Shorin Ryuu

The confusion comes from the fact that the Japanese alphabet is syllable-based (I forget the scientific term for it). In other words, you have the vowels, "a, i, u, e, o" the consonant "n" and everything else is "ka, ki, ku, ke, ko", "sa, shi, su, se, so", "ya, yu, yo" etc. The first character in "jujutsu" is actually a combination of "ji" and "yu" to form what looks like "Jyu". The vowel sound is actually elongated, so the full character is "Jyuu", which means softness, gentleness, tender, etc. The second character is "jutsu", which just means "skill" or "technique" or "art", but in this case, refers to a combative discipline. Strangely enough, it is never used in the japanese language with the alternate pronunciation of "jitsu". Like the previous one, the absolute technical spelling of this is "jyutsu". So if you had microsoft IME and you wanted to type in the word for "jujitsu" in kanji (chinese characters), this is what you would type in exactly: "jyuujutsu". That is what you would also write out if you were simply writing it in the japanese syllabic alphabet. So, where does that lead us? You can even look it up in a japanese dictionary, and it will say "Jyuujutsu" in the Japanese font, yet will come out as "Jujitsu" in the English meaning. Furthermore, it is commonly accepted that "Ju" takes the place of "Jyu" in terms of romanization. Of course, there is an extra "u" in there that most people leave out, but that is the same for "Toukyou", which is commonly called "Tokyo". So now, it boils down to the fact that there is no commonly accepted way to write it, and even the more common ways of writing it are not technically correct. A Japanese dictionary will give you that IN ENGLISH, it could be Jujitsu or Jujutsu. I have seen in some dictionaries that there is a distinction in that BJJ is called Brazilian Jiujitsu. This may even have been done on the Japanese part to enforce the difference? I don't know.

Ah, the ancient 3,000 year old tradition of Martial Arts Choir Practice. A very formidable art indeed. Both my Kobayashi and Matsumura Shorin Ryu teachers were pretty big into the kotekite. Probably the strangest looking thing I do is the traditional Okinawan Hojo Undou (with the pots, stone locks, and all of that).

all your base are belong to us Sorry, I just felt the urge to put that in there.

I guess perhaps a post on topic? Anyway, I just looked at the picture of the dragon push, or whatever it was called, where all the people lined up against one person. Is it important that all the people are placing their hands on the upper back on the person in front of them? If so, this just appears to me that by doing so, all the extra force generated by all the extra people is "top heavy." In other words, just like how most martial arts tell people to move from the waist, use the center, not the arms, etc., all the extra people are merely pushing from the top and can easily be uprooted by the one person. To look at it from the opposite way, it would be as if it was tug-o-war between one person and a lot of people, only that the side with all the people are holding the rope over their heads. Just curious.

My penchant for plugging books knows no bounds. The Secrets Of Okinawan Karate by Kiyoshi Arakaki really has an interesting look at ki using gravity and certain body mechanics as a basis for interpretation. I really recommend it for those wishing to explore this topic but are repelled by any thoughts of ki associated with a spiritual force. Not that I am judging either way, but I think it is a great read about ki and body mechanics. The first section is about the Okinawan snap punch, but even that part and the rest of the book deal with his concept of "Imaginary Center of Gravity" and ki.

Um, I'm sure being able to "stare someone down" is more of a side effect rather than a general skill. It is simply you not being fazed by what is around you. Note that this is different than just obstinately not blinking or looking away, because you can be force yourself to do that. I'm not sure if this was a "brag" post or not, but maybe you are looking into it too much? Pun intended, by the way. I don't usually stare at people too much, simply because it could be considered rude by a lot of people. If I see someone looking at me too long, I might return the stare for a little bit, but I usually stop because I get bored or stop caring. In other words, perhaps this "staring" is a sign of over aggression on your part? You claim not to be harboring any feelings of violence or whatnot, but it seems strange. Just curious.

Yeah. It was a little hard at first, but my instructor realized that I was not giving up, and after the 50th try, I broke through. Afterwards, my instructor told me that it was more so the effort than the actual accomplishment that he was looking for. This motivated me to later start benchpressing tuna fish sandwiches. Well, I had to start out with something lighter, like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich at first. It is pretty amusing how many people claim that they are the ultimate fighting machine simply because they are in "the military". Being a military member myself, I always offer to train with them or at least discuss theory and principles, but they always find some excuse to back out...

What worries me is picture of the little kid with a black belt on. And it does look very flashy.

The Last Legend katana are made specifically for cutting competitions. I'm not sure what you mean by practical application, although it sounds like you are wondering if they can be used to cut someone who tries to rob you or something. In that case, you can even use a crappy 45 dollar one for that too...

Remember too that kata is the study of biomechanics. Furthermore, timing is just as important as position. (2 cents only, this time)

I thought Paul Chen swords actually are made by hand though. "mass produced" referred to the systematization and amount of people involved, not actual machine manufacturing. They just aren't the same high quality sword that commissioned Japanese swordsmiths make.

Yeah, Boogiepop Phantom was pretty trippy, but I'm into that sort of thing. The manga was excellent as well. You didn't like Nadesico? You must not watch enough robot anime...it was the perfect spoof of all robot anime and had a plot of it's own (parodying all robot anime and still having a plot that works, despite using some of the cliches it was making fun of). As far as Kiddy Grade goes (despite the just plain weird title), it seemed just okay at first, but then it totally changed direction...like 4 times, and it still worked. Unlike most shows that change direction, the characters didn't go back to normal as before, they actually had progression...that's why I liked it. Samurai Deeper Kyo just caught my interest because it was an alternative historical fiction, and since I know a lot of Japanese history, it was fun. Not to mention the main character wasn't your cliche hero. Noir has an elegance to it (even if the first episode includes killing someone with their own necktie...) that I liked, and the music was simply superb.

Oy. There isn't a short list (my anime collection runs in the hundreds of dvds...), but I'll settle with some favorites... Noir Macross (and Macross: Do You Remember Love? and Macross Plus) Maison Ikkoku Serial Experiments Lain Ranma 1/2 (manga was 10x better though) Rurouni Kenshin (ditto) Cowboy Bebop Boogiepop Phantom (and the manga, Boogiepop wa Warawanai) Mobile Battleship Nadesico Hellsing Fushigi Yuugi Tenkuu no Escaflowne Trigun Shinseiki Evangelion Mononoke Hime Jin-Roh Haibane Renmei Azumanga Daioh (perhaps one of the funniest manga I've ever read) Inuyasha Shingetsutan Tsukihime Witch Hunter Robin (when you're in that gothic mood, I guess) Kiddy Grade (Awesome series...why did they choose such a wrong sounding name?) Orphen (I had my doubts at first, but it really grew on me) Samurai Deeper Kyo Slayers! The list could go on and on... (I don't just have a geek hat when it comes to this...it's more of a full body geek suit, if you will)... Did I mention I do, um, cool stuff, like, uh, learn how to fight?

I know a version of the Yamani Ryu version (the head of my style trained in yamani ryu). In shorinkan, we have the sakugawa no kon ichi (original version, or close to it and sakugawa dai ni, which is a version the head of our style includes as well)...I'm not sure if I can describe it well over a forum...maybe give me an email or something?

http://www.weaponsconnection.com/ http://crane-mountain.com/index.html http://www.murasakikobudo.com/ http://www.bushifitness.com/ I threw this one in here because this is where I actually got mine (I actually visited his dojo for his hojo undou stuff originally). The owner is an excellent martial artist and a great person as well. His hojo undou products are of great quality, if you are into that sort of thing...I'm not sure when his store will be back online, as he is busy right now.

Yeah, Frank Hargrove was a Kobayashi Shorin Ryu guy. His website doesn't quite let you know this (he words it differently), but he was actually "cut" for doing some nasty financial tricks here and there involving the Kobayashi Shorin Ryu branch (Shorinkan) under Shuguro Nakazato. As I mentioned, I think he's in jail right now...

Monty Python and the Holy Grail Leon (The Professional) Boondock Saints Macross: Do You Remember Love? Mononoke Hime Jin-Roh Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Snatch Ronin Amadeus Macross Plus

Um, are we supposed to get these invites right away? I haven't got one yet...

Heh, that series was excellent, but the manga was ten times better! The latest OVA didn't do any justice whatsoever to the Kenshin and Enishi showdown, period. Or everything that led up to it...

I whacked the back of my head once or twice when I first started, but since my instructor demanded we use wooden ones (school of hard knocks theory), I only did it once or twice.

I'm glad to hear it. What system is it?

Hmm...that's a hard question. Certainly the East came up with the forms, but the U.S. is responsible in large part for spreading it world-wide. My jury is still out on this one.

*hits parkerlineage with a glass bottle* I assume your spelling of nunchaku was just a typo, but I'll hit you with one anyway!

Not surprisingly, this thread migrated from discussing teachers in school to teachers of martial arts. I would not have expected anything less!

Many places integrate it really early: white belt or yellow belt stage. In other words, from the very start. On Okinawa, kobujutsu used to be (and still is) a separate entity from te, it just happened that a lot of good martial artists did both. Nowadays, a lot of places teach both, although it is not uncommon to find places that teach only weaponry.