What bothers me about shotokan is that every commercial dojo I have seen seems to teach "Shotokan style" I am sure there are real shotokan dojos, but ...

What bothers me about shotokan is that every commercial dojo I have seen seems to teach “Shotokan style” I am sure there are real shotokan dojos, but it also seems to loan itself fairly well to commercialization… Tournaments may be there to test your skills, but it has also become a selling point with many commercialized dojos. This is probably what disturbs most people about shotokan.

I do not train in shotokan, but rather Seibukan form of Shorin-Ryu. Let us not continue this trend of saying “Shotokan is the only art that would work in such and such a situation” as most would, however you have likely not trained in them. (In a few cases I have sparred against shotokan practitioners… They use seem to use a lot of inaccurate, fast flashy and showy techniques, and leave themselves open a good deal. Maybe this is not all shotokan but it is what I have experienced) Most arts in pure form do wonders physically mentally and spiritually for oneself, lets not say it is exclusive to a particular art.

Kata, Ipon Kumite, Drills, Sparring, and non traditional self defense drills (Defending against knife and club attacks, shirt grabs, head locks, rear chokes, etc) are all important aspects, each for different things. Even warm ups are important as they build willpower for when you dont feel you can continue (at least in my experience the warm ups are the most mentally building).

Also, Is it really necessary to discuss rank? Methinks saying I am a such and such cheapens the dialogue.

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