Hi Bill, The performance is bautiful and inspiring. I did notice that McCarthy Sensei did not respond to you and did not put a name to this form It appears that Shinpo learned directly from Gokenki who we all know was a friend (if not a mentor) to Uechi Kanbun. I am speculating that Uech Kanbun was ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89_cUe-S ... re=related

Is this the progenitor kata for Seisan?


Mike DeDonato
Los Angeles
www.uechi-la.org

For those who are interested in Olympic karate. Today, I received the following notice from the USA-NKF headquarters. Whoever is elected as an athlete representative will probably be heavily involved in working to have the IOC adopt the sport during their 2009 deliberations in Denmark. As an aside, ...

Laird,

No problem.

I just wanted to be sure that there were no misunderstandings.

I do hope that we have a chance to meet someday and have a friendly debate over Mike K's spiked eggnog

All the best,

Mike D.

To be clear, my opinion was misrepresented concerning one point.

Here is my direct quote from an earlier posting in this thread

"After all, I feel that it is not about the art but about the individual who performs the art. "

It is there for all to read for themselves


Mike DeDonato

I have specifically responded to those who have knocked the performances and have requested information as to why there is a disregard for the top-notch WKF practitioners. The opinions against these performance have directly and indirectly denigrated the efforts of these individuals. Comments have b...

Stryke asked: Where is the application being demonstrated? These clips have the applications. Do you take issue with these applications. Do you not believe that there is sufficient power in the applications? Here is the victorious Italian team: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNakg0ov8CM&feature=...

Mike K asked <Do Uechi kata lend themselves to this kind of performance?> I think the questions might better be rephrased as something like: Do Uechi practitioners seek to achieve this same level of performance in terms of balance, coordination, speed, power precision, kime, focus, flexibility, etc....

Mike K wrote: <Do you see the performance of the kata and bunkai in those videos as combat art, martial art or performance art?> This is an excellent question and I am seriously pondering this query. I truly do appreciate the effort and skill as demonstrated by the world class WKF kata folks. I supp...

Laird, Why do you "hate this stuff". What is the fault that you find with the performances? Can you perform and apply your techniques as well as has been demonstrated by these folks? Do you have the same speed, power, balance, coordination, koshi, kime, flexibility and precision as demonst...

Mike K, Please keep in mind that I am a devoted Uechi practitioner holding Godan and 30+ years of training and teaching in our style. For more information about my personal philosophy check out the article below that I conceived and coauthored (The Roots of Okinawan Body Conditioning in Sanchin) htt...

Hi Bill, Our sitting board including myself, Kyoshi Steve Goss, Kyoshi Mehran Shahker, Kyoshi Dave Sargent, John Morenski and Shihan Dean Klossner conducted a very succesful dan test in November. I would ask that you join us in congratulating Mr. Mike Ham from Canada who winningly earned his Godan t...

The World Karate Federation is the only karate organization recognized by the IOC. The four major styles of Karate recognized by the WKF are Goju-Ryu, Shito-Ryu, Shoto-Kan and Wado-Ryu. Below the trailing emails is the list of major WKF kata. Sanchin, Seisan and Sanseiryu are all represented as prac...

http://www.usankf.org/files/Newsletters/Newsletter_2008_12.pdf To all, In October of 2009, the International Olympic Committee is scheduled to meet in Copenhagen, Denmark. During the meeting, the IOC will consider, among many other topics, whether to adopt karate as a summer sport for the 2016 games...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OauaUGRqFHU



George,

This is early video. Do you remember it?

I especially enjoyed the slow motion toe break by Justin Testa.

Mike DeDonato
Los Angeles