granmasterchen

nagasu ryu is an extention of wado ryu karate nagasu is the ability to deflect without the use of harsh blows nagasu is a technique that is used in wado ryu my guess is that the art is a combination of some of the traditional japanese arts with stress on karate, based off of wado ryu , with strong emphasis on the nagasu technique, also add in the grappling of jujitsu.

That's basically what I did for conditioning. We hit everything from rocks, bricks, thick rough tree bark, boards and so on. We would take bowls or buckets and fill them with dry beans or peas for beginners, work your punches into the bowl and all other hand techs. Then gradually move on to rice, metal ball bearings, sand and eventually gravel. One of the high parts of our test was taking a large bucket, placing an apple at the bottom, filling the bucket with sand and then spear handing throught the sand and snatching the apple. We also did the bowl over an open flame fire like the shaolin did, where we would have a large metal wok and have it full of sand that got really hot (since it was over a fire) and work our strikes into the sand.

As far as I know it all started from a Japanese karate practitioner that traveled to China to study the Chinese arts (basically he was a spy during this time frame) but while there he came to master the art and fall in love with it. While training with other masters in hiding (due to the illegal practice of martial arts at the time) he managed to gather a great amount of kung fu knowledge similar to Shaolin (suppossedly) he eventually came back to Japan to his original masters and told his tale, there was no longer and espionage involved and the masters recognized the true love for the art form and practiced it and named it Shorinji Kempo, the Japanese version of Shaolin Kung Fu.....or so I have heard....

I see that many people living in Japan have posted to your topic. I too live in Japan, in the northern part of Honshu at the Misawa Air Force Base, up in the Aomori prefecture. There is a large contingent of martial artists here, but I would recommend going to Tokyo, Sendai, Kyoto, more to the south and that region and of course Okinawa. But if you have any questions, feel free to get ahold of me and send me your messages. I will only be at this base for the rest of this year, there is a chance that I will be moving down to Tokyo or Okinawa at the end of this year or the start of the next...but of course being with the military I could go anywhere, I will know within a month hopefully. Sorry to ramble....

There is much to be learned from kata. When I started out, the first five years or so, up to black belt, I found kata to be a waste of time and I hated it.....but later I found out that there was much to be gathered from the katas that I had done for years. Breathing, helping to build power, it added to speed, it actually helped in sparring eventually and even in real fights. You have to tear those katas apart and look at them and study each section to find the hidden meanings held inside. If you practice your kata true and hard you should be sweating and breathing hard after just one kata, no matter what shape you are in. I used to be able to do katas for hours, but then I found how to properly do them with power and intensity and one would be enough to wear me out. Each block and strike must be exectuded as if you were in a real fight and your life depended on that technique working. Did you know that when karate first started out, they only taught kata. Kata was the were all the lessons were given. Each kata held the techniques needed for that level, and mastery was shown by how a person performed their kata. Believe me, if you stay true to your martial arts training, in time (hopefully) you will find just how important kata really is. Good luck to you in your journey and may you go far.

nice story, I am glad that you got the opportunity to have met a person with such skill and mastery, and I am glad to see that you are skilled enough as well to recognize such skill. Good for you, keep training hard!

monkey can be rather effective in a fight due to the unique and unorthodox movements and techniques, the use of these techniques and teachings by a practitioner that is good at the art can create a very unpredictable fighter and cause a skilled opponent to lose his cool and calm and become angry and therefore sloppy and end up losing a fight.

It is rather hard to find people that are skilled enough to instruct in these areas any more. I have done lots of training in these areas, but I dont feel that I could properly train someone. I could tell you the info I know, but you could get the same info from several sources online.

I would only use a spear hand if I really wanted to KILL the individual. Remember that the spear hand is an advanced technique that requires years to actually master. If you used a proper spear hand against one of the soft vital areas like it is meant for then you would kill someone. That is what the spear hand was created for, not for hurting, but for killing. A spear hand to the arm pit would sever a main artery that flows to the heart resulting in death from internal bleeding with in ten minutes, a spearhand to the throat would easily kill someone from destruction of the throat no way to breath, spear hand to the stomach if done PROPERLY can tear right through the stomach lining and give access to the spine, a spear hand to the groin can easily kill due to the large amount of nerves and blood flow in that region. SO remember that the spear hand is not a simple technique used to hurt someone, it is a technique that takes lots of practice to master and is only meant for one purpose: TO KILL

I personally just take some of that cloth clothes line style rope and wrap it around a tree....that works fine for me....im not too worried about breaking or knocking down a tree.....im not that tough....

I really enjoyed the Stephen F Kaufman version

I recently went to Australia and New Zealand and picked up a copy of Forrest Morgan's Living the Martial Way. I have to say that it was a very good read, and I thank everyone that recommended it. Like someone said earlier, i was nodding my head through much of the read since I have reached those levels through my studies, but needless to say, I think that it is very great that someone had spent the time to write a book like that. I have also read Stepehen F Kaufman's translation of the Book of Five Rings, the best translation I have read so far. And also Sun Tzu's Art of War.... Thanks for all the recommendations so far by everyone, I am still searching down many of the other books that have been listed, but if you know of others, feel free to post them as well.

I wouldn't recommend starting the training if you are new to the arts. First off I would suggest (my own opinion) that you have done some type of body training to begin with. Extrenuous physical activities at some point in training and full contact fighting. Understanding aspects used in breaking techniques are also very helpful. Some of the daily training that we would do consisted of taking a 2x4 and hitting every major muscle group in our body 100 times with it. Upper and lower back, abbs, each pectoid muscle, shoulders, deltoids, biceps, forearms, thighs, calves ect. We also did forte training, where you got with a partner and smack forearm to forearm over and over building the strength of your muscles and your block. This can also be done with the shins as well. We also did punching drills on each other, punches to the stomach and muscle groups then move on to the actual hardening of the bones making them denser. Punches to the ribs, head, and so forth....after this level we would start working on the areas of the body with no protection, the throat, groin and such....you dont want to try and advance steps when you aren't ready. Use your punching bag, or boards, wrap rope around a board or use a sand bag, and work all strikes along with blocks on your striking surface. One of the final things we did was bend knives against our throats, take kicks to the groin, ridge hands and chops to the throat along with spear hands. and our last and of our crazies trainings consisted of tying rope around a very large log tie the other end around a high branch. Get your partners to drag the log up hill and swing it towards you. When the log comes at you( very fast and hard) block, this builds your blocks alot, if you are ready for this level, if you miss the block your chest gets hit, that therefor toughens your chest in return.....only do this when you have mastered lower levels of training....you can get seriously hurt and or killed....yep be careful during iron body techniques....

unfortunately no......somethings are just impossible for this old white boy to break, and one of them is "dance"

i train iron body, i find it very beneficial, but its hard to find students these days that are crazy enough to go through the training to get the skill....i've only found one truely dedicated to with stand all the punishment need to start mastering it in the last....hmmmm its been awhile. I have a few students that will do some of the basics but nothing like the stuff i used to do when i was training and what my friends would do with me when we trained and train still when we get together

got a metal spike through my foot....been painful eversince with massive nerve damage....how lucky for me to have a rare nerve disease that came to life once i got nerve damage....yep....4 yrs now..

i break concrete, ever technique and every body part, except for the forehead, i havent built up the confidence for that yet. my largest break with one technique is 24 inches of concrete, 8 slabs each one being 3 inches thick with a pencil for a spacer. If you have any breaking questions feel free to ask away.

i agree

dont know any sites off the top of my head, do a google or yahoo search, I did do some training in it back when i was in california up around san francisco

I know numerous "masters" that smoke for the enlightening thoughts on the inner and higher thinkings of martial arts and philosophy....just to post a different view point. i agree that crack and heroin and meth are just crazy....

i am a fan of fakes and sweeps......but i also like the backfist, and hook kicks for "sparring"

i study everything i can get my hands on. I have traveled the world with the military so i have been exposed to a lot of stuff in about 20 yrs of martial arts related experience....I mix low kicks, elbows and knees from muay thai, high kicks from tkd and tsd, tiger claw, eye gouges, spear hands and similar techs from various kung fu arts, aikido manipulation, hapkido and jujitsu joint locks, jkd trapping and so forth....i take what i like and add it to my own personal style and toss what i dont like.... hope that tells you a bit....about what 'style' i am....

blackbelt

very well said tangsooguy...very well said....

i have been in several fights over the years the best depends on who is viewing it....so i would have to say the TOP two fights ive been in were the ones that only lasted one punch. But there have been other fights that were "FUN" where i got to play with my prey,,,,......