really awesome event that im participating in.

[pdg]

That is... so darn cool! Would be really fun and educational to do, and may help understand techniques in your current art even better, as you're applying what you know in a different form and sequence.

I find it interesting, it's not a huge investment but it causes a bit of thinking - like would X move fit or flow better here, which stance or technique is closest there.

Not being 'restricted' by actually studying the art and being expected to perform the kata to book means I can tweak or change it to fit me, instead of trying to make me fit it.

It's probably not something I'd bring up in class though...

just work on it for 10 minutes per week and limit your self to two new movements.

On a personal level, I can't work well like that, it frustrates me...

I do better going from a written description at first (and if there isn't one available or it needs tweaking because it's a 'foreign' art, I'll do my own), then running through the whole thing, maybe video myself doing it - then look at where the mistakes happen

And with stuff I'm importing - sometimes the mistakes aren't an issue at all.

If I can't get something to feel right, or flow right, I can change it or ditch it if I don't feel like fixing it.

It's also happened that I'll start one that seems interesting, then find I don't actually like it, so it gets shelved.


Sometimes it takes 10 minutes a time, sometimes an hour - but I never set a timeframe or schedule for it.

 

[_Simon_]

I find it interesting, it's not a huge investment but it causes a bit of thinking - like would X move fit or flow better here, which stance or technique is closest there.

Not being 'restricted' by actually studying the art and being expected to perform the kata to book means I can tweak or change it to fit me, instead of trying to make me fit it.

It's probably not something I'd bring up in class though...

Ah yep makes sense, allows for alot of freedom and interpretation to suit you, would be a great exercise I reckon

 

[JR 137]

just work on it for 10 minutes per week and limit your self to two new movements.

week 1. ten minutes of rei, opening movement.
week 2. ten minutes of rei, opening movement, movement 1, movement 2
week 3. rei, op, m1, m2, m3, m4
week 4 ", " , " , ", ", ", m5, m6

No rush, just ten minutes, plug it in wherever you want.

You will enjoy it. And this will help you grow in an area that you have always wanted to.

Alternatively, you can always ask your teacher for permission to take some private lessons to learn this Kata. He may decide to have you learn it and share it with others (off the books) since it is not in the curriculum.

100% agree! I think private training and branching off learning things you always wanted to is so beneficial... of course having a teacher is ideal, but like in the thread I brought up awhile ago about learning higher up kata from other styles, if your foundation is good, it can be really eye opening, educational and motivating too.

I like the 10 minute idea too! As 10 minutes a week is so easy to slot in, and as it's dedicated to that, there would be enough improvement over time.

And I wonder if many teachers will teach specific things privately, there are kata I've always wanted to learn and thought about doing this... that's a great idea!

I don’t know why I just thought of this now... I could ask my former sensei. He’s about an hour away. I didn’t go back to his dojo when I restarted because he closed his dojo near me so he could focus on the dojo closer to his house. He’s a great guy and we had a great relationship. I still keep in touch with him, and I attended a seminar at his dojo back in February or March.

I don’t think he or his current right-hand guy would mind spending an hour or 3 on a Saturday afternoon after class. His top guy and I tested for shodan together back in ‘99. He’s still with my former sensei and never left. We were pretty good friends too. I’d offer to pay either one of them, but the type of guys they are, they’d probably refuse money. I’d probably have to slip some money and a thank you note into their bag when they weren’t looking

I couldn’t do the 10 minutes here and there. Once I start, I can’t stop until I get it down. I wish I could, but that’s not how my brain ever worked.

No permission needed from my current teacher. We do whatever we want outside the dojo. Only permission needed is if we’re using the dojo and/or organization’s name. If I asked my current teacher, he’d most likely have this look on his face like “why do you need my permission to do anything outside my doors.” Our curriculum is pretty tight, so I doubt he’d have me teach anyone it. There might be one or two who would be interested to see it and maybe run through it once or twice after class, but that’s about it. I don’t think my teacher or his next in line guy would mind seeing me demo it after class. Regardless of all that, it would be for my sole amusement. I’d be happy to share it, but realistically that’s really the extent it would be.

One of these days when I’m comfortable with where I’m at in my own curriculum and get the itch to branch out away from it. I don’t have a strong sense of urgency to learn it right now. It’s one of those things I’ve always wanted to do and eventually will do, one way or another. I’m not ready to go too far out of my way for it yet. It’s just not that important right now.

 

[_Simon_]

I don’t know why I just thought of this now... I could ask my former sensei. He’s about an hour away. I didn’t go back to his dojo when I restarted because he closed his dojo near me so he could focus on the dojo closer to his house. He’s a great guy and we had a great relationship. I still keep in touch with him, and I attended a seminar at his dojo back in February or March.

I don’t think he or his current right-hand guy would mind spending an hour or 3 on a Saturday afternoon after class. His top guy and I tested for shodan together back in ‘99. He’s still with my former sensei and never left. We were pretty good friends too. I’d offer to pay either one of them, but the type of guys they are, they’d probably refuse money. I’d probably have to slip some money and a thank you note into their bag when they weren’t looking

I couldn’t do the 10 minutes here and there. Once I start, I can’t stop until I get it down. I wish I could, but that’s not how my brain ever worked.

No permission needed from my current teacher. We do whatever we want outside the dojo. Only permission needed is if we’re using the dojo and/or organization’s name. If I asked my current teacher, he’d most likely have this look on his face like “why do you need my permission to do anything outside my doors.” Our curriculum is pretty tight, so I doubt he’d have me teach anyone it. There might be one or two who would be interested to see it and maybe run through it once or twice after class, but that’s about it. I don’t think my teacher or his next in line guy would mind seeing me demo it after class. Regardless of all that, it would be for my sole amusement. I’d be happy to share it, but realistically that’s really the extent it would be.

One of these days when I’m comfortable with where I’m at in my own curriculum and get the itch to branch out away from it. I don’t have a strong sense of urgency to learn it right now. It’s one of those things I’ve always wanted to do and eventually will do, one way or another. I’m not ready to go too far out of my way for it yet. It’s just not that important right now.

Yeah that's a great idea, he'd probably love teaching it to an old student for sure. Now if I could find someone around to teach me Kururunfa...

 

[pdg]

I couldn’t do the 10 minutes here and there. Once I start, I can’t stop until I get it down. I wish I could, but that’s not how my brain ever worked.

I completely get where you're coming from with that one

 

[JR 137]

Yeah that's a great idea, he'd probably love teaching it to an old student for sure. Now if I could find someone around to teach me Kururunfa...

Honestly, I don’t know if he still has it in his syllabus. He started making changes after leaving his organization. He recently joined Taira Masaji’s Goju Ryu Kenkyukai. He can keep whatever kata he wants, but he’s eliminated a lot of the Shotokan kata and does Goju kata pretty much exclusively, except for the Pinan series and Naihanchi.

First time I saw Unsu was him doing it after class. Me and another guy were taking pictures for some advertising stuff he was working on. We both said “that’s the coolest kata we’ve ever seen.” It said it was one of his favorite kata, along with Kanku and Saiha.

Either him or the other guy would most likely be happy to revisit it if they don’t do it anymore.

I doubt I could walk into a random dojo and ask to just learn Unsu privately. Actually, I can ask, but I highly doubt anyone I don’t know would be willing. You know how sacred these things can be

 

[TSDTexan]

Honestly, I don’t know if he still has it in his syllabus. He started making changes after leaving his organization. He recently joined Taira Masaji’s Goju Ryu Kenkyukai. He can keep whatever kata he wants, but he’s eliminated a lot of the Shotokan kata and does Goju kata pretty much exclusively, except for the Pinan series and Naihanchi.

First time I saw Unsu was him doing it after class. Me and another guy were taking pictures for some advertising stuff he was working on. We both said “that’s the coolest kata we’ve ever seen.” It said it was one of his favorite kata, along with Kanku and Saiha.

Either him or the other guy would most likely be happy to revisit it if they don’t do it anymore.

I doubt I could walk into a random dojo and ask to just learn Unsu privately. Actually, I can ask, but I highly doubt anyone I don’t know would be willing. You know how sacred these things can be

i used to think that way... but i worked up the courage after I was spending most of my time doing small classes, and private instructions. One day, an Uechi Ryu practitioner called me, and asked if he could learn a few specific forms, that he had seen and loved. He was a sandan, i think.

He said there were just 8 forms in his system. And he was hungry for more kata, just to learn.
I said no cost, just teach me Uechi Sanchin.
(i never told him that i never had charged for TSD instruction) But the tone was that he wanted to pay for it.

So, i figured i could avoid taking money by trading knowledge. I should have asked for another Uechi kata. But i really only desired Uechi Sanchin.

We met on Saturday mornings, and then went to Denny's and talked martial arts history and politics.

He was one of the fastest to learn a kata, i had ever met. Great guy.
After that...

I saw that it was viable. And I discreetly made inquiries to pick up things i specific wanted to learn. I think out of 20 attempts, I was only told "no, we don't do that here" once.

I think there is a lot more latitude in a private instruction, because you won't have regular students feeling that its unfair that this outsider, or beginner gets to learn X, but i have to wait.

 

[MetalBoar]

After my Hapkido school closed I did a lot of informal garage and meetup type training in whatever art was around and looked good. I found that in that setting at least, a lot of people would teach more or less whatever you were interested in. The only part that could be hard was finding them and getting a foot in the door in the first place. It was usually pretty easy as long as you are friendly and respectful. I'm sure it also helps a lot if you've got a solid background in something as well and have something to offer besides just money.

The only real downside was that I've been through a lot of instruction that didn't last as long as I'd like because when it's completely informal there's no guarantee that you'll get more than a handful (or even one) of training sessions. Of course my luck in more formal settings in this regard has been poor since about 2000 too...

 

[_Simon_]

i used to think that way... but i worked up the courage after I was spending most of my time doing small classes, and private instructions. One day, an Uechi Ryu practitioner called me, and asked if he could learn a few specific forms, that he had seen and loved. He was a sandan, i think.

He said there were just 8 forms in his system. And he was hungry for more kata, just to learn.
I said no cost, just teach me Uechi Sanchin.
(i never told him that i never had charged for TSD instruction) But the tone was that he wanted to pay for it.

So, i figured i could avoid taking money by trading knowledge. I should have asked for another Uechi kata. But i really only desired Uechi Sanchin.

We met on Saturday mornings, and then went to Denny's and talked martial arts history and politics.

He was one of the fastest to learn a kata, i had ever met. Great guy.
After that...

I saw that it was viable. And I discreetly made inquiries to pick up things i specific wanted to learn. I think out of 20 attempts, I was only told "no, we don't do that here" once.

I think there is a lot more latitude in a private instruction, because you won't have regular students feeling that its unfair that this outsider, or beginner gets to learn X, but i have to wait.

That's really cool, trading knowledge for knowledge is so badass

 

[TSDTexan]

Ah that sounds amazing, yeah would love to hear how it goes!

And I love the name "Doshin kan". Doshin, way of the heart?

Turns out, i was wrong. the correct translation is "The heart of the way".

 

[_Simon_]

Turns out, i was wrong. the correct translation is "The heart of the way".

Ah right nice