JR 137
Grandmaster
I tested for 1st dan in 1999 (wow time flies) in a Kyokushin offshoot. The heads of that organization were Tadashi Nakamura’s students from his Kyokushin days and followed him to Seido, then broke away from Seido. We transitioned slowly from bare knuckle sparring to wearing protective gear during my time there.
My teacher left that organization less than a week before my scheduled test under his teacher, so me and one other guy my age tested under our teacher. We were his first black belts. The other guy is still with him, and was promoted to 5th dan a year or so ago. Makes me wonder what could’ve been if I didn’t leave for grad school and start my own life
We started at 9am on a Saturday. We read our paper (what karate means to me), answered a few questions from the group, and got into it. Most of the adult black belts were there, and no one else.
Once we start, we paired up with a black belt holding a kicking shield. My teacher say “100 roundhouse kicks with your right leg. Go.” Then the left. Then front kick, side kick, hook kick, then back kick. 100 each leg, each kick. Then punches, elbows, open hand, etc. We even did our blocks as strikes. All 100x with each hand. After all that, he says “Now that we’re warmed up, we can begin.” All I could think was “Begin? Are you out of your F’ing mind!!??”
Then it was combos on the shields - jab, cross, roundhouse; then adding stuff on until it was what seemed like 20 strike combos. Throughout that whole portion, the black belts were taking turns with the shields, and they weren’t letting us slow down nor lighten up on power.
Then he says “You guys are getting tired, so I’ll slow things down and let you do kata.” “Taikyoku 1-3, your own count, you don’t need to stay together, go.” “Pinan 1-5, go.” Half way through I think Pinan 3, the other guy makes a mistake. My teacher has us both stop and start over. We start Pinan 3 over, and he says “No. Start over from Pinan 1.” We did every kata like that. Neither one of us made another mistake that I know of.
Then we started our one-steps. We have 10 beginner and 10 intermediate; so 40 if you count against a right punch and then a left punch. We usually did them with the attacker doing the low block, chambered hand, stepping straight forward and punching. This time it was moving around just like sparring (in a fighting stance), and he’d call out a random number and punching side; so he’d say “right punch coming, beginner number 5. Go.” “Left punch coming, intermediate number 2. Go.” One of the black belts was following him around with a clipboard and crossing them off so he knew if he missed any. We did each one several times, but not in a row.
Then it was “Put on your sparring gear. And drink some water while you’re at it.” That was the first and only break we had. It was all one thing right into another. I had a 20 oz (about 600 ml for you metric guys) bottle of water, and I drank less than half of it.
Then we sparred. 20 man kumite - 20 two minute continuous rounds, with a fresh black belt every round. I can tell you that wearing sparring gear (head, hands, and feet) didn’t make it hurt any less. I think bare knuckle may have been a little softer, and we kicked with our shin, not instep, so none of the kicking surfaces were padded.
After 20 rounds (we weren’t told how many beforehand nor during), we had to spar each other. We knew that was going to be the end, so we went all out. Everyone got fired up. And we gassed out in about 30 seconds. The last two and a half minutes (the last round was 3 minutes) we had to look like zombies.
Then it was “Line up. Kneel down. Take your belt off.” He called us up individually, tied our new belt on, said congratulations, and that was it. No fanfare, no fireworks and confetti
He had that look on his face that told us he was genuinely proud of us. Funny how those bumps and bruises stopped hurting for a little while We started at 9 and ended around 3:30. So 6 and a half hours.
I was reminiscing with the guy I tested with a few or so ago. He said no test has been that tough since. My teacher allegedly told him “when we get people like you two again who can handle that, I’ll do that again.”
My teacher left that organization less than a week before my scheduled test under his teacher, so me and one other guy my age tested under our teacher. We were his first black belts. The other guy is still with him, and was promoted to 5th dan a year or so ago. Makes me wonder what could’ve been if I didn’t leave for grad school and start my own life
We started at 9am on a Saturday. We read our paper (what karate means to me), answered a few questions from the group, and got into it. Most of the adult black belts were there, and no one else.
Once we start, we paired up with a black belt holding a kicking shield. My teacher say “100 roundhouse kicks with your right leg. Go.” Then the left. Then front kick, side kick, hook kick, then back kick. 100 each leg, each kick. Then punches, elbows, open hand, etc. We even did our blocks as strikes. All 100x with each hand. After all that, he says “Now that we’re warmed up, we can begin.” All I could think was “Begin? Are you out of your F’ing mind!!??”
Then it was combos on the shields - jab, cross, roundhouse; then adding stuff on until it was what seemed like 20 strike combos. Throughout that whole portion, the black belts were taking turns with the shields, and they weren’t letting us slow down nor lighten up on power.
Then he says “You guys are getting tired, so I’ll slow things down and let you do kata.” “Taikyoku 1-3, your own count, you don’t need to stay together, go.” “Pinan 1-5, go.” Half way through I think Pinan 3, the other guy makes a mistake. My teacher has us both stop and start over. We start Pinan 3 over, and he says “No. Start over from Pinan 1.” We did every kata like that. Neither one of us made another mistake that I know of.
Then we started our one-steps. We have 10 beginner and 10 intermediate; so 40 if you count against a right punch and then a left punch. We usually did them with the attacker doing the low block, chambered hand, stepping straight forward and punching. This time it was moving around just like sparring (in a fighting stance), and he’d call out a random number and punching side; so he’d say “right punch coming, beginner number 5. Go.” “Left punch coming, intermediate number 2. Go.” One of the black belts was following him around with a clipboard and crossing them off so he knew if he missed any. We did each one several times, but not in a row.
Then it was “Put on your sparring gear. And drink some water while you’re at it.” That was the first and only break we had. It was all one thing right into another. I had a 20 oz (about 600 ml for you metric guys) bottle of water, and I drank less than half of it.
Then we sparred. 20 man kumite - 20 two minute continuous rounds, with a fresh black belt every round. I can tell you that wearing sparring gear (head, hands, and feet) didn’t make it hurt any less. I think bare knuckle may have been a little softer, and we kicked with our shin, not instep, so none of the kicking surfaces were padded.
After 20 rounds (we weren’t told how many beforehand nor during), we had to spar each other. We knew that was going to be the end, so we went all out. Everyone got fired up. And we gassed out in about 30 seconds. The last two and a half minutes (the last round was 3 minutes) we had to look like zombies.
Then it was “Line up. Kneel down. Take your belt off.” He called us up individually, tied our new belt on, said congratulations, and that was it. No fanfare, no fireworks and confetti
He had that look on his face that told us he was genuinely proud of us. Funny how those bumps and bruises stopped hurting for a little while
We started at 9 and ended around 3:30. So 6 and a half hours. I was reminiscing with the guy I tested with a few or so ago. He said no test has been that tough since. My teacher allegedly told him “when we get people like you two again who can handle that, I’ll do that again.”
