There are many styles of karate t-shirts. Some are colorful, some plain. Some come from tournaments and are very serious with organization names all over them:
while others are less so, yet have unparalleled conversational value:
Yet there are some things I notice many shirts have in common. For instance, I give you the back-of-the-shirt kanji phrase:
This one was from an annual training camp I attended in Mobile, AL about 2 or 3 years ago. The phrase on the back reads "budo" or "way of the warrior" ...well, sort of.
This shirt was from the All South Karate Tournament last year. I really like the red color, it matches the hue of my face after one of sensei's classes.
This one was particularly popular with the ladies:
...and equally unpopular with the men, who felt girly wearing sakura. Pish I say, it takes a real man to wear pink flowers. This was the official shirt for nationals this year. I really like it actually. I can't seem to wash it fast enough to wear it again. I'd say it gives "karate hottie" a run for its money for favorite karate shirt. Although the kanji-back t-shirts are also fun, since middle-aged people here in the states seem to approach me about them from time to time, asking questions like "does it say something dirty?" Another funny thing about kanji shirts is that some of my friends whose native language is Mandarin insist that my shirt is Chinese. I've had a few occasions where either a TA or a professor at LSU refuses to believe me when I try to explain that kanji are Chinese characters used in Japanese. They're always like "No, I know what I'm talking about. That IS SO Chinese writing."
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During my last study abroad to Japan about one year ago I had the pleasure of training in a small dojo near Nagao station. The name of the dojo was 鶴見南支部. My sensei here in the states had given me an address and told be that the instructor there was good, so I was very much looking forward to my first training there. I figured it would be a breeze to find the place once I got to Japan... yet a two hour long uphill bike ride later I found myself sweating beads before class had even begun.
Ueda sensei was extremely kind and allowed me and two of my classmates from Kansai Gaidai to train with his three young pupils over the course of our semester in Hirakata. Those kids trained really hard! I just know they're bound to be great karateka under Ueda sensei's teaching. After all of those knuckle push-ups he had us do every class, even my shrimpy arms got kind-of ripped. I am also thankful to Ueda sensei for putting up with my bad Japanese and teaching me many advanced kata (kankusho, bassaisho, etc.) and also some kata I really should have known already but was neglecting out of denial (like kankudai =_=).
What's more so, this dojo treated us as family. Ueda sensei even invited us to his birthday party where he introduced us to his son as well as a few famous karateka. He also encouraged us to do our best on a daily basis. I remember the kids were always goofing around and playing before and after class, but when the training was going on they became engaged. It really is amazing to see someone teach children so well.
For anyone interested in training at this dojo, please check out the "related link" to find a chart with the dojo's contact information.
Sorry to those of you who don't read kanji!!!
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