karate black belt exam of the Shotokan SKIF created by Hirokazu Kanazawa, a living legend

[southernsecurity]

The skinny kid needed more conditioning. Instead of playing with is hair he should have been stretching or meditating in mokso.

[183WestSidE]

Nice, I love shotokan, not these 6 year old black belts in some of these other arts..

[Ruben1994OL]

I would be so damn nervous if so many was to watch my 1st Dan grading...

[Coldshadow25]

So i couldnt quite hear what the sensei was saying. Did they all pass?

[jefrona]

@Coldshadow25 The youngest, the blond passed immediately and the other two passed but one was given a short delay (maybe one month) and the other a longer delay (maybe two months) until they could wear their black belt. I would need help from the officials present at the exam to give you a more precise answer. I am asking here their help.

[Coldshadow25]

@jefrona Okay thank you :)

[loillky]

Respects de Normandie.

[Darragh62]

is it too much to ask that u videoed the grading n not the audience?

[jefrona]

@Darragh62 Karate at SKIF is a philosophy, a view on life. What I filmed then was a moment that meant a lot to most of the people in that room. The people in that room were all part of the SKIF family. This is why I also filmed the audience. And a lot of those people are happy to see themselves in that video. And we, at SKIF, cared about people. This was back in 1997. I hope I answered well your question.

[shwann100]

@jefrona Yeah its nice! I do shotokan

[TheBaguaman]

Je vais faire mon possible!

[TheBaguaman]

Je sais que Michel Morin un des autres Karateka du Video l'a déjà vue mais pour John et les autres, je ne le sais pas. Comme je n'ai pas leur email, je ne peux pas les informer.

[TheBaguaman]

Ok! mais pour moi c'est 20 ans plus tard! (à noté que John a la tête blanche et donnes maintenant des cours privé à Lévis).

Je suis maintenant de retour au Shotokan sans la jeunesse du temps!

[jefrona]

@TheBaguaman Rebonjour. Pouvez-vous que John Racine et ses amis du temps puissent voir ce vidéo? Je suis moi loin de ce milieu. Merci d'avance.

[anabell4848]

how the hell is this long video able to be on youtube?? it's way longer than normal 10min videos...loed it tho

[jefrona]

@anabell4848 Hi. When Youtube first came out, we were allowed to open a Director Account which had no 10 minutes limit. This was a free account. Since then the rules were changed. But we, the early users of Youtube, kept the possibillity to go over the 10 minutes limit: some kind of vested right. I am lucky!

[TheBaguaman]

Wow! Mon ancien sensei John Racine (celui debout) et Dominic Crète (à gauche de l'examinateur)!

20ans plus tard!

[jefrona]

@TheBaguaman Salut à toi. Ce n'est pas 20 ans plus tard mais 13 ans plus tard: l'examen a eu lieu au printemps 1997. Faut pas vieillir trop vite.

[duirling]

I remember my shodan grading like it was yesterday!! I was so nervous!! Nidan coming up soon

[netreacher]

I studied under Sensei Dozono in his very first school in the old Belleville Firehall in 1969. I was a student in his very first class and he stayed at my house on the weekends. My mother always enjoyed cooking for him as he was a voracious eater and she liked that! As a younger man he would enjoy hanging out with my older brothers. I still remember him using his Canon 35 mm to take shots from the TV during Apollo 11`s landing on the moon. He is a man to be respected.

[Piranah420]

I trained under Kenzo back in the day in Belleville. Amazing teacher! He brings out the best if people mind you I don't miss his bamboo sword! Much respect to SKI and much respect to Kenzo!

[HydroMacFly]

unforgettable impressions and interesting to see an exam, thx

[underugmedia]

damn....wat a long grading..... i would be damn nervous.... congratz for ure son btw

[arena239]

Great video and very instructive. Thank you very much.

[Shadymeister]

jefrona why the hell do we always have to look at the blond guy for, you seem to always or where an opportunity exist the camera is always focus on him, is he your son or what

[jefrona]

Shadymeister: yes he is my son and I filmed this video in one shot without any editing. Today he is a very successful lawyer and karate training is part of his success story. Do you have a problem with that???

[hovac]

i have trained with that guy, he maybe be only 5 feet, but he's amazing

[caplagea]

thank you for upload this video

[karateandre]

Intéressant de voir sur ce vidéo Senseï Michel Et Senseï Steve lors de leur examen. Un vidéo qui va inspirer plusieurs pratiquant de karaté Shotokan. Malgré quelque cheveux en moins, les gars sont encore tout aussi bon! OSS!

[assassin465]

cool i might get into karate

[SKIFTIGER]

OSU,I know when I went for my confirmation of Shodan from JKA to SKIF after training with them for 2 years,that the ji ippon kumite can be stressful in remembering everything.Well done and you will only grow from your shodan grading experiences even though we all make slight mistakes.I made a couple.

[sascorp]

there were quite big differences in quality in speed, kime and technique. but well done all of you

[branvan420]

I used to learn from him a long time ago before I moved to kingston, he was EXCELLENT but it was soo hard understanding him sometimes lol

[gunit090909]

did the other 2 pass or only the blond one?

[jefrona]

The blond one was awarded the black belt status on the spot. The other two were awarded their black belt status after a delay of two weeks for one and 4 weeks for the other ( a period required by the examinator in order for both of them to practice and improve a few minor points). This is to the best of my memory and I will welcome any comment from the other instructors present at the exam, if they can correct me.

[gunit090909]

I think they did a great job. There free style fighting was very good.

[bable666]

Thanks for showing this video, really interesting and well filmed too !!

[jefrona]

Thanks for your comment. I will tell you more here: on of the 3 students, the blond one, who was 16 year old at the time, is now a very successful lawyer and he gives credit to his SKIF karate formation

[derekpmorris]

I took from Sensei Dozono for 3 years here in Belleville. As lower belts we were allowed to come to any higher belt classes (as long as didn't get stepped on). Black belt exams were sacred. NO ONE discussed the content. As I am not a black belt myself, I still don't even know if the other black belts saw each others exams...  If I didn't see Sensei Dozono for myself I wouldn't have beleived it....

[jefrona]

See 2 web pages referring to Sensei Dozono in my description of this video in the upper right corner of this page. He is the number one SKIF official in Canada, totally dedicated to this philosophy of life.

[gggearoid]

i just have a quick question, not trying to start an argument or anything. why would they let you film such a high profile grading. my grading examiner doesnt let anybody stay in the dojo from 1srt dan grading onwards let alone filming it. by the way, congrats to your son for passing his grading. OSSS

[jefrona]

ggearoid: I was just plain lucky that day. I was told afterward that the examiner, Hanshi Kenzo Dozono (see my infos about him in the upper right corner of this page in the more infos section) does not allow filming in his exams. That day he saw me filming and never intervened. He knew me for a few years before, he knew I valued very highly the chance that my son had to train under his organisation: maybe that is why he let me proceed.

[cheaptrades]

im surprised they allowed you to film

[OscarGATOSO]

I am brown belt 3 kyu so this video it is so interesting to check some details.