Taikudo-ka

Ron, you are right. I just measured. Lunging forward punch - about 6 feet. Front or Side kick - about 3 feet. These are both from a natural standing position. When the lunge punch is combined with an extra initial step it can cover an enormous amount of ground very quickly.

I think once you get over the raising and lowering of stances, the basics in most karate styles are nearly identical. There are little things, like Isshin's vertical fist, the "old style" fist, slight stance variations, but it's all obviously "karate". They all use a subset of the same larger group of forms, which are well documented and categorized, generally following the naha, tomari, or shuri-te origins of the style. There's been plenty of mixing and modifying, but the basic techniques all still seem to be there in some form or another. The only difference in styles seems to come from the particular kata combinations used, plus more importantly from the WAY these kata are interpreted. Anyone can practice Naihanchi (Tekki) but it's really the way Motobu interprets and uses it, and the attitude he approaches karate with, that makes "Motobu-Ryu". He is, to me, the Bruce Lee of the Karate world. If you study his works, you can see what karate is and isn't, if you want it to be effective, not "dance" or "sport". He was living proof that karate could be VERY effective when done right.

In Australia there are almost no babies available for adoption. I recently got statistics from (from someone trying to adopt) - about 9 babies available, several hundred prospective parents. Criteria are SO high that most adopt babies from Asia instead. However, lesbian couples are demanding the right to free (govt. paid) in-vitro fertilization... Not too sure about this. People can do as they please, but sometimes I feel that that is one lifestyle choice where you have to accept the natural consequences, so to speak. Takes two to tango - I don't want to see men made obsolete by machinery... (That's just my male pride speaking, of course) My own parents were divorced, and the older I get, the more I cannot deny that a healthy yin/yang balance (mother and father) simply has to be the best environment for a child. Here is an interesting statistic. In China the "birth" rate is 140 boys for every 100 girls. This imbalance is an accelerating trend, with more and more boys born over time. Assuming society norms of one husband per wife are observed, we are going to see a LOT of lonely old Chinese men, or a lot of gay Chinese men, or both, in the near future. And none of these poor men even have a single brother or sister to turn to for comfort...

Hehe but only the Australians volunteered troups immediately.

Thanks Don, ZR... We are actually counting on you guys if anyone DID invade. We ***** and gripe about the Yanks sometimes, but I think our military policy is still based on "The U.S. will save us!". Texans with British accents...haha You know, I know what you mean, but I never would have thought of that myself. I might disappoint you in real life though - I don't own an Akubra hat, or an oilskin coat, I've never wrestled a crocodile, my skin is as pasty as any New Yorker and I burn at the beach... I wear a woollen beanie, NY style, when its cold, all my shorts hang below my knees and I prefer pickles to beetroot on my burger. I've never drunk a Foster's beer in my life. OTOH, like a Texan, a pause in conversation signifies THOUGHT, not lack thereof. I like barbequed steak. I've eaten plenty of kangaroo (one of the best red meats). I've seen a few snakes while hiking in the bush. And I saw a crocodile once, at the zoo.

Yes, ZakariRu, that is a troll.

Looks like a good site - I wanted to get into the database to compare moves between styles, but I've never recieved the email giving me access... even though I registered days ago. Hehe the subconscious learning was a hoot, but how to get access to the real site?

http://www.society.webcentral.com.au/motobu_choki_book.htm has the book he wrote, translated to English. http://www.dragon-tsunami.org/Tsunami/Pages/motoburev.htm has a review of the video mentioned above. http://www.lawrencetown.com/masters.htm has information on the two descendants of Motobu RonRyu mentioned. I see there are two Motobu-Ryu's - the family style carried on by Choki's elder brother, and Motobu Shi-To Ryu, carried by Choki's son, and influenced by, obviously, Shi-To, among others. Interesting.

Traditional... I saw a survey at one site, which had reasons for initially doing karate. Self defense topped the list at 40%, with "to enter competitions" scoring a big fat zero. NOONE initially started karate in order to win competitions. Yet this article made the point that most people are herded into sports karate once they start

- "Can you name me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? (.... sound familiar???)" Yes. Many times. We are called the Australians, and every time in the past century our British or American masters have shouted "Tally-Ho" we've leapt up like the faithful dogs we are and gone charging enthusiastically into the fray regardless of the issue. And after the fuss has dies down, our reward has inevitably been a kick in the guts, maybe tossed a few old bones, or ignored and sent back to the kennel. We were there in the Boer War. The British executed Breaker Morant as a traitor... We were there for World War 1. We were the ones used as expendable cannon fodder by British commanders on the beaches of Gallipoli. We were there in WW2. We were the ones that actually fought the Japanese hand to hand in the jungles of southeast Asia and Papua New Guinia in World War 2, knee deep in mud and slime and leeches and rotting corpses. We had the Japanese bomb not military bases but a city. (Darwin). We were there in Korea, in Vietnam, and in every other dirty little skirmish the US has been involved in since. When Uncle Sam said "Lets Go" after 9/11, we were the only ones that said "Yes Sir" while all of Europe hesitated and ummed and ahhed and tried to sort things out rationally. And out reward is? As this board shows, no-one even remebers that we've done these things...

- "Why is America always helping other countries when they never help America? " I have one thing to say about this: Protectionist trade tarrifs. From the Australian point of view, Bush's "level playing field" consists of everyone else together on the plain, with the US up on the hill... We dropped ours, and instead of doing likewise Uncle Sam got his up, and proceeded to shaft us.

:argue: Some have wondered who profits from war... Well not the government, that's for sure. A good portion of most developed countries "national debt" originates in various war-time activities. So who profits? International banks. International arms companies. Simple. The entire debt backed, bond based "fractional" reserve financial scam that passes for currency nowdays originates directly a certain British king needing to finance a war he couldn't afford, and signing up for a "plan" presented by the Bank of England. Since then, the banking system has made vast amounts and gained enormous power by lending "money" to governments to finance wars. The entire US Federal Reserve system is technically illegal according to the original US Constitution, and basically operates on the loop-hole that it is a "Federal" agency, not the States. Any arms company's profit is directly related to war. Somewhere is a factory making bombs and missiles, and every one ordered by the US Air Force to drop on Afghanistan or anywhere else respresents a profit for this company. Companies like Lockheed rely on commissions from the US Govt to develop fancy new fighters and bombers, and then pay massive $$ for these hi tech toys. IT becomes a Catch 22 - without govt military support, such companies wouldn't exist. However, once the govt starts funding them and buying toys, they have to keep it up so that the companies remain in business. If they stop spending, all these companies wither and disappear, and the US loses its military advantage. Even in a small country like Australia, our ration of military to education spending is obscene. I can only imagine in the US it's worse...

I'd like to know more as well. He is certainly a fascinating character. My understanding is that his fighting method died with him as an "independant style". Although he arrived in Japan before Funakoshi, he was not successful in spreading his style of karate while there. Although Motobu was an intelligent and literate man, from an Okinawan noble family, he spoke only Okinawan dialect, and it was easy for Funakoshi to claim he was an "uneducated illiterate" to the Japanese. Poor Motobu had no means to defend himself against these accusations, although the vitriol he poured on Funakoshi is also well recorded. Ironically, on Okinawa, Motobu was two social classes higher than Funakoshi... There is a martial art known as Motobu-Ryu. This is NOT a style based on Choki's own karate. It is a family style featuring lots of grappling, passed down through the Motobu family, and taught to Choki's eldest brother. Being the youngest son, Choki was not allowed to learn this style, although he did pick up some moves by spying on his brother's training. His own style was based largely on his street fighting experience, and also later the Naihanchi kata. He has said that Naihanchi is the only kata needed in order to know how to fight effectively.

In fact, every weapon has evolved out of some tool. If it wasn't a farm implement, it was a hunting tool, or a craft tool. the axe - for cutting wood the spear and bow - for hunting game the knife - for cutting up food, cutting material, furs, etc. the hammer - cracking nuts, driving wood piles, 1001 other uses. The sword is just a big knife (in principle, not practise), and the cruise missile is just a big firecracker. Everything can probably be traced back to the stick, the stone, or the bone.

Hey, now come to think of it the traditional European sword-cane was capable of concealing a full-length fencing sabre! Who'd suspect that. They must be still available somewhere.

Yeah, go for it Dee. I just realized that girls are actually outnumbering the guys in my class. (Although it varies, and there are other classes that could have a different balance.) Despite my post earlier, there are plenty of "small demons" in my class as well, particularly some of the young women. In some ways they are harder to spar, because with two grown men, we exercise a certain control. Some of the younger/smaller ones seem to think "ooh, a big guy, I'll have to try hard" and just go hell for leather, hitting as fast and hard as possible. They get in under your guard and cause much grief. Bon, my point is not that grappling is useless (far from it). But I feel that there is a "range" of weight/strength outside which it becomes difficult. The more skilled you are, the bigger the range. I'm sure an expert judo/jitsu-ka or aikido-ka can pretty much cope with the full range of human builds. (None of the soft-arts founders were big guys - most were tiny). But I do think it takes more expertise and training to get to this level, whereas anyone can learn very quickly to kick hard to the groin - it takes minimal practise to be effective and deliver "sufficient force", even if you're small. THEN you can learn the more advanced stuff that takes longer to master and make effective. I train with a guy who did Aikido for a year. I asked if he had any techniques he could use against me during sparring. He didn't. One year of training, and he freely admits he learnt nothing he can apply against basic karate attacks. (I get the feeling his opinion of Aikido is not very high...) Doesn't stop him from planting a hook kick learnt only last week right in my head... Your point about the guard position and a "typical" rape is a good one. Maybe fighting from this position should be a vital technique for women's self defense. I know G95 has a good interpretation of Tekki kata as "fighting in guard", on your back.

In European martial traditions, the majority of the great pole-arms of history were farm tools mounted on enormously long poles. With such a weapon, peasant foot soldiers were able to defeat heavily armed and armored knights. There are almost infinite variations on the pole-arm theme - pole axes, halberbs, pikes, glaives, guisarms, etc, etc. Some had poles up to six meters in length. See http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Dungeon/9939/arms.htm for details on these weapons.

Some kobudo weapons I've heard of: Staff (bo/jo) - walking stick/staff (or pole from rake, shovel, broom, etc) Oar - a simple boat oar, for rowing Nunchuck - part of horse bridle. I believe early nunchucks imitated the curved bridle shape. Tonfa - may have been a mill handle. However, similar weapons are found throughout Asia and it may always have had a martial application. Sai - I've heard that this was always a weapon, like a sword. May have evolved from a pitchfork but the modern application seems purely martial. Kama - A sickle, used for cutting straw and grass.

The most effective weapon is a pair of well trained hands. Can't be banned, confiscated, disarmed, or checked at the door. Won't get you arrested for carrying. Ready at an instant. Carrying a weapon is not a realistic option for most people in modern civilized society. Maybe things are a bit different over in the US... BTW if you use a knife like a stick you miss out on the best (most lethal) techniques. A stick only inflicts damage on impact - a knife can continue to cut, slash and rip as it moves along the body, also stab, or stab then slash (ouch!).

There was an original Korean martial art, based largely on kicking. However, my understanding is that practise had fallen off and that the art was fairly "degraded" from its original, ie not many practitioners and those who did were not of high standard. Modern TKD was pretty much a fresh start, with a VERY large Japanese blood transfusion to get the patient going. It evolved from there so definitely WTF is not "thousands of years old".

The best thing when in doubt about things like this is to look at the original kanji. This gives you a meaning, which is generally the same everywhere, and a range of pronunciations, which differ between Mandarin, Chinese, Okinawan, Japanese On, Japanese Kun, etc. So we can see that, for example, kempo, kenpo, quan fa and chuan fa are all different pronunciations (dialects/accents) of the same word. (Fist System) Shorin, Shorei and Shorinji are all variations on "Shaolin" (a difficult word for the Japanese tongue). I've heard that originally they were not spelled "correctly" on Okinawa but written with whatever kanji happened to closely fit the pronunciation, hence the variations in English spelling as well. Seems like Chinese kung fu was considered very "hip" for a while back in Okinawa, and everyone wanted to call their school "Shaolin Style". All you needed to do was add a few kata from a Chinese kung-fu school to your existing Te, and voila -you now teach "Shaolin Style Quan Fa" - Shorinji Kempo. This gave us kata like Sanshin, Wanshu, Kusanku, Chinto, Gojushiho and Hakkatsu. Ronryu is right about the shorei/shorin connection to naha/shuri te. However, terms like "kempo" are generic and apply to a wide range of styles. Really, any style of karate could be called "kempo" whether its part of the school's "official" name or not.

Hi Dee. Glad to hear you love karate! With Bruce's quote - "There is not an art stong enough to defend a women against a 300 lb. man." I don't think he is saying women shouldn't do martial arts. Even his wife was originally a student at his kwoon. His point is one of realism, balance. Martial arts are great for women, HOWEVER, you should realize that a few karate or kung fu lessons will not give a slender 120 lb. women some magical guarantee of victory against a huge hulking 300 lb. guy brimming with aggression. The same problem actually applies to guys as well. It's just more obvious with women because they are on average smaller and less aggressive. All the more reason to train even harder. Hard work and realism, no magic bullets - that's all Bruce is getting at. Notice he says "there is not an art strong enough...", NOT "there is not a woman strong enough...". Really its a jab at the old "my art is better than yours" argument, and he's basically saying that the artist is more important. No one STYLE will give you a magical advantage that lets you defy physics and perform superhuman feats. That is what he means by "there is not an art strong enough...". I have noticed the phenomenon Bon talks about. A fair proportion (NOT all) of women who seem to either not understand the physics of punching, or if they do are simply unwilling to hit hard. I think it's a social conditioning thing, like the new girl I sparred with...after I finally got her to give me a light tap on the chest, she backs off with her hands over her mouth in shock! "Oh, sorry, sorry, so sorry!"... She must get over this "conditioned" response in order to have effective self-defense. I'm sure she will and she'll make a fine karateka. This (seeming instinct against hitting hard) is a shame, because I stil believe that a striking art is the only thing that would let a small women successfully defend against a larger attacker. Forget grappling and throwing, I guarantee that brute force will win out if you try to wrestle. But even a small woman can in theory strike with enough force to cause damage to a large man's weak points like groin, eyes, nose, temples, etc. A hard kick to the groin is no respecter of strength or size - it hurts every guy the same. Then get the hell out of there. So as you can see, I believe martial arts can be very valuable and effective for women. In fact, I think all women should do self defense, because rapists and muggers are generally relying on the victim to be passive, compliant and non aggressive.

I've heard that Shi To (and I think Uecchi) have similar things, but they are, as you say, much more relaxed and easy. I remeber hearing that the Uechhi verson was very relaxed, with almost normal breathing. Anyway, one thing I noticed noone addressed was the so called "Kime Belly", aka "why do old masters have big guts?". Is it really due to constant deep abdominal breathing, or was Bruce Lee right - just out of shape.

It would only be good if you're actually carrying those weapons around, or can grab something similar nearby (not always possible). Now most people don't strap on a katana, nunchucks, a sai in each boot, a pocketfull of shuriken and a Bo-staff in their hand just to walk out the front door, go to work, meet mates at the pub, or go out to dinner with your girlfriend... Most countries it would be against the law, and even if it wasn't, you'd be considered something of a "paramilitary" type weirdo. Hence the overall usefulness of unarmed techniques for everyday self defense. You're always "ready and armed", without anyone knowing.

I think you have a very good view point there, Smiley Man. If approached this way, everyone would have their own "theme" and adjust their moves accordingly. Kind of like JKD. Makes more sense than just trying to steal good bits from everywhere.