Why I Started Self Training in Shotokan Karate after 28 Year Hiatus

A little about my Shotokan Karate history first:

I started training the winter of 1979/80 at American Karate Studios in Glenside PA - actually the studio was in Jenkintown when I started, but moved to a larger space in Glenside a few months later.  Marc Steiner was the owner and main Sensei.  He had trained under Teruyuki Okazaki, who is the leader of the International Shotokan Karate Federation (ISKF).  Our studio was an independent school though (as best as I remember).  I trained there for about two and a half years, then at a local YMCA for a few months before stopping for various reasons (mostly busy with college and work).  I had reached the rank of 3KYU and had learned all the Heian katas, as well as Tekki Shodan and Bassai Dai.  All in all it was a good experience with good camaraderie among the students and teachers.

Fast forward to January 2010...

For whatever reason I wanted to show my wife Tekki Shodan so I looked it up on YouTube and felt an immediate connection to my youth training in Shotokan Karate.  I decided then to relearn all the katas I learned in my youth and it's been a blast ever since.  I was rather surprised how quickly they came back to me with the aid of Sensei Youtube.  My goal was to learn each kata in the order I originally learned them, but to also learn them in mirror image equally well.  By the summer I had learned all well enough to take on the task of learning a new kata.  I researched all of Shotokan's 26 kata and decided to learn Kanku Dai. Since then I have added in order: Enpi, Jion, Tekki Nidan and Sandan, Wankan, Gojushiho Dai (based on Kanazawa's naming), Sochin, Meikyo and most recently Nijushiho.  Simply learning the kata wasn't enough I learned along the way, since we all can agree kata without meaning serves little purpose other than exercise. I also began the quest of searching Youtube for meaningful bunkai videos, as well has martial arts blogs focusing on practical karate from a traditional perspective.  Thankfully, while the bunkai videos where relatively few, the blogs weren't so my education was greatly improved.  I learned soon enough to broaden my perspective of understanding techniques from a strictly Shotokan perspective (as least as taught to newer students) and began looking at kata movements in the light of standing grappling, throws, controls, breaks, as well as strikes.  I've tried interpreting each movement from an offensive/attack perspective as well.

That's all for now...more to come...