I'd like to provide another, more neutral perspective on Sanchin-ryu. I only reached 1st degree black belt, and that was 12 years ago, after which I stopped, so my knowledge may not be up-to-date or complete.
Sanchin-ryu grew up mostly in Michigan, with classes taught out of community centers, parks, and schools. There were (are?) classes all over the state of Michigan, in some cases every 10 miles, as well as a less dense population of classes throughout the US and the world.
I have no doubts that the founder, CGM Dearman, is an accomplished martial artist. I've seen him spar, with very light contact, in the middle of a pack of people, and toss them about like rag dolls (one of the FEW times I ever saw sparring) I also believe some, if not most, of the style's higher students, the 5th-6th Masters, know how to defend themselves. The tippy-top students, the "disciple masters", the 7th degree plus students,
carry themselves like they know how to fight. They also seem to be able to twist you up like a pretzel, at least in class - so they seem to have a pretty decent knowledge of the mechanics of PAIN.
A 7th degree I knew once knocked a druggie out who tried to shoot him, so I'm pretty sure he knows what he's doing... just like anyone who can hit hard, won't hesitate, and has the element of surprise.
I don't think some of the Masters, particularly the less experienced ones, are near as capable as they think against a real, unsurprised opponent, although I could be wrong. I "sparred" a 5th degree Master, who told me I was doing ok until I started grappling with him. It was when I started grappling that I started winning... this is a one time observation. I'm not saying that they aren't any good, just that they aren't as good as the hero worship by the Sanchinkas seems to imply.
The organization itself was originally run by Dearman, then by Dearman's top disciple, who became a 7th degree black belt (after 20 or so years, he's higher now). It's unclear what salary they draw from this. I don't dispute their right to earn a salary from teaching... I do question the business practices - once you reach black belt, you get to teach (when you "truly" begin to learn) and you teaching (for free) pays for your black belt classes. The money from students you teach all goes back to Sanchin-ryu HQ. On top of this, I think you pay an annual membership fee. Additionally, I was encouraged to take it "at the students' own pace" when teaching. This encouragement wasn't done in a slimy way at all, but seemed very honest. Today, when I look back on it, it seems like a rip-off... although perhaps less of a rip-off than commercial dojos.
Maybe this changed, but the fact it went (goes) on for so long really makes me wonder.
I can't speak for the level of training above black belt. However, from everything I experienced (about 4-5 years worth, and I visited many schools in Michigan) the quality of training below black belt is 99% worthless.
During my time there were 10 basic strikes, including a kick, 10 combinations, and 10 forms (katas, katas in Sanchin-ryu are forms), along with other techniques here and there. A lot of emphasis was made on snapback, or bringing the strike back as fast as possible after the moment of impact. Emphasis on proper technique stopped there, until black belt.
A student could not know all of these techniques, and still make black belt. Emphasis on rank promotions was not made on the number of techniques known, which I agree with. Neither was emphasis made on how well those techniques were performed. Rank promotions were (are?) made based on a teacher's gut-level indication that a student's personal growth is good enough for the next belt.
Often, a good 1/4 to 3/4s of any given class was spent talking about what I felt to be non-applicable voodoo, or development of your mental/spiritual self. To an outside observer, this wouldn't have a freaky religious tone, more of a pretend-karate tone. I'm ok with emphasis of positive values, but a lot of time was spent on this, to the detriment of teaching real self-defense skills.
The other part of the class was usually spent "discovering" new and different ways the basic techniques could be applied, or how techniques from the forms could be applied. Very rarely was this done with a partner, usually it was done against the air, with hypothetical discoveries of untested quality.
"Here's another way to do Combined Basic Advanced #1 - punch to the left, now instead of throwing a backfist to your right, raise your elbow parallel and throw a backfist to your right."
Exploring Sanchin-ryu techniques is very probably a useful technique if you already have a good foundation. If you know enough about applying techniques effectively to a real person to judge the merit of trying something new - OR maybe if you understand how to manipulate the mechanics of an opponent well enough. Even then, you should be able to apply techniques/manipulate mechanics under stress. Neither of these were really taught, at least not before black belt, at least not to me or anyone I knew. I will wager 500$ that it is not taught today, at least not below "Masters' classes" (if there).
Nothing about targets, or power (except from a 6th degree Master).There was mention when I became black belt that to really get power in my punches I had to start to "use my stance." Why this wasn't taught from the beginning, I'm not sure.
Almost no time was spent in actual, real sparring, against a live-opponent. Experience with use of technique in highly stressful scenarios, or live sparring, happened once in my training. This was done by kicking/distracting me during forms practice... at the air.
NEVER was the training enough to get any experience or combat intuition.
There was no teaching of any systematic application of techniques - i.e. basic counter to a punch, basic counter to a side kick, basic counter to a takedown, etc. The common answer to a question "how do I block a punch" was that "blocking is impossible, you should strike instead". But no strikes were shown, a student must've been intended to "discover" the best way to stop a punch or takedown through "exploring" the techniques. Not a bad concept, perhaps, but there weren't any drills where you struck an opponent's punch or kick either, unless you discovered them on your own.
I knew a couple who were junior black-belts who did these drills on their own. She was 6 inches shorter than me, about 40 lbs. lighter, and could knock me down by crossing her elbows in front of me and uncrossing them. Every time. Even under stress. But that was from self-practice of training methodologies that weren't taught in any class I saw. I suppose the other students are supposed to rely on luck...
Long story short, no development of motor coordination, instinctive awareness of distance and timing, tactics, much less strategy - at least not before black belt (and I didn't see it in the year I attended black belt classes, either). Those should be @#$*ing fundamentals, and taught from the beginning, or soon after.
When sparring against students from other styles who did systematically spar, I got my butt whupped. Consistently. I only ever successfully used Sanchin-ryu when I had the element of surprise.
Perhaps the Masters know all these things. Perhaps these fundamentals, or a better understanding of these fundamentals than I have, were meant to be taught from the beginning. In that case, Sanchin-ryu has a serious quality control problem.
Perhaps they aren't meant to be taught except to Masters. In that case, I'd save my money and go take boxing classes, unless you want to wait 15 years to be able to defend yourself without blind luck.
