Martial arts discussion thread

[GoktimusPrime]

I always wanted to be a ninja...

Ninja were essentially hired assassins and guerrilla fighters, and as such a core art of ninjutsu is stealth. The word Ninjutsu (忍術) itself translates as "the art of stealth." A lot of their fighting forms and weaponry look similar to what the Samurai used... I don't know how many of those forms are actually exclusive or unique to Ninjutsu. I've never come across a school that teaches Samurai/Ninja Taijutsu, but Jujutsu and Aikido are descendant from Taijutsu (that's why the Aikido uniform wears the Hakama at higher levels, and they practice fighting in Seiza sitting position -- Aikido also favours broad sweeping movements, similar to the way you'd swing a sword). Kenjutsu, Bojutsu, Sojutsu, Naginatajutsu etc. are all taught as separate styles.

I think one massive problem you're going to come across if you want to learn Ninjutsu is trying to verify authenticity. Trying to find an authentic school in any martial art can be a challenge, but Ninjutsu might be even more challenging because the art was heavily shrouded in secrecy. There's a historian by the name of Stephen Turnbull who's done a lot of excellent research into feudal Japanese military history (he lived in and travelled extensively around Japan for several years while doing his research). You might like to check out his book "Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult".

[Bidoofdude]

Ninja were essentially hired assassins and guerrilla fighters, and as such a core art of ninjutsu is stealth. The word Ninjutsu (忍術) itself translates as "the art of stealth." A lot of their fighting forms and weaponry look similar to what the Samurai used... I don't know how many of those forms are actually exclusive or unique to Ninjutsu. I've never come across a school that teaches Samurai/Ninja Taijutsu, but Jujutsu and Aikido are descendant from Taijutsu (that's why the Aikido uniform wears the Hakama at higher levels, and they practice fighting in Seiza sitting position -- Aikido also favours broad sweeping movements, similar to the way you'd swing a sword). Kenjutsu, Bojutsu, Sojutsu, Naginatajutsu etc. are all taught as separate styles.

I think one massive problem you're going to come across if you want to learn Ninjutsu is trying to verify authenticity. Trying to find an authentic school in any martial art can be a challenge, but Ninjutsu might be even more challenging because the art was heavily shrouded in secrecy. There's a historian by the name of Stephen Turnbull who's done a lot of excellent research into feudal Japanese military history (he lived in and travelled extensively around Japan for several years while doing his research). You might like to check out his book "Ninja: The True Story of Japan's Secret Warrior Cult".

Yeah, I forgot to say: "move like a ninja". I like the element of stealth.

[Bartrim]

I'm so sick of this grading and I haven't done it yet. there are 8 people going from Ulladulla. 2 cars, one of which is mine. Sensei has organised the car pool so all the other licenced drivers are with him and I have 2 teenagers in my car. One of whom I can't stand. This is for a 10hour round trip plus a grading and he is refusing to budge on swapping people. This sort of thing really irks me. Makes me want to give all this away.

[5FDP]

I'm so sick of this grading and I haven't done it yet. there are 8 people going from Ulladulla. 2 cars, one of which is mine. Sensei has organised the car pool so all the other licenced drivers are with him and I have 2 teenagers in my car. One of whom I can't stand. This is for a 10hour round trip plus a grading and he is refusing to budge on swapping people. This sort of thing really irks me. Makes me want to give all this away.

Pfft... you're not going to give it all away just because of that You're trolling surely

[GoktimusPrime]

Belts and gradings = massive WOFTAM.

A couple of months ago I read an online article (about misconceptions/myths in general, not just in martial arts), and the author said something like "(belt/gradings) in martial arts is about as ancient/traditional as automobiles and airplanes." I can't honestly see the benefits of having grades and belts other than as a commercial/business exercise (or as some would say, a marketing gimmick). You know how well you can fight, and it's not as if you need a piece of paper and a coloured cloth belt to tell you how well you can fight. I'm sure we've _all_ met black belts who kick butt and other black belts who fight worse than blue belts. Maybe one day you can open up your own Dojo and just do away with all this grading/belt stuff and get closer to the traditional roots of Karate and just focus on learning for the sake of acquiring/refining skills and knowledge (deep/useful learning) rather than for passing tests (shallow/superficial learning).

This is the great thing I find about learning in martial arts schools that don't bother with grades/belts ... they just get down to the core business of learning the martial art, and not learning for the sake of passing tests. Cos the tests honestly end up being a distraction.

[Bartrim]

This will probably be one of the last times I grade as I have to achieve this belt in our system before I can become an accreditated instructor and I'm only instructing for the extra money. Seriously even though I am on the verge of becoming a brown belt I feel like a blue belt sometimes. So I totally agree with you Gok.

[GoktimusPrime]

I saw two martial arts demonstrations at a Japanese cultural festival this weekend. They were predictably disappointing for all the usual reasons. *sigh*

Issues with the first demonstration:
* typical over compliance from attackers - they would launch a single attack and then stop moving, obviously making it ridiculously easy for the defender to do their moves. The also made it super easy for themselves to be flipped over, like often as soon as they lost balance they'd roll into a fall (rather than trying to regain balance and stand their ground).
* their reverse breakfall technique left them extremely open to the opponent to start kicking/stomping exposed parts of the body (e.g. face, teeth, throat, body etc.) while they're on the ground
* the pacing was unrealistic - they'd move in kinda fast, but as soon as contact was made, everything became super slow. I can kinda understand that maybe they want to demonstrate the technique slowly at first so people can see/appreciate it better, but you'd surely only do that the first time... because they demonstrated the same techniques several times over - first was the Sensei with a partner, then all the students got up and started practising it. Surely with the latter part you can just do the whole thing at hardcore blitzing speed.
* general lack of any real aggression in the attacks - makes it harder for Joe Average to see how these techniques could work in an actual street fight.
<Haw! Throwing about attackers who don't really fight back is easy!
...on the plus side their katas were interesting (even if some of their stances were a bit sloppy - but I've seen way worse)

Issues with the second demonstration:
* Some of the students had belts with so many colours on them... it was like Technicolour Rainbow Belts!
"Someday we'll find it, that Rainbow Connection."
* When the black belts came to demonstrate katas, the commentator explained how these were more complex kata. But they really didn't look all that complex to me... simply had more moves and a few extra techniques, but it still moved at the same pace as the white belt kata - and still in that 1-2-3-pause, 1-2-3-pause timing instead of just continually flowing from beginning to end (as you would move in an actual fight).

* They showed sparring... where everyone looked like they were throwing random punches and kicks toward (but not actually at) each other. It went on for ages and nobody seemed the least bit interested in actually ENDING the fight in as few moves as possible (whatever happened to Bushido's motto of "one hit one kill"?) -- after the festival I spoke to a guy who agreed that these demonstrations were better when they used to fly in Karateka from Japan... because back then their version was literally just one strike, end of fight. One of the most memorable was watching a guy just deliver a really jolly good Maegeri (front kick) that floored his opponent. Fight over in a single move. He aimed straight for his opponent's core, whereas these people were mostly punching and kicking at each other's limbs... at best the hip, but nobody was going for the head or Dantian. *sigh*
<I wouldn't even bother trying to defend myself against half of these attacks
* Board breaking... another non-traditional martial arts "gimmick" that seemed to impress the ignorant(1). The demonstrator had his assistants hold the boards at very precise positions - he would go around and correct them, checked the ranges as he walked around... and the people holding the boards didn't move as he walked around kicked them, and of course, the boards broke perfectly in half.
<I'd like to see him try that on solid oak

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(1) Because it's actually based on principles of physics (Newton's 2nd Law - impulse & momentum).
http://skepticalteacher.wordpress.co...-woo-required/
^Hey Bartrim, check out the second video in that link -- it shows a Japanese Chi Master who genuinely believes he can attack people with his Chi energy (and so do all his students who pay him loads of money) versus a skeptic in a full contact fight.