Kinson

This post was originally published as an article in a dedicated KarateForums.com Articles section, which is no longer online. After the section was closed, this article was most to the most appropriate forum in our community. I'd like to present an analytical opinion on the concept of chivalry. Chivalry may sound like a grand idea at first, but when you consider it realistically it falls apart. Stories of chivalry in days of yore are most likely just that in 95% of cases - stories. Samurai? They killed who they wanted when they wanted as long as the offender was on the lower end of the social structure. These are men who brutally ended their own lives when they felt they had "failed" in some way. Is that chivalrous? Or is it a mixture of extreme pride and a disregard for life? Know what I call waiting for an enemy to be ready and gathered, facing me, before I attack (especially when my cause is a truly just one)? Reckless, stupid, absolutely arrogant and a betrayal if the cause is worth fighting for. It's almost as plain a question as: "What is more important, your life and cause or your sense of pride?" If it's pride, then, good for you, but I sure don't want you fighting on my side. Do you know what Musashi himself says in his Book of Five Rings? That he felt all the duels he had won before retiring to write the book were not won with a true understanding of the way of strategy, but rather natural talent and luck. You can learn something from this. He didn't start his art with preconceived morals and notions. His art was death, so he simply danced the dance of death. And from that dance he began to see something more. Let's not get caught up in abstract ideas. Morality is completely subjective. Chivalry as a concept doesn't have much weight to it when you break it down to metaphysics. There is no such thing as honor - an honorable act in one culture could seem completely disgraceful in the next. Murder in different cultures can be deemed as right or wrong. So why latch yourself onto such faulty conceptual structure as chivalry? Because it's old and therefor it's right? Chivalry as we tend to think of it didn't even exist back then. And even if it did, take a look around. In an age of bombs, guns and missiles, a warrior's job is NOT to be chivalrous - it's to win for the cause and live to tell the tale. There are individual underlying principles in chivalry that have worth, but as a complete idea it is lacking. Much of what we are conditioned to think of as "good" and "bad" has no legs to stand on when we actually question the meaning of good and bad and the reasons why we are raised to conform to a certain view. Morals are only "good" or "bad" in so far as they accomplish our subjective wants or needs. The valid use of generalizing things as being universally "good" or "bad" is so people in a community can function together peacefully, having been raised into similar modes of thought and conditioned "rules." Take it farther than that into the game of combat and you not only is your wisdom at risk, your life is. Make no mistake - the heart of the martial arts lies in death - or rather, a knowledge of both life and death and the flow therein. But we ain't learning how to bandage knees, folks. Chivalry does have it's place among warriors - among the dead and the soon to die, the ineffective and the overzealous. My advice? Figure out what's important to YOU. Not what is important to society, pop culture, religious institutions or fairytale idealogical structures. Preservation of life? Loyalty? Ok. Then ask "why?" Don't adopt fairytale ideas to reality, don't even automatically adopt the ideas you see in common society. Question, live. See what works and then question why it works. And progress, not only physically, but mentally, philosophically. Our best weapons as humans, let alone MAs, are a keen wit, clear thinking and a critical eye.

Probably more along the lines of buddhist or hindu

What mantras do you use in meditation? Should one focus on a single mantra, or a lot of different mantras? Do you know of any mantras that are considered self-activating ("incessant prayer")- as in, you repeat it constantly in daily life and it eventually takes hold within and works on it's own? Thank you!

Thanks for your input everyone, I think I'm going to lay low on the punching until class so I can ask my sensei...but feeling my way through it now it does seem that it might be coming from the way I'm using my shoulder. Thanks again all

When I do a full reverse punch, the force of it is sending this jolting, forcible ripple back up the shoulder and across the chest, up to neck. It causes neck stress really quickly. I can't be punching right, or you'd see Sensei's in neck casts all over...what the heck am I doing wrong here?

Ok, this whole bull-killing with your bare hands business...doesn't taking life for the sake of boasting your power miss the point of Karate completely?

Ok, thanks for your help everyone

I understand the need for a teacher to have a strong sense of respect, order, and care for his students and art, and I agree fully. But I don't think chivalry is the right word for that. I personally think the word "chivalry" represents more of that old shining knight idea, an idealistic mindset that will land you dead in a real combat situation. (For instance, the "fair duel" concept...) I think what most of us are really talking about here is just respect- for one's art, one's self, and others.

I was told that the rotation adds power to the blow...that's not true?

That's a pretty odd situation... I don't know if I'd call the meditating man lucky, or smart. On one hand, he could've been smashed in the face, on the other hand, there's a chance (depending on the man himself) that that blow would've never touched him, even with his eyes closed.. Personally, I think his whole point was to just drag out the situation long enough until the other fools got bored of it and left.

Thanks a lot Jussi, that's exactly what I needed to know

A few months back in my practicing, I aquired the idotic idea that it would be a good idea to punch hard wood to harden my knuckles and make them bigger...my right hand knuckles survived the dumbness with only a little enlargening and not much damage, but my left middle knuckle got round and huge, and is still painful from time to time. Will rest and ice return it to a normal human knuckle size? Or is that tissue/cartilage swollen up for good?

I went through all the punching threads I could find, and I couldn't find a clear answer to a question that's been bugging me... When you are in a hands-up fighting stance, with your hands up at face or chest level, should you: 1. Chamber punches at all? 2. Bring your hand/arm back from where it is up, or just shoot it straight forward from where it is? 2. Do the full palm up to palm down movement? I'm having a lot of trouble throwing fast succesive punches from a hands-up fighting stance using the chambering/palm up to down technique...all the twisting seems to be wasting a lot of motion.

What about the health benefits of Chi Kung as opposed to the health benefits of Tai Chi? How do they stack up?

Four questions regarding Tai Chi and Qi Gong: What are the most notable differences between Tai Chi and Qi Gong? Which style would you suggest as a compliment to karate (washin-ryu)? Is either really more "combat" oriented than the other? Does one develop ki better than the other?