I saw this thread and someone sent me links to videos of Mitsusuke Harada, student of Funakoshi 5th dan, who has been teaching in South America. My style kyokushin uses a little of shotokan, but his karate is nowehere near how we know it:
I think KirksSpockMcCoy posted most of those before his “time-out”. Is this a coincidence, your first post being about Harada? With the vids KSM posted?
The whole point about those videos is that they aren’t Shotokan, nor Kyokushinkai, nor Wado Ryu, or Enshin, or Isshin Ryu, or Shukokai or American Freestyle Karate… they’re Shotokai. I’m not a shotokai expert, and I don’t think anyone who has posted on this subject thus far is, either.
As a former Shotokan practitioner, I look at the vids and the first thing I see are bent rear legs in front stance. Heresy. Simply not Shotokan. What I don’t know is whether the Shotokai “way” is to bend the back leg to aid movement.
As I don’t know, I can do two things: Find out, or go on with my life not caring.
