If I go to shotokan

[OneKickWonder]

Thanks for all the input.

I have decided that I am going to ask the shotokan folks if they'll take me in. I will of course be honest with them about my experience and goals. And of course I'll be happy to wear a white belt and stand at the back.

I can't start yet. It's looking like a few more weeks yet. But I am looking forward to it, in anticipation that they'll take me of course. If not, there are other options.

As an aside, the chief instructor at the club I'm hoping to go to is 6th Dan in shotokan, but also has 2nd Dan in both judo and aikido. I'm hoping they'll include some of that in classes. If not I'm thinking I might also look at the local judo club.

[G95champ]

Shotokan has a lot of judo throws in it, as Gichin Funakoshi worked closely with Kano the founder of Judo. So I'm sure you will get a lot of the judo takedowns. Depending on your instructor you may get a little ground work later on.

I have trained with some high level akkido guys and I am by no means an expert at akkido but I can see a lot of what they do in the Shotokan kata and applications

So IMO the three are a good marriage of styles

[Byzantine]

Back to white belt you go

But with your prior exp you should progress quite well

[OneKickWonder]

Back to white belt you go

But with your prior exp you should progress quite well

Going back to white belt doesn't bother me in the least, as long as club rules dont exclude people people from certain activities based on belt colour alone.

I've come to learn that belt colour means very little.

[aurik]

I'm in this very same boat right now. After a (many) year hiatus, I'm starting as a white belt in Uechi-Ryu. My instructor fully understands that I have experience, and the muscle memory is all there, but the movements are slightly different and the targets are slightly different. For example, in kanshiwa kata, I was targeting the solar plexus, when he wants us to target the sensitive area right below the heart.

I'm being forthright and honest with him, and he's giving me these corrections based upon what I'm actually doing. IMO a good instructor will constantly give you these constant corrections, no matter what your rank or skill level. I figure he'll promote me to whatever rank he feels is appropriate at the first testing I'm involved in, and I'll progress from there. I know there are a couple of other adults there who have skipped several grades (one he promoted from jukyu->hachikyu and another he promoted from jukyu->rokkyu at their first test). In any case, I'm more there to learn than to earn a rank.

[Spartacus Maximus]

Starting at the beginning should logically be expected if it is something completely new and radically different from whatever one has experienced or trained before. What is difficult for some to do or accept because of ego or other reasons is restarting the same or a very similar martial art under a different instructor.

[wagnerk]

If I go to shotokan, I fully accept that I'll be a complete beginner in that style, despite years of tang soo do, and wado and other styles prior...

How's it going? I went the other way, Shotokan -> Other styles -> Tang Soo Do... How are you settling in?

[Mitlov]

I made a transition from taekwondo to Shotokan, and years later from Shotokan to Tang Soo Do (well, Chun Kuk Do). Each time, it was just like you describe: many similarities, but not identical. Each time, I wore a white belt and progressed through their ranks, though the instructor will typically do this at an accelerated rate because you're not really starting at zero. I didn't hide that I had prior experience, but I didn't go around pounding my chest about it either.

When asked to do a technique, I would do it as I knew how to do it, and if there are corrections to how they do it at that school, I would accept the feedback and try to do it as they do it at that school. If I had questions about "why this way and not the other way," I would ask those questions respectfully after class, not interrupt the class with them, because then it comes off as undermining the style.

[immaterial]

Did they kick differently than in your Tang Soo Do place?