Why is Shotokan so unpopular ? Can it be used in real life ?

[GrrrArg]

I train with a guy who has a third dan in shotokan and about 25 years experience at karate, hes v.good and has used his karate successfully on the streets many times (his home town used to be the heroine capital of england) besides that he only weighs in at about 9 1/2 stone.

[imoñ]

i train in Shotokan as well as Judo and Jujutsu,

 

shotokan will work on the street if applied correctly, it teaches fast strong moves and a strong stance is useful while grapeling,

 

the thing with shotokan is alot of the moves are not what they appear (or are taught) to be. every move has more than one application,

 

for example:

 

"age uke" (rising block) is taught to block a punch to the head in a way that dosent seem very natural,

 

this is because that isnt the best way to use that technique- "age uke" is far more effective if its used to strike hard under sombodys chin, and will probably break most of their teeth.

 

basically with shotokan dont take everything at what it first appears to be. most of the techniques have a better use than what is usually taught.

 

personally i prefer it to the other arts i train in, its a very good art the only problem i have with it is that theres no ground work or close quater senarios, thats why i cross train with 2 grappeling arts to "fill in the gaps" in my overall training