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March 2, 2012
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The Truth about REAL Karate-do and Krotty
Have you come across any so called "Karate" studios in your area that claim they offer Karate-do, but instead they offer something not even remotely close to Japanese or Okinawan Karate-do?
There is nothing wrong if a school claims they teach "martial arts". That is absolutely fine and it does not matter what the style is or where its from, it is a generic term. Call it what you want. A martial art can be anything you want it to be. But labels can be tricky and once you give a martial art a label it might not be the most accurate description and even flat out misleading. Especially when it comes to Karate-do
When you look for a Kungfu school, what kind of martial art do you expect to find? Usually you find a school that is teaching Kungfu of some sort and they have some kind of connection to China or a Chinese history.
The same goes for when you look for a Judo school, you will probably find Judo being taught. Right?
So why is it not that simple when you look for a Karate school?? Why is EVERYTHING called Karate even if it is totally and utterly not?
If something looks like "karate", does it mean that it "IS" Karate?? Isn't there more to Karate than just looks? Do kicks and punches determine something to be Karate?
Its very common that when you look for a Karate school, you end up finding a mix schools that teach many things that are not even remotely close to anything Karate at all.
So, lets set the record strait, if we talk about fruit, You can be guarateed that an apple will be picked from an apple tree, NOT a banana tree. There is no such thing as a "Banapple", at least to my knowledge.
So why it not this way with Karate. Or is it? Do people just not know any better?
FACT#1: KARATE only originates from Okinawa/Japan It did not start in America, Europe or Africa.
FACT #2: Karate Literally means "Empty Hand". It was named that partially due to the Ban on weapons in Okinawa by the Japanese therefor giving the name its meaning.
FACT #3: Karate is internationally recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Karate Federation. The Recognized Styles are: Shotokan, Wado Ryu, Goju Ryu and Shito Ryu. Only those styles are recognised world wide as a Legetimate style of Karate-do and anyhting else is simply independant and/or not considered authentic or credible, especially if the style does not originate from Okinawa or Japan. If they are to be recognized, the independant style must be presented in front of a technical comittee and an entire board in order to begin an authentication process to be regonized and accredited with the WKF.
It is dissapointing that Karate is used so loosely. It should not be used so casually just to attract business for the sake of easy marketing just because "karate" has become a house-hold name. Karate is a very unique art and it is not as watered down or generic as so many people may think it is. In fact the word Traditional has to be used just to determine what is actually authentic because so many NON traditional schools use "karate in their name." It baffles me when I see Korean Karate on a sign, that is just as inaccuarate as seeing a Japanese Wushu or Chinese Aikido.
So what are some good indicators that a school even though they may teach their own form of martial arts, they DO NOT actually teach Karate-do???
Example: Schools that teach Kuk sool, Tang soo do, Tae Kwondo, Hapkido, Kenpo, Kajukenpo, American Karate, Krava Maga, Lima Lama, Kickboxing, MMA or any other style or brand that puts "Karate" in their name to attract the unsuspecting public.
Example #2; Americanized or commercialised schools that claim they teach several styles and then garantee a student they will earn their black belt quicker and in a guaranteed time frame no matter what age they are.
Example #3: Schools that the head instructor claims to be a 9th degree black belt in multiple styles and has coached the national teams of North Korea, South Korea, China, USA and the planet Jupiter as well as the police and armed forces for all those places, yet they are barely 35 - 40 years of age and they barely spreak english well enough to communicate but know just enough to tell you their prices.
Example #4: Schools that have multiple instructors and staff that are gold medalists, national champions and world champions and claim that half their student base is filled with champions too! But none of them actually competed anywhere internationally.
Example #5: The school allows the title of Sensei to anyone under the age of 16 OR even worse, they have 12 year olds who are 3rd degree black belts or higher teaching full time. Another perfect example is schools that have 21 - 25 year old masters that are 6th - 7th degree black belts and have done martial arts for only 10 - 12 years total.
Eample #6: Schools that don't teach KATA and declare that "that" type of training is useless but swear they earned their black belt ranking from Japan/Okinawa or China or from some famous person.
Example #7: When a school can describe their entire style and history in less than 3 sentences and the style of martial art does not even have a name. And when you ask the sensei why doesn't their style have a name?, they tell you "We are not limited to a single style or name" and "that history of the art is not important, What is important is what we teach you now."
Example #8: If the Dojo teaches gymnastics and acrobatics as part of the KATA's. This applies to schools that claim they teach Okinawan Kobudo, Yet they add spin kicks, jumps and flips in the weapons KATA's they teach as well.
Example #9: I am personally okay with wearing black or blue uniforms since it is quite common in traditional Judo and Okinawan Karate. But it is a big indication that the school is NOT a true Karate Dojo when they make you wear a different uniform each day of the week and you have to put on ten different patches, One for each style or form you learn. And all the patches go down the pant legs and sleeves.
I walked in to a dojo one day in the fall of 1994 and I was puzzled when I noticed a student had a Shotokan patch at the bottom of their pant leg by the ankle. So, I asked if they actually did Shotokan? They said YES! "It is one of our POWER STYLES!" I did not know what that meant, but I walked out shortly after noticing many other indicators they were on another planet.
Example #10: If the School that claims to offer Karate cannot trace their Lineage or credibility back to a known founder of any traditonal karate style, then they are not a true Karate School.
Examples are: Shotokan "Gichin Funakoshi", Shito Ryu "Kenwa Mabuni", Shorin Ryu "Shoshin Nagamine" Wado Ryu "Hironori Ohtsuka", Goju Ryu "Miyagi Chojun", Kyukoshin "Mas Oyama".
Example #11: Another indicator the school is not a credible Karate-do school is if the school's style is only found within the four walls of the school itself and the founder of their style is the instructor himself.
There are quite a few studios that make these claims and commit highway robbery by charging a lot more for their tuition than most honest traditional dojos would ever dream of doing. They look at students as merely walking currency. Real dojos actually CARE about their students and take pride in the quality of their services and legitimacy of their art and that their students will be able to carry on their journey even when they do not continue to train in the same dojo.
So lets come together for the sake of informing the public about TRUE, AUTHENTIC and REAL KARATEDO.
What it is, where it came from, its historical development, Why Karate is CALLED "KARATE" and so on....
Here is a List of schools that ARE True Karate-do dojos in Southern California:
- Academy of Karate, West Hills - Alireza "Bruce"Hojati
- Academy of Karate, Duarte - Joseph Claycomb
- Academy for Martial Arts, Fontana - David Blair
- All Japan Karate-do, Sand Diego - Paul Dal
- Seiden Kai Karate, Indio - Jesse Canedo
- USA Martial arts Center, Beverly HIlls - Morteza Alborzi
- School of Hope, Glendora - Anthony Maquez
- IKA Karate Gosoku Ryu, Glendale
- UMAC, Rancho Cucomonga - Rick Duffy
- West Coast Shotokan, Temple City
- Upland Shotokan Karate League - Tai Aponte
- Camarillo Shotokan - Victor Young
- Busonjuku USA - Florence Bigsby
If your dojo is not on the list above and you are in Southern California, please notify me so I can put you on the list. I do not mean to offend anyone if your name is not on the list yet.
There are many schools all over that DO NOT OFFER Karate-do but use the word "Karate" as "part of" their name or in conjunction with thier school, or use Karate on their signage or website to attract customers. The Fact is they have no connection or understanding of the technical intricacies of KA-RAH-TEH-DOH nor are they completly familiar with the history of how Karate came about and probably possess a very limited understanding of the technical premise that Karate posessses.
Another Sad bit of information is that on Google when searching for Karate in the search bar, 10 Locations popped up, I did not find any True Karatedo Schools other than the other Shotokan school in another city. When I searched for Shotokan, I was one of 2 in my area in the same radius. To find more Shotokan Dojos you have to drive A LOT further to even find them.
We can only hope that more honest and authentic Dojos start popping up and begin marketing themselves to the public. Between the misguided opinion of what Karate really is and the bad Media hype with all things MMA I am reaching out to all those I know who are on the same path as I am, a Path of someone who just loves his art and hopes to spread more truth about what IS Karate-do and what is NOT in hopes of making a difference and continue to spread the truth about Karate before it is lost forever due to false media and the lack of true understanding and naivety of modern society.
OSS
Disclaimer: This post is in no way meant to offend anyone but only to educate those who are curious and open minded about the Art of Karate-do and in the effort of trying to distinguish from "Martial Arts and Karate as a Unique and Distinct form, that should not be used commonly.
There is nothing wrong if a school claims they teach "martial arts". That is absolutely fine and it does not matter what the style is or where its from, it is a generic term. Call it what you want. A martial art can be anything you want it to be. But labels can be tricky and once you give a martial art a label it might not be the most accurate description and even flat out misleading. Especially when it comes to Karate-do
When you look for a Kungfu school, what kind of martial art do you expect to find? Usually you find a school that is teaching Kungfu of some sort and they have some kind of connection to China or a Chinese history.
The same goes for when you look for a Judo school, you will probably find Judo being taught. Right?
So why is it not that simple when you look for a Karate school?? Why is EVERYTHING called Karate even if it is totally and utterly not?
If something looks like "karate", does it mean that it "IS" Karate?? Isn't there more to Karate than just looks? Do kicks and punches determine something to be Karate?
Its very common that when you look for a Karate school, you end up finding a mix schools that teach many things that are not even remotely close to anything Karate at all.
So, lets set the record strait, if we talk about fruit, You can be guarateed that an apple will be picked from an apple tree, NOT a banana tree. There is no such thing as a "Banapple", at least to my knowledge.
So why it not this way with Karate. Or is it? Do people just not know any better?
FACT#1: KARATE only originates from Okinawa/Japan It did not start in America, Europe or Africa.
FACT #2: Karate Literally means "Empty Hand". It was named that partially due to the Ban on weapons in Okinawa by the Japanese therefor giving the name its meaning.
FACT #3: Karate is internationally recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the World Karate Federation. The Recognized Styles are: Shotokan, Wado Ryu, Goju Ryu and Shito Ryu. Only those styles are recognised world wide as a Legetimate style of Karate-do and anyhting else is simply independant and/or not considered authentic or credible, especially if the style does not originate from Okinawa or Japan. If they are to be recognized, the independant style must be presented in front of a technical comittee and an entire board in order to begin an authentication process to be regonized and accredited with the WKF.
It is dissapointing that Karate is used so loosely. It should not be used so casually just to attract business for the sake of easy marketing just because "karate" has become a house-hold name. Karate is a very unique art and it is not as watered down or generic as so many people may think it is. In fact the word Traditional has to be used just to determine what is actually authentic because so many NON traditional schools use "karate in their name." It baffles me when I see Korean Karate on a sign, that is just as inaccuarate as seeing a Japanese Wushu or Chinese Aikido.
So what are some good indicators that a school even though they may teach their own form of martial arts, they DO NOT actually teach Karate-do???
Example: Schools that teach Kuk sool, Tang soo do, Tae Kwondo, Hapkido, Kenpo, Kajukenpo, American Karate, Krava Maga, Lima Lama, Kickboxing, MMA or any other style or brand that puts "Karate" in their name to attract the unsuspecting public.
Example #2; Americanized or commercialised schools that claim they teach several styles and then garantee a student they will earn their black belt quicker and in a guaranteed time frame no matter what age they are.
Example #3: Schools that the head instructor claims to be a 9th degree black belt in multiple styles and has coached the national teams of North Korea, South Korea, China, USA and the planet Jupiter as well as the police and armed forces for all those places, yet they are barely 35 - 40 years of age and they barely spreak english well enough to communicate but know just enough to tell you their prices.
Example #4: Schools that have multiple instructors and staff that are gold medalists, national champions and world champions and claim that half their student base is filled with champions too! But none of them actually competed anywhere internationally.
Example #5: The school allows the title of Sensei to anyone under the age of 16 OR even worse, they have 12 year olds who are 3rd degree black belts or higher teaching full time. Another perfect example is schools that have 21 - 25 year old masters that are 6th - 7th degree black belts and have done martial arts for only 10 - 12 years total.
Eample #6: Schools that don't teach KATA and declare that "that" type of training is useless but swear they earned their black belt ranking from Japan/Okinawa or China or from some famous person.
Example #7: When a school can describe their entire style and history in less than 3 sentences and the style of martial art does not even have a name. And when you ask the sensei why doesn't their style have a name?, they tell you "We are not limited to a single style or name" and "that history of the art is not important, What is important is what we teach you now."
Example #8: If the Dojo teaches gymnastics and acrobatics as part of the KATA's. This applies to schools that claim they teach Okinawan Kobudo, Yet they add spin kicks, jumps and flips in the weapons KATA's they teach as well.
Example #9: I am personally okay with wearing black or blue uniforms since it is quite common in traditional Judo and Okinawan Karate. But it is a big indication that the school is NOT a true Karate Dojo when they make you wear a different uniform each day of the week and you have to put on ten different patches, One for each style or form you learn. And all the patches go down the pant legs and sleeves.
I walked in to a dojo one day in the fall of 1994 and I was puzzled when I noticed a student had a Shotokan patch at the bottom of their pant leg by the ankle. So, I asked if they actually did Shotokan? They said YES! "It is one of our POWER STYLES!" I did not know what that meant, but I walked out shortly after noticing many other indicators they were on another planet.
Example #10: If the School that claims to offer Karate cannot trace their Lineage or credibility back to a known founder of any traditonal karate style, then they are not a true Karate School.
Examples are: Shotokan "Gichin Funakoshi", Shito Ryu "Kenwa Mabuni", Shorin Ryu "Shoshin Nagamine" Wado Ryu "Hironori Ohtsuka", Goju Ryu "Miyagi Chojun", Kyukoshin "Mas Oyama".
Example #11: Another indicator the school is not a credible Karate-do school is if the school's style is only found within the four walls of the school itself and the founder of their style is the instructor himself.
There are quite a few studios that make these claims and commit highway robbery by charging a lot more for their tuition than most honest traditional dojos would ever dream of doing. They look at students as merely walking currency. Real dojos actually CARE about their students and take pride in the quality of their services and legitimacy of their art and that their students will be able to carry on their journey even when they do not continue to train in the same dojo.
So lets come together for the sake of informing the public about TRUE, AUTHENTIC and REAL KARATEDO.
What it is, where it came from, its historical development, Why Karate is CALLED "KARATE" and so on....
Here is a List of schools that ARE True Karate-do dojos in Southern California:
- Academy of Karate, West Hills - Alireza "Bruce"Hojati
- Academy of Karate, Duarte - Joseph Claycomb
- Academy for Martial Arts, Fontana - David Blair
- All Japan Karate-do, Sand Diego - Paul Dal
- Seiden Kai Karate, Indio - Jesse Canedo
- USA Martial arts Center, Beverly HIlls - Morteza Alborzi
- School of Hope, Glendora - Anthony Maquez
- IKA Karate Gosoku Ryu, Glendale
- UMAC, Rancho Cucomonga - Rick Duffy
- West Coast Shotokan, Temple City
- Upland Shotokan Karate League - Tai Aponte
- Camarillo Shotokan - Victor Young
- Busonjuku USA - Florence Bigsby
If your dojo is not on the list above and you are in Southern California, please notify me so I can put you on the list. I do not mean to offend anyone if your name is not on the list yet.
There are many schools all over that DO NOT OFFER Karate-do but use the word "Karate" as "part of" their name or in conjunction with thier school, or use Karate on their signage or website to attract customers. The Fact is they have no connection or understanding of the technical intricacies of KA-RAH-TEH-DOH nor are they completly familiar with the history of how Karate came about and probably possess a very limited understanding of the technical premise that Karate posessses.
Another Sad bit of information is that on Google when searching for Karate in the search bar, 10 Locations popped up, I did not find any True Karatedo Schools other than the other Shotokan school in another city. When I searched for Shotokan, I was one of 2 in my area in the same radius. To find more Shotokan Dojos you have to drive A LOT further to even find them.
We can only hope that more honest and authentic Dojos start popping up and begin marketing themselves to the public. Between the misguided opinion of what Karate really is and the bad Media hype with all things MMA I am reaching out to all those I know who are on the same path as I am, a Path of someone who just loves his art and hopes to spread more truth about what IS Karate-do and what is NOT in hopes of making a difference and continue to spread the truth about Karate before it is lost forever due to false media and the lack of true understanding and naivety of modern society.
OSS
Disclaimer: This post is in no way meant to offend anyone but only to educate those who are curious and open minded about the Art of Karate-do and in the effort of trying to distinguish from "Martial Arts and Karate as a Unique and Distinct form, that should not be used commonly.
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