# help me to choose a style



## anluong (Sep 5, 2014)

Hi everyone,this is my first post
I'm 18,and want to start learning martial art.
There are 2 dojo, one teaches shorin ryu seibukan,and the other one teaches muso kai. I know seibukan thanks to wiki,and musokai thanks to the site musokai.info. it said the founder of this art learning matsubayashi shorin ryu and kyokushin,and then founded this style like a hybrid style between the 2 styles he learned.
Thank you for reading , greeting from Vietnam


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## Kong Soo Do (Sep 5, 2014)

anluong said:


> Hi everyone,this is my first post
> I'm 18,and want to start learning martial art.
> There are 2 dojo, one teaches shorin ryu seibukan,and the other one teaches muso kai. I know seibukan thanks to wiki,and musokai thanks to the site musokai.info. it said the founder of this art learning matsubayashi shorin ryu and kyokushin,and then founded this style like a hybrid style between the 2 styles he learned.
> Thank you for reading , greeting from Vietnam



To begin, welcome to Martial Warrior :wavey:

I've taken a look at both of the martial arts you've cited.  Starting with Muso Kai Karate, this may well be a fine art.  One red flag however that I noted on their website is that they say it is a centuries old martial art.  This isn't exactly accurate to say the least.  Looking through their website, well, I just wasn't very impressed overall.  Again, it may be a great art/school.  They say they offer three free lessons so it won't cost anything to see for yourself.

Shorin Ryu on the other hand, in my opinion is a well respected Okinawan art.  It contains a plethora of established katas like Seisan, Passai, Chinto and all five of the Pinan katas.  Each of these has tremendous combative value (if properly taught with this perspective in mind).  Having begun in the Okinawan arts (such as Pangainoon (Uechi Ryu) and Shuri Te) I personally would gravitate towards Shorin Ryu.

Best of luck and let us know what you decided and what you found.


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## tshadowchaser (Sep 5, 2014)

Welcome to the forum.
I Agree with the post above. Take the free lessons and talk with the instructor. Ask about anything you are looking for in the martial arts but listen closely to the answers. If you feel your only being given a sales pitch the try elsewhere.
Ask the other instructor if a couple free lessons can be given/taken.
Avoid signing contracts if at all possible.  A weekly or monthly payment plan as you study is best but NO long term contracts that lock you in.
Try the one you decide on for a while and practice at home. If you like it after a few months you may have found your system, if you do not like it you have options to stop, go somewhere else ,etc.


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## oftheherd1 (Sep 5, 2014)

Don't know enough about either art to comment, but there are good comments above.

Anyway, Welcome to Martial Talk.


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## donald1 (Sep 5, 2014)

I've heard shorin ryu has some katas from goju,  specifically gekisai 1 and 2 from master miyagi and maybe tokumine dai and seisan? 

But none the less if there both good schools pick the one that seems right to you 
Best of luck


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## TimoS (Sep 5, 2014)

donald1 said:


> I've heard shorin ryu has some katas from goju,  specifically gekisai 1 and 2 from master miyagi and maybe tokumine dai and seisan?


Seibukan has one of the Gekisai, can't remember which, because we call it Fukyugata 2. Tokumine no kun is our only weapons kata, but the Seisan we do is different from the one done in Goju. IMO those versions are "related", i.e. they both come from some ancient "proto-Seisan", but they look very different.


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## anluong (Sep 6, 2014)

Thank you for all comments. I want to ask for some more info of the seibukan
Does this style have body conditioning as other okinawan style,  And if that dojo isn't a  mcdojo,will it be a good m.a for self defense.? Thanks all


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## Chris Parker (Sep 6, 2014)

Hi Anulong,

I'm going to be completely, bluntly honest here. Please understand that this is not meant as a discouragement at all&#8230; in fact, exactly the opposite&#8230; I would highly encourage you as much as I possibly could here&#8230; but there are some realities that you might not be aware of yet.

If you want to know what is involved in the dojo, what is trained, how it's trained, what the make-up of the classes are etc, you will have to go to the school and ask the instructor or the students. Even if someone here trains in the same organisation, or in the same system in a different organisation, that's no guarantee that their experience will match what is found in the dojo local to you. The instructor might have a great love (and therefore emphasis) on conditioning&#8230; or might ignore it completely. And honestly, the same goes for the self defence question&#8230; the answer is always "yes and no, it depends"&#8230; as there's no way to know. Can it be used in a physical confrontation? Sure. Is it good for that? Maybe&#8230; maybe not&#8230; it might be good, but not taught in a way that gears itself towards that application, or it might not be particularly suited, but the instructor could have a great sense of such needs, and is able to present it in that context very well. 

To be completely frank, whenever we get questions from new, inexperienced, and interested people asking "what system should I do?" or similar, it's like someone asking you what they should eat, as they're feeling a bit hungry&#8230; there's really no way to tell. What do you like? Something sweet, or savoury? Are you on a health kick, or do you enjoy binging on junk food? Are you between meals, and this is a snack, or is it a main source of sustenance? Do you have any allergies, or dietary requirements, or any preferential tastes? Do you like Chinese food, or pizza? We don't know what you like, and we don't know what restaurants are open around you. In other words, all we can say is "try a number of things, and see what you like".

The most important thing is that you enjoy attending the school you choose. The style is really largely irrelevant. If you find the most amazing system, but the teacher is someone you can't respect, or can't learn from (for whatever reason), then it's not a good school for you&#8230; if you find an okay system with a fantastic teacher, and a great, supportive student body, then that's the best choice. So visit the schools&#8230; don't worry what some random, largely anonymous people you've never met on the internet say based on minimalist knowledge of the entire situation (yours, the schools, the systems etc)&#8230; you're the one who'll be attending the school. Find the right one for you, and stick with it.

After all&#8230; do you want to know the real secret of martial arts? The true secret knowledge? The one thing that makes everything work? The magic which takes you from being a largely clueless, inexperienced newbie to a genuinely skilled, knowledgable, insightful, powerful practitioner of your chosen system? The genuine hidden truth that has been passed down through the centuries, protected by the blood and sacrifice of warriors of all cultures?

Start your training. And don't stop.


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## TimoS (Sep 6, 2014)

anluong said:


> Does this style have body conditioning as other okinawan style,  And if that dojo isn't a  mcdojo,will it be a good m.a for self defense.? Thanks all



Some body conditioning is usually included, but nothing near the amount of e.g. Goju or Uechi ryu. As for the mcdojo aspect, it most certainly is NOT a mcdojo. I know the chief instructor of Seibukan in Vietnam and especially his sensei and neither are what one might call mcdojo instructors. Self defense then, I've been doing Seibukan for a few years now, and while my instructor is different, I feel confident that I've learned much more of how to use karate to defend myself than I learned in my previous style. T


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## Kong Soo Do (Sep 6, 2014)

TimoS said:


> Some body conditioning is usually included, but nothing near the amount of e.g. Goju or Uechi ryu.



I agree.  You'd be hard pressed to find an art that has the level of body conditioning of either Goju or Uechi.  Now that is a general statement and there could of course be exceptions.  Best way to find out is to simple ask the Seibukan instructor and/or take a class.  Hopefully they will offer one or two free to try.  Now if you really want to get into body conditioning, do so under someone qualified as it needs to be done correctly.  

I really hope it works out well with whatever choice you make :wavey:


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## anluong (Sep 6, 2014)

Thanks for your great replies
Chris: no no,it's not a discouragement at all,i understand. Your opinion is a strong encouragement,i respect that.
Timo:thank you, you help me alot to know about the style. Next week,i will take a free seibukan class,if that suit me,i will stick with it for long.
C&#7843;m &#417;n m&#7885;i ng&#432;&#7901;i r&#7845;t nhi&#7873;u


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## Chris Parker (Sep 6, 2014)

Fantastic, I hope you enjoy it! And don't be shy about letting us know how you go.


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## Badger1777 (Sep 6, 2014)

Personally I think you have to give a new club at least a few weeks before deciding if it is right or not. Years ago, I did karate for a while. We had good instructors but I really wanted to do kung fu. I switched to kung fu, and at first I was actually disappointed. It seemed that what we were being taught was illogical and ineffective compared to the karate. That was until a few weeks in and we received the honour of a visit from our grand master. He stayed for a few weeks as it happened. The first day he was there, he didn't seem to offer much, so my disappointment grew. What I didn't realise was that we'd spent the last few weeks learning the basic ingredients of lots of moves, and now we were mixing all those ingredients together to make some very cool moves.

Unfortunately, as much as I grew to love it, I didn't stick it out. Life got in the way shall we say. Fast forward approx 23 years, and no longer a young man, I return to martial arts. This time Tang Soo Do. Guess what happened. I loved it straight away, but at the same time I found myself doubting it and being a bit disappointed with parts of it. I was secretly thinking that us beginners were not getting the attention that the higher grades were getting. Then one day, almost all in one go, lots of things I'd been doing slightly wrong got addressed all in one go. I realised two things. Firstly that our top instructor had not missed anything, and secondly that his strategy is to let people practice for themselves until they'd got the basic move right, then step in to polish it up. Its a good strategy I think. Everyone in our club seems to love it, myself included, and people are progressing very well.

So as everyone else says, give it a try, see what works, but please don't base your decision on a single 2 hour free introductory lesson. At 18 years old you have plenty of time to take your time, and you can ditch a club after a couple of months if you want. Just try them, and give them a fair chance. If after a few weeks it isn't working, try another.


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## PhotonGuy (Sep 10, 2014)

You might want to check out both places, watch a class and perhaps even try a class at both places if they have introduction classes. That way you can decide which one you like better and which one works better for you.


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## oftheherd1 (Sep 10, 2014)

anluong said:


> Thanks for your great replies
> Chris: no no,it's not a discouragement at all,i understand. Your opinion is a strong encouragement,i respect that.
> Timo:thank you, you help me alot to know about the style. Next week,i will take a free seibukan class,if that suit me,i will stick with it for long.
> C&#7843;m &#417;n m&#7885;i ng&#432;&#7901;i r&#7845;t nhi&#7873;u



Khong co chi anluong.  Toi hy vong tat ca giup anluong. Anluong co dip di tap chua?


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## anluong (Sep 11, 2014)

&#7890; em có &#273;&#7891;ng h&#432;&#417;ng à??. D&#7841; th&#7847;y( cô) g&#7885;i em là An &#273;&#432;&#7907;c r&#7891;i. Do th&#7913; ba v&#7915;a r&#7891;i(9/9/2014) em b&#7883; té xe,hi&#7879;n &#273;ang b&#7883; th&#432;&#417;ng chân trái khá n&#7863;ng nên em ch&#432;a t&#7853;p &#273;&#432;&#7907;c. Em c&#7843;m &#417;n th&#7847;y (cô) &#273;ã &#273;&#7897;ng viên ,em hi v&#7885;ng mau kh&#7887;i &#273;&#7875; &#273;&#432;&#7907;c t&#7853;p.


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