Matt Stone

And thanks for that pearl of wisdom... Just because you learn how to strike a few pressure points does not mean that you know how to discern where, if at all, such strikes are located within forms. Not all forms contain such information. Some do, some don't. That's just the way of it. You may well see a similarity between a kata movement and a joint lock or a vital point strike, and if it helps you to remember that application, fine. That doesn't mean that that movement was really intended to be what you see, however. I blame your Wah Lum sifu for your lack of understanding of your forms. You should have gone and asked him for more info on the forms rather than thinking they were nothing more than Tae Bo. From one perpective, your sifu did you a great disservice by not teaching you what you were supposed to be doing. You did him a disservice by not asking him (I'm assuming you didn't since you didn't say you did... whatever). What I find almost amusing, though, is that you take information you received from a questionable source, mixed that into your former Wah Lum training, and now you claim to understand your forms... I wonder if you could have just practiced your basics more, basic strikes and basic joint locks/throws, and have understood your forms before worrying about mix and matching info with Dillmania's color by numbers kyusho...? Ultimately, it is an academic question. Cosmically, the answer may not have any real impact on things in the martial arts. Then again, you can start a huge diversion of a large object with only a very small and minor deviation in its path... The acceptance of questionable background stories and mysterious origins of information as factual (or even as sufficient for daily practice) diminishes the legitimacy of people whose stories do not vary depending on who they talk to or when they speak with them. It diminishes people who have spent decades training under one teacher, learning authentic techniques as opposed to people who train in a few seminars or are in possession of magical books imparting long lost knowledge. Whatever. It is a debate that neither side is willing to bend on. The Oyata supporters (which camp I belong to) know that Oyata is a legitimate source of information. The Dillmania supporters (which camp I am obviously critical of) believe what they believe. To each their own. But in the end, there really are people that are right and people that are wrong. Only time will prove which camp is which...

And I'm sure that this is brand new information, never before seen in the martial arts world, either hidden for century upon century or only recently uncovered by Dillman and crew... Or not. If it is not practical for use, why bother. I am certain that this kind of quackery has been brought up before, and tossed aside just as quickly, even when people were far more believing and gullible. Don't get me wrong - I believe in qi, practice qigong, study internal styles. I believe many things not necessarily supported by current scientific explanation are possible. But this is just past the point where I draw the line at complete nonsense. Darth Dillman? Darth Mooney? Why not...

Are you saying, then, that you heard this directly from Dillman? And of course, if what has been attributed to Taika Oyata as the true story, Dillman would certainly pony up and say "Sure, all I had were a few seminars." If he did that, his entire empire of color by numbers kyusho would be upended... I'm not saying that, if you are claiming to have heard it from Dillman directly, Dillman lied. However, of the two people (Oyata or Dillman), Dillman has much more to gain by connection to Oyata, or to lose by disassociation from Oyata, than Taika Oyata has to gain or lose in either case. Personally, I don't care what Dillman does or who approves or disapproves of him. The minute he started supporting the "no touch knockout" I lost pretty much any respect I had for him... Sorry, but it's the truth.

US Army Infantry: 1987 - 1990 (Georgia, South Korea) US Army Cavalry (Reserves): 1991 - 1995 (Nebraska) US Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: 1995 - Present (Kansas, Japan, Washington) Go Army!

I am good friends with one of Taika's students (a yondan who trained directly under Taika for years in KC), and the story I got was similar to that mentioned above regarding the seminar attendance and nothing more. Taika apparently wants so little to do with Dillman that he changed the name of what he teaches... When I first heard of Taika, I knew him to be teaching Ryukyu Kempo. Now, he teaches RyuTe © Karate. He apparently wants to distance himself completely from even inferred association with Dillman. I don't blame him.