This time, I will tell you the points when selecting a karate dojo.
First is the conclusion.
① Instructor
② Distance from home
Karate can be summed up in one word, but there are currently a large number of styles. Under such circumstances, I would like to provide useful information to those who are interested in karate and want to attend a dojo.
In addition, this time it is a view from my perspective as a “instructor” and a “parent”. As a dojo to select, we assume “youth course”. That said, it’s also useful as a reference for the general course.
There are two main styles of karate
First, karate styles can be broadly classified into the following two groups.
・Full Contact Karate
・Traditional Karate
In a nutshell, the difference is, “The content of the practice(稽古keiko) is hit or not.”
In addition, there are many other differences, but depending on this root part, various practice contents, or rather, the way you move your body will change greatly.
The origin of Full Contact Karate is “Kyokushin Kaikan”. The predecessor of ”Asihara Kaikan”, which I belong to, was Kyokushin Karate Ashihara Dojo.As the name suggests, when you strike, you “contact” with “full” power. There are pursuing “How can I topple the opponent with a blow?”
Traditional Karate generally refers to the four major schools of ”Goju-ryu”, ”Shotokan”, ”Shito-ryu”, and ”Wado-ryu”. Thier kumite is Sundome(it pull just before contact) .This rule was adopted in the Olympic kumite.
When selecting a dojo, it is necessary to first select these two points, but since there is no intention to give superiority or inferiority, I will not list the merits and demerits this time.
Since I practice full contact karate, if you ask me which one is better, I would recommend full contact karate. As I mentioned in the previous article, if you continue, your armed force will definitely increase.
Below is a reference article.
Below are some points to consider when selecting a dojo.
As I mentioned above, from now on, it will be how to select when sending your child.
In reality, it will be more important than the selection of the style.
Point ① Instructor
When you visit a candidate dojo, take a good look at the teacher. However, I am not referring to the technical abilty of karate, but to the human nature in general.
This is really important.
This is because the quality of the instructor (adult) involved in the growth period of your child affects the growth of the child.
It’s not a difficult content, if you feel that “this person is not a good fit” from the parent’s perspective, you will not be forced to attend.
I’m writing this article from the standpoint of a instructor, but of course I’m not a person of great character, I’m just a Office worker karateka.However, because I will appear in the growth period (= 1 page of life) of the dojo student, I feel that I am receiving an irreplaceable experience.I plan to teach everything I have (techniques).
Point ② Distance from home
Simply, if it is too far away, it will be troublesome to commute and it will not last long.
As a guideline, I think it’s appropriate to take less than 30 minutes one way, but I think there are individual differences.
Summary
This time, I have listed 2 points for selecting a karate dojo for the youth course.
It’s really simple,
① Quality of instructor (whether or not parents think they can entrust their children)
② Distance from home
These are the two points. I think it is a more important factor than the selection of the style.
By the way, in my case, the style/dojo I was introduced to by a friend happened to be the Ashihara Kaikan General Headquarters. When I think about it now, as a starting point, I was able to continue until I set up my own branch dojo because the above two points were satisfied.
I hope that the above information will be of some help in selecting the dojo.
Below is a reference book about Ashihara Karate.
↓ It is a technical book of Ashihara karate.
↓ It’s an easy-to-understand comic.（The language is Japanese.）