A REAL Welcome to Memoirs of a Karateka

Yesterday when I first opened this blog, I was in such a rush to post something interesting that I forgot completely to introduce myself and why I am even doing this.

I'll tell you that my name is Chris. I won't tell you where I train, only because I want people to judge me based on my words and videos, and nothing else. Also, I don't want to appear to be a sole representative of my dojo because I tend to have some very unorthodox ideas that don't necessarily fit with my dojomates and my instructor.

I will tell you, however, that the name of the style I practice is "American Karate". Some people tend to take offense when someone says they practice American Karate, primarily because a big percentage of American Karate schools are actually big money Xtreme Martial Arts (aka dancing classes) schools. When asking my instructor why our style is called American Karate, he told us: "We're in America doing a mixed style. Though the base style is primarily Shotokan, it would be a dishonorable to say we practice pure Shotokan when there are other principles tied in." The school is very traditional with light to medium controlled sparring from White to Orange belt, and Medium to Hard Continuous free sparring from Green and up. We learn both japanese and korean kicking principles. Some people say they are the same, but from what I have learned there are vast differences. Our instructor tells us the story of how when he was a tournament judge grading kata, he deducted many points from competitors due to kicking over the nipple area, a no-no in many japanese styles. However, head kicks are a steeple in korean kicking styles, so that's just one vast difference between the two.

I'll also tell you that I am a blue belt and have been studying a little over a year. The kata I have learned to progress in belt rank is "Taikyoku Nidan & Sandan", "Heian Shodan, Nidan, Sandan & Yondan" and "Ananku". I am currently practicing "Heian Godan" and the korean form "Hwa-Rang".

Since I am a beginner student, albeit a devote one, some of the things I say on this blog may not fit with what you have learned before, and that's alright. Please inform me if you feel something is in error. That's why I made this site. Martial Arts is my life. I would love to hear your opinion. I shall leave you with a video of Gigo Funakoshi (Master Gichin Funakoshi's third son) performing Heian Godan. Note: Notice the zenkutsu-dachi, how much longer he does his in comparison to Luca Delasi in the earlier post. We also do a shorter Zenkutsu-dachi at our school...