Shotokan Karate Dojo Are They All The Same?

This isn’t talked about much, but it should be noted that no two shotokan dojo are the same!

Yes, they nearly all practice the same kata, kumite and kihon, but there are many different types of karate dojo.

Some shotokan karate dojo focus on tournament training, most shotokan dojo tend to focus on what people refer to as the three k’s, Kumite (sparring), Kata (forms) and Kihon (basics).

But within shotokan karate dojo (training hall), there are no two the same.

Shotokan Sensei (teacher) focus on different areas, some dojo, focus only on kihon (basics), some on kihon and kumite, others focus only on kihon and kata, then there are the dojo who practice everything evenly.

Then we come to the training itself, some dojo train extremely hard, some hardly do anything! Some work on power, some on speed, there are dojo who make heavy contact during kumite practice and others who never touch!

You have the schools that performs a twenty plus minute warm up and stretch, then you have the schools that have a twenty second warm up and stretch!

There are the instructors who focus on ‘how to kill’, then there are those who focus on the philosophy of the ancient masters.

There are disciplined karate dojo, where the training is very militaristic, then there are those where they have cigarette breaks!

We could go on and on, every shotokan karate dojo is developed around the individuals who run them.

I suppose we could summerise by saying, all shotokan karate dojo are the same, but they are all so different 

Good luck and I hope you find the right shotokan karate class for you.

Ossu!

Resource: http://shotokankarateonline.com/