All Wado Karate Forum

I think this forum is a collective. Albeit a virtual collective. Yes, indeed this forum bears many similarities to our Collective. It shares the same informal nature. Dan grades are unimportant. And while some people are more prominent than others, everyone is judged by his/her own contribution. Ho...

It would be nice to say hi. I'll certainly try to make it. When you mention about testing or ‘verifying’ some things by their nature are very difficult to test, because some aspects of our training are on a very long fuse. I think that individuals can become very set in their ways and therefore may...

Without firm direction from someone who has experience, that old problem of many concepts of Japanese genus having no precise translation to any western counterpart will ensure the road will become indistinct. You rightly point out that the process of shuhari requires a 'firm direction from someone...

I went over to Holland last year for the first time and met with some of your luminaries, and will be over again in September. Tim Let me know next time you're in Holland. I'd love to meet you. I suppose the idea of a collective is a good concept, I wonder how it works in practice. I mean, if you c...

Perhaps I should explain some of the more practical implications of the current discussions. Some say the collective should adopt a formal curriculum and describe quality requirements that everyone involved should adhere to. Others say this would run counter to open dialogue. Because open dialogue i...

oneya wrote:The Shu Ha Ri process is measured by maturation not simply by time so an aggregate of 100 years is of little use in a dojo filled with 100 people.

Point taken. The typical collective gathering is attended by 5 to 10 people...

Thanks, Oneya. Dialectics (dialogue) as part of the shuhari process? It seems quite natural to have an exchange between master and acolytes to explain things. However, Socrates' method implies personal interpretations. And his type of dialectics is not so much between master and acolytes as it is be...

Background A few years ago the 'Wado Collective' was initiated in the Netherlands. The collective gathers once a month for training and discussion. It comprises of (mostly senior) wadoka in Holland. An average training session will aggregate 100 years of wado experience at the very least. Everyone i...

Around the time of my shodan grading, I went on a trip in the Swiss Alps, accompanied by my sister, a group of friends and a mountain guide. It was around newyears eve. We took the train up onto the Jungfraujoch, at an elevation of 3,454 meters (11,332 ft). From there we embarked on a trip of a week...

I was in old East Germany once and entered a Chinese restaurant. I think the owner was Cambodian or Vietnamese. Anyway we didn't speak German so I tried ordering food in Chinese...but he just sort of stared back at me. Thank God German sort of looks like Dutch because Kyudo our resident Dutchman fi...