Sharing a picture I stumbled on. I was looking for my old instructor (20 esh years ago) and found this picture. The dojo shut down a while ago due to his health, he’s been battling cancer for a good while.

Just wanted to share an old school picture with people that may appreciate it, really cool vibe.

On another thread, someone mentioned karate was originally more of a grappling art than a striking art. If that is true, what is/was the difference between jujutsu and karate?

I think it was Okinawan karate that was described as a grappling art.

Since the concern of TBI shows up a lot, I thought you might find this study interesting.

A 2026 scoping review of neuropsychological health in MMA and other combat-sport athletes found the most consistent deficits after repetitive head-impact exposure in processing speed, memory, and inhibitory control. Greater cumulative exposure and earlier age of first exposure were associated with worse outcomes; structural brain differences and increased depressive symptoms also appeared in the literature.

Read here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42643991/

Limitations: This only looked at 12 studies. The evidence was observational. So there's no way to establish a dose where head contact becomes harmful.

Head impact should be treated like a limited training budget. Spend them only when learning benefit cannot be obtained substantially more safely another way. Head contact may increase realism, but realism isn't free.

A few weeks ago I talked about whether it was better to get in shape at the gym and then return to the dojo, or just return.

This week I'm visiting a nutritionist; she'll prescribe what I need to lose weight and get back to the dojo at the end of this month or the beginning of next month.

Meanwhile, I'll start practicing some katas and basic exercises at home because I always struggle with those parts when I go back.

For an art that's supposedly about being a better person and building character, there seem to be a lot of scummy people.

People faking credentials, exaggerating training times or relationships with Japanese/Okinawan teachers, and generally making up stories. I'm now also seeing a massive increase in people posting doctored AI photos, in some cases, they are even well-known Western practitioners.

There is a huge issue with theft as well. Karate ka seem to have almost zero understanding of copyright laws or intellectual property. I regularly see pirated karate DVDs and videos on YouTube and Facebook. I see people reposting photos and videos shared by others. I'm not talking about sharing using the Facebook share button; I mean actually downloading the other content and posting it as if it's your own.

A good example is the Miyagi and Miyazato training photos. These were given from the album of Miyagi's own grandson for use in a book about Miyazato, but some person decided to scan them out of the book and post it with zero credit or attribution as to the source and of course they are all over the place now.

The videos of Choshin Chibana were also generously shared by a person I know, and now you have all kinds of yahoos uploading them to their own channels and pages like they own it. Tsumami Productions (which made great karate DVDs) went out of business due to piracy. Now we will never get any new content from them.

People fail to realize every time you steal content, it makes others far less likely to share. I only share privately with my students and personal friends. I would never share anything of value or rare publicly anymore just for the jackals to take it, steal it and use it however they please.

Since I don't know karate thinking I would like to know why this type of mechanics is rejected, assuming it is.. Why is it bad to encourage relaxation and knee spring? Karate is VERY stomach centric in its mechanics.

time stamped.
https://youtu.be/qcPdBQvkqeg?si=iKGioUlMorbfMiaI&t=82

I know grammatically it probably shouldn't be, but for some reason it feels weird to not capitalize it. What do you think? Am I the only one who even cares? I'm probably wasting my time thinking about it.

Últimamente ya no soporto a un compañero de trabajo que me andaba molestando, y cuando la paciencia ya me llegó al límite después de ignorarlo, le pregunté directamente que qué quería. Acto seguido, comenzó a amenazarme que me saque de su vista, que no anda con pleitos conmigo

(Irónico viniendo del buscapleitos)

Aunque realmente no quiero buscar problemas con él, pero si llega la ocasión, me gustaría defenderme y para que deje de romper las bolas. Ya literalmente es insostenible trabajar con él.

Y por si preguntan: si, ya hablé con mis superiores y dijeron que ya no había problema si ya no me sigue molestando. Lo cual ya es ridículo, aunque decidí quedarme callado. Aún no puedo perder mi trabajo.

Are there things in the way he's moving there that would not be in line with shotokan?

I'm a kyokushin practitioner and I watch a channel with a kyokushin content. Among other quite interesting things there was this kick. It looks like magic. I know how this works, but I can make my body move like that. Is there a name for it? Maybe in some other martial arts?

I'm 19 and a full time martial arts student in a traditional Goju Ryu school, I have been since highschool. Which kinda sounds cool on paper until you realize it means I'm only ever hanging out around men twice my age. I love martial arts, that's why I devoted so much of myself to it, but at the same time there's NO ONE my age at my dojo and I can't help but feel a little outcasted. I want friends so badly, all ever get to do is train or study. I don't know how to make friends my age, and even if I did, I'm from a totally different world than a lot of other people my age.

I've been to other Goju schools, and noticed a trend of it being mostly much older men. So is there anyone else who's experienced this? What should I do?

They ask me to pay the registration fee and the first month's tuition if I want to try a lesson. I find it a bit weird and it gives me bad vibes. For me, it's important to have a relationship of trust with my teacher, but this first interaction with the dojo gives me the impression that they are very focused on money.

Also, it's quite expensive: I would have to pay the equivalent of 15 times the minimum hourly wage in my country.

They said I could come and watch a lesson, and presented it as if they were doing me a favour.

Do you think that's weird? Am I overreacting?

What if I pay and don't like the pedagogy, the mentality, the other learners, etc?

I'm now looking for another dojo.