bassai dai

[christianbrecht]

dare I say this may be better in some respects than Osaka Sensei's kata? Because you make such good use of straightening the back leg, and your stances are lower. Pls comment sensei Paul

[taffypaul]

@christianbrecht Thank you very much for your kind comments. Osaka Sensei is a very inspirational karateka, I feel humbled to be compared to someone of that calibre. I am glad you can see through my performance how important I stress power coming from the back leg. Two things which might not actually be obvious from the video... 1. I never actually lock my knee joint, this is counter productive. 2. relaxation is vital for getting the most out of the thrust.. think Soft then Hard. Regards Paul

[christianbrecht]

@taffypaul Ossu thank you sensei for the insights, will definitely keep it in mind. For a time, I tended to be extreme as regards my hanmi (90 degree hanmi not 45 as per standard JKA), but personally I felt it difficult to push on the back leg coming from such a wind up. Seeing your videos I decided to revert back to JKA standard hanmi seeing how much power you can do through good old basics as they were taught by Nakayama. Ossu and hats off to you sir *RESPECT* THANK YOU

[christianbrecht]

Mr. Taffypaul, I appreciate really yoour use of the hips and I notice you REALLY push on the back leg to switch from hanmi to shomen which I think is a big reason for your power, unlike many who LOOK like their back legs are straight but not really the power generating kind of movement. Fantastic sir. I have always been looking at your katas as inspiration

[salv15]

Very good kata like all your others- really sharp and good kime. Don't understand how others can criticise ?? I've been doing karate for many years (Kyokushin and Shotokan). Oss.

[XEROX161991]

For my this kata is as solid as Morio Higaonna in Goju-ryu, I am training Shotokan-ryu for 4 years, so I'm beginner as hell (4 kyu), but from November I've changed organisation from Sensei Shirai's teaching (Polish part) to ITKF, There are some diffrences, but I will never say that one is good and other bad, there are diffrent ways in shotokan as I saw in few trainings with sensei Shirai (where were karatekas from few organisations). For my this is very powerful kata and I envy Your's abilities

[mrtraditional31]

MrKodokan sounds like a little punk who has trained in shotokan, but has not properly studied it.

[mrtraditional31]

MrKodokan sounds like a little punk who has trained in shotokan, but has not properly studied it.

[mrtraditional31]

Here are some comments for you: The kata was pretty good, the other student, MrKodokan or whatever's comments are comments for someone who has trained in shotokan, but has not properly studied it. Shotokan is a style that is very much so open to interpretation of what master funakoshi was talking about. The way you perform it is not the same way I perform it; however, that's open to interpretation. For the sweeping block on the 4th apponent :15-:16, show that you are lifting someone's leg,

[mrtraditional31]

Here are some comments for you: The kata was pretty good, the other student, MrKodokan or whatever's comments are comments for someone who has trained in shotokan, but has not properly studied it. Shotokan is a style that is very much so open to interpretation of what master funakoshi was talking about. The way you perform it is not the same way I perform it; however, that's open to interpretation. For the sweeping block on the 4th apponent :15-:16, show that you are lifting someone's leg,

[TheSuZu34]

Thanks for posting this, I love this Kata, I'm just learning it now and know it will become one of my favourites.

[spf1410]

Very nicely done.

[octavio20]

You have perfect moves, I'm your fan!

Thanks 4 sharing.

[shotox21]

Perfect kata. Thank you for sharing, this video will be on my club web site for my students to train for.

Thank you.

[MissFener90]

Wow, i'm impressed... u have got a strength in ur kata, and i liked it very much...

ive got the 4th kyu (blue belt) and i love bassai dai very much...

and in my opinion you did good =)

[velborboleta]

mto bom

[sculptoru]

-- ... very good ... this man knows what means a kyme . this explosion is the hart of shotokan . this is my opinion & i m not a pro . keep up the good work paul .

[MrVictorRong]

@MrKodokan. Can we see a video of you doing Bassai Dai? Just for comparison of course. Probably best to ask your parents if you can use the computer first though.

[kqkjr]

i think that u have strong spirit...and dont worry about a perfect technique, because for everybody it will take all our life to find it. the most important is the sipirit.

keep going and nice performance

Oss

[kqkjr]

i think that u have strong spirit...and dont worry about a perfect technique, because for everybody it will take all our life to find it. the most important is the sipirit.

keep going and nice performance

[Rotsap123]

Beautiful BassaiDai. I love the clarity of your movments, the timing, and the speed of execution of the individual steps. Thanks for posting!

--GirlScoutDad (Shodan black belt)

[MasOyama10dan]

OSS

[cooniemoonie]

Awesome!

[Paradisia88]

Era uno dei miei kata preferiti..

[kakashi753]

nice kata man!

i am trying to learn bassai dai now(i am only a blue belt) do you have any tips?

[PanicusVulgaris]

Very good Bassai Dai. Respect!

[njtr]

Very powerful. Nice hip rotation. Thanks for posting.

[MrKodokan]

thanks a lot =] you keep training too, i hope you go far.

[MrKodokan]

terrible, nice stances and uses of hip, but here are your mistakes

00:15-00:16 you dont circle your arm

00:24-00:26 with the blocks

00:40-00:42 arms come above head

00:49-00:50 dosnt come from chest and than down

1:09-1:11 it doesnt come from the sky

overall, it was..... amateurish, i think you deserve purple belt and dont hate on me, i train with okazaki, i know what im talking about and im not trying to hate on ya. it was quite good when it came to hip and stances, bravo

[taffypaul]

Interesting comments. Can I ask you how long you've been training for? I'm not suprised that my kata differs from that of Okazaki's preference, I've never trained with him, nor do I have any reason or desire to train with him, I'm with a different association and have different standards. Could direct me to a video of how you or Okazaki think this kata SHOULD be done? Granted, my kata isn't perfect, who's is? The points you've raised may be valid for the ISKF but are not on MY fix-list, thanks

[MrKodokan]

go to old bassai dai, it's by orbelus, he's closest to perfect, i didnt even keep track for how long ive been doing shotokan, im 13 and i think ive been going since 4? yes, that's most accurate. been going for 9 years and still going. i dont mean to hate on you or you're kata, i think you are quite good, but just not the traditional way of doing it. im not trying to insult you at all if you think that's what im going for. no, im just trying to help you. but, nobody's perfect and i may be wrong.

[taffypaul]

Try not to concentrate too much on picture perfect static form of instructional books and the like in favour of tension, force and application; it is the applied movement that makes technique. Check performances of many masters, none of which have the same form; check Kanazawa, Kawazoe, Osaka etc, The clip you refer to is Enoeda, it is very different to how he taught back when I was 1st kyu. You have a good eye for detail, keep training well. Thank you for your comments. Best wishes. Oss

[kqkjr]

@taffypaul

i think that u have strong spirit...and dont worry about a perfect technique, because for everybody it will take all our life to find it. the most important is the sipirit.

keep going and nice performance

Oss

[PatrickSmithPhD]

@MrKodokan - Ah. You're thirteen. I seee... everything makes sense now.

[PatrickSmithPhD]

Excellent quality! Very crisp technique and great control. :) 

[skimarcus]

@MrKodokan I've trained with Okazaki Sensei also, and I don't know anyone who would have the balls to call this kata terrible. It's different, but all the basic principles are there and executed excellently.

Unless you are one of the handful of people under Sensei who are actually qualified to make such an assessment...then you're just a fool.

[MrKodokan]

@skimarcus alright, 1) ill bet you have trained with okazaki 2) i must have some huge balls 3)who are you to decide whether the moves were executed excellently or not? 4) in your eyes, i must be SOME fool

[skimarcus]

@MrKodokan Yup, you still qualify as a fool.

[Nawidyeah]

@MrKodokan evidently, you cannot be one of okazaki sensei's closer students, after such a demonstration

of bad manner. But it's okay you just want to show that you think you are good at karate, might even be so but

the mistakes you spoken about aren't really mistakes. They are just points to nag about, and obviously you

still have a long way to go until you will be able to realize, that the karateka who give a little bit more effort than others might even have their own little preferences.

[aeortiz2004]

Paul: very strong stances and appropiate timing in the transitions between movement...indeed anyone can notice that you are a dedicated person to the arts...congratulations!!

[mallardgreen]

Very strong use of hips, here. Appreciate the post of this kata, and the other ones this fellow has on youtube. They're all very good. It would be good if he did some kihon and kihon combinations. Kagawa Sensei has some good stuff that way on youtube.

[musicalkaratekid]

thats a great kata-brilliant timing,moves,and a hell of a lot of effort put in. however,im saying that as a GKR student(no arguments please) and as we do it differently,the shotokan version looks much better-well done,great work:)

[roboticant]

The target hand should stay where it is for the kick, should it not.

Nobody seems to be able to accomplish this rather simple detail.

[bst28]

osu!!! ur so great!! hope u can train me someday... osu!!!

[GuilhermeBlassioli]

Can someone tell me his name? PLZ

[taffypaul]

My name's Paul James, thanks for asking :)

[mizu1000]

Very nice performance - really clean - a great example of this kata!

It's interesting to see the slight differences between this execution and the way I was taught this.

[smegzy123]

wow wow wow and wow again. he's amaze at this. great kata, great power, great stance. amazing.

[katashotokan]

bela execução de kata bassai dai oss

[betus4ever]

you're great!!!

[baldtony]

Lots of people can perform techniques with speed.

Lots of people can perform techniques with power.

It's rare and refreshing to see both performed at the same time.

Especially for an old man :-)

[animeman1236]

@baldtony Old man lol! hahaha i dont think Sensei would like you saying that to him :) he's a great guy and teaches extremely well!

[marioponc]

tus katas son muy clasicos y estan muy buenos,tratare de mandarte uno mio para que lo aprecies,felicitaciones.

[Shodan234]

I absolutly loved watching this. very awsome kata!

[johnybravo1705]

And this is a real good performance. I will keep it in my favorite. Congratulations !

[b3likeme]

very good kime and kata altogether

[mooseven]

Man, you're absurdly good at this!

Makes me sick! :-D

[ipponwaza]

Really good.. I will aspire to perform it as well as you. Each movement has the essence of Bassai dai incarnate. Osu!

[Lizzyiscute]

Nice spirit and kime.  Thanks. Keep it up.