Traditional martial arts are different from sport martial arts and MMA. The purpose of traditional martial arts is self-improvement, self-confidence, learning to respect martial arts, karate instructors, students, and in particular, to pay homage to our God. Traditional martial arts also focus on self-defense, traditions, lineage and developing positive affirmations. A positive characteristic about learning these attributes is a person can gain good health while learning a valuable art. Remember the 1984 movie ‘The Karate Kid’. There were two opposing philosophies depicted in the movie: (1) sport (Cobra Kai) karate & (2) traditional Okinawa Karate (Miyagi Ryu). We hope most sport karate schools are not as aggressive as the Cobra Kai, but it should give you a general idea of the differences. At the Arizona Hombu Dojo – TRADITIONAL Okinawan Shorin-Ryu Karate is taught – just like Mr. Miyagi's karate.
"No such thing as bad student. Only bad teacher." -Mr. Miyagi
Shorin-Ryu Karate is essentially the original form of karate developed on Okinawa. It was created for the body guards of Okinawan royalty as likely as a self-defense art for some Okinawan peasants and included both empty hand (karate) and weapons (kobudo). Shorin-Ryu Karate evolved from Shaolin Gung Fu. In fact the kanji (Chinese characters) used for Shorin-Ryu refer to the Chinese Shaolin Temple.
According to legend, Gung Fu was developed in ~550 AD when a Indian monk named Bodhidharma traveled to China to teach Zen Buddhism. The Indian monk ended up in the Shaolin Temple in the Henan Province where he introduced the Chinese monks to Zen. However, during meditation, the Chinese monks often fell asleep. Thus Bodhidarma instituted an exercise program that required the monks to train in Zen and also in a combat form known as Shi Pa Lohan Sho - which translates as the '18 hands of Lohan'. And just like that - martial 'arts' were created. And we do emphasize the term 'arts'. This is why MMA and other combat forms are not martial arts - they have no esoteric value which was introduced by blending Zen philosophy with combat.
"Karate and Kobudo can be
likened to tires of a bicycle. Both are needed to make the bike move"
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| Dr. Adam trains with family member |
Today, karate includes the original Okinawa form of the martial arts that blend both the empty hand (karate) and weapons (kobudo) and other styles that have branched from Shorin-Ryu. Unlike most other forms of karate taught in the US and mainland Japan, Shorin-Ryu includes education in both weapons and empty hand. Thus, students of Shorin-Ryu learn both from the beginning, as was the original intention. In other forms of Japanese karate, kobudo is not taught, or kobudo, if taught, is only introduced at the yudansha (black belt) level. And many martial arts school tack on extra fees to teach weapons. But both karate and kobudo use the same movements and stances, so it seems backwards not to teach both at the beginning. At the Arizona School of Traditional Karate, the students all learn a large variety of weapons. Stop in and see why our karate has so much power and focus and why we are all such good friends.
KARATE, KOBUDO, SAMURAI ARTS & SELF-DEFENSE classes for Adults - You don't have to worry about being kicked in the shin by a 5-year old in your taekwondo class anymore.
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| Charles (a librarian) trains with Ryan (a nutritionist) |
