My visit up North was filled with nostalgia. Seeing friends after a four year void was emotional and exciting, but my highlight was visiting my old school. Since I've been gone my old teacher has decided to pilot his own style while keeping the basics from Tang Soo Do. The hyungs/katas are the same as well as the blocks, punches and kicks, but after that there is a divergence.
He decided that after some analysis he would eschew the wait for the attacker and simply try to execute all moves into the attack or avoid the attack but both need to the defender to have very good timing. This is thing evolving thing for him and the class, but they all seem to like the practicality of it all.
After several years of traditional Okinawan Karate I must admit my ability to refocus was a bit tough. I got the feeling that my Teacher kind of wanted to discount anything I learned; to exhort the superiority of what he was going through. I found myself bouncing back and fourth. I really wanted to just enjoy being in class again and just enjoying the exchange of knowledge, but in the end I just felt a bit frustrated.
My take on traditional study is that is that we are following something "traditional". So you don't always get the most practical approach to self-defense. The other end of the spectrum would be something like reality based self-defense, but I always felt they lost out because of the lack of beauty, if that can be said about something that's all about hitting and kicking.
The class went by way too quick, but he let me lead the warm-ups and at the end he had me to do three katas. I explained the white crane stuff I was studying, but I don't think anyone really cared. I'm assuming they just thought I was doing some kung fu kind of thing.
In retrospect I would have liked to anonymously participated in class just to enjoy the nostalgia.
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