Sasori_Te

Well treebranch, like I was saying, the terms "complete" and "comprehensive" where martial arts are concerned have different meanings to different people. That also is a matter of fact.

Danzan Ryu is fairly modern (early 1900's?). He was asking for information on the Hawaiian style of Jiu-Jitsu. I was simply providing a little background. It is, however, a very effective Jiu-Jitsu system and is complete in the sense that they teach restoration techniques and healing i.e. kappo and seifukujutsu.

Treebranch, have you ever been in an honest to goodness life or death situation? It doesn't necessarily have to do with fighting. It is a proven scientific fact that when adrenal dump occurs, blood is re-routed to the larger muscles in preparation for "fight or flight". The brain is deprived of much of it's normal blood flow. The reason that any "fancy kick" or precise technique is difficult is because fine motor movement goes out the window when the brain is deprived of blood/ oxygen. Also, I believe that it is preferable to run from a life or death situation than stand and fight. If you're alone and have an avenue of escape you should take it. The only reason to stay and fight would be if you couldn't get away. Anything else is just ego and that's a really stupid reason to get yourself killed. Sorry, I got side-tracked from the original post.

I believe the art was Aiki-jutsu (sp?) which, along with judo, are the forerunners of aikido. I read this somewhere, but I don't remember where. I could be wrong. It wouldn't be the first time. *L*

This whole thread This whole thread could be broken down as follows: Q: Is there such a thing as sweet tea? A: Yes .... here's a glass of my sweet tea. Q: Are you sure this is sweet tea? It doesn't taste very sweet to me. A: Yes, it's sweet. It tastes fine to me. In other words, it's all completely a matter of personal taste. You're definitely going to have to make up your own mind on this one.

I can't think of any karate style that doesn't teach relaxing throught the strike and tensing at the moment of impact. This sounds like propaganda to me. I've seen or heard of several "venerated masters" that do this. THey put out information that is obviously totally bogus in order to make their particular art seem like the best thing since sliced bread.

The Hawaiian Jiu Jitsu is called Danzan Ryu Jiu Jitsu. The original dojo was called the Kodenkan in Hawaii. It was founded by a Professor Okazaki and some of his contemporaries. Professor Wally Jay of Small Circle Jiu Jitsu fame came from this lineage. I know several excellent Danzan Ryu practitioners and the style is excellent and also somewhat brutal.

Kempocos and eq are talking about the same thing. Practice punching using a 3/4 turn instead of a full turn. Proper practice is the key. Don't start out at full power. Gradually work your way up to avoid injuries.

I have a question for all of you street fighter strategists and fancy kickers. Have you ever been in a REAL, hard core street fight? I've been in 2 good ones off the top of my head and I barely remember anything during the fight. Luckily for me my training was ingrained enough to do justice. I don't recall ever throwing a kick at all and I certainly don't remember being rational enough to plan a strategy for winning. This strategy talk is tournament fantasy gone too far. Every battlefield soldier knows that once the shootng starts plans tend to go out the window. Actual street combat is too fluid to get caught up in details. This is just my opinion. And, in case you're wondering, I can certainly throw around these military comparisons. I was with the 1st Infantry Division during Desert Storm, so I know a little about fighting and combat away from the martial arts.

If they have an instructor like this they need to be wondering about the validity of their martial art.

Welcome to the forums.

Simply explain to the instructor that you don't want to offend anyone and that it's the only gi you have or all of your gi's presently have the patch. He should be understanding about this especially since you were concerned enough to bring it to his attention.

I was 22 when I started training. Sometimes I think I was too young. *L* I understand so much more about my initial training now than I ever knew was there. I also know that I have soooo much more to learn. As one of my present teachers put it (He's 65), "If I ever stop learning new things concerning the martial arts, that's when I'll stop training." Go for it.

As I said on the last post for uniform brands, I prefer Shureido uniforms.

Yes or no. Like most other things concerning religion and life, it's a personal choice. Do what you feel is right for you. But if you feel it's not for you don't hassle anyone else about it because they need to make their own choice too. Don't let others, with their own agendas, do your thinking for you.

ShorinRyu Sensei has it covered the best. That's the general rules that I pass out to my students. I also make them look up the local criminal codes for a bit of homework. If in doubt say you were in fear for your life. (It has to be believable of course. )

I had the exact opposite problem with my first instructor. He wanted me to test for my Shodan so that I could open a dojo in another town for him. He was trying to get me to cram for my shodan test. I still hadn't been shown my entire kata for Shodan the week before the test. I voiced my concern to him that I wasn't ready. He told me that I would pass with no problem. I got the distinct impression that he meant no matter what. The last regular class before the test I refused the test in private before the class began. He then publicly humiliated me by telling me to leave his class. I threw my key to the dojo on the floor and left. My training, knowledge of proper technique and skill level are more important to me than ANY belt. I just thought I would share that story here.

Those of you that have never done this training, how much self defense application do you work on in class? If you are taking martial arts to be able to defend yourself on the street you certainly better know how it might feel to have to do that. You have to know the limits that street clothing places on movement. It does make quite a difference. If you are interested in actual street application of technique I would suggest that you talk to your instructor about adding this to your program.

I agree that there are no secrets in kata. There are techniques in kata that are not apparent unless you know how to break down kata movements. It also depends a great deal how much knowledge of your systems techniques that you have when looking at a kata and deciphering the movements. The less knowledge you have the more basic the movements seem to be in a kata.

SaiFightsMS is correct of course. I only addressed one side of the issue. Oops. Sorry. I need to pay more attention to the exact nature of the question before i go of on a rant.

I wasn't aware that you were studying with Rick himself. I didn't think you lived in Virginia for some reason. I studied for a while with Ray Fisher in Phoenix, AZ. He wrote the Qi Gong portion of the accompaniment for the technique manual.

Thanks kempocos. I'll check it out. I wanted to check out Mike Patricks tape but I don't have the money to blow on that right now so it will have to wait for a bit.

To further what Gyte has said, the type of philosophy a school uses is usually attached to their name. Do means way or method where as jutsu means technique especially in a martial sense. You can actually have karate-do and karate jutsu. Do focusing on perfection of character and jutsu focusing on fighting technique. I like to discuss martial philosophy and religion but I tend to leave it out of my teaching if possible. I personally feel that parents and preachers should be much better people to teach their kids how they want them to act than I could. I believe that people have gotten a bit confused over the years on these points. Since most higher ranking martial artists and martial artists that have been practicing for a long time tend to have discipline and good moral character most people assume that they got it from the arts that they practice. I personally believe that they had these attributes to some degree already or they wouldn't have gotten as far as they did.

Nice article. I guess I should have read it before I posted before. I could have saved myself some trouble.

I don't believe the topic is going over anyone's head. Read the origianl post again. You can practice doing techniques on both sides all day long but if you don't practice sparring alternating lead side you just wasted all of your time learning techniques from both sides. Your tactics and strategy shouldn't change because someone switches leads. Everyone has favored techniques and a most have a favored side, the thing is, you have to realize this and compensate your training accordingly. South paws aren't any different to me, and to be honest I've never considered it much which side a preson fights from. As Drunken Monkey said, a technique comes in and I handle it. I don't worry about where it came from. There is such a thing as over thinking a fight. The object of any martial art (at least the ones I've trained in) is to make your response the correct one without conscious thought.