r/PineTreeWindKarate

Don't know if this is interesting to anyone but I wanted to write anyway.

I'm a Swede practicing Okinawan Goju Ryu currently at brown belt- I practiced for three years until brown belt in Sweden and now I'm in Japan (not Okinawa, mainland) practicing in the same organization.

I've noticed some structural differences between the two dojos, though it's probably not enough of a sample size to generalize:

1. In the Swedish dojo it's more "do do do" with more visual instruction, and short verbal corrections. I assume because the Japanese instructors didn't speak much English/Swedish- so the current Swedish instructors also don't speak too much whilst instructing. Though they'll still explain to you more deeply if you ask, (but almost nobody is brave enough to ask).

Example: When doing a too short Zenkutsudachi- a Swedish instructor might say "deeper! It's ZENkutsudachi!"

And gradually correct it one thing at a time.

In the Japanese dojo I get corrected more deeply on a fundamental level, with long explanations for why something is incorrect and why the other way is correct. We still practice, but there are more long, sciency explanations.

Example: When doing a too short Zenkutsudachi- the Japanese instructors might say- "Your legs are long so instead of doing a higher Zenkutsudachi like us, you should do a deeper one. Also make sure to keep your upper body straight when doing it.... Also..." Correcting everything at once.

2. Swedish dojo has a higher focus on correct form in the strength training we do with push ups and such. Do twenty or fourty strict, perfect push ups. There's a higher focus on form as to prevent injury- and lower grades are allowed to do push ups on the knees if they can't do normal push ups.

Japanese dojo? Higher focus on endurance and amount. Everyone does 100 push ups together. Sometimes it's 110-120 push ups. Sensei may say it's just 50, but it ends up being 100.

3. Small things:

In Sweden nobody bats an eye if your sleeves are rolled up. And for a while nobody did at the Japanese dojo- but it was apparently more that they didn't notice rather than the sleeves rolled up being allowed (in Sweden more people than me rolled up their sleeves).

In Japan Black belts and higher ranks stand up first in order. which is more of an ideal than something that's 100% followed.

* Swedish dojo has an edge over the Japanese dojo in a few things:
In Sweden, we do bunkai, as well as renzoku-bunkai on both sides. In Japan, it's only the right side.

In Sweden, we also practice how to fall. In the Japanese dojo, you don't. I assume it's because Japanese people are already taught Judo in school, but I still think it's a good habit that we practice how to fall every time we have to get to the ground in Sweden.

* We also do some ground-fighting in the Swedish dojo, and more practical fighting.

A few things that give the Japanese dojo an edge:

Participation in local competitions. (The Swedish one I go to abstains from competitions). Practicing two styles of kumite - point sparring and practical- when we actually do practice.

More specifically written requirements for gradings. In Sweden- we get a short list that doesn't cover everything needed.

Obviously, actual correct pronounciation of japanese words. (In Sweden some people seem to say "Jetski" instead of "ki o tsuke", for example).

The Japanese dojo has a mirror, whereas the Swedish dojo expects you to learn everything internally, preferably without using a mirror.

Ippon-kumite is also freer in the Japanese dojo and more strict in the Swedish one.

Both dojos are very high quality however and the end result of technical prowess is the same.

They're simply different paths up the same mountain.

Some Karate history facts that blew my mind after 34 years of training

I started Shotokan at age 4 in France, trained Kyokushin, Goju-ryu, Shito-ryu over the decades, and eventually traveled to the White Crane kung fu halls in Fujian, China to trace Karate’s roots firsthand. Here are some things I learned that most dojos never mention:

1. The origin story starts with a woman. Fang Qiniang watched a crane fight in Fujian and created White Crane boxing — the direct ancestor of Naha-te and, through it, Goju-ryu. She’s the founding figure of the entire lineage, but almost never appears on dojo charts.

2. “Karate” meant “Chinese Hand” until 1936. The kanji 唐手 (Chinese Hand) was only changed to 空手 (Empty Hand) after a formal vote by Okinawan masters at the Showa Kaikan Hall in Naha on October 25, 1936. The minutes still exist at the Okinawa Karate Museum.

3. Funakoshi wasn’t there. Despite being the person most associated with the name change, he was in Tokyo that day. The change was a collective decision, not one man’s idea.

4. Motobu Choki beat the boxer, not Funakoshi. The famous 1921 bout that helped popularize Karate on the mainland — the newspaper ran Funakoshi’s photo by mistake.

5. Matsumura’s wife was a beast. Yonamine Chiru — nicknamed “The Crane Warrior” — may have contributed to the development of Seisan kata. She reportedly told Matsumura after a sparring session: “In combat you should not distinguish between the sexes.”

6. Goju-ryu was officially registered before Shotokan. It became the first Okinawan style recognized by the Dai Nippon Butokukai in 1933.

7. The Sanchin-White Crane connection is physical, not just theoretical. Standing in a Fujian training hall doing the same breathing patterns I’d drilled for 30 years in Goju-ryu was one of the most surreal experiences of my life.

I ended up writing all of this into a book — info is on my profile for anyone curious.

What historical facts surprised you the most when you first learned them?

Hello everyone! I am 15 yrs old and i decided to enroll in karate 4 days ago.
When I enrolled(Thursday), I was quite anxious and didn't know what was happening since I have no prior knowledge of karate or any behaviors needed to do/observe + I was a late enrollee. But so far in my experience, we were training katas and also something similar to katas but we were using sticks.. I'm not sure what the figure is called. But moving on.. I slowly but surely followed the other trainees surrounding me since I was told to observe and follow. We then had intense training I have never experienced and it was quite surprising and fun! On the 2nd day(Friday) we had sparring and after 1 minute sparring each trainee I got immensely tired after sparring with 5 but still pushed through and we had a punishment where we were running 2 laps and 1/2 lap of squat walking barefooted on the tracking field because sensei saw our very.. questionable sparring and he wasn’t happy. Like during the sparring I was punching 2 times and kicking but everytime I’d do I’d always say sorry and ask permission if I could punch or kick.. After the weekend break, today is my 3rd day. Initially I was afraid to go today due to some reasons of bad mental health, I reassessed myself and asked questions why I was afraid. Why i didn't wanna go, short answer, Im not close yet with the trainees nor instructors or even considered as friends. But I decided I want to go anyways since.. Hey, my family spent 20 dollars/1kpesos for me to enroll and I shouldnt waste it. Continuing on, our schedule is Monday to Friday 12 PM - 4 PM, 4 hours of training! Good luck and God bless to me on my 3rd day of karate!
I would also like to ask advice on what to do for now as a beginner in karate, and how to get over these really overwhelming anxiety before karate class

I will/might update about my karate experience :) thank you

1. Tode Te

2. Shuri Te

3. Naha Te

4. Tomara Te

5. Goju Ryu