Sasori_Te

While I find that a lot of TKD schools are junk, I think the same can be said for any martial art. It's the person teaching in most cases and not the art. Unless of course it is a combination of the person teaching an art that they made up themselves and they svcked in the first place. I know a TKD school in South Louisiana in a town called Slidell that teaches very hardcore TKD that seems like it would be very effective as a self defense style. They go about 60/ 40 hands over feet. I thought that was unusual for a TKD school. I had a relative that was an assistant instructor there for a while.

I wouldn't have muttered anything under my breath. I would have pulled the guy off to the side if I thought that he was being disrespectful. I would simply tell them that they need to have more respect for the people in the dojo that are trying to help them learn something. If they want to be a showboat they can sail somewhere else. I don't have time for that kind of attitude. I would like to think that I am friends with all of my teachers but I still refer to them as Sir and that's when I'm being informal, but then again, I have great respect for all of my teachers.

as shorinRyu Sensei so eloquently put it, you don't need to be ripped and look like you were carved out of marble to practice martial arts VERY effectively. My students would also attest to this fact. Me and my extra padding have run many 14 to 20 year olds into the ground during class. As far as self defense goes, I've never been in a situation that lasted more than 20 or 30 seconds (I've been unfortunate enough to have been in 1 or 2). It's been my personal experience that the initial action / reaction decides these situations. In all fairness, I'll say that those 20 or 30 seconds sure seemed like a lot longer while it was going on.

I have to say that my fighting stance varies to fit my opponent. Although for the most part I keep a fairly natural stance with one foot forward about 1 1/2 to 2 feet. hands open and relaxed, lead at chest height and rear at waist height. My knees are bent very slightly. I find this works very well for me. I would descibe it as a high, very relaxed sanchin stance with loose hands.

You know Ray Delta? Or of him? He teaches quite a few different things at his place. i was introduced to him about 6 or 7 years ago by sensei Mike Wall, who teaches RyuTe Renmei in Phoenix. We went to a Goju Shorei Weapons seminar to learn more about the cane. That is where I first met Sensei Dave McNeill also. I was his uke for that particular seminar. He was still part of the Cane Masters org then. A year or so later I became a personal long distance student of Sensei McNeill and he directed me once again to Sensei Ray Fisher. Ray has been a teacher and a friend ever since then.

That was a very good synopsis Delta1. I have a friend in Tempe, AZ. with an American Kempo school called the Arizona Ch'uan Fa Society. It's a good school although a little commercial for my personal taste. I say commercial, but he's been teaching in that location for 12 years and has about 5 black belts so far. It takes an average of about 6 years to hit the dan ranks in his school. His students are very solid. You can view their website at https://www.acskarate.com .

I practice Sasori Te Kempo and did practice Ryu Kyu Kempo ( Now called Ryu Te Renmei ) which is Sensei Oyata's lineage of Okinawan Kempo. This is basically from the Shuri Te lineage as well. We place an emphasis on kata analysis (bunkai and extensive oyo), tuite and kyusho jutsu. We don't believe there is any wasted movement in kata nor should there be when practicing self defense. I'd be happy to discuss this in more detail in a kempo forum.

isshinryushodan, I'm not sure what you mean by saying that Angi Uezu and Kichiro Shimabuku take equal part in the role of Okinawan Isshinryu. The information I got came from friends, internet sources and a long time student under Kichiro Shimabuku.

I was going to say that William Durbin was one of the most respected martial historians of our time. I've read his work before and had no reason to doubt it. I did a little research o him before I stuck my foot in my mouth any further and found that he is a student and close friend of Rod Sachernowski of the Junko Kai. Luckily for me I haven't used his history as examples on any of my other posts that I know of. As far as Shindo Muso Ryu goes I could have been mistaken when I stated that it wasn't the oldest style of joutsu. Sorry.

Here are a few of the links: http://www.koryubooks.com/library/wmuromoto1.html http://kempo.4mg.com/articles/jo.htm http://www.ejmas.com/jnc/jncart_taylor_0900.htm

I can't wait! Can you imagine the new, horrible diseases that could come about as the result of playing with the human genome? As Doc Holiday said in Tombstone, "I have not yet begun to defile myself." Actually, I think gene therapy will do great good, but I'm referring to our track record of breaking a few eggs when we bake new cakes in the scientific world. Sorry, didn't mean to go off topic.

*jumping on bandwagon* I agree. You need to find an instructor, especially for techniques like takedowns, or anything to do with a technique where your training partner could suffer injury from a poorly performed technique.

I agree. We'll never know what really happened with 100% accuracy. I also don't think that it really matters how he died. I personally would rather think about how people lived. He was a martial arts movie star that made a great contribution to the arts by exposing them to millions of people.

TedT. Sounds reasonable to me too. excellent post.

Thanks guys (goshinman and judoguy). That was exactly the way I was looking at the situation. I would also forewarn the grapplers that since you do have a lot of experience in most average people's eyes that you will have a harder time defending your actions if someone dies while you are choking them. Don't get me wrong this could cover both scenarios. If you are a striker like I am and the person that died was beaten to a bloody pulp and you didn't exhibit much damage, you would probably be looking at a nice long vacation. I was referring to a one or two punch situation.

I think everyone assumed you were a she by the picture you had posted as your avatar before the one you have now. I remembered you referring to yourself in the masculine in a post a while back if it makes you feel any better.

47mm, you are discussing absolute fact vs. perceived fact. I ask you this. Is there anything that is 100% unchanged when it is filtered through our perceptions, even "absolute" fact? I don't understand your point in bringing this up as it is fairly evident.

Gonnosuke Muso did not found jojutsu nor did he invent the jo. He did found the most famous school of jojutsu (Shindo Muso Ryu) however. This is from my research so I could be wrong. However it is from several sources. Yes I also found that they did supposedly fight twice and the first time was a bo, but I was specifically referring to the jo fight. Again, according to research.

I was in the army, in the infantry as well. I played in the sand the first time around. I don't recall the Army ever making ME dangerous. I think it's a faulty comparison. The Army taught me to be a part of the machine. I also think it was all of the training I got that made me an effective soldier, not just one part or the other. I still don't think I've ever considered myself to be a warrior. I always thought of the warrior as being the specop guys. The guys that go out of their way to be extremely effective as a single unit or as a group.

I want to add also that I have never heard of this confrontation from the Musashi side of the house. You only hear about it from the folks that use a jo in their training. I'm not saying the story isn't true, I'm just telling you what I've personally found doing research.

It was a jo that supposedly defeated Musashi. The wielder was Gonnosuke Muso the founder of Shindo Muso Ryu Jojutsu.

I have another post in the general section about this. Here's my view. I'm 6' tall and weigh right at 235 pounds. Something about getting married and hitting 30 that did it to me. Anyway, I can still do a flying side kick and hit someone my height in the head. I can do 50 push-ups to military standards (this is the standard that I choose to use) and about 60 sit-ups in one burst with no breaks, also to military standards. I know that I'm over-weight, but I also know that I still maintain a high level of fitness. Don't get me wrong, I'm working not to stay this weight but it hasn't hindered my martial arts training at all. On that note, how many of your schools have physical standards that have to be met to obtain your shodan? I know that when I got my original Shodan that I had to do 70 push-ups and 80 sit-ups, as well as 10 chin-ups. I will admit that I couldn't do the chin-ups now, but if pressed I might be able to do the rest. I can usually work circles around the younger folks in the classes that I go to. I'm appalled at the fitness level of younger people today. They don't get outside and exercise enough. I'm not talking about being fat or thin. I'm talking about the ability to get through a not-very -intese workout even after several weeks of training. I think part of it is lack of exercise and the rest is very much mental attitude. I know how to push myself to do more. A lot of people just aren't willing to put out that little extra effort. Sorry I'm rambling again. I'll add more or address specifics as I need to.

Goju Shorei Weapons and Goju Shorei Karate both require you to make up a kata to present at your Shodan test as sort of a thesis on the basics. You have to also be able to explain the basic bunkai for all techniques contained in the kata. At more advanced levels you have to have a more advanced explanation for both attack and defense. I have mixed feelings about doing this.

I have posted in other threads on this forum that I train my students by doing certain drills blindfolded. I also have them do their kata blindfolded. Practicing blind provides a number of excellent benefits especially for self defense.

There are already a number of posts on this very topic in the Chinese arts section.