.
~K~
“maybe not in combat… but think of the chicks man, the chicks!”
HHmmm!!!
…give it a miss if I was you. There’s more effective arts around.
Thoughts on Karate
Awesome fighting potential if you have innovativeness. Good for increased awareness and appreciation of life~ my say.
Very some such,perhaps might have been, likely say some, some not.
Karate can be a great art if your teacher has good teaching qualities. Karate is allways enhanced my Internal exercises. Corporate some Chi Gung exercises, and maybe a little chin na and you’ll have yourself a package.
I think the vast majority of karate styles will not be very effective against someone who has some fighting training. I feel that kyokushinkai is an exception to the rule. Some kyokushinkai practitioners have faired well against some of the best kinds of fighters there are, including Muay Thai and wing chun guys. I believe that Tae Kwon Do and Ed Parker’s Kenpo can do a good job of helping you to improve upon another stlye. I do not think that they are very effective in and of themselves, however. They definitely would not be a good art to start off with, IMHO. Peace. 
“Some kyokushinkai practitioners have faired well against some of the best kinds of fighters there are, including Muay Thai and wing chun guys.”
This begs several questions…
What criteria are you using to determing that “Muay Thai and Wing Chun guys” are “some of the best kinds of fighters”?
And when have “Some Kyokushinaki practitioners” faught such people, and what were their credientials?
Okay Jerry, now I go to admit that I do not know all of the details. However, three of Oyama’s top student put themselves through the training regimen of the Thai’s, yet they stuck to Kyokushin techniques. They fought three Muay thai guys, and two of them won.Muay Thai is recognized as one of the best striking arts there is, which is why I feel they are among the best fighters out there. Also, I have heard about a whole team of kyokushin guys who went up against a whole team of wing chun guys. When the Wing Chun guys tried to block The kyokushin guys’ punches, they broke their arms. A kyokushin guy also told me that he defeated his wing chun instructor by throwing a series of low kicks against him. I do not know the guy personally, however. I just talked with him on a discussion board. Peace.
My thoughts on karate
I like it. It’s not ineffective and it’s as good an art as the teacher and the student taking it.
That’s right. It’s the person, not the style, stupid.
K. Mark Hoover
Budokan, I will have you know that I studied Shito-ryu for 4 years, was about ready to go for my first degree brown belt in it, and still did not feel that I could take care of myself very well. The school was very sport-oriented,so maybe that was what the problem was. However, the vast majority of karate schools in the United States also seem to be very sport-oriented. I have read about many matches between karate people and kung fu people, as well as between karate people and Muay Thai people. The kyokushin practitioners were the only karate people that ever won against the thais and kung fu practitioners.If you can cite examples of other karate styles doing well against trained fighters, then please enlighten me. I am not trying to flame here. I am just trying to get to the bottom of the truth. Peace
Oh how I wish there was a way that I could post my viewpoints without risking offending anyone. 
If you studied shito-ryu for 4 years and still didn’t feel like you could defend yourself then you were in a bad school. And you are right, most MA schools ARE sport oriented; it’s tough to find a good one.
But that shouldn’t be viewed as a failure of shito-ryu or karate in general–or of yourself. 
K. Mark Hoover
Oh you take SHITo Ryu
Non-Ryukyuan Shito Ryu is a joke. It’s like Japanese Goju with 50 Katas. How could an “art” like that ever be effective unless you were a good street fighter before entering it. It’s just another “broke” version of Okinawan Karate (Shuri Te+Naha Te), Japanacised and cannibalized to make money on the free-market. Why don’t you Einsteins research this isht before you take it? SHITo Ryu is almost exclusively a competition style, with low stances and inefficient fighting principles. Please get some semblance of a clue before you spout. Remember RIF-Reading Is FUNdaMental!!! By the way Mas Oyama’s Kyokushinkai is broke-assed Shotokan (Japanese Sport Shorin Ryu) with no more 100 man Kumite, so it’s just like most Japanese Karate, useless in a real altercation (unless your fighting a know-nothing)!! Peac… Hold up, I’m not gonna waste that on a perpetually tempestuous dullard!!! :mad:
HELP!!!
You idiots on this forum buff each others apples and give props to the most inane shiznit!!! I enjoy mentally engaging people and that seems to be lacking here. First one guy says that words are more physically painful than beat downs, bullets and bombs, then some Mensa member puts down Karate 'cuz he got duped into taking Japanese SHITo Ryu"… No wonder the world is F’ed up, if you people are helping it to work then mankind is DOOMED.
Even these freakin’ POLYTRICKtians that run isht have got you tricked into believing you’re somehow not in Pharoahs Egypt or Caeser’s Rome! It’s what you deserve, you’ll never leave the U.S.A let alone your hometown or state, so you go on believin’ you got it all figured out. Give those in power your money, mind and soul and perpetuate the STATUS QUO…DUMB FizUCKS!!! Of course this is not an indictment of everyone on this forum. The microcosm is a reflection of the Macrocosm, so only 90% of you all need be concerned…AAAAAAAAAAAAthptpppthftht 
!!!
riiiiiight, chill everyone?
I am just interested in how other kung fu students feel about karate. Uhmm, ok, so how is the Okinawan Karate (Shuri Te+Naha Te) different from the stuff we see out there now? is Shuri Te+Naha Te a rare art to find?
~K~
“maybe not in combat… but think of the chicks man, the chicks!”
Rare arts
I think so. There isn’t any one person or group like , say, JKA, that promotes them. I do think they’re still taught overseas but they haven’t really gotten the run they deserve, IMO.
K. Mark Hoover
Yo Omega, that Angle Dust is bad for ya dude! :rolleyes:
[i]
Rogue, you’re an @ss!! Watchman
Adventure is just a romantic name for trouble. It sounds swell when you write about it, but it’s hell when you meet it face to face in a dark and lonely place.
Louis L’Amour
BTW, did I mention that Rogue was an @ss? Watchman[/i]
No Dust…
Rogue: No dust, just testosterone that sometimes makes me “testy”. I apologize for the rant, as it ain’t y’alls fault for knowing what you know. There is a reason America isn’t in the top ten of nations as far as grade school education is concerned.
What is Shuri Te and Naha Te? Jesus I hope you’re not a Karateka. If so then that’s scary!!! Let me simplify this. Shuri Te= Shorin Ryu, Isshin Ryu and its Japanese offshoots (ex. Shotokan) (basically) and Naha Te= Okinawan Goju Ryu, and Uechi ryu (Pangai Noon) and its offshoots (ex.Japanese Goju Ryu). Shuri and Naha are names of cities (villages in Okinawa). Te means “hand” or “hand art”. Kyokushinkai is a mixture of Shuri and Naha Te with an emphasis on Funakoshi’s “modernized” Shorin Ryu(which means Shaolin Way) called Shotokan. Another misunderstood style is Kenpo. It is NOT originally an American contrivance and in fact Mas Oyama’s (Kyokushinkai’s founder) took Chinese Kempo as his first style. Okinawan Kenpo was around long before Ed Parker or James Mitose! Kenpo means “Chuan Fa” in Japanese and I think that my next point is apparent. From China to Okinawa and Japan, to Hawaii to the mainland USA. The original Kenpo was an original art, but it isn’t what Mitose and Parker “reformulated”. Hope this helps, you level-headed intellectuals!Later…
omegapoint
I agree whole-heartedly!
As far as karate goes though, I’d say that 75% of what’s being taught in the U.S. right now is the watered down stuff that came out of post WWII Japan/Okinawa.
Why?
Let’s think about it. If you just got your @$$ kicked, would you turn around and teach all your fighting secrets to the guy who just stomped you?
No! But you’d take his money and teach him a bunch of crap instead. Just like the Okinawans did to American servicemen after WWII.
I think that most karate styles are still effected by this deception today. Those who are followers will never grow beyond it; those who are innovators already have.
Omegapoint
You are obviously well read and researched and I believe a crane stylist, despite well thought out replies on this and other boards you view is blinkered by the very brand loyalty you accuse Karateka of.
I am glad, that after 26 years of misguided karate of various varieies, shitoryu (Tani Ha, Tsukada), Goju ryu (M,Higoana), Kyokushin (S.Arneil), Sankukai (Butch White) etc, I have come on the internet and been enlightened by a practitioner of a style I claim my heritage from.
In spite of the ineffective styles I have trained in I have managed to survive so far and must have been lucky in the confrontations I have been in as a bodyguard / bouncer and some time bare knuckle fighter, Karma neh!
I am enlightened, I will not sin again.
Please feel free to point out my nearest crane stylist (that you recommend) that I may be enlightened further.
“And the crowd called out for more”
Forgive me for my arrogance…
Old Wolf: Sir, your fighting lineage is very admirable. I didn’t meant to say all of the styles you’ve been involved with were ineffective, just that some may be modern interpretations of a complete, older artform. Kyokushinkai is an awesome form of fighting as is Okinawan Shito Ryu. I haven’t had vast experience with Japanese Shito Ryu stylists, but it seems to be an effective system. You are probably also a prime example of an artist’s vs. the art’s effectiveness. I would gather being a bouncer would entail some street experience and size to boot. Thank you for the compliment on my knowledge, and I agree I can be prejudicial when it comes to my interpretation of Martial Art.
I don’t mean to downgrade others, but lack of knowledge is one of my pet peeves. That is a flaw I need desperately to work on! I myself am far from ILLuminated or enlightened, and on the contrary am wishing to dispose of convention and eventually interpret for myself. “From the void springs everything”, is a maxim I wish to embrace and understand. So as you can see I have a looooong way to go.
As for Crane stylists, anyone versed in Matsumura Seito Shorin Ryu or even Okinawan Goju Ryu should be able to help you or at least point you in the right direction. Also, anyone with Fukien white Crane GongFu knowledge would be ideal. I don’t know of any practitioners off-hand on the British Isles, but I can ask some people I know if they can help me help you.
Peace, and I hope you find what you’re looking for in MAs and life.Have a great week/weekend!!!