The King Doing Karate

Michael

He combed my hair with his left foot.

Steven

Hi Steven,

I never knew you were once so young!

Great picture and I was big fan of Mr Wallace’s stretching and kicking methods as a teenager. Always struck me as a really nice guy too.

All the best,

Iain

Two of the things I find most interesting about this video ( white shoes aside) is:

1. The difference in how Elvis moves as compared to Bill Wallace. Elvis had a life long interest in the martial arts, but wasn't dedicated to his practice. His movements are not in sync, his limbs work independently of his body etc, etc.. Wallace, however, who is a trained fighter moves with the grace and power of someone who has spent countless hours practicing. Everything works in conjunction. His timing is great, as can be seen by how he moves away from Elvis's kicks at the last moment, and there's no hesitation on Wallace's part when he moves, no thinking or wonder.

2. The second thing is that since Elvis did have a life long interest in the martial arts, I wonder how his karate would have been if someone had been upfront and honest with him. You know, told him that: "You need more practice before getting your black belt and no your not up to par to getting an 8th dan." I actually met one of the guys who tested Elvis for 8th dan and during our conversation nowhere did he suggest that he was honest with Elvis. Makes you kind of wonder dosen't it how things might have turned out if he had been.

Mike

michael rosenbaum wrote:

I actually met one of the guys who tested Elvis for 8th dan

Elvis was a 8th dan!?! I did not know that ... and in the above clip there was nothing that gave it away. I thought the silk red belt was a "style thing". Wow! You learn something new every day!

All the best,

Iain

I love how he's got his full shirt and collar under his Gi! lol.

Plus, a Gi with silk edges would make all those collar chokes so much nicer....gotta love style

8th dan! Oh.... hmm... errrmmm.....

Andrew Carr-Locke wrote:

I love how he's got his full shirt and collar under his Gi! lol.

And sun glasses - that must be where I'm going wrong

Iain Abernethy wrote:

Elvis was a 8th dan!?! I did not know that ... and in the above clip there was nothing that gave it away. I thought the silk red belt was a "style thing". Wow! You learn something new every day!

Yep, afraid so. The belt wasn't just a style thing. It indicated something, what I'm not sure though.

Here's some more info on Elvis and his karate: http://www.elvispresleymusic.com.au/pictures/elvis_presley_karate_black_belt.html

This is a pretty interesting article also: http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=286

Just to make something clear, since on this board English is a common language with different meanings. Where I live (Southern part of the United States) when someone mentions the king they're talking about Elvis who was billed as the king of Rock-n- Roll. Personally I'm a Beatles fan myself, but that's another story. However as a teenager I always got mad when someone told me that, "Elvis does karate just like you." "No, but I really do do karate, I mean I train everyday, almost," was my reply. Then came the kicker. "That's great young man, but Elvis is the King and a black belt too. You're only a green belt."  So much for teenage pride and logic.

Mike

I have seen this clip before, words still fail me.

Hi Michael,

Thanks for the links and the extra information. Fascinating stuff. I see from the first link that the uniform is explained as a “performance costume” for demonstrations and that Elvis would wear a standard gi and belt in training.

michael rosenbaum wrote:

Where I live (Southern part of the United States) when someone mentions the king they're talking about Elvis who was billed as the king of Rock-n- Roll.

Elvis is known as “The King” here too. So I understood the reference and there was no confusion … although there could well be when the Queen steps down and we have another king! ;-)

All the best,

Iain

Elvis I suppose was the first honoury Black belt who was famous, I think that Sean Connery is a honoury Kyokushin Black belt, I don't think he's trained at all in karate. Can anyone else name any other honoury grades etc,

I'm pretty sure that Kim Jong Il has an "honourary 10th dan" in Tae kwon do...hardly surprising really as the North Korean government routinely gives out 5th dans to anyone who is willing to stand up for them abroad.

I think they also gave Oyama Masutatsu a 10th dan because he was of Korean birth although he really didn't need it because he had a legitimate one in karate already!! (Interestingly enough Oyama's birth name was aparrently Choi Hong Hi, phonetically Identical to that of the founder of Tae Kwon do although written using different Chinese characters!)

Vladimir Putin on the other hand has a bona fide 4th dan in Judo and aparrently used to be pretty damn good!

Black Tiger wrote:

Can anyone else name any other honoury grades etc,

George Dillman awarded Mohammed Ali an honourary black belt. I believe his reasoning was on the lines of 'you try telling him he doesn't deserve it'.

Gavin J Poffley wrote:

Vladimir Putin on the other hand has a bona fide 4th dan in Judo and apparently used to be pretty damn good!

He’s even helped make an instructional DVD and a book too I believe. Here is a report on the DVD from Russia Today which also tells us a little about his Judo background:

So yeah, he’s been practising for a long time and nothing honorary about his rank.

All the best,

Iain

Hi everyone,

Nelson Mandela was awarded a honory 10th. Dan by the World Karate Federation. He is also reputed to be an 8th Dan in Kyokushinkai Karate.

Regards Holger

I suppose if you are in the business of giving out honourary grades then it really dosen't matter if it is a 1st dan or a 10th...

Teddy Roosevelt was an avid boxer, wrestler and judoka. Here's one link describing his judo: https://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/14132

Here's another one which reveals more about why Roosevelt took up Judo:http://ejmas.com/jcs/jcsart_svinth1_1000.htm

Interestingly enough though, if we travelled back in time to King Arthur's day and asked the question: "Okay, how many of you famous people are martial artists?" They would have all raised their hands.

Mike