ABOUT US

We are a registered RecSports organization of the University of Texas at Austin. We are also the Austin branch of the Japan Karate Association and a member dojo of the American Amateur Karate Federation Southwestern Region. We teach Shotokan Karate to any member of the UT community who is interested: students, faculty, or staff. No prior experience is necessary to learn with us. Karate is an art full of tradition and we do take our study very seriously, but that does not mean that we don't have fun while doing it.

Our parent dojo is JKA Dallas headed by Dr. Alex Tong Sensei and Brad Webb Sensei. Student dues are $40 per semester and $20 for the summer plus the one time fee for a uniform. We have official JKA testing done according to the JKA's schedule. Testing is done either in Austin or in Dallas.


TRAINING

Practices are generally broken down into three parts: kihon, kata, and kumite.

  • Kihon consists of basic techniques. This includes punches, kicks, strikes, and stances. Here, the practitioner learns how to properly perform the techniques that make up Shotokan karate.

  • Kata are pre-arranged forms. They take what a student has learned in kihon and put it together into a routine where a student performs the movements against imaginary opponents. The kata get more difficult and involved as a student progresses through rank. The kata originated in Okinawa and have been passed down and changed through the generations.

  • Kumite is sparring done with a partner. Sparring ranges, depending on skill level, from pre-arranged basic three-point sparring to the more advanced free sparring.

    As well as practicing with the rest of the class, beginners are given time individually with senior students. It will take a beginner at least 3 months to get the first yellow belt, after which each progressive rank will take a bit longer. It can take at least 4 years of continuous training to get the first black belt, but most likely takes longer.



    • Sensei Tom's articles on Shotokan Karate

    THE DOJO FLOOR

    Fellow students! Allow me to give you a synopsis of a few of my artistic heros:

  • Sergei Rachmaninoff: Russian composer and pianist who stunned the world with his intricate compositions and incredible precision in performance that even today, most of his works require two pianos. After his notable acclaim, he returned to the fundamentals of a singular note and its relationship to just another singular note. Through this study, he claimed that it moved him closer to understanding the over all beauty of harmony in sound.

  • Pablo Picasso: Nearly all of the planet relates this name to art. His use of color both shocked and so impressed the art world that he was very early in his career, proclaimed a genius. Picasso found his true growth in later years with the study of a singular color and its relationship to the canvas. His goal was to convey the same emotion from multi colors to singularity. This was his 'singularity phase', and by his own proclamation, truly the most artistic period.

  • Prof. Erick Demaine: One of MIT's rising geniuses, and youngest, at 24, with expertise in the fields of electrical engineering, computer science, and biology. His understanding of proteins and their relationship to viruses is founded in the 1300 year old art form of Origami. The basic, simple folding of objects led him to fantastic discoveries in the resistance to virus attack by just folding the protein cell. Professor Demaine's explorations mirror the paths taken by Rachmaninoff and Picasso.

    Students, you can easily see where I'm going with this. However, we will look much deeper than basic Kihon fundamentals. A relationship with the FLOOR must be recognized in every step we make on "mother earth". This relationship is similar to the intimate one we have when simply holding hands with a loved one. The FLOOR is the only non-variable we have when stepping into the Dojo. The FLOOR asks you to become one with it, it asks you to incorporate it and totally depend on its simplicity, necessity and as the initiator of all POWER.

    Keep training and never neglect your true best friend for life: The FLOOR!!

    Always Train,

    Sensei Tom



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