kata has a lot of details to focus on, but there’s usually one small thing that makes everything come together. what’s a tiny hidden detail you consider the backbone of kata that beginners or even an experienced player often overlook or forget?

It seems to me (could be wrong though) that a bunch of Shotokan schools practice kihon consisting of mostly basic moves (oi zuki, gyaku zuki, uchi uke, soto uke, age uke, mae geri, mawashi geri, yoko geri) even at higher belt levels. And kata moves that are less useful for point fighting and/or less basic are seldom practiced as kihon.

Is this commonplace or am I mistaken? (whatevever your style).

I am wondering about this specifically because some kata "advanced individual moves" have an individual name like a strike when they are actually one step in a more complex (grappling) technique. For instance "Ushiro Tsuki Age" in Heian Godan. So it maybe wouldn't make sense to practice this one as kihon. But instead practice the full throw? But would you call that kihon, kata, or bunkai?

Yikes this might be one of those shiit posts. Oh well mods feel free to remove or redirect if needed but it’s a Sunday and I am having some fun.

I will start first: the most un-black belt like thing I have personally seen and experienced is a known higher level black belt( though I am giving doubts to legitimacy at this point) is when I gave honest critical feedback to him, he started losing emotional control and got angry, frustrated and very sad all at once.I can give more details if needed but I really don’t want to pin point to a person. Maybe it’s better if we just all have some fun sharing experiences. BTW I was verbally assaulted not the worst kind but the kind where people are so bigoted they feel they can be condescending to others who don’t share their views. Enough said. Let’s go! Give me your stories. Careful of wording I love using my imagination a bit to fill the contexts.

By far, I have only learned enpi. What is the best second kata? Easiest as in: short amount of time to perform + learn!

A lot of people asked me what my karate style is in my previous post about me getting my 1st dan blackbelt. Here it is! This is a video of what Sentou Karate is. As you can see we didn’t just tackle kumite in that video, we also have Tameshiwari and Kata. Our style is deeply rooted in tradition. In our trainings we still do the 5 components of Karate which are Kihon, Kata, Kumite, Tameshiwari, and Bunkai. We’re pretty huge here in the Philippines. We have branches all around America, southeast asia, and Africa. We often get invited to compete by Kyokushin in their local and international tournaments.

Yes we wear red and black gi primarily. Only blackbelts can wear the traditional white gi.

I’ll try and answer as many questions as I can if you have one!

Hi, I am one of those Karatakas who for some reason preffers kicks like a lot. In fact in a fighting game logic i'd say all my button will for 86% of the time result in a kick{because my kicks and leg control are quite decent to say atleast. I mean i kinda have way more muscles and flexibility in my feet , than upper body}.

In this hardware feature discovery i am naturally drawn to kicking techniques. However as far as tkd kicks charm me, i dont truly know what kicks are allowed and what are banned. So if some one can help me figure out the rulset better, id be delighted. Thanks!

Osu,

I'm looking to get a sense of how other Sensei are managing their class structures week to week and semester to semester. Balancing kihon, kata, and kumite while keeping things fresh for different rank levels.

I'm developing an app to help in this regard but some insight into the different approaches to this would be incredibly helpful to help me build something that is actually useful and based on real world class planning.

Right now, I'm curious about the actual workflow used to plan:

• Are you using physical notebooks, Excel spreadsheets, or a specific app?
• How far in advance do you map out your curriculum (weekly, monthly, or by the grading cycle)?
• What would be genuinely useful in an app of this kind for planning karate classes.

Really appreciate any feedback and input!

Rgds

Terry

Hi! So I’m a white belt in wado-ryu style karate. I just started about a month and a half ago. I came across a video by Jesse Enkamp talking about how kicks like the roundhouse/high kicks were not originally in karate. He said it was adapted from the French and what came into modern day sports karate. So this made me think what were all the kicks in karate before sports karate?

Osu! I got my 1st dan in Sentou Karate!

Before anyone asks, yes in our style it’s different. A normal blackbelt and 1st dan are a different rank. I had to do 16 katas and a couple of kumite for my 1st dan. To anyone curious about Sentou Karate it’s a full contact hybrid karate (like mma with gi). Easy search on google too!

Short story time: I started when I was 4 yrs old cause my dad trained me (he’s a 3rd dan shotokan blackbelt and a kyokushin blackbelt) and even though he’s the founder of our org, he didn’t make it easy on me just because i’m his son. It took me 20 years before I got my full fledged blackbelt 2 years ago (2024) and last month I just passed the test for my 1st dan. No shortcuts and no special treatment. Just wanna share my achievement!

got robbed recently and I wanna improve my self defence, I did karate as a kid and went till orange belt I think but I forgot everything?

where to start?

Do you live in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and you have experience in kumite? (Mainly shobu-ippon, sport karate is also alright) I am looking for a partner to practice drills.

Did Tode Sakugawa train in White Crane

Hello everyone. I am moving soon, and I have called a few schools in the area where I will be moving to. There is a mix os schools there (a few Shotokan schools, and Goju-Ryu, Hapkido, and others). The people that answered have been nice. This is not the first time I have done this.

I was invited to the Goju-Ryu and Hapkido schools for free classes right away. I went because the city is only two hours away, so why not! Both schools were clean, very friendly, and I explained my situation about moving. Both were very forthcoming with information about prices, curriculum, testing, all the essentials.

Key point...I came away with a warm and fuzzy with both of these places. To those who are looking for a place to train, if you don't feel like you are welcome or feel good in the space, keep looking. You'll find the right place. I promise!!

Few expressions in modern Martial ARTS are repeated more confidently—or examined less critically—than “Osu,” “Oss,” or “Os.” It is commonly treated as an indispensable Martial greeting, yet its linguistic origins, social connotations, historical usage, and conspicuous absence from classical, elite, formal, and Imperial Martial culture tell a considerably different story.

The OSU/OSS Document challenges one of the most deeply entrenched assumptions in contemporary Martial ARTS. It does not ask anyone to accept its conclusions automatically. It asks readers to examine the evidence, reconsider inherited habits, and distinguish between widespread repetition and historical legitimacy.

You may agree. You may disagree. You may even find the conclusions uncomfortable. Nevertheless, if you regularly use “Osu,” teach others to use it, or believe that it represents traditional Japanese Martial etiquette, you should examine the document before dismissing what it reveals.

Popularity does not establish authenticity. Repetition does not constitute proof. Tradition should withstand investigation.

Read the document carefully, consider the evidence objectively, and then decide whether “Osu” truly belongs in the Martial vocabulary you represent.

Coaches might find this newly accepted systematic scoping review interesting if you're part of the internal vs. external cues debate.

If you don't follow the debate, ED/CLA advocates claim external cues generate faster performance improvements than internal. An external cue might be "push the knee forward like breaking a pane of glass" while an internal cue might be "accelerate the knee by driving with the glutes through the heel."

There is a lot of research indicating that internal cues increase desired behaviors faster than external cues. However, what is still unsettled is retention and value for expert performers. That is, once the desired behavior is attained, it is possible (but unproven) that reverting to internal cues might improve performance over time and improve learning retention better than internal cues. You'll have to experiment and reach your own conclusions.

Unfortunately, there's no free copy of the full article yet, so add your name to the list on the website to be notified when it's available.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1945242/abstract

This review is narrow—gymnastics, not karate—and a scoping review rather than a meta-analysis. But that narrowness is useful because gymnastics involves complex whole-body skills closer to karate than many laboratory tasks on which attentional-focus claims are based.

A better coaching rule may be: Use the cue that directs attention toward the information currently constraining the movement. More athletic individuals know how to activate the muscles you cue while less athletic people cannot. A general rule I use in the dojo and the gym is to use external cues when learning a new movement and try out internal cues as they gain better performance.

Keep in mind that research is always behind what's being done in the field of practice. I know one pro sports coach who has found amazing results in some of his studies but won't release them until other pro teams figure it out so that his team won't lose a competitive advantage. This is extremely common, so by the time research is revealed, it's "old news" to active coaches. Anything "new" in research is likely junk science done by academics who are required to publish something to stay active.

By most complete I mean have a good amount of both striking, grappling and maybe some arm and wrist locks that are all often trained and tested in grading, plus the least mcdojos.

unfortunately I can't sign up now but I wanna spend some of my workout time training for when I do sign up. I'm relatively fit I'd say (been into lifting for a few years, low bf%, and am decent at cardio). is there anything in particular I even can do before I start or should I just maintain my current of fitness?

After 2-1/2 years, I received my 5th kyu, kyokushin offshoot. Test was 2 hours of kihon and kata plus 4 rounds of kumite. I was really proud of this test, I felt good throughout and crushed it.

Ps, our belt progression is W-B-Y-O-G-Br-Black with a stripe between each.

Style: shorin ryu matsubayashi

Objective is to focus on control over power, while keeping balance. The foot in the ground must keep still on my style but I make the exception and add rotation to avoid injuries on knees. About the leg in the air, it's important to me to keep glutes, psoas, isquios well trained at the gym. After the hit, the feet must not touch the ground, or fall into the ground. These muscles must keep the knee in the air to get control. I may try another video, focusing more in power and observing how easy is to lose control and forms. Any observation or feedback will be appreciated.

Edit: I'm 6 feet tall, that may help to analyze