Just starting out, need opinions.

[Lu Tze]

Catching a sword between your hands is daft. The opponent holding the sword has far more power to twist the weapon, so even if you manage to catch it, you'll lose most of your hands immediately afterwards.

Who cares, we can edit that part out after...

[Seraphim]

I am getting back into martial arts after a horrid Aikido experience and have decided to take Karate. There is a local dojo here so I signed up and have been taking lessons for two weeks now. Can you guys give me your opinion of them:

World Oyama

It is full contact style and I am learning under one of the founders, Saiko Shihan Y. Oyama. Classes are broken up into Kihon and Kata during the first two nights, the last two nights are Kihon, Kata, and Kumite. The classes are very intense, lots of sweat and a little blood. Thanks for any input!

Looks like you've found yourself a good school. KK is well known for being full contact. Personally, I'd love to train at such a place!

Now go and take video's of yourself in kumite!

[wagamichi]

I am getting back into martial arts after a horrid Aikido experience and have decided to take Karate. There is a local dojo here so I signed up and have been taking lessons for two weeks now. Can you guys give me your opinion of them:

World Oyama

It is full contact style and I am learning under one of the founders, Saiko Shihan Y. Oyama. Classes are broken up into Kihon and Kata during the first two nights, the last two nights are Kihon, Kata, and Kumite. The classes are very intense, lots of sweat and a little blood. Thanks for any input!

Well for what it is worth, there is a branch of this style here in Indy, I sparred with a couple of these guys back in the mid 1990's. We did it three ways.

the first was thier rules: Continuous, bare knuckle. Body and legs open for striking. the head could only be kneed or kicked. It hurt a little and they were tough basterds. I out weighed them by a lot was and able to hit harder so it was not really that hard to handle them. Plus they had just goten thier shodan ranks and i had about 8 years on them.

Next we fought with foam gloves and alowed face contact. in this they were a little overwhelmed because they were use to being close and body pounding. they really had only 2 dangerous kicks that i felt. and both of them were negated with an unfamilure punch to the nose.

Last we kickboxed. All but one had no idea what they were doing. The guy that did also kickboxed and he was good. real good. It really came down to weight. all in all, I think that it is a good Japanese karate system...but you might want to cross train with some face punchers or do some boxing to get used to face hitting. Mabey your school does this, the sensei in Indy was kindof odd so i don't know if it was a style issue or an instructor one.

[UrbanArmory]

He does it with a clap, aiming to sandwich the blade between the flats of his hands. The danger is therefore not sliced hands, but a missed catch and a sliced head. Given that he knows which cut is coming and when I don't see it as impossible. I don't think he's claiming it's a workable defence, or anything more than a cool demo.

Yes, but think about this- what if someone twists the sword?

I do kenjutsu, and not a soul alive who has ever seen someone who knows how to handle a sword believes that actually catching the blade is a concievable technique.

And I'll bet a tuna sandwich that this guy thinks he could actually do it.

[UrbanArmory]

Catching a sword between your hands is daft. The opponent holding the sword has far more power to twist the weapon, so even if you manage to catch it, you'll lose most of your hands immediately afterwards.

Have you ever heard of the ancient karate technique to defeat a thrust that involves slamming your palm on the flat of the sword? DEVESTATING.

[warnerj5000]

next time you're walking down the street and attacked by ninjas, try the sword-grabbing defense. If it works, you survive.
If not, hey-you were attacked by ninjas- death was probably going to happen anyway.

[Invictus]

I do kenjutsu, and not a soul alive who has ever seen someone who knows how to handle a sword believes that actually catching the blade is a concievable technique.

QFT. The *only* way someone can "catch" a blade is as a fake-o stunt demo. I mean, it's just common sense! Would any of y'all try to catch a KNIFE on the street? If not, then why would a sword be much different?

If the guy is proud of his ability to "catch" a blade, and believes that this is a marker of skill, then his understanding of weapons is obviously minimal. Like I said, this doesn't mean the unarmed curriculum isn't nice.

[Cullion]

It is a Kyokushin derivative, but is named after its founder who was no relation to Mas. As to the katana trick I don't see why it would be physically impossible, especially with something less than a fully comitted cut.

It's obviously a neat trick that only works reliably with careful cooperation between the guy with the sword and the guy trying to 'defend'. If it's being taught just because it 'looks neat', what's the point ? he might as well teach you to unicycle and call it martial arts.

[CanucKyokushin]

Wow! This has been covered before. It’s not a trick as say like a magic trick. Yes, Shigeru oyama did perform this a number of times. One time I understand he mist and the blade made a deep cut in his head. According to legend; when Shigeru Oyama arrived at the hospital in Japan the Doctor looked at his injury and asked "What were you trying to do again?"

The relationship of Mas Oyama and Shigeru Oyama is this way.Mas Oyama's real name is Yong-I Choi.At a young age he got to stay boarded in with a Japanese family by the name of Oyama. Since he was a native Korean it would have an easier to pass through society with a japanese name. So I suppose in respect to the family he chose Oyama.Matsutasu is the name of a great mountain in Japan. That’s it! That’s the story.

Also he taught the young Shigeru and his young brother MA since a very early age.

Also don't have any worries about Katas.Kyokushin and Oyama style katas are mostly based on fighting stances not flowery taichi stuff. No offence Cullion.

[Hannibal]

Personally I say go for it. Kyokushin offshoots tend to be similar to Kyokushin itself really.

I visited their website and read their outlook on karate under the "About Us" section. Its a good read.

No bullshit there. They stated that many karate schools these days simply block/punch/kick thin air too much. It goes on to say how karate is not a religion and by not exposing yourself to hard fighting you cannot progress and apply what you are learning.

Now that sounds good. Its about time we had more karate instructors out there who share the same idea.