Shorin Ryuu

Hmm...that's strange...haven't seen any "Jakotsu" answers...or those that admit to it... I've only seen the anime up until 90-ish, but I've read most all of the manga thats been out (up through 25...I stopped because I didn't want to get cliffhung too much waiting for them to be released in Japan...). I think they're up to 31 volumes published separately and halfway through volume 33 in Shonen Jump.

Sesshoumaru

Yes, that is where it comes from. It is the Japanese pronunciation of Shaolin (Okinawa te drew heavily from shaolin).

Here's something I found: The Oniwabanshuu were a group of ninjas/onmitsus established by the 8th Tokugawa shogun, Tokugawa Yoshimune (1684-1751), who is considered to be one of Japan's greatest rulers. His far-reaching reforms totally reshaped the central administration structure and temporarily halted the decline of the shogunate. He was originally the head of Kii, one of the three hereditary Japanese feudal fiefs ruled by descendants of the original Tokugawa ruler not in the main line of succession to the Shogunate. (The other two fiefs/hans were Owari and Mito - together, the 3 hans were known as the 3 Houses, or Sanke.) A lack of sons in the main branch of the family, though, resulted in Yoshimune's succession to the position of Shogun in 1716. Yoshimune established the Oniwabanshuu for security, information gathering and spying activities. Originally, members of the Oniwabanshuu were chosen from the Kii clan, and was passed down in the families - in other words, the posts of the Oniwabanshuu were hereditary. They acted as security guards in the Edo castle, besides spying on other clans of their policies and actions. It was also believed that in Bakumatsu times, Oniwabanshuu members were placed among the missions sent to America. I don't know too much about them though, so I don't know how accurate this is. Of course, ninja were real and organized along clan lines like the Oniwabanshuu. On related news, I saw something about Nobuhiro Watsuki writing some more manga for Kenshin, which is supposed to place sometime between the Seisouhen OVAS and the end of the TV series (I saw Kenji's name being thrown around). I plan to do more research to see if that is legit or not.

Here's a nice site on Saitou Hajime and the Shinsengumi. http://www.miburo.com/index.html There was a really good scholarly site on the Shinsengumi...but I can't find it right now... EDIT: The links page on this one has a link to some good history sites and things...

Yes, there actually was a captain of the third squad of the Shinsengumi, Hajime Saito, who actually after the Meiji Restoration changed his name to Fujita Goro and worked as a cop/spy under the Imperialist government. A whole lot of the names and characters are real or based on real people. Of course, their interaction with Kenshin are made up. There were four "manslayers" that were famous during the Meiji Restoration, Himura Kenshin is based on these. One in particular, who was a really nice person, just very deadly and killed lots of people. The Trust and Betrayal OVAs did a good job showing a lot of the historical background for the Meiji Restoration. I read somewhere that Sanosuke's character and personality was based on a Shinsengumi member of the same name. If you remember Okita Souji, the captain of the first squad of Shinsengumi (the real young one that was coughing up blood), he was based on the real person with the same background. He was an accomplished swordsman by the age of 15, a leader of the Shinsengumi, and developed his three-cut sword technique (I think it may be in the anime, not sure). His original name was Soujirou, another tribute to him was the Soujirou in the TV series. Soujirou was the real fast kid that fought Kenshin in the Kyoto Arc and the sword that Soujirou used (Kikuichi Norimune) against Kenshin was the sword that Okita Souji used in real life. The reason why Okita Souji coughs up blood in the OVA and the flashback in the TV series is that he contracted Tuberculosis and dies of it in real life. I could go on, but these are just some examples. Props to Nobuhiro Watsuki (creator of Rurouni Kenshin) for doing his homework. In one of the manga, there is a side note saying that he originally wanted to do a manga about the Shinsengumi (just a note on their popularity, even before the anime and mange).

I don't have any direct books or anything per se (other than history books), but I did look up on google.com and came up with this book review, that has some Japanese tragic heroes in it (the book is apparently all about it). http://www.gotterdammerung.org/books/reviews/n/nobility-of-failure.html I know that the Shinsengumi (a group of samurai who unsuccessfully resisted the Meiji Restoration in Japan) always enjoyed popularity among the Japanese, especially after the Rurouni Kenshin anime, which by the way, has a lot of historical fact in it (probably one of the most true-to-fact characters was Hajime Saito, a member of the Shinsengumi). The Taira clan was wiped out by the Minamoto clan during the Genpei war.

You're right, forgive me for my generalization (I'm actually a far eastern foreign area studies major and a political science major). I just used that term because most of the audience I was writing to would recognize it as such... I must disagree with you on one point though. The Japanese have a HUGE fascination with tragic heroes. For example, the Shinsengumi or the Taira clan, to name a couple.

Hai, wakarimasu kedo, boku no nihongo ga chotto heta desu. Anime otaku rashii, boku no tango wa hotondo "manga tango" desu. Tatoeba, "tatakai" to "ore no chikara da"... Anyway, I found this really great book for learning the meaning and writing of kanji that was written for Western speakers of English. It was written by James W. Heisig and I enjoy it. The only drawback is that you don't learn how to say it in Japanese or any compounds, but it is a great supplement to learning Japanese. Its giving me a great foundation in reading and writing, and I don't have to write a kanji over and over to remember it! It relies on imaginative memory. Just type "James W. Heisig Kanji" into google.com and you'll find it. Some people don't like it while others, like me, love it. Its been 14 days since I bought it and I have learned the meanings and how to write 370 kanji (only about an hour of study a day). Sorry for the advertising, but I found it a great resource and wanted to share it...

You have to remember that anime is made for ASIANS and they have a thing for tragic heroes (End of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, anyone?). I thought the ending to Cowboy Bebop was great. By the way, the "Bang" was very existentialist (Kind of a direct tie to Albert Camus's book, The Stranger). If you have no idea what I am talking about, then do some homework...(I don't feel like explaining it right away). Yeah, some anime endings do stink (Gasaraki...that was just a totally random end to a great series...), but some of them are great.

Hope you enjoy your stay here

If you're interested in learning about Okinawan karate, I'd read the book entitled Okinawan Karate by Mark Bishop. It has a lot of history and solid research put into it.

That's where I mentioned about training. Anyway, its apparent that our differences are in opinion, so I'm not going to convince you or vice versa. Thanks for the discussion, though, it made me think about it.

Boondock Saints, always a classic

I do Kobayashi Shorin Ryu and I've learned all of our empty hand kata (Naihanchi Shodan, Naihanchi Nidan, Naihanchi Sandan, Pinan Shodan, Pinan Nidan, Pinan Sandan, Pinan Yondan, Pinan Godan, Passai Sho, Passai Dai, Chinto, Kusanku Sho, Kusanku Dai, Gorin, and Gojushiho). The only non-traditional one (I still haven't really decided if the Pinan kata are traditional or not; as watered down as they are, they were still created by great karate masters) is Gorin, which the head of my school created for a demonstration in the Olympics in the 1990s, I believe. Needless to say, it isn't my favorite one. I like most of them, but I enjoy the Pinan kata and Gorin much less than the others.

Fast, low kicks combined with grappling hands

I said the shot put wasn't a martial art because of the way they train in shot put.

Actually, sai were never farming implements, they were always weapons (don't believe that mess about it being a pitchfork, its not true). It was brought to Okinawa from China and used mainly as a police weapon. Thats beside the point, though. They used nunchaku and sai in fighting and trained in them to fight in real situations. That is why I said true fighting OR the battlefield. I actually know a lot of Japanese people personally and one of my majors is Asian history/culture, so yeah, I know that the pre-match ritual is as important if not more than the match itself. Boxing has always been a sport, but look at how violent it got (Ancient Greece) and it turned into pankration (sp?). What separates the two is that Sumo started out purely as a ritual. You don't see people take sumo for self-defense, do you? And no, I don't consider boxing martial arts either. It is a fighting sport, but not a martial art. I'm not denying their ability to fight, but it isn't a martial art in my opinion. Before people go off on me, I used to be a boxer in college, so I know what its like. Also, Olympic events. Yeah, the javelin throw obviously came from training to use it in combat, but the way they train in it now is very different. In kyuudo (archery) for example, there is a lot of focus on the accuracy and things like that, whereas javelin is simply distance. However, shooting might be considered a martial art due to its different emphasis. But I would be more inclined to say that combat pistol competitions are closer to martial arts then just sport competitions. You get my point, I think.

Yeah, and you can make it a bonding experience too. What more could you ask for?

It also helps to do them in sets when first starting out, such as doing 20-30 regular pushups, then 20-30 wide-arm pushups, then 20-30 diamond pushups. You can throw other arm exercises in there that work slightly different muscles or just other exercises to give them a break. By doing different kinds of pushups, you can work on getting an even more complete workout with pushups. Also, working on the lower back muscles helps you hold the pushup position longer. Be careful when lifting weights for your back though, thats how Bruce Lee hurt himself (none of this cheesy, made-up Hollywood "He got kicked in the back" business...).

Hi, Enjoy this site!

I'm not denying the effectiveness of Sumo wrestlers in tossing people around or defending themselves in some situations, but I'm saying there is a difference. Take fencing, for example, it stemmed from real life sword battles and later became a sport. Or Kyuudo, which stemmed from real-life training to use archery in battle, but now isn't used in that capacity nowadays. Sumo never originated as anything other than what I mentioned before. The match itself is even only a small part of the ritual, and most Japanese watch it for all the pre-match rituals as much as the actual match. Like I said, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of sumo wrestlers that I would not like to anger in a dark alley, I just don't consider it a true martial art. To me, martial arts must have origins in true fighting or on the battlefield, hence the term, martial. That is just my opinion, anyway.

Sumo has always been a ritualistic sport in the native religion of Shintoism in Japan, never a real fighting art. From its inception, it has always been this way.

I think I'll keep my distance from Pyongyang...

Hmm, maybe thats what those were...I had those a lot when I was growing up too.