daoshi

books are good after an art is learned. You cannot learn basic training from a book though.

Delta1 is right on. Follow his advice. Don't even think about starting your own art untill you have been beeten sensless or hosopitalized numerous times. Don't confuse movies and magazine articles with real fighting. Get involved in full contact competition or go to prison if you want to evalutate your skills. Prison is the best place, but it is a bummer beyond belief. Many matial artists have fared poorly behind bars. This is the true tesst of skill. The only alternative is full contact fighting. There are a number of civilized fourms. San Shou, Judo, grappling tournaments, full contact TKD, Karate, etc.

Congrats on finding Judo. It is more than an art, it is a way of life as the Chinese characters signify. Judo is largely voluntary, i.e. people dedicate their lives and their money to Judo, vs. trying to "make" money.

What should we choose, to eat food or drink water? We need both.

It may be possible to learn self defence without learning to fight and testing your skills, but your first test will be when you really need to defend yourself. You will not truly learn to defend yourself without full contact sparring and either tournament competition or street fighting. You can find that in San Shou, Judo, Thai Boxing, Western Boxing, Olympic Wrestling, full contact TKD, etc. A good exercise is to reach black belt level in a non contact system and then enter a full contact tournament. The first full power hook to the jaw or full velocity Judo throw to the floor can be a real eye opener.

As a young man with a Kuk Sool (Hapkido) black belt I began competing against BJJ and Judo fighters and found that none of my techniques wouled work. Wrist locks will never work against a trained fighter. It is very easy to tighten the wrist and counter the technique. Hapkido, Kuk Sool, Aikido, Japanes Jui Jits, et al, provide a great foundation, but to truly learn takedowns and submissions, Judo or BJJ are the only options.

Those are good points. A quick, hard strike might end a confrontation, but don't forget the world of stand up grappling, i.e. Judo. Judo is an offensive sytem. A hard slam to the concrete or even a carpeted floor will end as many conflicts as a good strike. wushidao.com

Absolutely. wushidao.com

Always carry three knives. Pull one, then talk the assailant into putting the knives down. Then pull your backup and throw it at him. Then pull your third knife in case you miss the throw. The idea is to have an unarmed assailant. Throwing takes a lot of practice. The truth is, if a person attacks you with a knife, you will die. None of the traditional martial arts defenses will work against a knife fighter. A knife attack is an assassination, not a fight. As fast as a person can sucker punch you, he can put a knife in you. It happens all the time. Most deaths occur with a three inch blade through the ribs. If your grandma or a drunk prances in front of you with a knife, then you can try your black belt techniques. wushidao.com

Find yourself a Judo or BJJ school and you will learn the correct way to do the techniques that are imitated in Hapkido, Kuk Sool, et al. The only way these techniques can be learned effectively is in full contact fighting. wushidao.com

One of the few new systems is Wushidao. It is based on the best techniques of Judo, Karate, BJJ, and the Chinese systems. We teach that all martial arts have value and encourage students to pick any system and achieve brown belt or equivalent level. Three brown belts in differnent systems are required to pursue advanced Wushidao training. One system must be Judo, BJJ, or Olympic Wrestling at the collegiate level. We have found that grappling expertise along with striking training results in the ultimate fighter. The internal components are also stressed. All of our instructors have black belts in multiple systems and fight up to the UFC level. please visit Wushidao.com

Centralized leadership of a single individual over a martial art will often lend a cult like atmosphere to each dojo. The money going back to the central authority makes each dojo a mcdojo.