I have only been to one Ashihara class, and l must say that l was pretty scared with what l saw. It is known to be an effective method of self defence on the street?
Its a style of Karate that comes from Kyokushin. Its fairly modern, thus a surprise to me when l was doing a traditional style. I think it was basically supposed to be a style that is very effective on the street. The website is here it looked very much like brazilian ju-jitsu (spelling?) and also muay thai kickboxing. I don´t know if l got the link to work, but if you type it into the browser it will appear!
From the quick scan of the site it seems to say the right sort of things, but I'd have to see it in action to comment properly. One of the things that does surprise me is the combination of the terms "fighting" and "self defence" with "kata". As I said, I'd have to see it in action...
It is a Kyokushinkai offshoot, which has like other offshoots, absorbed alot of Muay Thai techniques and practices. Fighting Kata huh??? One of the other ones is Shidokan Karate www.shidokan.co.uk (Their site seems very slow sometimes). Same sort of thing. I know that the local (to me) Shidokan Karate class doesn't do any groundwork or throwing during their classes-mostly 'Kickboxing' style training. Only on seminars (at least that was how it was previously). Having watched a few of the local Shidokan classes, I'd say that some of the stuff they were doing was of use for 'self-defence'. In that they hit pads, they spar, they drill with gear, you know Muay Thai type stuff. They also run around the streets of Camden barefoot, presumably dodging the dog crap, needles, broken glass and angry Pikeys, whilst wondering why they have impaired foot arches...:bang:
l have been to a few classes now, and trust me, they throw, do a lot of ground work and there are 3 classes a week that we are expected to attend! plus the seminars.
I was talking about the class local TO ME. Hence why I typed the words TO ME. Reason being they didn't have mats to use....
