“KARATE ON FIRE!” [VIDEO]

OSSU and BOO YEAH! Awesome demo!!! (Kids - don't try this at home)

Very inspiring and very very nice soft and quick strong movements! It just flows! Deep bow from the Netherlands!

Although it is extremely evident that Jesse-San is a highly skilled martial artist with excellent technique and it was a cool display, it was all too self-important for my taste. It is the embodiment of exactly what I don't like about boastful, braggart martial artistry. It is too over the top with the deep announcer voice and the Asian music making it appear as you are the zen master. Jesse-San, I refer to your writing all the time when I teach because I feel you capture the true essence if "the way" usually. You give great historical facts and have always given me much food for thought in my own journey as a martial artist. But, this video puts you into a category of soapy other martial artists that want to proclaim to the world how great they are. When you are great, people know it!

:-) Everyone's entitled to their own opinion. Me, I like drama and flair. We do it all the time in tournaments starting the very instant we step up to the mats. Kata is very over-the-top. Show of hands - who's used a perfect, pure Pinan Godan kata start (that purposeful walk to the center of the area) to finish (backing out of the area) against a real street gang? It's drama - and it's fun!!! Granted we don't have cool music, candles and deep shadows, but that's part of the fun of making a video. With a video you can add that fun over-the-top stuff that people grin to see. It's the aspect of fun that makes crafting a video worth it. And I do say craft because as both a television producer (by education) and a baby beginner martial artist, I can tell you the "making of" video only showed a tiny little bit of the work involved. Sure it's a teeny bit over-the-top. But that's what makes it very fun both to make and to watch. Every single martial-arts movie I've ever watched has been over-the-top, and it's understandable if some people don't care for that. People have different tastes and opinions. Didja catch the word I keep using over and over? Fun. Three letters, tiny word, really important. I'll let everyone in on a secret - it's the aspect of fun that keeps me motivated to practice kata, to get better at sparring, and to someday teach. Karate is wicked awesome stuff and I find a lot of joy in doing it well (or at least as well as can be expected from a 7th kyu beginner, LOL). I understand if some don't think videos like this are appropriate. People have different tastes. I appreciate it that opinions have been expressed respectfully. My point is let's not lose perspective. Some of us think it's fun, some of us don't. That's OK. We need different opinions. We need a little nudge to examine the true spirit of something like this. We need these different opinions to hold us accountable. I'm betting the true spirit of this video is to get people to think and yeah, a spirit of fun that really isn't much different than the fun of getting up in front of a crowd and performing a kata in a tournament. If there is ego involved, that's only natural - even in a belt test there's an aspect of "Hey, look at me - look what I can do!" I think a psychologist would agree that a teeny bit of ego is a good motivator for hard work :-) And I do appreciate the hard work that went into this video.

What a fabulous video and a great display of techniques and control. Excellent.