Northern Karate (Canada?), what's the deal?

**Lebell** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 10:09am

Hey, just a small enquiry, some years ago i was watching some godawfull video of a seminar held by some instructor from northern karate.

Someone told me he was a grandmaster or 6 th dan or something but he sure knew how to hide it on the tape.

I also was going through some manuals for instructors which contained empty phrases like respect honour and fit and other pointless slogans.

The head of their system is Cesar bowkowski or something, i probably misspelled that, he's supposed to be some worldchamp in this or that karate style, i remember checking him out on the internet but couldnt find anything ecept that you could book him for lectures.

Does anyone know this federation?

**Goju - Joe** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 10:14am

Typiccal Karate, point sparring and kata.

Nothing to see here time to move on

**Shuma-Gorath** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 12:04pm

Northern Karate is a perverse mockery of Shotokan and the root much of the bad Karate in southern Ontario.

Then again, your title and location text is from lolcats so maybe you'd enjoy training at the 4chan of martial arts.

**Lebell** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 12:07pm

Originally Posted by Shuma-Gorath

Northern Karate is a perverse mockery of Shotokan and the root much of the bad Karate in southern Ontario.

Then again, your title and location text is from lolcats so maybe you'd enjoy training at the 4chan of martial arts.

meowww bitch!

well you could be right, but Canada is a bit far from me since im in Europe.
i liked the outfits though..maybe im just jealous...im not sure..

**Oldiebear** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 12:38pm

Caesar Borkowski has been around Karate in Canada for about 40 years. As far as I know he is listed as an 8th Dan. While he started in Shotokan I believe that he changed to Shidokan Shorin-Ryu under Miyahara in the late 90's. He owns northern Karate Studies in and around Toronto Ontario. Probably the largest Martial arts franchaise in this part of the country. I have been to 2 seminars where he was present. As far as his personal Karate goes I can't tell you anything about it, but in business he is pretty smooth. I am surprised that you indicated his videos were rough, I imagined that they would be pretty slick. Sometimes the problem with any Martial Art Instructor, whether TMA or MMA is that they get too big and lose focus of the reason they started in the art to begin with. That about all I know of him. As far as checking things out on the internet, take whatever you get with a grain of salt. I knew of a guy who was listed in several Black Belt Halls of fame on the net. The problem is that he started all of those sites himself.

**Lebell** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 12:52pm

Oldiebear, the video i was referring to was a video shot by one of the students and it wasnt cesar himself.
the guy who did the seminar had a 6th dan or something, but poor techniques.

**Oldiebear** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 2:37pm

My misunderstanding, however the head of the association should be aware of the product they are puting out.

**Lebell** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 2:39pm

hang on, im not making myself clear: this wasnt a video out for sale, it was an internal video,i worked as an instructor at some school and they showed me the video of the workshop, it was more of a private footage sort of speak.

**Oldiebear** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 3:49pm

The theory still works, the product is the demonstration, not the video. If a person is doing a workshop and is representing a club, school, etc in doing so then they represent their Sensei. Should I have done a demonstration in public or at another dojo and sucked at it, it would reflect on me. At the same time people would also be reflecting on the abilities of my instructor. The same thing regarding one of my students. My only point was this; when your student base gets into the 1000's you tend to lose touch.

**Lebell** · Posted On: 1/14/2008 4:05pm

definately true.

Well, in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king i guess.
I watched the video of that workshop and noticed he wasnt in proper shape, sweating the whole time and made lousy tma legsweeps with wristgrab and punch to face wth kiai routines, if you know what i mean.
I didntsay anything about it because i didnt want to be rude, but it really made me wonder about the level and nature of ther organisation, i've seen promotional material and flyers aiming for kids ( we grade from age 8 etc.) and stressing about honour and more of that made up crap.

I'm European so maybe i dont get the way of approach or what appeals to people in Canada and the USA, but i got a real big mcdojo vibe from it.
I've also had to work with BBkids aged 11-16.
The people have ok intentions i guess but i came there to teach fullcontact techniques, they didnt have a clue about proper throws, muay thai kinda leg kicks let alone groundwork, the only thing they did was heavily padded point stop matches (twice a year or something) while kiai-ing the whole time and flailing around like panic buttons on coke.

Maybe it was just that school or something.

All and all it was a weird experience.