My reply to homer's post 'is the art itself any good'? yes it's good, good for what though is very subjective......what are u looking for from the art? I'm not a shotokan man, but i'd say it looks pretty linear to me. (again, good or bad, subjective) Does shotokan need adapting to be used? used for what? some great replies, & I always enjoy the clips to watch. In my opinion, (old kyokushin git) the kyoku guard is always high to protect the face (there are no face punches allowed in competition but they are taught in the dojo) just my thoughts, yann
You know I've noticed that with many 'kata based' styles the technique is very good and precise in the sparring. I can only believe that it is transferred from the discipline from kata training. I come from a style that does plenty of form training. I've also done kickboxing and some stints at a MMA school. What I found was the most dangerous people to spar mostly came from a very traditional background. Now their ground game sucked, as did my own btw, but the actual standup portion was good. I remember reading on sherdog about a MMA guy who had convinced his brother-in-law (who I believed took Shotokan) to start up in MMA. He said while his brother-in-law's ground game was non-existent holding the thai pads for him was subjecting yourself to cruel punishment (in other words his kicks had tremendous power). In my own MMA experience I realized that they had little to offer me in terms of stand up. I never told them that I had years and years of martial arts training. When they had me working the bag they actually said, "You've got good natural power. The reason you can kick the bag so hard is because you've never been screwed up by those traditional styles." My brother (who has his base in wrestling and excelled at the ground game) started cracking up. In the end I decided a pure grappling style like Sambo/Judo suited my needs more than MMA. To bring it back to the original threadstarters question...I think that a traditional style that focuses on precise movements is an excellent choice. I have trained with a few shotokan guys over the years (in college for years and years together) and they were excellent training partners. Traditional styles have their weaknesses, but they also build a strong foundation. It can probably be argued that another weakness is that we never move beyond the foundation to building the house!!! But at least a strong foundation is a start.
Shotokan I love Shotokan. Shotokan is such a pure basic style. Straight forward go right thru you system. The stances are such that you can build a house on them & that’s exactly what you do. You build on those stances. Like the man said sometimes you never seem to finish building the house but the foundation is bed rock. It's a great system to start with. A very strong, hard style system. I trained under Sensei Takahashi for about 2 yrs. in Shotokan. Iv'e also trained with several of Sensei Miyazaki's black belts. You should go for it. Thanks, Sensei Tom
I do aplogise for posting this but everytime I see this thread I have to fight a rather strong urge just to post "Nah it's crap". The above sentence is in jest and I have no ill feeling toward shotokan or any of its pratitioners........ except moosey.
Lol sorry I think I'd better start being nice to you just in case I bump into you at this sparring meet! :love: Did I tell you how well that outfit goes with your eyes? ( :Angel: )
SHOTOKAN IS THE BEST!!!!!!!! Nah, jokes. Although I love doing shotokan because of the raw power, speed and control. I can never say Shotokan is the best beacuse I never seen/fought against every style out there.
Wow I just re-read this thread and in bold was either the worst or best typo ever, depending on what mood you're in
Funny, my experience with Shotokan was similar. For a long time, we sparred very, very hard. Certainly with harder contact than I've ever used at Muay Thai sparring. If you get lucky and find a good club, there's much to recommend Shotokan - it's simple, direct and hard hitting. I think it gave me a great base to move on to other things.
Holds good for grappling / MMA too ! Hands high, ( well at least one and probe, with the other, but keep your elbows in tight, or a grappler will take / snatch a limb ! ). In terms of self - defence / protection, it's pretty quick to transistion from, ( Geoff Thompson's ), fence into Kyokushin fighting stance with out telegaphing too much...................... plus a slight mod and your in a MMA type stance. A good source of reference is Mark Hatmaker's books on striking and grappling. Jaae
Aaaaargh nooooooooooooooooooooo, don't go back into the shotokan class. There are so many worthwhile combat arts out there, to learn, but shotokan isn't one of them !!! However, if you want karatedo.......................do.
sorry but i havn't read all this thread but if you want to do traditional karate then your better of doing okinawan karate
C'mon, Any ' art ' that has one lead hand projected around midriff level while the other hand is ' on the hip ' and purports to be a ' fighting art' !!!? I propose that shotokan is in fact NOT a fighting art but a Japanese inspired form of militaristic callistenics which has some mild similarity to an open handed fighting art, ( To De ), and to which only a few talented practitioners can make work in a live situation. One senior shotokan karateka on here proposes face punching as a viable self defence technique......................RUBBISH !!! Punch a street fighter in the mouth, ( Not that you'll have that luxury, because he will be proficient in the street arena, whilst your shotokan will mean diddly squat ), or some roided druggie, and you'll get owned. Such comments only serve to illustrate the traditionalist has never been in a situation where you are fighting to control the complete collapse of your sphincter. By using techniques like the fence, you'd better angle a hook somewhere on the jawline - the lower, the better - and pre - emptively, bang him out........................otherwise your grappling and since shotokan has no grappling skills, whilst even a drunken street fighting yob has rudimentary ones, then your in trouble ! Sensei O'Neil, one of my heroes and inspirations, but he was a one off. It didn't detract from his ability that he was a six, six muscle laden monster....................although, allegedly, according to some sources, i.e. Japanophile Arthur Townesly, completely roided. ( Personally, I would like to think not................ ). Jaae
