Kirves

Most "hard" styles favor the one who's bigger. Technically that is. Getting equipment and clothing may be problematic in just about any art, except in those that have "free" clothing code (i.e. you can wear a t-shirt and whatever loose sweat pants you like). I'd go see if there was any legit Jeet Kune Do (JKD) schools available, as the whole point of JKD is to study methods and tactics that work for you personally. Many JKD schools also happen to be quite free about the clothing too (though some have their "uniforms", but I think they aren't that rigid about them). Then of course, any art that uses the common standard karate gi:s (karate, Bujinkan Taijutsu, etc.) might be worth considering, as karate gi's are quite common and might be available in uncommon sizes too.

Exactly - as I already suggested in the first msg. Also check the schedule, prices, facilities, location... How they fit your needs and life circumstances.

Clinch often happens in boxing because of the rules too. Though I agree with you to some degree. But on the street, usually neither of the fighters want to get down. A mugger or robber knows not to get down as it is dangerous. You as a victim don't want to go there either. In this scenario it only happens if you both trip and fall, or if one of you falls and drags the other one with him. Now, I don't count the kinds of macho fights where both are actually willing participants, they are different. I have seen the kind of fights where two drunken guys start arguing over some stupid issue and then they go at it, slugging it out, then clinching and dragging it to the ground. Usually their pals are cheering around in a circle and there is no intent to seriously harm or kill the opponent, just show him who's the tough one (one bloody nose and that's usually it). Those fights often become a wrestling match, but aren't the kind of fights I'm training self defence for. There's one more fight type that often goes to the ground on the street, and that's rape. The Gracie family has experiences on two kinds of fights: vale tudo tournaments (where they go to ground because they know it is safe) and the tough guy street fights (where they again know it is relatively safe). I have read some stories about how the Gracies have used their skills on the streets and all the stories have involved the kind of argument macho sh it that the crowd was in a circle around them cheering the fighters to slug it out and the fighters were wrestling one-to-one in the middle. They weren't attacked with murderous intent and didn't kill or cripple anyone themselves. That is not the same thing as the normal street situation where you are robbed after you drew cash from the bankomat.

You can practice control alone, all by yourself. "Dance" around a bag or even near a wall or corner or tree or what ever, indoors or outside. Act as if you were sparring. Keep punching combos to what ever is in front of you - a bag, a wall, a tree - and make sure you only slightly tap the target. Start with a relaxed pace and then pick up the speed. You will soon learn how to punch full speed with 100% control from all kinds of distances and angles. Practise is the key.

BTW, what aikido style is it? There are some very effective aikido styles too, but sadly they are far and between... Some of them are really like Japanese Jujutsu. For example, Sensei Shoji Nishio is known for stressing atemi-waza (striking methods) and effective street defence in his teachings.

That 95% came from police statistics - fights involving police officers. They are trained to take the criminal to the ground for handcuffing and control. I don't believe 95% of all street fights go to the ground.

Hmmm... Bujinkan Dojo teaches Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu (previously known as Bujinkan Ninpo Taijutsu) which is a mixture of the 9 ryu one of which is Togakure Ryu. Togakure is not a mixture of the nine, but one of the nine that makes the mixture. Bujinkan Taijutsu is the mixture. Togakure ryu is one of the oldest ryu in the Bujinkan mix, so it could not possibly be the mixture itself as the many of the other ryu-ha are more recent. From the Dayton Bujinkan website FAQ you can get a simple answer to the question at hand: http://www.daytonbujinkan.com/qa.html#2top And here's a quote from the site for those lazy enough to skip checking the site:

If you are into sport and tournaments, I'd say TSD. If you are into traditional self defence, I'd say Isshin-ryu. Both contain both, but they have slight differences in focus. But these are just my personal views, I guess there are a few hundred people on this forum who disagree with me.

Phew! There are so many different styles, they really can be like night and day. Some styles are almost purely groundfighting (like Brazilian styles often are, though they do teach some throws and standup stuff too, at least occasionally - I guess it depends on the school). European styles are pretty much like combining kickboxing with judo. That is, they use boxing hand tehcniques, the usual kicks, the most common throws and locks, plus contain groundfighting. Japanese styles are very flowing, soft. The original Japanese jujutsu was entirely about bending with the opposing force and turning it on him. These styles have the most similarities with aikido, but also contain lots of sharp "atemi" strikes to weak points while going for the throw and hold. Often contains the whole "samurai" curriculum, i.e. training with swords, staffs, spears and so on. Usually focus on standup grappling and throwing, as a samurai who fell on the ground was usually a dead samurai. Some styles do have groundfighting though. I have very little knowledge about US jujutsu styles, so I won't comment on them. My guess is that they are similar to European styles, but I might be wrong.

I would choose jujutsu. Jujutsu is more "punching oriented" so it might be easier to integrate with kickboxing (meaning, you may be allowed to use your kickboxing skills in jujutsu class too, which you cannot do in aikido class). Though aikido came from aikijujutsu, so there are significant similarities. It also depends on the jujutsu style (Japanese? Brazilian? American? European?) as they can vary like night and day. And of course, it depends on what you want from the training? If you want lots of wrestling on the mat, aikido is the wrong choice and so on. My suggestion: go visit the schools and talk to the instructors.

Here's a good article about what the training was like when the people from the west were only beginning to learn karate on Okinawa, i.e. when the training was still done the way it always was: http://www.joelewiskarate.com/joe-lewis/article5.asp

Two low roundhouse shin kicks to the thigh of his leading leg (rapid fire rhytm bang-bang), then groin kick with my other leg, then grab his neck and bang-bang his face with my knee.

Sure they were. But even in the old days, if a peasant killed a wealthy man who attacked him, he'd go to jail - or worse. Karate has lots of different kinds of defences. Especially the old Okinawan styles, which train lots of throws, takedowns and control holds too. Anything from eye-rakes, throat punches and neck breaks to simple locks and holds are in old style karate. But rarely is anyone killed with a single blow to the torso. There's a saying in karate, "ikken hissatsu" = "one punch, one kill", which was originally misunderstood by some mainland instructors and even more by the west. Originally it was taught on Okinawa to mean "treat any technique/attack as if it could be fatal" but through some misunderstandings and translation errors, some textbooks from earlier this century taught it meant "aim to kill with a single punch".

Yeah, T-shirt and loose pants you'd wear for jogging or gym.

No, you misunderstood (or I explained badly). If you look at the taijutsu kata that comes from Togakure ryu, they aren't really about fighting, but more about fleeing a fight. Of course they are good stuff and battle proven, but if you want to "learn self defence for the streets" it is my opinion that one should first learn the basics of fighting. Togakure tactics already demand a good command of taijutsu basics of fighting. Even in Bujinkan, Togakure tactics are only taught as advanced studies when the student is already highly skilled in normal taijutsu fighting. They supplement it well, yes. But to start studying Bujinkan and say "I'm learning ninjutsu for self defence" is highly inaccurate in my opinion. You are learning taijutsu (/jutaijutsu/jujutsu/koppojutsu...) and later as an advanced black belt you learn ninpo tactics too but only after paying your dues studying the taijutsu kata of the bushi ryu-ha. To make this simple: look at the Jinenkan kata taught up to 4th dan. There are none from Togakure ryu. If some where being taught for the mudansha they probably wouldn't even appreciate them really. But if you take a Jinenkan 4 dan and teach him Zanto tonko no Kata from Togakure ryu,he will "see the light" and become a much better fighter. But teach Zanto tonko no Kata to a white belt novice and he doesn't really have a clue what to do with it. Did this clear or further obscure my point?

Rich, I disagree. If you run into someone who has any full contact training (boxing, kickboxing, knockdown karate, shootfighting, vale tudo...) he rarely drops from the first blow. They take dozens of hard blows daily in the gym so one more from a point fighter won't mean much when they want to rip your head off. Especially in a street encounter, when they may be on drugs or something which often makes them feel less pain anyway. I've seen police officers banging repeatedly a suspect with their nightsticks on the head and neck and the suspect kept going.

There are also gendai arts that are self defence focused, so though the disctinction is good to know, it is not always that simple to judge an art's effectiveness.

Koryu is "old-school", a school founded before the bushi warrior class lost it's power. That is, a school founded when there were still battles in Japan. Some people believe the koryu styles are more realistic because their methods have seen real battlefields. The opposite of koryu is gendai. Gendai budo means the modern styles that have not had the "pleasure" of being tested on numerous real life battlefields. Usually gendai budo means either a style that is more concerned about spiritual advancement than combat realism (aikido is often cited as an example) or it means a modern tournament sport style (like many modern karate styles that mainly focus on tournament sparring).

Jinenkan, as I have understood it, has very little actual ninjutsu. It is mostly koryu based bujutsu. It's curriculum doesn't contain the same set of ryu-ha (sub-styles) as Bujinkan, thus even they contain mostly identical methods, they don't have the same syllabus. Basically, I believe it makes more sense to study bujutsu than ninjutsu if self defence is being concerned, because the old ninjutsu methods mostly cover stuff that isn't really that useful in a street confrontation. For example, the Bujinkan curriculum contains three so called "ninja" ryu-ha, but their input into the whole of Bujinkan Taijutsu, is not that great. Most of Bujinkan Taijutsu is just koryu bujutsu - and that's a good thing. Here is a link to the Jinenkan ranking structure up to fourth dan black belt: http://www.jinenkan.com/Rankreq.htm Notice, all the techniques also list the sub-style (the ryu) from which it comes from. Very little techniques from any ninja ryu in there up to fourth dan... Actually, there are none! The ninjutsu ryu-ha of Bujinkan and it's derivatives are Togakure-ryu, Gyokushin-ryu and Kumogakure-ryu. Don't see much of techniques from those in the rank requirement list...

Depends a whole lot on which style you are studying.

Yeah, I know. The first page briefly explained (notice, this is NOT a literal translation, I just tell what the paragraph generally is about): Kaspin began as a pure war art used for example in Krim War, Winter War, Continuation War (all these are historic wars for Finns). Due to advancements in war technology (firearms, modern technology, less hand-to-hand or knife-to-knife fighting) the focus has shifted to personal self defence. Basic idea is still the same as in war: not to fight (exchange of punches) but to end the conflict fast. Everyone knows that the young are stronger and faster than the old. But as Aikido's Ueshiba has proven, superior technique can give even the old or weak guy an advantage and this is Kas-pin's goal. Kaspin's history The exact history of Kaspin is not known. Stories tell about masters from 16th and 17th century. During the generations, Kaspin has drawn some influences from eastern arts but is essentially a Finnish art. Kaspin has been mostly developed in wars against Russia and in wars during Finland's era of being part of Russia. In Russia and all it's neighboring countries people have developed arts of fighting and techniques and theories have been exchanged during the centuries. In the 19th century some masters travelled to China and Tibet and among their journeys, also gathered information about the local arts. There are several known styles in Finland, of which different names are sometimes used. This page on Kas-pin describes the art as it is taught in the family of Valkonen. The current master teacher is Kaarlo Valkonen who has over 40 years of experience on the fighting arts. Techniques of Kas-pin A speciality of this style is the focus on "locking up" (= "immobilizing") the opponent. The techniques are done in a very relaxed manner with not much muscle tension. Several weapons are trained in kaspin, but the knife is the most favored. The finns never developed a fighting knife, but use a hunting/tool -knife called puukko. There are three known puukko-fighting styles in Finland, the northern style, the inland style and Lake Laatokka (Ladoga) style. Some gypsy (romani) families also teach some knife tactics. Training Kaspin is an art for everyone, even those with handicap. Techniques and training is modified for each individual so that the theory and principle will work for the person in question. --- Then they start listing names of instructors, clubs and training schedules and rules. Again, I remind you that I did not translate literally, I quickly scanned the text and wrote in my own words what I thought was the main point of the paragraph. Here I'll handle the second link too now that I'm at this... KAARLO VALKONEN (4. level) [don't ask me about their ranking system] K.V. begun training 1957 by learning knife fighting from Otto Venäläinen. In 1959 K.V.'s father Hugo Valkonen begun to teach the family art called Kas-pin. K.V. was given the rank of an instructor (knife and self defence methods) in 1965. At this time Hugo's and Otto's training history combined exceeded 120 years. K.V. begun training the finnish spear art in 1969. These methods are crude compared to some other arts as they were basically developed for fighting against a bear. In 1980 K.V. met Eero Laukka, a master of the northern knife fighting style. In 1990 K.V. met another martial artist, Timo Soini, a long time "legionaire" (The French Foreign Legion) who has also studied Jujutsu under German jujutsu-legend Vlado Schmidt. In addition, K.V. has also familiarized himself with several more known eastern martial arts. When studying the Finnish fighting arts, K.V. suggests one to look into history. Since the 16th century, Finland has been part of over 20 wars plus other conflicts. In these historical battles, when firearms and technology weren't yet the be-all-end-all, the Finns have performed quite well.

No, doesn't happen often. But expect to get sore muscles and some bruises though! LOL!

I believe, that you need to spar one way or the other. Some kind of free form partner training is a must. With contact it is more effective. You can't train full bore all the time, you can't train if you're all bruised up so that'll backfire. But enough contact to make you think twice about fooling around with stupid unrealistic techniques. Sometimes try full contact (using necessary equipment or rule set), sometimes very light contact so you can work out longer. But without sparring (or some kind of free form partner routines) you won't reach your potential. Just my opinion, feel free to disagree.

ZR440 is right on mark. Noone can tell you what to do.

There's an old Finnish fighting art, called Kas-Pin. Tested in some wars during the last few centuries (especially the War of Krim and the Finland-USSR war during WW2). Very rarely heard of even in Finland. I only know of one website about it and it's only available in Finnish: http://personal.phpoint.net/sutemi/kaspin.html and on the same site: http://personal.phpoint.net/sutemi/kaspin_tietoa.htm