isshinryu5toforever

the term martial art encompasses anything that has to do with war or battle. It is not exclusive to the realm of East Asia. fencing, Greek spear work, Jousting, they are all martial arts. As for fencing, I like the saber the most

A samurai would never allow his sword to take a direct hit from another sword. That is how many swords break katana or broadsword. Also many broadswords were forged, not forged and folded like katana. The folding process made the blade stronger. The curve of the blade in a katana also allowed for greater strength than a straight sword.

Jay being a master only means you are master instructor. There is a difference between being a master and being perfect. No one is perfect, but there are many who are very adept at training and molding students. Those people deserve the honor of being considered master instructors. As for seeing masters spar. I've seen it at a couple tournaments. It's usually hillarious to watch, because most of the bouts I've seen have been my instructor against one of his buddies. Around here they're all pretty close, so they taunt each other out of fun. It's hillarious to watch a 40 year old guy call a 43 year old guy old man.

I don't know it depends on the knight and the samurai. Most knights with large broadswords would rarely be on the ground unless the terrain warranted such. The broadsword was a heavy weapon that could be used to come down upon people on the ground. A footman would have a shortsword, mace, axe, or other bludgeoning weapon. This is why I don't think a knight armed the way you are talking would be necessarily comfortable on the ground. Also, there are many types of samurai. A samurai is a warrior, not necessarily someone trained to use a katana. Yari and Naganita were used extensively as well. It also depends on where the samurai is from and what school he studied in. The Japanese schools were more agressive, with their weight forward waiting to end it in one strike. The Okinawan schools tended to be a little more even in their stance. They were willing to give up some ground if it meant taking an advantage. In your "perfect setting" scenario however, I would give the advantage to the samurai. It is true that many Eurpoean sword arts were based on defense, this is not true with a weapon such as the broadsword. While you would learn some defenses, it was simply too heavy a weapon to parry and attack for too long. Like I said, a sword of that type was used to fell opponents who were not on even ground with the knight weilding it. Only the riches nobles were able to have long broadswords. Once you put this person on the ground, they would be at a decided disadvantage when it came to speed. While it is true that it seems the samurai fights ended up being both parties commited to attack, they were extremely lengthy affairs. The two parties were very patient and calculating. That one cut they went for would immediately end the engagement. This is not true of European knights who would sometimes go through lengthy bouts. I don't think a European knight would let a samurai sit there for an hour or more without attacking. They'd think the guy was nuts. Whether you're talking about a single hand, double hand, or hand and a half broadsword the speed advantage goes to the samurai sword. A well-trained samurai might even be able to win with just the draw of the sword. Also most european swords were meant for thrusting, not cutting. This is seen with the straight blade. While this is generally quicker than completeing a swing, it would leave the person extended. This would be enough for the samurai to at least cut the arm off (attack the offending appendige) and possibly to disembowel the knight. For the knight, at best I would offer a draw. He stabs or slices the samurai, but the blade of the katana falls on his neck at the same time. My thought of what would normally happen, the knight would lose.

I probably do way less homework than I should. I barely did anything last year, but I got out with a pretty decent GPA. I don't work as hard as my friends who get the same grades I do. I should work harder though. This year I might have to with Korean 4 days a week.

not only that, but not all TKD schools use the newer V-neck. Some still stick with the traditional crossover type.

I've seen groups of kids who are just barely teenagers or are younger play duck-walk tag. Everyone has to do duck walks, but one person who is it tries to tag someone else, just like tag. They have to keep their hands behind their back unless they are within a close enough proximity to tag someone, that way they have to try to move quickly, but also keep their balance. When it comes to teenagers though, I haven't really done any "fun" activities. We don't do a lot of game playing in my dojo.

which army are you talking about? like Atilla the Hun? The Hunnic people were a nomadic horse people from the Asiatic steppes. They didn't have a style, they shot arrows at you from horses until they got close enough to kill you with a club or sword. Also, the huns were spread throughout the steppe, they weren't under the exclusive control of Atilla until he forced them. If this is not who you are talking about, please specify exactly who in the world you are speaking of.

Shaolin Soccer is kinda funny. I liked Kung Fu Hustle. The action was pretty good, of course over the top, it's supposed to be, because yes it is a parody. The biggest thing that most of us are missing is the way that Stephen Chow scripts the language. The Cantonese he uses is used in a sarcastic manner, but you have to speak Cantonese to get that. It's kind of like us using slang, he does the same thing.

thank you for the compliment returning_wave. I'm glad to see you liked the post.

go to dojo/dojangs, find one you're happy with. I have had students begin when they were 40. They had no experience either. Don't worry about your age. If you want to do martial arts, you can.

If you're concerned with the striking proponent, what are you going to do when your wrist gets twisted in someone's gi or gets cranked on in a lock? It's the same stress. It isn't going direcly backward, but it's hitting an even weaker point from the side. As far as styles, BJJ is mostly grappling, Judo is throwing. TKD is striking and generally leg oriented. Tradional Karate Ryus are mostly striking. You're going to have to crosstrain somehow to get both striking and grappling. You need to do actual wrist strengthening exercises as well as the martial arts. I don't know a martial art that doesn't require a lot of strength in both wrists to be successful. When you start grappling with someone, the ability to use both wrists is a must. It's a lot more complicated than it looks. It also requires a lot of wrist mobility. Just imagine what happens if you do BJJ and your left hand gets caught up in the guy's gi, and you get tossed. Your wrist is going to suffer. You need to do some physical therapy to get better range of motion, and to make it stronger.

Judo might be best for you. It'll teach you to fall. The thing is with your wrist that way, I don't know what martial art would be best. Almost all of them require wrist strength in some way. Judo's throws require them, Aikido well that one's obvious, you pointed out the inability to strike in other martial arts, and JiuJitsu uses armbars, wrist lock, etc. As far as weapons go, you need wrist strength for those too. Don't worry about being able to beat people up. It doesn't make you any more of a man. The more you train the more you realize that. I will tell you though, taking a grappling exclusive martial art will make it difficult to take on more than one opponent at a time.

It's possible, just very hard.

It depends on what your goal is. Either way it's going to take time. Now, the Kempo dojo you are in is either poor, or you aren't seeing everything clearly. With under a year of practice, I unfortunately would tend to think the latter. One question, what makes you think you've surpassed the higher ranking students?

monkeygirl, dargie where do you guys go to college?

The first lesson you may have to learn is patience. If you want thoughful, helpful answers you may have to wait a little while. We can give you opinions, but they don't mean a thing if you can't garner access to the martial art we suggest. They also won't mean anything if the instructor of the martial art we suggest is terrible. You need to follow the advice of White Warlock and start looking around for yourself. Another thing, just because JKD was started by Bruce Lee doesn't make it the best thing on earth. Those schools are restriced by the same laws that govern every other school. For it to be good, it must have a good instructor, a good infrastructure, and willing participants.

He's school aged, he can control himself, is this an actual mental handicap or is this ADD, ADHD or something of that nature?

a couple questions, how old is the student, and what is the nature of the mental handicap (how serious, what is it, etc.)?

do what you'd do with other students. If you need to make him do a few pushups, do some running, do something. You can't just let things go on that disturb the class. If it is beyond everyone's control, talk to your sensei about talking to his parents. Karate can be good for people who are mentally handicapped or who have ADD, or other assorted disorders, but if he continually disturbs the class which disallows others from having their full time to practice that's not fair to them. Unfortunately, you may have to consider not having him in the class.

The couple people that I've talked to that do drunken have said the best way to learn is to know what it's like to be drunk. They don't drink to the point of being drunk, but they may have a drink or two just to get the feeling. This is for practice a couple times. It allows your actual execution to be more natural.

I think most people like to start on the bo because it's a fairly basic weapon. The complication of turning the tuifa isn't there, the complication of flipping the sai isn't there. The bo is a good intro weapon. As far as difficulty finding, I have found that many who teach the bo also teach the sai. They're generally good at both, some actually being much better as the sai. You are correct about the tuifa though. You need a good kobudo guy who was trained in Okinawa at some point, or learned from someone who had done so, to get good instruction in the tuifa.

If you stick around you might go to jail, if you run, you WILL go to jail.

If I'm kicking you with a power shot from my rear leg, it's going to be to the legs, to the stomach, to the hip, not to the face. And trust me with enough practice you can be fast on the draw from the rear leg. It takes practice, but it is possible. Not everyone is slow from the back.

oh, that's an entirely different question.