isshinryu5toforever

Basically, you let the weapon control you instead of letting it become an extention of your hand. That's the way a lot of people hit themselves in the head over and over again too. They watch the bo instead of feeling it.

I like the sai, and I have an ongoing fascination with the Eaku. I seriously need to find a teacher when I'm back in the US.

Yeah, TKD teams are pretty much completely sport oriented. They kind of rely on their black belts to pull them through, and teach the new kids really quickly. I was on NYU's TKD team, by senior year I earned my black belt, but I was fighting in the top divison before that due to experience. Just look at the MAs you do in university as a new challenge. Give Judo a shot, or BJJ, or even Kung fu or Kenpo. Most universities have a lot of options.

The situations are a little different. Grego's instructor still gets ranked by people of the same style. He just doesn't belong to their organization. Your instructor gets ranked by a board of higher ranking dans from different styles. I don't fully disagree with that, because under certain circumstances, it may be the only way to get ranked. If you're really that worried about it, then I guess it can be a thing for you to do.

That's the nature of the sports hype machine. They can get almost anyone to be a bigger deal than they actually are.

I'll agree with the hurting thing to an extent. The fact is that XMA bos are twigs. Some of them are very breakable, and if they hit someone else's bo, or someone who can take a solid hit, they might break. Hit a solid oak bo with an XMA bo more than a few times at full speed, and it will break. Not that it won't hurt if you're unarmed and they have a bo, but you just get less opportunity to keep hurting someone with an XMA bo than with a more traditional one simply due to durability.

My friends are in mourning. They're all Wings fans.

I like the way this is put. I wonder if those most "married" to a martial art find it satisfying their aesthetic (and spritual?) needs, to the point in which they no longer see it as "martial," but they do see it as "art." Would a "higher" plane be seeing it as both, or is there a fork in the road that has "martial art" to the left, and "art" alone to the right, with the better choice being what is best for the individual? First, thank you. Second, I think the two sides are part of a whole. They result in balance, which is always the purpose of East Asian martial arts. Their society and religions are largely based on balance of the body, mind, and spirit. This is what the do and jutsu allow. If you have too much do, you don't understand what the techniques are made to do. If you have too much jutsu, then you're just learning how to punch and kick. As one very intelligent sensei told me, they've taught monkeys to do that. It should be noted that I don't view the do as learning to be a better person. I view it as you learning who you are as a person, and as a result becoming a better person by improving on your faults. I'm not sure about this, feeling it's at the very end of the continuum. Most MA applications that are studied can check, hurt, or maim, rather than kill, and, IMHO, still fall within the "-do." (Like the caution, "Avoid rather than check, check rather than hurt . . .") I won't say killing isn't there, it most certainly is, but I see it as the extreme. Killing is obviously the most extreme response, but it is the purpose for which most East Asian martial arts were first developed. We don't live in those times anymore, but we do learn the ways. That is the purpose of the jutsu. The disabling of an opponent can be just as bad, and often times more painful than killing them. The do should allow you to recognize the required response, but you also must accept that the death of another human being may be the required response. This is another purpose of the do. It is to control your reactions. If someone attacks you, and you can subdue him with a lock or hold, that is wonderful. Yet, you must also recognize when your self-preservation means killing the other person. In essence, you are a killer, but you can choose not to kill. I should have expounded on that further in my last post.

No, because at that price, you're getting brittle steel. Also, if it is water tempered, it will have a hard edge. If you grind the edge down, you'll still have properties of the hardness near the edge of the blade. In short, just go with the stage swords, that's what they're meant for. They have an intended purpose. These swords you're finding that are cheaper are for decoration. And if they were real cutting swords, wouldn't be meant for the movie world anyways. How many swords do you need to buy?

Ok to address your post. You are painting with a wide brush, maybe too wide. You're basically saying that aside from knockdown karate, most other styles, Korean and Japanese (this will include Okinawan for the time being) fit into largely the same category. While, I'm not going to say you're completely wrong, there are a lot of intricacies you're missing. The Korean martial arts are largely an attempt at nationalism, but they do differ from their Japanese counterparts. Okinawan Karate is big on trying to figure things out via bunkai. The study of technique, what it is. When is a block a block? When is it a strike? When it is a throw? Etc. Taekwondo and Tang Soo Do usually focus on making your strikes so hard, specifically kicks, that they are strikes. Blocks are always blocks. There is also a big focus on kicking in Taekwondo, Tang Soo Do, and even Hapkido that doesn't exist in all Karate schools. That aside, Korean martial arts do owe a lot to Japanese martial arts (Yudo and Kumdo are Judo and Kendo, no doubt), but they have made the martial arts their own enough to merit separation. If you want an example of a country taking a sport and making it their own Trobriand cricket is probably the wildest. Look at videos of that, then look at videos of English cricket. Same game, different rules, different focus. Now for the subject of Karate alone. When you look at Japanese karate, there are really two styles, Shotokan and Kyokushin. Kyokushin was the brainchild of Mas Oyama, who also went by Choi Baedal among Koreans. He was Korean, but he created a Japanese style of Karate. There were a lot of influences at work, and I don't feel like getting that deeply into politics. Just to say, he is the father of modern knockdown Karate. Shotokan is much more regimented, because it was introduced as a training tool for schools. Okinawan Karate borrowed the system of basics, upper and lower, and the way they're numbered, but the way Okinawan Karate is taught can vary greatly. I was taught essentially out of a back yard. That's the way it was done in the past. My sensei now has a real school, and I applaud him for that. It's less traditional, but money is an issue these days. Practitioners of Okinawan karate, as stated before, also tend to look more into what things are within kata, much more than the other styles. Many people get caught up in pressure points and nerve strikes, where they are, how to manipulate and use them. Some even fall in love with their own legend and claim they can perform no touch knockouts. I'll leave that one alone for now. Anyways, the reason knockdown styles are all similar, is because almost all of them have the same root. When Sosai Oyama passed, his Karate federation fragmented. It went in hundreds of directions all at once, and this spawned Ashihara, Yamaki-Ryu, and a number of other variants. As far as the way things shake out with geography, good luck with that. There are Taekwondo schools that aren't taekwondo schools, and there are those that call themselves Karate, because name recognition was bigger in the 80s. Example, there's a network of schools near my hometown that is essentially Shotokan Karate, but the schools are called Karate North Taekwondo. Try explaining that one to a Korean man. Or a Japanese one. Obviously, urban areas will have more variety, just like with anything else. Rural areas will have the more widespread martial arts, one of the many variants of Karate or Taekwondo. Maybe both. On the subject of hotspots, I'd say Hawaii is probably one. They have Lua, Kajukenbo, and many other more mainline martial arts. I realize I have said a lot without really saying much. Maybe someone much wiser than myself can assist you further. Can I at least inquire as to why you're taking such an academic approach to the martial arts?

If you mean school as in dojo, do a lot of pushups and leg squats. That's about it. If you mean you're weak at the bo, practice. There's no way to get better without practice. The bo takes a while to learn, because of the way you manipulate it. A lot of people treat it like a stick, but the people that are great at XMA are great, because they treat it like an extension of your limb, as you should. This is why they can perform catches, releases, etc. The bo has to feel natural in your hands. The only way that's going to happen, is with time and practice.

Rateh, your instructor is 100% correct. To get faster with a lighter weapon, train with a heavier one. What I was referring to however, are what are called release techniques. Techniques in XMA where the bo is no longer under your complete control, because you aren't touching it. They often involve spins and throws that can't be done with a heavy oak bo.

I tend to agree with Bushido_man. Too many martial artists tend to forget that there are two sides to Japanese martial arts. The do and the jutsu. We practice the jutsu, but only to get to the do, and forget the jutsu upon reaching the do. Confusing, but basically, we practice the techniques to get a deeper understanding of things. Yet, once we've reached this deeper understanding, we forget that what we practice has a practical application. That application is supposed to be deadly. To learn martial arts is to learn how to kill. That's the entire basis. The do simply helps someone reconcile themselves with the fact that they are now a killer.

The entertainment value is high with the amount of flair they induce into weapons forms. If you're asking if you could even do this with a traditional bo, I'd be inclined to say no. I can't imagine tossing up a 6 foot long, 1 1/2 inch thick Japanese oak bo, and getting it to spin really pretty. I can imagine someone being highly trained, and moving with the same speed in their transitions as one of the XMAers. Still, there are just some things you can't do with traditional weapons.

That's great! Congratulations. I've always wanted to learn the Eku.

It is, and my sensei actually got it from the person who tested him. It would be a bit of an insult to not wear it at times.

My sensei has a red and white belt he keeps for formal occasions. He uses it for belt testings, tournaments, ranking ceremonies, etc. That's it. The rest of the time, he wears a black belt with rank stripes and Isshin-Ryu on the opposite side.

For safety's sake, it's always smart to use stage combat swords. I have friends who do film, and they would never use anything but equipment made for the stage. People get hurt when equipment fails unexpectedly. Especially with swords. Tell them it's more of a safety thing than anything. Also, as far as the painting the bokken thing goes, I have no experience, but I would be that the paint would chip. Maybe not, but you're basically spray painting wood that's been sealed already. The wood dents, you lose paint. It could still be a good way to save money, but who knows. You also have to take into account the skill of the people handling the swords and how long the fight sequences are.

Yeah, my sensei used it primarily for conditioning. We'd do push ups and get a few in the middle of the back. Nothing absurd, but hard enough to feel it. The BB of C, is that Dan from Street Figher as your avatar? Because that's awesome.

They can, but as said before, it would seem like quite the inappropriate thing to do.

Not in traditional taekwondo. The shinai is a training tool. In some schools, only instructors or very trusted black belts are allowed to have them, to use them. Unless you're in a swordsmanship school, the shinai is probably something he wants you to use as a training tool for other students.

There are definitely kicks that we consider to be more valuable, but not everyone does. It really is a personal thing. I'd say a good foot stomp would probably get most people's attention long enough for you to apply a number of other, very effective techniques, but it's not one everyone practices, despite its effectiveness in short range, at which most encounters happen.

I think you need to do some research in Eastern philosophy. Read the Tao De Jing, maybe the Analects of Confucius. This is the way they are referring to. As far as Tong-il, don't just take the meaning of the word. Think about what it means to the people of Korea. They were forcibly split 60 years ago. Families have been fractured, tensions have always been mounting, and neither side wants to admit any wrong-doing or ill-will. They are both Korean in different ways. The "Han" spirit, the passion is all part of Tong-il. I don't know the form, and I haven't extensively studied TKD, but I was an East Asian Studies major, and I am a Korean currently living in Korea. As an adoptee, living here for the past year has shown me a lot of what it means to be Korean. The word Tong-il means reunification, it means to put back together. I think you need to try to discuss the emotional properties tied to the word, and what it truly means to be put together. The idea that a country, or a person is fractured, and must be mended. Two opposing sides must be reconciled to reach an understanding. It's the nature of this country, as well as the nature of man.

I think the best kick for self defense will vary from person to person. Personally, I am very confident in my ability to stop someone with a sharp round kick to the inside of the leg, or a side kick to the waist followed by a locking technique. However, different people will be confident in different kicks. So, the best kick for self defense is going to depend on your comfort with kicks, and how much stopping power your kicks have.

Well, proper training will help you be less prone to injury. Also, remember that instructors will not put you into a situation you can't handle. They won't intentionally try to get you hurt. I wouldn't worry about sparring if you have a good instructor.