# dojo's



## Deathtrap101 (Jul 13, 2002)

ive bin studying karate for about 7 months now and have only bin to 2 dojo's, my local one here(which shut down early this year do to my sensei's back problem) trained very little actually doing kumite and more so on perfecting punches and tequniques. We were doing counters before it was shut down and we never did that much conditioning.It ran for about an hour and a half twice a week.

 Than i learned abou another dojo of the same style that was about an hour drive away, this dojo also ran twice a week but for 2 hours a night, for the first hour we would do verious moves back and forth across the dojo(punches, kicks, combo's) for wam up and conditioning and the weirdest sit ups i ever seen. And then we would do some kata and finaly take a 15 minute brake or so where we would all talk and BS. And then we worked on our kata's for requirements and spent that remaining 45 minutes doing that.

 Because ive only bin to two dojo's and i know that all you old people on this board have had alot more experince and variety of dojo's(i think), and maybe you could tell me what you guys do at th differant dojo's. Just curiouse...:asian:


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## Deathtrap101 (Jul 13, 2002)

yea htere's lots of spelling errors.....:soapbox:


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## GojuBujin (Jul 17, 2002)

Oss,

I've trained in Kyokushin and Goju the past 6yrs.  My father and I have a  school outside of St. Louis Mo.  My sensei is in Tampa, and my Shihan is in Okinawa.  

Anyway...

We do a 2hr workout twice per week.  (But I encourage our students they must work out at home as well, 2 days isn't enough)

1. 40 minute +/- Warm up
stretching, toes, legs, knees, hips, writs, fingers, kneck, shoulders
Pushups - Back of hands / knuckles / fingers / 3 fingers / diamond / palms / roraguchi 
Situps feet up and legs bent, side situps
leg lifts

2. Tai sabiki (body shifting) to the side, quarter and half turns, from neko ashi, and zen kutsu

3. Basics
uke waza blocking techniques - upper, middle, down, hiki,
seiken tsuki, gyaku tsuki, uraken uchi
front kicks, side kicks, round house and what not.

4. Then Kata, or bunkai, or sanbon kumite, yaksoku kumite, kakie (sticky hands).  We focus mainly on kata, but do a good amount of some kind of kumite whether it be bunkai, or kakie or what not.

On another related note... i once read either it was Motobu's dojo or some where.  When you joined a dojo or school in less recent times, it was an honor to even be accepted and one usually had to go through quite an ordeal to get in and quitting just wasn't accepted.  Often times if you considered quitting you were pommelled by all the students on your way out.

Well we do not pommell because its illegal.  But our students are not allowed to quit and they must come consistantly to class.  What I have been taught is a sacred trust and I do not take it lightly.  Of course there are only about 8 of us total, but they are all committed to training and I can count on them.

Hope that helps you out.

Michael
http://www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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## RyuShiKan (Jul 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *
> When you joined a dojo or school in less recent times, it was an honor to even be accepted and one usually had to go through quite an ordeal to get in and quitting just wasn't accepted. *



Kinda sorta but not really.
Maybe several hundred years ago but not in the last 70+ years.
Karate has always been rather unpopular in Japan (long story maybe I will tell it sometime).
Hell any more you get a free gi and a set of steak knives or toaster when joining most dojo.  






> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> * Often times if you considered quitting you were pommelled by all the students on your way out.*



This is not really true. It happened a couple of times at a University and I think a high school, very uncommon. The students were in severe trouble for it too.
In regular dojos this would be called felonious assault and some one would be in deep doo-doo.


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## GojuBujin (Jul 19, 2002)

Oss,

In the Oinawan dojo's I have read about and am a member of, it was an honor and still is to be accepted. In the case of Goju I know that Sensei Miyagi often had students work in his garden and do other chores before they were accepted as students.

I do know of cases where you were pommelled in atleast the past 80-90yrs. If I am not mistaken this happened at Chotoki Motobu's dojo.

Michael
www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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## RyuShiKan (Jul 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *  Oss,
> 
> ...



I guess I am not really sure what you mean by "accepted".
Do you mean joining a dojo and training there?
Or do you mean being accepted as one of the "regular" members of the dojo?
That said most dojo over here don't even think your serious until after a couple of years and you reach shodan.
If it is the case of the first question anyone with the tuition can walk into and join 99.99% of the in Japan and Okinawa and be "accepted".





> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *In the case of Goju I know that Sensei Miyagi often had students work in his garden and do other chores before they were accepted as students.
> *



He most likely did. It was the accepted practice of those times since personal checks/Mastercard/Visa were not around and monthly tuition was not introduced until much later.
The teacher student relationship was more personal and less business like then than it is now.




> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *I do know of cases where you were pommelled in atleast the past 80-90yrs. If I am not mistaken this happened at Chotoki Motobu's dojo.
> *



I have a LOT of literature on Choki Motobu in both Japanese and English written by himself, his students and people who knew him but have never come across anything that even suggests that sort of thing happened in his dojo.
I would like to see some proof that this happened on a regular basis because quite frankly after living here and knowing literally 100's of karateka I have only heard of a few odd cases of this happening in the past or present............. but mostly in the present.


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## GojuBujin (Jul 19, 2002)

Oss,

My apologies oh mighty and magnifiscent one, we are only peons compared to your majesty. J/K

Perhpas "often" was the wrong word (concerning pomelling), I apoligize for that.   It might not be such a bad practice to pommell though, maybe there would be less perversion of the arts if people took it more seriously.

Perhpas I wasn't as precise as needed, but my hope was is that the point would be made.  The point being it shouldn't be a joke, it should be something held in high esteem.

I knew a gentelmen who trained in Shorin Ryu in the 1970's in the Phillipines.  He had to sit and clean the dojo for several months before he was admitted into the dojo, it wasn't really a "money thing" it was to see how seroius he was.

What I meant was the initial introduction into the dojo, not whether you were "truly" a member yet.

It is a shame concerning the teacher/student relationship.  In our school I work hard to try and hold on to what is true.  We use a TKD dojo twice a week when they aren't in it, we do not even charge $$ persay, the students pay a small fee to help cover the owner's rent.

Concerning Sensei Miyagi, I never really got the impression that he had students work in his garden etc, for as much as you give me something and I give you something, but to see just how interested they were.

Concerning Motobu Sensei, I thought it was, but as I'm sure you have read, and studied a long time, sometimes the stories run together, I've read that it happend in time's past, if not in Motobu's dojo, somewhere.

Is the point of this whole thing to prove each other wrong? or to answer the question of the original thread?

Michael
www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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## RyuShiKan (Jul 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *Oss,
> 
> My apologies oh mighty and magnifiscent one, we are only peons compared to your majesty. J/K*




I asked you a simply question. If you can prove what you said I would like to see, if not fine, but take the bug out of your *** first.

To be honest I think you watched Karate Kid too many times and it went to your head.


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## RyuShiKan (Jul 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *
> Is the point of this whole thing to prove each other wrong?
> ...



No. I asked you to verify a claim/point and you turned into a jackass about it.


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## GojuBujin (Jul 19, 2002)

"My apologies oh mighty and magnifiscent one, we are only peons compared to your majesty. J/K"

JK = Just Kidding

I have no bug in my *** dear sir as you so rudely put it.  If I offended you, I am truly sorry, it was never my intention.

P.S.
I've been editting my thread as I posted it, don't know if you saw all of it.

Michael
www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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## RyuShiKan (Jul 19, 2002)

My apologies. :asian:  I didn't know what J/K meant.

I think miscommunication is a major problem people have on the Internet.


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## GojuBujin (Jul 19, 2002)

No problem

You seem to be quite knowledgable of what you are talking about, I didn't wnat you to take me in an incorrect fashion.

Let us get back to the original purpose of the thread.

(I just don't know if its worth getting on this thing, there's always someone who takes something wrong)

Michael
www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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## RyuShiKan (Jul 19, 2002)

> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *
> (I just don't know if its worth getting on this thing, there's always someone who takes something wrong)
> ...



I know what you mean.
It was really surprising for me to read the J/K part of your post since you normally post good stuff so I was really shocked.

No blood no foul.
So lets get back to the post.


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## Matt Stone (Jul 21, 2002)

> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *Oss,*



There is a wonderful article somewhere on the internet that discusses the nature of the commonly used (in the US anyway) greeting you are trying to translate into words...

First, the correct spelling would be _osu_.

Second, long explanation made _really_ short, _osu_ is very similar to saying "yo" or something equally short and informal.

The term is, according to the article, seldom used in Japan or Okinawa in the manner it has become commonly accepted in the US.  It _is_ used by the Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces as a common greeting however, though it is considered crude and unseemly for proper people to use...  (the Japanese aren't too hip on their military folks, and routinely refer to them as "tax thieves")

Just FYI.


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## DKI Girl (Jul 22, 2002)

Getting back to the original thread......

At our school, we train three days a week for one hour classes.  We spend about 10 minutes warming up and going through our basic punches and strikes.  We then work on stances and kicks and then move onto Kata.  The last 15 mintues of class we spend working on bunkai and getting the students to work on techniques that will work for them.

dkigirl


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## arnisador (Jul 22, 2002)

How is bunkai chosen? Do you dissect one kata for a few weeks, or parts of a different kata every night?


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## DKI Girl (Jul 23, 2002)

We work on the katas that the students are learning...right now, 
Naihanchi Shodan and Pinan Shodan.   We try to look at one or two techniques from each kata.  Give them a starting point and also see what they can come up with too.

dkigirl


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## Matt Stone (Jul 25, 2002)

In our Yiliquan training here in Japan, we work on the forms the students are currently developing skill in.  We will take a few sequences each week and work their "standard" breakdowns, move to the next sequences, etc., until the whole form and it's "standard" breakdowns are familiar.  Then the student is left alone to work these over time.  In class, we will still return to those forms and practice the breakdowns in one-step fashion (at varying levels of intensity and power) to develop the muscle memory for those movements.

After a while, the student will start examining the movements on their own, and may find variations on the techniques, angles, etc.  This is encouraged, and sometimes we will take class time to work on such things.

Gambarimasu.


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## GojuBujin (Aug 11, 2002)

Osu, Oss,

You get the point or the meaning.  

Of cousre one could argue, we are all spelling it incorrectly, unless we write out the kanji.

I've heard that too, about it not being used alot in Okinawa and Japan.

Michael C. Byrd
www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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## Matt Stone (Aug 11, 2002)

> _Originally posted by GojuBujin _
> 
> *Osu, Oss,
> 
> You get the point or the meaning.  *



Yes, but perfection and mastery are made of little things, or, if we accept lowered standards...

yess, but perphekshun and masstiree r maid uv liddel things...



> *Of cousre one could argue, we are all spelling it incorrectly, unless we write out the kanji.*



Point well taken, however, that is why there is _romaji_, the official method of romanization of Japanese, which allows for standardized spellings of Japanese sounds which assist non-kanji readers to understand (to some degree) what is being written.

Gambarimasu. :asian:


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## GojuBujin (Aug 12, 2002)

Domo Arigato for your knowledge and wisdom.

Michael C. Byrd
www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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## Matt Stone (Aug 12, 2002)

I know nothing and I am not wise...

I have just lived here for a while and gotten into hot water a few times for saying something incorrectly...

Gambarimasu.


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## GojuBujin (Aug 13, 2002)

As  you wish 

Michael
www.inigmasoft.com/goyukai


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