of the black belts told me is pretty much what people refer to as ITF style is wayyy different then what I was familiar with when I was in my teens. Whats your fellas opinion on this? just out of curiousity..

THANKS!!!

Taekwondo is largely based on Shotokan, so there is a great deal of overlap. Normally, the body mechanics are different in TKD than in Shotokan, though, and training both will get you confused and hold you back. It is possible that the TKD instructor at your dojo has changed the way they do things to match Shotokan, though. In that case, it may not be much of an issue.

Its really going to depend on the style of TKD you get. I do a style that does ITF forms, but not with sine wave. I think we have a very "Karate-like" approach to how we do technique, so if you have a place like this, then it may be beneficial for you.

As far as looking for bunkai goes, you could look up Iain Abernethy, who has done a lot of work in researching bunkai. Some agree with his points of view, and some don't, but either way, he's worth a look.

Welcome to KF, and we look forward to talking with you!