# 000-1: Purpose and Background

The overarching *why* behind our school, style, and this kyohan.

# 000-1000 - Preamble & What This Site Is/Isn't

### The *Art* That's Here

#### *Preamble by Sensei Beatrix*

I’ve been training karate in some way shape or form since 2008, and began my instruction journey in 2014. In that time, I’ve seen hundreds of students across almost a dozen dojos, but I don’t say that as a brag - moreso as credentials. Within my martial arts scene, it’s all endorsements & reputation rather than a governing body (much to the policy nerd inside me's dismay,) and I think I’ve proven my reputation enough during what I still see as the beginnings of my career to where my opinion holds some merit.

Within the circles of my personal life, I am known as “The Karate One” and I get asked a lot of questions about what I do because it’s known I’ll give a detailed answer (I'm a big fan of a good info-dump.) Recently, I was asked if karate is more a *cardio* sport or a *"get yolked" (fitness/muscle building) sport* and my answer basically boiled down to:

![image.png](https://kyohan.opensourcekarate.org/uploads/images/gallery/2024-08/scaled-1680-/image.png)

*Sourced from [Know Your Meme](https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/well-yes-but-actually-no), screen capture from 'The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists!'*

My view on karate & martial arts is very much from a practitioner standpoint; people with a more competition/self-defence focus may disagree, but I see it all as a vessel to achieve your goals more than setting what those goals are.

Like with my personal training, as an example, I use kata to improve my conditioning & flexibility, plus sparring drills for cardio. That’s how I work it; given *my* needs as an instructor, I want a very technical training regime.

But I know of others that will purely drill bag work and kata like Sanchin to build their strength. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

I am writing this not to be prescriptivist - while I will talk about what I guide my students through in class, it’s not designed to be the be-all and end-all of your journey. This should never be deemed a Single-Version-Of-Truth, because this isn’t law or science - there is no *truth* here.

What I’m trying to say is that my karate teaching style is very descriptivist. I am all about giving you the tools to get what you want out of it - I’m not telling you what to paint, but I will help you out with how you hold your brushes and what paint to use and advise on colour choices. Ultimately, *your* art is *your* art. Use this as a guide to help decipher your next masterpiece.

This text, or collection of texts, is written to preserve our contributors' knowledge with the next generation. We are in an age where information *should* be free, not pay-walled behind subscriptions or book purchases - there's no copyright here, our karate is open source.

I'll see you in the dojo,

*Beatrix Samuelsson Sensei*  
*Lead Maintainer & System Admin, Open Source Karate*

### What This Site Is/Isn't

#### This site **is** a guide.

The word kyōhan translates from Japanese as *accomplice*, and this site is exactly that. It is designed to accompany you in your training, work side-by-side with you to hone your craft.

#### This site **is not** your only source of knowledge.

Art must come from a variety of sources, treating this as your only source of truth is dangerous. This site is to be used in collaboration with a consistent training regime under an instructor.

#### This site **is** neutral.

At the time of writing, all maintainers & contributors hold their most prominent rank in Goju-Ryu karate. That does not imply Goju values are held higher than any other systems. This is not a place for debate on which style/discipline is better than another. All hold merit, and must be treated equally.

#### This site **is not** for everyone.

This site was spawned from a need we identified for ourselves. Not everyone will learn like we do, or will find this as useful as we do. And that's okay! Find the way you learn, and work with that.

### **A hastily written note on AI / LLMs**

There is always risk with every martial arts text that someone will misuse the content, or will attempt something without proper training. This would be compounded if I allowed content wholly derived from LLMs to be contributed without any regard for the risk there.

To ensure the safety of our readers, and to ensure our content can be trusted, contributors **must not** submit content sourced from machine learning or similar generative tools. Content submitted must come from subject matter experts with a strong and practical understanding of what they are writing about - this understanding can *only* be derived from human intelligence.

# 000-1005 - Licence, Credits and Associations

#### Acknowledgement of Country

This document was written & developed on the traditional lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people. The authors & their respective organizations pays respect to their continued connection to land and water; and to elders past and present.

#### Key Team Members

<table id="bkmrk-name-credentials-pro" style="border-collapse:collapse;width:100%;"><colgroup><col style="width:26.3398%;"></col><col style="width:32.5465%;"></col><col style="width:41.2289%;"></col></colgroup><thead><tr><td>**Name**  
</td><td>**Credentials**  
</td><td>**Project Role**  
</td></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Beatrix (Bea) Samuelsson Sensei</td><td>Former Chief Instructor - Open Path Martial Arts, Currently freelance

Dan rank endorsement in Goju-Ryu

</td><td>Lead Maintainer &amp; System Admin</td></tr><tr><td>Daniel (Dan) Samuelsson Sensei</td><td>Chief Instructor - Family Goju Karate

Dan rank endorsement in Goju-Ryu

</td><td>Contributor &amp; Maintainer  
</td></tr></tbody></table>

#### License

This resource is released in good faith with the hopes of broadening the scope and level of documentation available in Goju-Ryu karate. It is not to be used as a **sole** source of knowledge, and techniques enclosed are to be practiced under the direct supervision of a qualified instructor.

Materials &amp; documentation is released under the **Creative Commons CC BY-SA 4.0 License**. You are free to share and adapt this work under the following terms:

**Attribution:** You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

**Share-Alike:** If you remix, transform, or build upon the material, you must distribute your contributions under the same license as the original.

**No additional restrictions:** You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

For more information on this license, please see [creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

**Please note:** Some sourced content may not fall under the same license (usually publicly available embedded source videos of kata.) These will be marked with a copyright notice underneath, and do not fall under the above license.

#### Misc

**Assets Used:**

foot by Adam Zubin from [Noun Project](https://thenounproject.com/icon/foot-196403/) (CC BY 3.0)

human body by Oleksandr Panasovskyi from [Noun Project](https://thenounproject.com/icon/human-body-2263100/) (CC BY 3.0)

# 000-9999 - Progress Tracker & Path to Full Release

## Current Tranche - Alpha (Pre-Release)

<table id="bkmrk-tranche-status%3F-desc" style="border-collapse:collapse;width:100%;height:311.078px;"><colgroup><col style="width:15.9714%;"></col><col style="width:15.8522%;"></col><col style="width:26.7031%;"></col><col style="width:41.4733%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr style="height:73.4219px;"><td style="height:73.4219px;">#### Tranche

</td><td style="height:73.4219px;">#### Status?

</td><td style="height:73.4219px;">#### Description

</td><td style="height:73.4219px;">#### Summary

</td></tr><tr style="height:113.828px;"><td style="height:113.828px;">#### 1 - Alpha

</td><td style="height:113.828px;">#### Current - 47.83%

</td><td style="height:113.828px;">Minimum viable product for public viewing.

While in this stage, documents are available to registered users only.

</td><td style="height:113.828px;"><table style="border-collapse:collapse;width:100.471%;"><colgroup><col style="width:24.8508%;"></col><col style="width:24.8508%;"></col><col style="width:24.8508%;"></col><col style="width:25.1539%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>**Total Articles**</td><td>**To Start**</td><td>**In Progress**</td><td>**Complete**</td></tr><tr><td>33</td><td>12</td><td>16</td><td>5</td></tr></tbody></table>

</td></tr><tr style="height:113.828px;"><td style="height:113.828px;">#### 2 - Beta

</td><td style="height:113.828px;">#### Future

</td><td style="height:113.828px;">Public viewing available.

Honing content, adding summaries &amp; overviews

</td><td style="height:113.828px;"><table style="border-collapse:collapse;width:100.308%;"><colgroup><col style="width:24.8497%;"></col><col style="width:24.8497%;"></col><col style="width:24.8497%;"></col><col style="width:25.1527%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>**Total Articles**</td><td>**To Start**</td><td>**In Progress**</td><td>**Complete**</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>15</td><td>1</td><td>0</td></tr></tbody></table>

</td></tr><tr style="height:10px;"><td style="height:10px;">#### 3 - Full Release

</td><td style="height:10px;">#### Future  


</td><td style="height:10px;">Content relatively complete &amp; ready for full release.</td><td style="height:10px;"><table style="border-collapse:collapse;width:100.308%;"><colgroup><col style="width:24.8497%;"></col><col style="width:24.8497%;"></col><col style="width:24.8497%;"></col><col style="width:25.1527%;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>**Total Articles**</td><td>**To Start**</td><td>**In Progress**</td><td>**Complete**</td></tr><tr><td>33</td><td>22</td><td>11</td><td>0</td></tr></tbody></table>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Current Tranche Working List

<table dir="ltr" id="bkmrk-shelf-book-chapter-c"><colgroup><col style="width:105px;"></col><col style="width:204px;"></col><col style="width:150px;"></col><col style="width:63px;"></col><col style="width:196px;"></col><col style="width:139px;"></col><col style="width:67px;"></col><col style="width:90px;"></col></colgroup><tbody><tr><td>Shelf</td><td>Book</td><td>Chapter</td><td>Code</td><td>Page</td><td>Tranche?</td><td>Rank?</td><td>Progress?</td></tr><tr><td>000 - About</td><td>000-10 - Purpose and Background</td><td> </td><td>000-1000</td><td>Preamble &amp; What This Site Is/Isn't</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>100%</td></tr><tr><td>000 - About</td><td>000-10 - Purpose and Background</td><td> </td><td>000-1005</td><td>Credits &amp; License</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>90%</td></tr><tr><td>000 - About</td><td>000-10 - Purpose and Background</td><td> </td><td>000-9999</td><td>Progress Tracker &amp; Release Plan</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>100%</td></tr><tr><td>000 - About</td><td>000-20 - Syllabus</td><td>000-21 - OPMA</td><td>000-2101</td><td>OPMA Grading requirements by belt</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>100%</td></tr><tr><td>000 - About</td><td>000-20 - Syllabus</td><td>000-22 - FGK</td><td>000-2201</td><td>FGK Grading requirements by belt</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>001 - Techniques</td><td>001-20 - Kihon</td><td> </td><td>001-2000</td><td>Background &amp; Kihon Waza</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>001 - Techniques</td><td>001-20 - Kihon</td><td>001-21 - Stances</td><td>001-2101</td><td>Dachi (Stances)</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>001 - Techniques</td><td>001-20 - Kihon</td><td>001-21 - Stances</td><td>001-2102</td><td>Tenshin Ho (Movement)</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>001 - Techniques</td><td>001-20 - Kihon</td><td>001-22 - Upper Body Blocks</td><td>001-2200</td><td>Uke Kihon</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>001 - Techniques</td><td>001-20 - Kihon</td><td>001-23 - Upper Body Strikes</td><td>001-2300</td><td>Tsuki Kihon</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>001 - Techniques</td><td>001-20 - Kihon</td><td>001-24 - Leg Strikes</td><td>001-2400</td><td>Geri Kihon</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td> </td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-20 - Kihon Ido</td><td> </td><td>002-2001</td><td>Kihon Ido Ich</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>9</td><td>50%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-20 - Kihon Ido</td><td> </td><td>002-2002</td><td>Kihon Ido Ni</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>6</td><td>50%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-20 - Kihon Ido</td><td> </td><td>002-2003</td><td>Kihon Ido San</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>3</td><td>47%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-30 - Yakusoku Kumite</td><td> </td><td>002-3001</td><td>Yakusoku Kumite Ich</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>9</td><td>50%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-30 - Yakusoku Kumite</td><td> </td><td>002-3002</td><td>Yakusoku Kumite Ni</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>7</td><td>50%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-30 - Yakusoku Kumite</td><td> </td><td>002-3003</td><td>Yakusoku Kumite San</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>5</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-30 - Yakusoku Kumite</td><td> </td><td>002-3004</td><td>Yon Hon Kumite</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>3</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-30 - Yakusoku Kumite</td><td> </td><td>002-3005</td><td>Go Hon Kumite</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>2</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-11 - 4 Way Patterns</td><td>002-1101</td><td>4WP</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>10</td><td>100%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-11 - 4 Way Patterns</td><td>002-1102</td><td>4WP BSP</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>10</td><td>93%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-12 - Taikyoku Series</td><td>002-1201</td><td>Taikyoku Jodan</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>9</td><td>93%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-12 - Taikyoku Series</td><td>002-1202</td><td>Taikyoku Chudan</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>9</td><td>92%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-12 - Taikyoku Series</td><td>002-1203</td><td>Taikyoku Gedan</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>8</td><td>93%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-12 - Taikyoku Series</td><td>002-1204</td><td>Taikyoku Kake</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>8</td><td>100%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-12 - Taikyoku Series</td><td>002-1205</td><td>Taikyoku Mawashi</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>7</td><td>90%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-13 - Gekisai Seires</td><td>002-1301</td><td>Gekisai Dai Ich</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>6</td><td>90%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-13 - Gekisai Seires</td><td>002-1302</td><td>Gekisai Dai Ni</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>6</td><td>90%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-13 - Gekisai Seires</td><td>002-1304</td><td>Choku</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>5</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-10 - Fundamental</td><td>002-1001</td><td>Sanchin</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>3</td><td>33%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-10 - Fundamental</td><td>002-1002</td><td>Tensho</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>6</td><td>33%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-10 - Fundamental</td><td>002-1003</td><td>Sanchin-Tensho</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>2</td><td>0%</td></tr><tr><td>002 - Patterns</td><td>002-1 - Kata</td><td>002-10 - Fundamental</td><td>002-1004</td><td>Naihanchin</td><td>1 - Alpha</td><td>4</td><td>33%</td></tr></tbody></table>