Over the weekend, I attended a Seiyunchin bunkai seminar via Skype with one of Taira Masaji Sensei’s senior students, Paul Enfield. Although I am a Shorin-Ryu practitioner, I have picked up some other kata throughout my karate journey, and Seiyunchin is one of them. The version I learned was a bit different, though, and I have been working on making […]
Traditional weapons used in Okinawan kobudo This article is going to be a bit controversial, but I feel that it is an important topic that is too often neglected. As traditional martial artists, we often learn how to handle classical weapons–swords, bo, tonfa, sai, kama, etc. This is seen as a normal part of training, and a way to enhance […]
Myself with Evergrey at Wah Dojo Some of my readers may be familiar with Evergrey, the author of the old Crazy Kyokushin Chick blog. I connected with her through that blog, but we have kept up on Facebook over the years. Last week, I had to travel to her neck of the woods for work, so she […]
Traditional martial arts have a secrecy problem. This problem has existed for a very long time, and has likely lead to the death of countless fighting systems, and the degradation of many more. There was certainly a time where secrecy was important in martial arts–rivals and enemies discovering how you train, and what your best techniques are, would have a […]
Funakoshi Gichin demonstrating Ude Wa (Arm Ring), a basic double-leg takedown Karate is typically recognized as a striking art, but there is plenty of evidence proving that it also incorporates joint manipulation, strangulation, and takedown techniques. According to Genbu-Kai Florida, karate is not a grappling art, either, and it’s grappling methods can be fairly crude. In the old days, that […]
Last week I had to go to Santa Monica, CA for work. It was a three day trip, which interfered with my normal training schedule although it was really cool because I had all my gear from Survival Cooking when I went camping outdoors, and I knew I was going to be eating less-than-ideal food so it was important for […]
Last night I went to Aikido of Scottsdale where I worked out with a local Kyokushin karate club that shares that dojo. The Sensei is, I believe, a Nidan (2nd degree blackbelt) but I’m afraid I can’t remember his name, so I am sorry about that–I am very bad with names! When we first met at the dojo I was […]
