Shotokan karate essays, tested against the documented evidence.https://www.24fightingchickens.com/en-gbhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/15/the-master-and-the-champion/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/15/the-master-and-the-champion/Two kinds of authority that karate keeps confusing, to the disadvantage of both.Sat, 01 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/09/08/how-to-front-kick/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/09/08/how-to-front-kick/The first kick everybody learns and the one most people never fix, because the error is in the part nobody watches.Fri, 31 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2010/03/04/your-karate-practice-is-not-noble/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2010/03/04/your-karate-practice-is-not-noble/Training hard at a difficult thing is admirable. It is not virtue, and the confusion between the two is where a lot of dojo nonsense gets its license.Wed, 29 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/10/09/when-to-test/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/10/09/when-to-test/Most students grade when the calendar says so. A grading calendar is an administrative convenience, and it is not the same thing as being ready.Mon, 27 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/12/21/karate-as-a-science-a-comment-on-extension-and-fist-rotation-during-punching/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/12/21/karate-as-a-science-a-comment-on-extension-and-fist-rotation-during-punching/Two of the most-drilled details in the basic punch, examined against what they can actually be doing to the strike.Sat, 25 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/21/karate-ranks/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/21/karate-ranks/The colored belt system is younger than most dojos admit, it did not come from karate, and it never measured what it is now used for.Fri, 24 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/judo-history-and-practice-become-one.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/judo-history-and-practice-become-one.htmlJudo matters to karate readers for a specific reason: almost everything karate does with belts, grades and class organization was taken from it.Wed, 22 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/12/26/sensei-and-senpai/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/12/26/sensei-and-senpai/Two words that describe positions in a room, doing duty in Western dojos as titles of rank. The difference is not pedantry.Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/09/08/30-days-to-greater-flexibility/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/09/08/30-days-to-greater-flexibility/The program works. The number in the title is a marketing decision, and knowing which is which keeps you training past day thirty.Sat, 18 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/29/all-about-makiwara/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/29/all-about-makiwara/The striking post is not a punching bag. It is a diagnostic instrument, and it reports on your alignment whether you want it to or not.Thu, 16 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan-karate-discover-this-karate-style.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan-karate-discover-this-karate-style.htmlShotokan is the most widely practiced karate style in the world. Here is what actually defines it, and which parts of the standard account are legend.Wed, 15 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/03/01/the-courage-to-allow-others-to-quit/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/03/01/the-courage-to-allow-others-to-quit/Retention is the metric every club watches, and treating a departure as a failure of character is how a dojo starts holding people it should release.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/kata/gojushihodai.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/kata/gojushihodai.htmlThe dai and sho pair is the clearest surviving evidence that these forms were edited by people, fairly recently, and nobody agrees which is which.Sat, 11 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/101/06_defense.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/101/06_defense.htmlThe blocks taught to beginners are not blocks in the sense most students assume, and most complaints about karate basics start there.Thu, 09 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2010/07/21/throw-out-your-syllabus/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2010/07/21/throw-out-your-syllabus/A grading syllabus lists what will be examined. Most clubs started treating it as a list of what to teach, which is not the same document at all.Wed, 08 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/02/01/how-to-shop-for-a-good-karate-club/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/02/01/how-to-shop-for-a-good-karate-club/Watch a class before you pay for one. Almost everything worth knowing is visible in forty minutes from the side of the room.Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/01/07/how-to-create-a-kata/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/01/07/how-to-create-a-kata/People made these forms. Working through how you would build one yourself is the fastest way to understand what a kata can and cannot contain.Sat, 04 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/05/17/tradition-change-power/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/05/17/tradition-change-power/Every dojo rule described as ancient was introduced by somebody, at a date, for a reason. The interesting question is who benefits from it now.Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/09/urban-legends-of-karate-belts/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/09/09/urban-legends-of-karate-belts/The belt never washed, the belt darkened with blood, the rank earned in a cave: where they came from, and why the dates refuse to cooperate.Thu, 02 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/11/ki/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/11/ki/The sensations described under the name are real and worth training. The explanation attached to them has never survived an outside test.Wed, 01 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/belts/13_platform.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/belts/13_platform.htmlShodan means first level. The word has been in front of people the whole time and almost nobody reads it.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2009/02/15/how-to-become-a-world-champion/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2009/02/15/how-to-become-a-world-champion/The honest instructions are short, unglamorous, and mostly about things that were decided before you started.Sun, 28 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/101/25_terms.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/101/25_terms.htmlEvery dojo teaches a technical vocabulary in Japanese. Some is useful, some is atmosphere, and telling them apart is not hard.Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/09/20/force-mass-x-acceleration/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/09/20/force-mass-x-acceleration/The one equation every karate instructor quotes, and the one most of them are using to justify the opposite of what it says.Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/03/09/facing-a-harsh-reality-sparring-measures-skill-you-just-arent-as-good-as-you-thought/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/03/09/facing-a-harsh-reality-sparring-measures-skill-you-just-arent-as-good-as-you-thought/A kata can be performed beautifully by somebody who cannot fight at all. Sparring is where that stops being theoretical.Wed, 24 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/10/shu-ha-ri-karate-diverging-to-independence/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/10/10/shu-ha-ri-karate-diverging-to-independence/A three-stage model borrowed from Japanese arts generally, useful for describing how people learn and often used to shut questions down.Sat, 20 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/kicking-it-up-a-notch-westgate-casino-hotel-hosts-epic-karate-showdown-in-las-vegas.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/kicking-it-up-a-notch-westgate-casino-hotel-hosts-epic-karate-showdown-in-las-vegas.htmlLas Vegas casino venues have hosted full-contact karate for decades. The pairing is less odd than it sounds, and it shows who pays.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/12/31/do-you-say-osu-too-much/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2008/12/31/do-you-say-osu-too-much/A short diagnostic for a habit almost nobody in a Western dojo has ever been asked to examine.Wed, 17 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/capoeira-the-martial-art-of-dancing.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/capoeira-the-martial-art-of-dancing.htmlCapoeira is played to music inside a circle, which is why people argue about whether it is a martial art. The history explains both.Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/04/18/nijukun-2/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/04/18/nijukun-2/The later precepts are where the trouble starts: aphorisms short enough to mean almost anything, in a setting where one person decides what they mean.Sat, 13 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2009/01/05/the-esprit-de-corps-of-osu-or-maybe-not/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2009/01/05/the-esprit-de-corps-of-osu-or-maybe-not/The defense of the all-purpose osu is that it builds unity. That is a real function, and it is not the same as the one usually claimed for it.Thu, 11 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/101/19_belts.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/shotokan/101/19_belts.htmlThere is no standard order, no standard number, and no way to read a stranger's grade across organizations. Here is what a belt does tell you.Wed, 10 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/03/12/the-waterboy-effect/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/03/12/the-waterboy-effect/Every club has somebody nobody rates who turns out, the first time it is tested properly, to be extremely difficult to deal with.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/04/16/nijukun-1/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2007/04/16/nijukun-1/Funakoshi's twenty precepts open with courtesy and a refusal to strike first. Neither is the fighting advice students expect, which is the point.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/taekkyeon-exploring-the-korean-martial-art.htmlhttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/taekkyeon-exploring-the-korean-martial-art.htmlTaekkyeon is the Korean martial art with the strongest claim to genuine antiquity and the most complicated relationship with its own revival.Sat, 06 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/08/29/appropriate-usage-of-osu/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2005/08/29/appropriate-usage-of-osu/A syllable most Western dojos use for everything, which in Japan is narrow, blunt, and easy to get wrong in front of the wrong person.Wed, 03 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/01/29/funakoshi-man-vs-myth/https://www.24fightingchickens.com/2006/01/29/funakoshi-man-vs-myth/The founder figure most Shotokan students are given is a composite: part documented teacher, part organizational asset assembled after his death.Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT