Bushido-Ruach

Dragonwarrior, I sympethize with you as much as a man can (I know that can NEVER be 100%), and I am sorry that you have had to endure such a thing...I am also happy that you have bounced back, though I can only imagine the things you have gone through since. I hope that this doesn't sound wrong in any way, especially having never met you, but I care and am saddened by your ordeal. I hope that in some small way...that helps.

That's a lot of questions! I prefer the Muay Thai style shin roundhouse. We (hardly) never kick about the stomach, mostly to the lower leg, knee area, uper thigh (inside and out), and into the hip. If the attacker is put down to his knees, for a finisher - to the head or back of the neck. We mostly throw our kick from the back leg for the power, I find that "tap" kicks (those with no power) seldom do anything but waste my energy and open me up for injury if the opponent knows what he is doing. I like to add both a skip into the kick, or the slight hop upon the initial motion into the kick. That's about it for me!

Waza asked... "Aren't people in the armed forces, the world over, trained in unarmed combat/MA as part of their standard training? " I know that there are a lot of countries that DO train their soldiers in MA, but the United States isn't....unless they have begun this since I was in the Marines in '88. I do know that the Marine Corps has since initiated a system of MA of their own and it has since been sanctioned by the Department of Defense, but before that, all we received in training was in boot camp and that was mostly learning how to thrust a bayonette. The United States armed forces have been way behind the times in hand to hand combat (in my opinion) when you look at other countries such as Russia, China, Philipines and such where they don't just walk around after going through boot camp, train a few days a month, run around the Motor pool and sit most of the day in hot quanson huts doing paperwork. In other countries such as these, they were out target shooting, MA training, and other warfare training....not just learning how to drive a tank.

There are some excellent answers here, and most of them I have used myself. The best one has been stated over and again......do you have a gun on you right now? But since 9/11 my most favorite response is this.....if I'm on a plane that is being hijacked by some stinking fiends bent on killing everyone on board as well as a thousand other people.....I can use my skills, since I am most likely going to die anyway, to maybe, just maybe, take the killers out and maybe save the people in the hijacker's target. Having been on the receiving end of a multiple attacker scenario, I also like to respond with this.......someone who attacks me may not have a gun, they may come at me in numbers as cowards always do, aftraid to go head to head and toe to toe.

I hear you, especially when it comes to my kids. I seat them right where I can easily watch them, and I don't believe it is being paranoid. To me, if someone walks away from their kids and don't pay any attention to them at all, they don't really care for their kids, they are more a nusance (?) to them than anything else. I used to work in a Wal*Mart store, in the toy section, and I would see people walk off leaving their kids there to play, like it was McDonals' Land or something. They didn't care (in my mind at least) what happened until they either ended up missing or hurt, then all of the sudden they wanted to sue the store for their stupidity. Just burned me up. But, especially here where I live, if you don't watch your children someone can just grab them and walk off with them.....and it has happened more than once.

I don't just beleive that the martial arts can help you in a street fight, I have lived it and I know it works...as long as you train appropriately. I learned a long time ago that you will fight the way you train, as I have stated on other boards. When I was about 12 or 13, I was jumped by about 9 guys, all older and bigger than I was, and I was beat down. I didn't know how to fight, I swung my fists and moved my body to avoid hits, but I didn't know what I was doing. Then I saw my first Bruce Lee movie, and I swore I would never be beat down again without taking some, if not all, of them down with me. Since then I have only had a few skirmishes, and I won them because then I knew what to do and when to do it. That knowledge makes all the difference in the world, and you only get it by training. You know, one of the things that really helped me in my daily training exercises is following one of Lee's suggestions: "No matter where you are, in your car, in a restaraunt, pumping your gas...imagine someone attacking you in several different scenarios, and imagine your trained responses to those attacks." It is mental training, and it also works! Hope that helps!

I've already given my point of view on this topic on another board, but for here I'll say it again. Submition to a would-be rapist should only be done to a certain point...getting him close enough to you to poke his eyes into the back of his brain. I agree with Chikara on this one, the attacker is there doing what he is doing because he wants to instill such fear in his victim that she would be fighting back, and if that fight isn't there he will do what he thinks will put some fight back into her. In almost all the rape cases that I know of, half the time the attacker killed the victim either after the fact, or usually during the act (which sounds ludacrous, but that's the facts from where I am). More than half the time the victim was taken to a remote location, the other half of the time it happend at home or in the attacker's home. Either way, I teach as part of my rape self-defense classes the use of Weapons of the moment...a pen or pencil, scissors, glass, carry a roll of quarters in your purse, a spiked Kubotan works wonders. Then we train the women's mind in order to do WHAT they MUST do in order to win. It isn't enough to tell them, "Poke in his eyes" because most women will go, "Eeeewwwwww, that's gross, I wouldn't do that!!!" I tell them to take their pick, being raped, sometimes brutally and then take the chance that you won't be kille dafterwards......or get over your squeemishness and stick your fingernailed fingers into his eyes. He can't attack you any more if he can't see you...and he is getting what he deserves if he is trying to rape you. My advise to all females is this....IF SOME GUY IS TRYING TO RAPE YOU, DO ANYTHING YOU CAN DO TO KILL HIM. Because more likely than not, you will not kill him, only hurt him to the point that he decides you aren't worth his pain. But if you don't kick it up a notch mentally into killing mode, you won't be able to convince yourself to just hurt the guy.

I think Musashi meant that technique is only the beginning, and that application actually brings the technique to life. A fight is only successive one-step techniques strung together, as Tallgeese has stated, and in learning to apply those techniques at the right time and in the right manner, to me, is the majority of where our training lies.

I did a study on this subject last year and this is my summary of what I learned... Be benevolent – have the disposition to do good to your fellow man, performing charitable acts of kindness whenever the opportunity presents itself; have consideration for the suffering of your fellow man and do your best to alleviate that suffering whenever possible. Be brave – show courage and be fearless with a resolute heart. Be respectful – being considerate and thoughtful of others; do not offend any man, even if he deserves it. Be devoted – demonstrate great dedication, loyalty (that is, steadfast devotion), and unwavering commitment to your lord and to the Way. Be faithful – remain consistently trustworthy and loyal to your lord and to the Way, demonstrating that you can be trusted and relied upon in the observances of your duties, consistently training in the martial ways, which enable you to carry these things out. Live in honesty – conducting yourself in fairness, truthfulness, and morally uprightness in all things, being marked by integrity and traightforwardness in your conduct, refusing to even entertain thoughts of moral sordidness. Have integrity – demonstrate that you are trustworthy and incorruptible to the degree that you are incapable of purposely failing in your pledge and responsibilities to your Lord and fellow man, adhering always to the Way and to moral values. Be honorable – having strong moral character, never turning from the ethical principles of goodness and uprightness, being always proper in conduct and respectable; the Samurai’s honor comes from his integrity and is based upon his honesty. Be upright – practicing the Principles of justice, fairness, and honesty – qualities that together constitute the ideal moral propriety, and stand for the cause of truth and justice, practicing the Principles of Right Attitude and Right Actions. Exercise self-control – restraining your impulses, emotions and desires to conform to the Way. Exercise self-discipline – doing what is necessary and right no matter what, even if it means being struck down in your integrity, and strive for improvement in all things. Be sincere in all you do – giving no room for hypocrisy which is dishonorable, earnestly devoting yourself without reservation to your lord, to your fellow man, and to all good and moral principles, and actions. Always make the right decision. Always carry the right attitude. Never dishonor anyone, not even your enemy, most assuredly not your family, and upon pain of death, certainly not the Lord that you serve. Devote yourself entirely, from every area of your life, only to your lord. The Samurai do not fear death, for in death he is honored and he honors his family and he honors his Lord. To die in battle for one’s lord brings him honor and glory. The Samurai were the warrior class of ancient Japan, and they lived by Bushido, the Way of the Warrior, also called the Code of the Samurai. They were kind and good to those who needed help; brave, courageous and fearless in their hearts in battle; and compassionate to their fellow man. They were devoted utterly to their lord and master, whoever that might have been. To his lord he was trustworthy, honest, committed, and sincere. The Samurai lived their lives justly and in great integrity and unmatched honor. They were faithful to their lord and to the code of Bushido and all that it stood for; in their day they were well mannered, upright, and principled men of moral character. They were martial artists that ruled their own lives by self-control and self-discipline, and so conducted themselves always in the pursuit of self-improvement in any and all areas of life, while not fearing death one iota. Their highest honor was to die in battle in service to their lord, and they believed this to be their destiny. Now I would like to say that, as a Christian apologist, the Code of Bushido as articulated in summary here, almost articulates the basis of true Christianity as a spiritual way of life. Every one of the virtues of Bushido has Biblical counterparts....much to my surprise when I first began this study. The only difference would be in Who one claims to be his Lord. But even this all aside, not embracing any religious affiliations, the Code of Bushido is very applicable to us today I think, because I, for one, try to better myself every day. The Code of Bushido is the code of the warrior, and as we have discussed on other topics, we can be walking warriors today without going out and being engaged everyday in actual warfare. Hasta!

I agree with ya'll, and having been in law enforcement for 18 years I can tell you that in California anyway, the use of deadly force by the victim (or would-be victim) is totally within the law. Rape is a crime that can mentally scar a woman for the rest of her life...she may as well have been killed after the attack, because she will most likely be the walking dead for years - if not for the rest of her life. When I teach females rape defense, I skip all the "little" techniques about how to escape without causing the attacker any harm. Heck-no!!! I am teaching them techniques that are not only going to hurt like hell, I am teaching them how to take the evil, wicked fiend out for good. Someone who does that isn't concerned for the person they are attacking at all, they have no respect for their lives or what they are doing to them as well as the long-lasting affects of what they are doing. They are only interested in one thing, erregardless of who they hurt or how deep that hurt runs. To me, they deserve to die...and if the victim doesn't take him out, unfortunately (here in California anyways) the state will only lock him away for four to five years and then put the stinking fiend back out on the street. In the case of rape, defend yourself to the death, and hopefully it will be his death. I know that I sound harsh, but I've known women that have been raped, and it is a deep, mental, physical and spiritual wound that usually they never recover from. On topics like this I want to shout the Marine Corps war motto again...."Kill'em all and let God sort 'em out"....but that doesn't sound very nice, and I don't want ya'll to think that I'm not nice Blessings!!!

Joesteph....I hear what you're saying. I hope to teach my children, especially my daughter, how to defend themselves. I practicing self-defense there does have to be a very real quality of reality in the practice, which is why I spend so much money on safety equipment. My higher ranking students will wear chest protectors, forearm protectors, head guards, etc and do mid-range full contact one-step sparring (we haven't had anyone knocked out yet.....where in the classes I began in, we had sparring night every Friday night and had at least 1-2 knock-outs per night...and that with moderate safety equipment). The one-step sparring gives them the opportunity to fine-tune their timing and execution of techniques. This is also where we find out what techniques work for someone and which ones don't work so well....this is where they discover their favorite techniques for different situations and work on variations for slight variations in attacks. One thing that I would also suggest is learning some stop-hit blocks (because from my limited experience, most karate styles that I have knowledge of don't hurt the opponent's arm upon execution of the block, which is key in self-defense in my opinion), and then drill those stop-hit blocks until they are second nature. The reason for this is...especially when dealing with more than one attacker (which hopefully we never have to deal with), the stop-hit blocks HURT LIKE **** and when a pressure point is hit, the arm drops not soon to come up again....you have just ended the confrontation in one-on-one, or eliminated one of several opponents that you don't have to worry about for a while. For me, stop-hit blocks also act as my "warning shot"...saying, "There, you are hurt and I'm not. You know that I can hurt you again if you try to hit me again, so if you attack me again, I AM going to hurt you again." Believe it or not, when a would-be attacker punches at you, throws out his arm and gets it back screaming in pain, he thinks twice before sending out his other arm. Pain truely is one of THE great teachers!!! Blessings to you.

I agree with Bushido-man on his point. Also, Tallgeese, just to clarify my meaning, when I say martial science I'm not so much referring to scientific repeatability as I am to the "science" (or studying the knowledge of) body mechanics... To wit: the best way of performing a ridgehand, for example, that the targets and angles of striking those targets with the ridgehand. The body mechanics of how the opponent's body reacts to being struck at a certain point, and the mechanics of your strike (bone, muscle, tendon position and the power created), things of that nature. I totally agree with your assessment, but I just wanted to make sure ya'll knew what I was talking about....sometimes I assume things that I really shouldn't. Hasta!

I have to defend my self-defense here.....if self-defensive techniques are practiced and trained correctly, they have as much possibility of working as simply punching the attacker. To me, the difference is all in the training of your students. Lets face it, people are different.....different sizes, shapes, flexibility levels, etc, etc, and if we are good instructors we will be teaching each individual as they are, individuals. McTechniques don't work for everyone. Each person can learn what the basic technique is, but it is because of differences that we have so many alternate versions or variations of basic techniques. We should be working with individuals to find the variation that works for them and then drill it into them until it is second nature. In some situations, an Aikido or Hapkido technique will work were techniques from, say Jujitsu, won't work, which is one reason why I am all for training in MMA instead of just sticking with one art. I do not beleive that one art is better than another, I beleive that each style has weaknesses that other styles have extremely adequate techniques in dealing with that area of weakness in the other. While there are some techniques where you can't practice in full-contact, there are many, many more that you can to the point that you know that you know that technique WILL work. In answering Bushidoman, I think that all the martial arts originally began as strictly combative sciences, but down through time some have become sport (Judo to Jujitsu, for example). I think that these sports can still be utilized in self-defense situations, sometimes more so than some who are trained in some karate studios (I have seen some who trained strictly for tournament fighting and then get their butt kicked in street fights because they "tapped" their opponent when striking them the way they train...the guy just looked at him and proceded to wail the day-lights out of him). I know that all studios don't train like that, and that would be what I would call a non-combative school (not style) of martial art....and people can get themselves hurt thinking they can fight someone who is not bound in their minds by tournament rules. I learned a long time ago that, if you get into a street fight, you will fight the way you train.....that's why I train and train my students in semi-contact to full contact in applicable techniques.....and why I spend soooooooooo much money on protective gear to insure that my stidents aren't hurt during training. Hasta!

I think that if a person is studious and intelligent, and utilizes common sense and has a training partner...I think that a person such as this can train himself in MARTIAL SCIENCE. Let me clarify this..... If one desires to train himself in self-defense and is studious and intelligent enough to figure things out, he can teach himself about body mechanics, weak areas of the human body, and ways in which to deliver strikes and defensive techniques so as to be able to protect himself. If he trains himself in blocking and self-defensive drills until they are second nature, and he is applying himself in improving his technique...even possibly by getting knowledge about different kinds of techniques from different kinds of traditional styles, he can be very good. Now the question I would have is this.....how many individuals have this kind of energy and mental acquity to be able to study the human body and the way it works, and then come up with on his own with the various kinds of striking techniques with which to maximize his training? In the past there have been people like this otherwise we wouldn't have martial arts today.....but those days were when people had to think in order to survive. Today, in this quickie gratification society that we live in, we don't have to think to survive, and look where this has taken us to!!! While I think it is possible to train yourself, I also think that an intelligent individual would seek out others within the martial arts community in order to better their training.

Hey, Gang, just a quick question. I have been around for a while, visiting other Dojos around my local area and have noticed something that kind of bothers me so I thought I would check this with you-all. In my old school we had a continuous influx of training on body mechanics, and that just seems natural to me because you are dealing with the human body and how it reacts to being hit, tripped, put off balance, etc. I have seen very little teaching in other schools in body mechanics....I mean, obviously there is some content there, but it isn't taught as a separate subject in it's own right (along with the technique that is being taught). I'm just wondering, is this normal? Perhaps because I was taught that way I expect all schools to teach it. Just curious, that's all. Hasta!

Hey gang....I think that I go with the traditional way that a warrior has been defined not only in American Indian cultures, but also ancient cultures of Japan, Greece, etc.... In these cultures, warriors were those who lived by a code of ethics and values such as honor, integrity, moral uprightness and so on, but it went beyond these. A warrior trained in fighting arts because the security of their families, villiages and even the nation, was their job in the cultural setting. The warriors were the hunters of their village, those who helped the elders and performed certain tasks, especially in the training of the younger males coming up of age to be considered warriors. A warrior was much, much more than just one who trained in martial ways, and they held a high position in their cultures of respect and honor. Warriors were so highly looked up to and valued that some social positions could only be held by warriors, such as (obviously) the Chieftan leaders, councel of elders, and in some cultures, the medicine man and spiritual leaders. I would like to consider myself a warrior, because I am the protector and provider for my family. We don't live in villages anymore, but I have served my country in the Marines and took the chance of being sent out to protect our ways of life. That's what I believe the word "warrior" means. Hasta!

I believe that what martial artists call Chi is what science has investigated and discovered to be simple body energy. There is an energy that routes through our bodies that causes our organs and other processes to function. Without that energy the body dies. That energy comes mostly from the food we consume and has reletively nothing to do with coming from the ground....that is root force, rooting yourself before you strike your opponent for the maximum force possible. Tasers work on this Chi by exacting upon the body another positive flow of energy that short curcuits the energy within the body. If any of you have ever been tased before, you know what I mean. Before our deputies can carry a taser they have to first be tased by one to know what it feels like... it locks up your entire body while the flow of electricity is flowing into your body - short curcuiting your Chi momentarily. I think there is a lot of hub-bub in teaching that one can, through meditation, actually shoot their chi into another persons body, but I can't explain demonstrations that I have seen in my childhood. Almost seems demonic to me. My martial arts history began in Kodenkan Jujitsu and at an AJJF meet they had a japanese master come in and demonstrate what he called Chi, by bringing in a horse slaighted for the glue factory.....he stroked the horse four times down his throat and chest area, explaining that he was shooting his Chi into the horse. About ten minutes later the horse stumbled around, laid down and finally died. They brought in a tanto and cut the skin down the same area he had stroked......the meat was all black inside and no blood seeped out the cut skin. Weird. Like I said, I can't explain what I saw, but it doesn't seem to be anything natural to a man. I have heard that Ninja's of the past did certain rituals and meditations to ask demons to enter them in order to do some pretty amazing physical feats, but I just don't know. I have been a Christian for over 20 years, and a minister the last 15....there is nothing mystical or supernatural about the reality of body energy (Chi).

I believe that there is a death touch of sorts, but it isn't a simple touch, it is a strike. There are many, but a good deal of them aren't even a single strike, they are multiple strikes along a single meridian. It is taught in Eagle, tiger, mantis, and White Crane styles of kung fu as well as in martial arts founded in India, that hitting four or more vital points on any one single meridian will kill because it disrupts either blood flow or energy flow to its associated organ. A single death "touch", however, I think is taking the truth to a stretched limit.

I like that one, Newengland, but sometimes pain is the ONLY teacher that gets our attention..... From my observation..... The best offense is a dynamite defense.....the enemy comes to you and then is no more.

Hey, Bushido man, its funny that you should use those two scenarios......unless I die in my sleep or die in the pursuit of an honorable warrior's death, I don't want to go by fire or in a car accident....its too terrible to think about. Drowning, however, you don't feel anything but the panic of not being able to breath. Of the two you chose to type out, I prefer drowning. I am not, however, afraid to go to the here-after. I am one who actually looks forward to that futuristic part of life's journey.

In my studies, it seems that "internal" styles dealt basically with attacking the opponents body from the inside....vital point strikes or nerve strikes, whichever you prefer. While "external" styles refered to physical combat techniques....simply just hitting the opponent with no consideration of organ damage due to specific points on the body being hit. That's my understanding of the difference between the internal and external martial arts.

I agree with Tallgeese, do what the situation demands. Having said that, I am looking at this from a law enforcement point of view, and sometimes.....most of the time, actually.....its very hard to tell what the situation is. You could be held at knife-point by someone who is only claiming to want to rob you....until he gets ticked off because you have very little, if any, cash in your wallet. You could be jumped by five gang members looking to make a name for themselves by killing you....you just have no way of knowing exactly what's going to happen, or what someone's mind set is. Taking all of this into consideration, my response would most likely be crippling or killing, especially if it has to do with gang members because if you don't they usually keep harassing you from that point on until something explodes. So my point of view is.....just let me explode now while I have the law on my side. I could say more, but I'll stop there......

Interesting topic....... Teaching an MMA class, and my unique background, I guess, I see MMA a little different than most it seems. To me (I teach MMA self-defense, which is vastly different from the sport), I look at MMA as being a style - not so much as a "style" as we would normally call a traditional martial arts style, but more as a style of personal choice. In other words, MMA is my style of fighting because to me it gives a greater range of techniques from different traditional styles because all styles do not teach the same techniques. While there are numerous techniques that a lot of martial arts do have in common (perhaps because of "common ancestry" if you will), this is not true of all of them. For example, I take techniques from combat Aikido (which are pretty much not found elsewhere) and Hapkido.....some techniques, especially the escapes, are the same or descended one from the other (variations on a theme technique). Then there are techniques unique to Eagle and Tiger styles of kung fu that you wouldn't normally find in other styles - these can be quite devastating, but can take a long time to master. You have different techniques to learn that have evolved into what they are today because of the unique environments in which they were created, and why they were created - such as the Plains Cree Indians and their distinctive martial art utilizing the tomahawk, or the Vajra Mushti of 2000 BC in India which was the king's personal body guards, where they practiced special one hit kills. In my opinion, taking different techniques from different systems makes one a more complete fighter.....throws from throwing arts like Judo or JuJitsu, kicks from arts that specialize in kicks, techniques that specialize in vital point strikes, joint strikes/manipulations (Chin na), techniques from styles like Aikido and Hapkido that specialize in escapes and using your opponants momentum against him....guiding him to destruction with his own power rather than trying to muscle in and destroy him in vagrant strenuous combat where both of you can get hurt. After all, it would be equivalent of studying JuJitsu for years, then studying Aikido for years, then studying Ninjitsu for years....etc, etc and then combining them all into a system that works for you. Because not all techniques work for all people, what works for you may not work for me. In my class I have my students work on what works for them, no wasting three years of their lives trying to perfect a single technique when they can be learning 100 techniques that work for them in that same amount of time. I vote that MMA can be a personal style, and I hope that I didn't bore anyone to death.

I am some what confused....are we just talking about a technique that does a lot of damage......or are we talking about a single technique that can kill your attacker? There is a VERY real difference. If we are talking about a single technique to do as much damage as possible, I don't think there would be one single one that does the most damage, as there are many single techniques that can cause very tremendous damage. Perhaps we should rephrase it to ask "What is your favorite single technique that can cause a lot of damage." One of my favorites is an arm break.....the punch comes in, side step to the outside, one hand hits the inside of the wrist while the other hits and snaps the arm (at the elbow) in two. Very damaging!!! Another one of my favorites is an elbow strike to the back of the neck, right on the vertabrae.....crippling. But if we are talking about a single technique to cause as much damage as to kill your attacker, I would go with a straight lead knuckle punch, or hammer fist, straight on the chest plate.....able to stop the heart and kill almost instantly (of course, these should only be used in the event your very life is in danger). Another good one, which someone eluded to earlier, would be a strike to the side of the neck or just above the ears (or even an ear slap on both ears). This will not break the neck, but you are hitting nerve bundles and the over stimulation of those nerves so close to the brain makes the brain shut off......if there is a lot of pressure and over stimulation, the brain may not turn itself back on. If I'm not mistaken, both those last two techniques are from ninjitsu. Greetings!!!

"Man, that really sounds crappy. I would move, if I were you." Believe me, I have been trying, I just have to be able to find work before I can go. I've made several trips up to Oregon and as far as New Mexico looking for a job that would pay enough to move my family.......its not that easy.