OT: and on a happy personal note ...

… both my daughter and I were promoted to yon-kyu (green belt) in Isshinryu. Took me longer than I liked, but the specific kata we were learning was complex. Ok, it looks simple, but … it really … really … isn’t. There is great subtlety in it. Mastering this takes a while. The moves took me about a month. The rest took me much longer. Here is one of the style’s leadership (10th Dan) showing how to do this

Our version is slightly different, but not by much. This is a different but closer version to what we do

This is a very close combat kata, teaching a combination of explosive speed, power, and control. As well as defense. One of our requirements is to be in the niahanchi stance, which, if executed correctly, means we can catch a groin kick before it can … er … become problematic. What I noticed with most of the videos I’ve seen is that they really don’t seem to pay attention to this. During our testing, and our workouts, the sensei’s might come up from behind and kick. So if you are not in the right stance … well … Getting all of this right … yeah, its hard. Specially for old farts like me. Now I am starting the Wansu kata. Its quite cool, teaching a combination of attack and evasion. And there is an embedded throw or “dump” within it.