Bitseach

If you were being ultra-zanshinish, you could perhaps avoid the footsweep using that sweeping move in the tekki-sho-dan kata? LOL! Brain's gone blank and I can't think of the name for it, but that stance that's like the horse-stance except twisted slightly to a 45deg angle (sochin?) is VERY stable, even to bumps from either side. I used to try it (when I was very very bored) on the Tube (the Underground/Metro rail system in London) which is very bumpy indeed and it was the most stable stance I'd ever been in! The carriage was completely empty before you think I'm totally bonkers!

As a teacher myself, I must say, "YEah, if only!" LOL

7th Kyu judo 3rd kyu shotokan

And on a more practical level, kata, like any movement drills, help us to develop conditioned reflexes so that our movements can become reflex, almost intuitive. Most katas also practise moves to both left and right sides, practice which is often omitted from regular training.

There is poetry in the movement of a well-executed kata and, like good poetry, practising it elevates the soul.

When people go on about the "true" path in martial arts I am reminded of those religious annoyances who go on about their religion/sect/denomination being the only way to get to heaven. Trying other styles will undoubtedly help your "home" style MA, whether it be through different training, slightly different techniques or whatever. You will have found another style helpful but it is not necessarily the "true path". There is no one true path for everyone.

Sure doesn't everyone pray to a flag every morning at school anyway? Maybe the flag will help them when the bogeymen come...

You wouldn't say that if you were gay or an ethnic minority, or in any way openly liberal!!

I am curious. Now that it is strongly suspected that the IRA terrorists were indeed in Columbia helping FARC terrorists in the global terror network and that one of the sworn enemies of FARC is the USA, when will America be bombing Ireland? ETA are also in on all this - I await the "daisycutters" landing on the Basque region of Spain, with great anticipation. Incidently, as the US courts have, on many occasions, sheltered IRA terrorists and refused to extradite them to the UK (your ALLY) where they were found guilty of planting bombs and killing and maiming innocent people (albeit not quite on the same scale as the 11/9) should the US be bombing itself? Sounds like state-sanctioned terrorism to me. ...and then of course there was the Iran-Contras affair, that red-neck moron Oliver North, and the good President Alzheimer Raygun himself... they should probably all be in cages in Gitmo Bay? Surely we/they should not be so selective in the fight against terrorism? And remember, the guys we are arming today will no doubt be our enemies in a few years' time. [ This Message was edited by: Bitseach on 2002-04-25 08:03 ]

Er, yeah, but they had to use those sharp swords to defend themselves for real! Rather like armies going into real battles with blank ammo! In modern, everyday civilised (supposedly) society, why have a sharp sword? I can think of few legal, sane reasons for ownership.

3rd Kyu (brown belt first level) Shotokan karate, training on and off 10 years (don't grade much and a rubbish kicker anyway!) 7th Kyo judo (at least when parts of this thread got terse the whole thread wasn't closed down - I spent an age once replying on a thread then two people after me got shirty and the whole thread was closed - it was quite annoying. Why the offensive messages weren't just deleted and the posters disciplined is beyond me!)

EnvE - yeah, good point. I've had a good start on several interviews through being a volunteer ambulance worker. The other thing is that it's a great conversation starter which gives you a bit of instant rapport with the interview panel. The other thing that can be a help or a hindrance is something like military service, volunteer police service, Red Cross or things like that. In the USA don't you have ROTC for college, or National Guard? The other advantage of this stuff is that you can learn more self-defence skills and it's great physical activity! Check out http://www.armyrotc.com/ for details. (Unless you're a pacifist, in which case, forget all the above!)

...not to mention the risk of heart attacks (how come so many old geezers have them on the golf course - it's not like it's that strenuous!) or lightning strikes. Maybe the MA aren't so bad after all!

At my old club there was a 1st Dan who used to biff people in the face the whole time. No matter how many times she was told by the Sensei to use control and not to punch to the face she would do so anyway. She ended up really hurting people, who were holding back on the sparring so that they wouldn't inflict damage (like we were supposed to do!). With her though, if you got through her guard at all she'd go mental and try to teach you a lesson or something. It probably didn't help that she was about 5'2" and Japanese. She talked alot about how Westerners were soft and didn't show enough respect for Japanese culture! Cow. Other Dan grades, if you got past their guard, they'd tell you, 'well done' afterwards but she just got red mist. (Other senior Dan grades also had a word with her a few times about control and lack thereof but nothing seemed to go in). It got to the point where nobody wanted to spar with her because of her lack of control and people started refusing (after all if she was going to ignore the Sensei then we were going to have to disobey him, if only out of self-preservation!) She was well in with the Sensei and a lot of people left the club in the end, myself included. After she nearly put my eye out twice in one sparring session I was not prepared to risk losing my vision or any teeth in what was supposed to be non- (or at least very light) contact sparring. So my point? Not everyone wants to do martial arts to be a street brawler or to do proper contact, and certainly not to lose teeth or sense organs! Also, as somebody pointed out already, most of us have day jobs and don't want black eyes either. If you can punch full contact on pads or a moving bag, and you are fast enough to get through someone's guard or block them, but to do it lightly, then do that, unless you are specifically in some kind of Deathbloke competition or seriously fighting for your life.

I imagine it would also be quite good for training the muscles to start to move in martial-artsy directions, you know, muscle memory and all that. Strength, technique and power can be added to that when "proper" training starts! Sounds like good fun and would definitely be a good workout! Go on, give it a go!

Again, I'm kind of reminded of Funakoshi's stories of how he was made to train in one kata for something like three years without ever being taught a new one!! (I'll bet he was BLOODY good at that kata though!)

Good grief! I haven't even heard of half these MAs! I have done judo and now do shotokan karate but would like to try tai chi and aikido. I am quite interested in wing chun kung fu and would like to learn it some time in the future - not enough time presently to train that much unless you're single with no other hobbies!

http://www.karateforums.com/forums/faq.php#ranks Go here and you'll see the rankings - on your 25th post you'll pass your first forum grading! (we're probably in the wrong place here with this topic - they are quite strict with the topic headings - a good thing but can be confusing certainly!) As you can see, I am but a lowly white belt on this forum, myself!

If my partner beat anybody "to a pulp" on my behalf it'd be the last thing they'd do for me as part of a couple! How uncivilised! So far with only one exception I have talked my way out of trouble, or occasionally ignored my way out of trouble (or at least seemed to!). The exception was when someone grabbed my wrist in the street. Instinctively I did something akin to an uchi-uke block and in doing so broke his grip on me. And THEN talked my way out of the rest of the trouble right until I could get to a phone box to get the police! Surely as martial artists we are duty bound NOT to use our art unless in the most extreme circumstances? Going to fisticuffs over anything verbal does is inappropriate and shows weakness of character, in my opinion. Any actual fight should be as short as possible and should inflict only reasonable force, not wanton damage, or any sort of lesson or punishment to the opponent. (on a separate but related note, this thread has become kind of sexist!) Ug! Ug!!

Just out of curiosity, why would anyone want a proper, sharp-edged sword in a civilised society anyway? Surely for practice of a martial art it is rarely going to be necessary to be able to split a body in half with one stroke, etc, etc? (One has to worry about people who are too "into" knives, guns, etc surely!!) "pa, can I make him squeal like a piggy?" (cue banjo and guitar, duelling) ;o)

To nuke someone is as cowardly an action as to kill civilians with a terrorist bomb.

Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them

Zaknafein - just in case you think you are going mad, I got it that you were joking with the "lucky" comment! (This culture of having to put these inane "smilies" on everything is quite preposterous!) The attack on America on 11/9/01 was a tragedy and a travesty. To a lot of other countries and their people, however, it was the chickens coming home to roost. The USA has been seen to be blindly supporting the torture and murder of Palestinians in the Middle East, the bombing of countless civilians in Iraq (against a regime that the USA financed and armed when Iran was the greater enemy) and Afghanistan (and let's not forget who enabled the Taliban to come to power in the first place by arming and financing the Mujahadeen when the USSR was the "great evil"). The plain fact is that a lot of Muslims have seen the USA and UK get away with killing hundreds if not thousands of people and nobody takes them to task about it (perhaps because the bodies killed in that case were all poor and mainly brown?) This is why some unenlightened people think that Bin Laden is their hero. The latest unpleasant revelation is that young children are developing breast and uterine cancers due to the depleted uranium shells that the USA and UK used in the Gulf conflict. (see http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_70000/70029.stm) The USA was only able by international law to go into Afghanistan and start kicking arse because they could prove to the international community's satisfaction that the terrorists involved were part of the de facto government of that nation - otherwise they would have been invaders themselves. If the Basque separatist group, ETA, had carried out the bombing, would the USA have gone into Spain with cannon roaring? OR if they had been Chinese terrorists? They wouldn't have dared! But Afghanistan is a puny little country so they can do what they like. Come to that, the UK mainland has been bombed by the Irish Republican Army terrorists for over 30 years - should the UK invade Ireland now? Certainly the Irish government of the past gave tacit support to the IRA's cause. Even more germane, many IRA terrorists have been financed by American groups - NORAID being the best known - and many terrorists have been allowed to remain in the USA by American judges who have claimed that they would be killed or persecuted if they were returned to UK gaols, and were political prisoners. So in effect the USA has harboured terrorists and supported and financed terrorist actions against another sovereign territority (and supposed ally!) itself. Now I am no supporter of terrorism - I come from Northern Ireland originally which has had the arse ripped out of it by terrorists of various political persuasions and I have nothing but contempt for any terrorist. However one has to be able to try to understand the point of view of the other side, however repellent it seems. (If for no other reason than to know the enemy!) (inane smiley time). My point is that no nation has its hands clean when it comes to international politics and no nation can claim to have the moral high ground even in a conflict like the current one. However, if you CLAIM the moral high ground then you have to be able to justify it. The Taliban prisoners are being treated worse than Tim McVeigh was for essentially the same crime. What is the difference there except that one of them is white? The USA is supposed to be better than the Taliban - they keep saying so. To disrespect these men's religion by the shaving of hair and beards is a defilement as bad as the Taliban blowing up the Buddhist monuments. Don't get me wrong, I in no way support any terrorists and I don't think any should be treated with kid gloves, but *we* are supposed to be better than *they* and we need to show it. _________________ [ This Message was edited by: Bitseach on 2002-04-05 04:21 ]

I know that Gichin Funakoshi reckoned you could sweat out any cold, any digestive ailment etc but what has everyone else found? Isn't it dangerous if you have a fever? Anyone? Anyone?

machine gun