Sauzin

Oh and Murasaki kobudo sai, the moto is flat as well as the weapon connection sai. I have no idea about the German maker but if they are forged sai then chances are they are flat as well.

I'll tell you what, you're the first Kobudo guy I've ever run into that prefers a round moto. I don't mean to be disagreeable, but it seems from my perspective that you're reason for wanting a round moto is a bit odd. First of all, from a thumb perspective, having the tip of the thumb against the moto is the strongest structure and makes for the best strikes (same reason Aikido/Jujitsu guys use the tip of their thumb to apply preasure for wrist locks/throws). You can't do this very well if the moto is round. The round mound causes the thumb to slip when it is in this position. Now I've seen some guys who don't use this thumb position. That fine, but if you're using the pad of your thumb it can still slip if you've got a round lump in the middle of you're sai. From my experiance the best way to protect your thumb is to keep it in the correct position. If you're thumb is too high on the moto then it'll get hit. Even if the moto is round. From what I know of sai manufacturing the only reason you see a round moto is because of the molding process used to make the sai. Traditional sai's are forged not molded. Most sai's with round motos are actually hollow. This is not only not traditional but is potentially dangerous if you're using them for contact. As mentioned prior they also have a tendency to warp. Lastly I'd like to mention that the idea of the sai being used against a sword is historically incorrect. The sai's prongs are way too wide to work well against a blade. They were designed for use against a bo (stick) or spear, which were much more common then swords in Okinawa. Sai's were carried by the police for a number of years for this purpose. I hope this information helps some. If it makes any difference, Shureido now offers sais with a more rounded moto that looks more like someone took a prong bar and simply welded it to the shaft. They are extremely unpopular though. They are called "old style sai", though that's a very controversial name.

I don't want to be mean either. I'm just trying to shed light on what might need to be in kata so people can think about it.

No one person created any of the forms I do. They are all at least 3 generations old, some as many as 4 or 5 generations. Maybe even more then that but there's no way to trace it. Now you might say, "Well someone had to create it." Yes someone created it's first incarnation. Since then it's been perfected through several life times of test trials and dedicated practice. So what I'm saying is the kata I do are the results of lifetimes of study and refinement. Not a single lifetime or less. Not a bad start in my opinion. Mind if I add a few things that previous generations asked themselves while putting together kata?: 4. Do each of the techniques work just as well against 3 opponents as they does against 1? If no go back to the drawing board. 5. Can 80% of the techniques in the kata be used as both a throw/ grapple or a structural blow? If no then go back to the drawing board. 6. Does the foot work protect you from attacks against multiple directions as well as it enables the technique being performed? If no then go back to the drawing board. 7. Does every technique in the kata have the counter to it's counter built in? If no then go back to the drawing board. 8. Are the angles in each turn optimize for the techniques you are using or that follow? If no then go back to the drawing board. 9. Would the techniques work well if you were blind? If no then go back t the drawing board. 10. Are you protected while you transition between each stance and position? If no then go back to the drawing board. And last but certainly not least... 11. Does each and every single technique have at least 10 different possible applications? If no then go back to the drawing board. What I'm trying to illustrate is that these are just some of the things that people who created old kata spent their life times thinking about, working through, and still never mastering. That's why it takes generations. So what about the benefit of becoming dynamic you might ask? You know, being able to string various techniques together. Well in my opinion the things I mentioned above should be learned first. Otherwise what are you stringing together? Certainly not things that are really going to work well or apply to enough situations to actually have any chance of being used. And you can’t practice a different technique or string of technique for every situation because there’s just too many possible situations. So my suggestion. Learn kata that is at least 3 generations old. Get the basics down. Then when you feel the need to be more dynamic, practice various moves from these kata in different combinations with a buddy. But first learn how to do them in the order they are done in the kata. At least this way you’ll know that the techniques you are making dynamic work to begin with.

That's a great opinion there. Mind explaining what experiance has led you to this belief?

A couple of reasons. 1.) If you restrict the fight to just kicking and punching be it light contact or full contact, then no matter what style you put in the ring, you will get a similar kind of fight. This is the problem with such rules. The fighting adapts and evolves for even the slightest rule. Unfortunately these rules don't exist in a real fight. 2.) Not all sparing rules do restrict the fight to just kicking and punching and in those fights, especially with Okinawan karate-ka you will see a lot of differences between a kick boxer and a karate-ka. On a side note, I really disagree with the stance statement. I use deep squat stances, horse stances, & leaning stances all the time when sparing and demonstrating. They work great if you use them correctly coupled with shallow stances and proper transitioning.

Have your people meet with my pinkie's people and we'll talk.

It's ranking. As far as the both sides of the belt thing, I guess my sensei likes things to be symetrical? I think it's just our style's tradition. You see the problem is when the pinky comes out, without fail, I black out every single time. That's why people always have to tell me about these things afterwards. Man those guys in suits must have really ticked me off to deserve the pinky. Oh and by the way I'm 5' 10"

As long as you aren't really hurting anyone and everyone knows it's just a game, then I don't think it really matters. One thing I'd be careful of though is getting into ego contests. Just don't do it. Either your friends will get hurt or you you will. Either way it proves nothing. For me I practice on my friends every once in a while when I need a body. But when they want to play around I usually just let them hit me. They know I don't do contests and I have nothing to prove. Eventually they just stop trying.

Well I guess you'd have to know my sensei to really understand but I think I would laugh at anyone who made such an accusation. Not that it couldn't be true. It's just, well, I'd expect to see some kind of prothetics on the guy or maybe a breathing tube or something. My sensei isn't a mean guy or anything but the few times I have spared him have been harrowing experiences. The guy is just plain scary. Regardless, that isn't really the point. What does it matter? You're sensei is what he is not because of what people say, but because of what he can do. What people say shouldn't effect how you see or resepect your sensei. You have you're own experiences for that. And wasting your time worrying about what insult was given by a random person you don't ever have to deal with again really sounds like a waste of your time. Just my opinion of course.

Uh actually I breath out loudly when I get hit hard all the time. It helps protect from and absorb impact. It's when you're breathing in that you're really vulnerable, at least as I understand human biology. I certainly wouldn't want to breath in while getting socked in the chest.

That's no different than the TV faith-healer who makes crippled people rise out of their wheel chairs and then cures un-curable cancer by placing his hands on the victim. It works fine on TV and at the revival, so it must be legitimate. I can't prove definitively that he doesn't really heal people, so I shouldn't be skeptical. Right? Or how about the guy selling weight-loss pills that let you lose weight without diet or excersise. It works great on TV, and he even has before and after pictures to prove it. I could never prove definitively that it doesn't work... doesn't work... -- First of all, please go ahead and be as skeptical as you like. From your perspective, you have every reason to be so. I'm not making an argument to quell skeptics here. I'm simply asking why people can't be respectfully skeptical. Secondly, I think comparing what George is doing to Evangelical cancer cures and weight loss pills is inaccurate. These things are easy enough to disprove. You take an x-ray of the cancer before and after and you've got your proof one way or the other. Do a sample study of 200 people taking your weight loss pill vs a sugar pill and you've got proof one way or the other. What George is doing isn't that easy to prove or disprove. The guys he is doing this to are going out, cold. That much is easy to prove and has been done. Proving it is or isn't entirely psychosomatic is difficult at best, some might call it impossible. Say you put a guy in a room with a one way mirror and ask George to knock him out from outside the room. Who's to say the guy in the room doesn't have some kind of suggestion as to what's going on and still knocks himself out based on his expectation or perhaps chi doesn't flow throw windows or requires some kind of personal connection or awareness to transfer the energy. How do you really prove or disprove these things? Do they sound silly? To me and you yes, but that's really our culture speaking isn't it. It's certainly not scientific by any standard. You could argue that an evangelical preacher is conning people because it is easy enough to prove or disprove what he is doing and he should have the responsibility to do so before he goes out the door making money with it. Same thing with the diet pills. But the same is not true with Dilman. What he does works for him. Often enough to where in his mind he's got proof that it works. Same is true with most of the self defense we practice ourselves. So why do we ridicule him when most of us stand in the same situation?

Uh yea, if you want old training methods find an instructor who teaches an old art. They don't all include bludgeoning your knuckles against trees. People didn't have as much of an infatuation with pain in the old days as the movies might have you think. There are some arts that practice conditioning though. Hung ar, Goju-ryu, Ueichi-ryu for example. You can also do a google search on "iron body training".

George Dillman sincerely believes in what he is doing. No-touch knock outs, ki balls, and all. He teaches what he believes and what he thinks works. Can any of us say any more? So you don't believe in chi? You don't think what he's doing works? Congratulations you have an opinion. But you don't have any more proof then George has so why mock it? Why does another person practicing what he thinks and has every reason to believe is a legit martial defense have to make anyone sick? Why is it such a tragedy that he teaches his kid what he knows and loves? Because it doesn't work? I would challenge anyone to prove that definitively. Here's my opinion. Has George lied about who taught him? Yes. Is George a show man? Yes. Does he make a living off this stuff? Yes a very nice one. But what he does works great in his seminars. He has every reason to believe it works elsewhere. Now that's not to say that I personally believe that it will work on the street. I certainly wouldn't choose to put my life on the line with it. But the guy isn't a magician. He's not going out there purposely deceiving and coning people out of their money. He's teaching what he thinks is a legit skill and making a show of it to get people's attention. Beats the heck out of my job where I manage a printer business where we calculate exactly how bad of a product we can make and still sell it. Come on, who here wouldn't love to make a good living showing and teaching the art they love? So we don't believe in what he is teaching. Can't we disagree without being sickened?

A lot of it is very personal. Let's just say it involved a circle, some very effective 4 corner guardians, a deceased spiritual guide, and a lot of curiosity. If you would like more info go ahead and PM me.

By doing kata/forms properly. It does everything for me.

In my opinion fighting and spirituality are integrally connected and have been throughout history. There is reason for this. I think by actually practicing a fighting art you may progress faster in all areas. Sometimes trying to do just the spiritual side actually impedes it's progress.

When I was practicing Goju we did training kata called Tai Chi ... Jo-chu-ge Chu-keri-ge Chu-shutou-ge

As others have stated I would highly suggest taking a closer look at what you are looking for. If you want good sparring go to a karate, TKD, or kung-fu tournament and watch for groups that seem to do well. If you want to participate in the latest "full contact" craze look up any mixed martial art dojo and ask about their full contact training. If you want to learn how to really fight though, my opinion is that you should open your mind as to what "good training" means. For example let's take Ueichi-ryu. Lots of conditioning, kata, and applications. But the dojo's I've seen did no point or contact sparring what so ever. Does this mean they don't work? Well feel free to ask the instructor a few questions and see how he demonstrates things to find out for yourself, but to save yourself the pain you might just take my word for it. Ueichi-ryu is startlingly effective. The first thing any student has to get rid of when walking into a dojo is his preconceived notions. Even when choosing you need to ask good questions and not judge them before they answer. Walking into a dojo saying "If I don't see this or that it's a bad dojo" isn't the best way to do it. Because I garantee there are ways of fighting you've never seen and if you aren't willing give an instructor the benefit of the doubt you'll never recognize them for what they are. The jewels of our arts.

Yea, uh I don't agree with the church's reaction.

It should probably be kobudo. The fact that his Sensie has different rankings would seem to confirm this.

OOoooBoy! OK there will be a lot of differences. First of all you're going to have to completely rethink what kata means. Everything in Goju comes from kata. You will see grappling, striking, taisabaki, and everything in between. Each technique will have at least 10 different meanings. The footwork and stances will be very different. They are all about being in control and rooted. And they are very good at it. You will quickly learn that taking most fighters to the ground is one thing but taking a Goju fighter to the ground is quite a different prospect. Not that they don't go to the ground, but that they are always on their terms. It's nearly impossible to take balance away from an experienced Goju fighter. They will likely practice conditioning. Sanchin is huge. Breathing is everything and technique starts slow and in some cases stays slow. They practice Sanchin, many times without a gi top while being pummeled at every imaginable angle. They may start off with light strikes but by the time you get a black belt they are wailing on you as hard as they can. And you'll be able to take it, usually without so much as a bruise once you get there. There are many bruises along the way though. As far as weapons go, things will be very different there as well. Generally they are very methodological. Everything does something in a very specific way. If he's a 6th dan in Kobudo then he knows his stuff. Expect very purposeful and refined technique that will be applicable with both weapon and empty handed combat. And he's an 8th dan so you're working with one of the best in the world. Good luck and congratulations!

So do I!

I really don't understand how any actual combat with real katanas could last 5 minutes once cutting began. Since katana's weren't designed to block cuts and doing so will usually snap or render unusable almost any blade, if you took two of the most inept swordsmen ever to wield a real katana and faced them off together I would image that in the first 5 seconds they would either injure themselves beyond being able to fight, destroy their blades, kill each other, or run away. I just can't imagine a scenario where 5 seconds could go by without one of these things occurring. Maybe if they decided they were sloths and convinced themselves they had to move super slow. But in all reality, with katanas a swing-in, someones probably going to die in seconds. If they know what they are doing it won't be longer then 2. As far as masters facing off and never fighting I question how much of that is legend and how much is reality. If masters ever did have a reason to fight they wouldn't strike until they either had an opening or made an opening. While theoretically this could cause a stand off I'd be willing to bet in most situations it was a question of who got the drop on the other.

I'm sure what you're doing can't hurt but cultivating energy really has a lot more to do with proper breathing and technique. My first suggestion would be to find a good Tai Chi or Chi Gong instructor. If you can't find that read some good books on Chi Gong but really you should seek out an instructor if you are hoping to really progress and understand how energy work can enhance your art.