Treebranch

I totally see where you are coming from FTGU. Tibby Danoshen Jujitsu? I'm going to check it out, sounds cool.

Well I'd say race car driver, don't drive safe and if they drove like that on the street they'd kill someone, themselves. They in a sense drive on a course, much like a sport MA. Now a trained street driver, lke the kind of training police and FBI get in more practical for the street. Fighting is fighting, unlike cars we as a species have not evolved since homosapien sprung up. We are physically and mentally the same animal. Our anatomy is the same as it's been for thousands of years. So that being said if it works, it works. In my opinion the battlefield was the harshest and best test for techniques. After 900 years of refinement I have to assume that these techniques will work. I've tried a few in a real situation and they do work. I disagree that they are complex moves, they are quite natural. The whole basis of this art is to teach you simple to complex in order to refine and keep refining. If you practice and train this stuff and try to get the techniques perfect, then your margin of error in a real situation will be smaller and smaller as you improve. The Godai are very basic techniques, that are taught that embody the essence of this art. The Godai are pretty easy to learn and anyone can do this. This art doesn't require one to be an athlete and requires very little strength to make it work. It's a about manipulated the attackers balance and taking advantage of their force and using it against them. In a sense it's not complex once you understand it.

You know I'm not talking about today's battlefield right. OK now that's out of the way. There was nothing basic about fighting back in those days, you had to be well trained. If you live through your first battle then you live to learn more techniques and the better you became. The better trained soldier survived longer, that's how it was. Whether it was to fight as one or by yourself, it really depended on the situation. The Romans were a great force, they knew how to fight as one. That doesn't mean they weren't well trained individuals. They had a martial art that was very effective, but unfortunately it was lost. Any close range fighting in those days was done face to face with your enemy. You had to know how to fight with or without a weapon. You know people dropped their weapons during fighting and had to fight unarmed sometimes to survive. I would say even if other men are around you fighting with you, it is much more difficult than a one on one fight. You in a sense are fighting multiple opponents to the death, what could be harder than that. These training methods are totally underestimated today.

I hear it from people in general, but that's OK if they believe that. It doesn't bother me. We have 19 fists in Budo Taijutsu which is basically Old Jujutsu with Ninjutsu. I never studied any modern Jujitsu so I can't really tell you how much striking they do. Of coure I know that battlefield Combat (Pre-1800's Japan) is very different to Street Combat, but the techniques can easily be adapted for the street. It just takes a little adjustment here and there. This stuff can be brutal or gentle, it's up to you. One of the schools we learn was a bodyguard school and teaches us Hojojutsu, capturing and restraining someone. They teach you how to tie someone up and control them without hurting them too much. These techniques are great, you can do them with your belt, telephone cord, whatever. So I don't understand, if something was made for the battlefield wouldn't that mean it was the most effecient way to disable someone in the shortest amount of time, with a minimal amount of force. I thnk that makes it effective in any situation including the street. Now, where it lacks is the ring. It was certainly not designed for that purpose. Unless you bring back gladiator matches. What kind of Jujitsu do you study?

It's more complete than Modern Jujitsu and better is a matter of opinion I guess. A big complaint of Modern Jujitsu that I hear is that the small joint manipulation stuff doesn't work in a real situation. The way they teach us is, if it's there to use, use it. The lock isn't really important, it's the way the other persons structure is being effected. If the person is resisting a lock kick or strike them to loosen them up and take them down. I don't know if this makes sense or not.

Pre-1800's Jujutsu is the kind they used in the battlefield. Koryu Bujutsu teaches it, Budo Taijutsu teaches it, and certain Jujutus Schools teach it as well. A clue to what schools teach this stuff usually have a lot of weapons training stuff as part of the curriculum from the get go. It has a lot of strikes way more than modern Jujitsu.

That's great, I wish I would have started earlier. I started around 8 years old.

So I guess no one knows what the heck this thing is then. Oh well.

Push him away and get distance, if he keeps coming well I feel sorry for him.

I do think the word style is loaded with certain preconceived ideas of something that is temporary. As if something will go in and out of style, like the style of something when in fashion has something to do with it's effectiveness. It's kind of like saying Algebra is a style of math, which is not an appropriate way of describing Algebra. These things are systems, ways of doing something that works, not merely something that is the fad of the times. I don't know if this will make sense, but nevertheless I have made the decision not to use the word Style and now am using the word System which I feel gives MA's the level of respect it deserves.

Yeah, I guess that's cool. Me and my friends used to slap fight eachother and you can learn quite a bit from that.

What the heck is American Freestyle? Do you get knocked out alot in that style? The idea is to get hit as little as possible and to enable your opponent from attacking as fast as possible. Point sparring is just for fun.

I'm not talking about what my MA means to me, but when referring to MA's using the word style is misleading.

Technically if you have a good system of fighting you can fight with anything, garden hoe, ax, hammer, pick and many other farming tools. The key is how your body compensates for each respective weapon.

I'm a little biased here, but I'd say Jujutsu if anyone is teaching the authentic pre-1800's system.

Damn thugtkd how many MA's have you studied. Are you 80 years old or something? Self defense is against an attacker and Street Fighting is getting into a fight on the street. I think with any viable MA you should be training for both.

No kata won't help you in a real fight, but will help you learn movements necessary for fighting in your particular system.

5 years old.

I don't really see your "Point". Heehee.

Even Kendo is not a true sword fighting art, it is mostly a sport. Kenjutsu, Iaijutsu are more of what I was speaking of.

Sounds like you have a good instructor NyteShades. Now in all honesty do you think that your teacher is the exception or that all TKD instructors are like yours?

OK.

Walk into him, he will fall.

Thanks.

Well in Japanese Swordsmanship you don't block the way you might think. You move as you deflect, if you are close to their tsuba it's now a grappling match or test of speed. The Katana is not made for blocking per say, because you are constantly moving off line of the attacking, your sword in there to guide their blade away from you. It's a very slippery system of sword fighting, very fluid and effective.