Ryujin

Hello everyone! I'd just like to say that I've been around the site for a few days now, mostly just reading and making the odd post (as you can see by my pathetic post count ) and I think you guys have a quality forum here with excellent, knowledgeable members. Lately I've been thinking of starting martial arts, for a few reasons. I want to boost my confidence, get in control of my sometimes heated temper and get in shape. Basically, I want to improve my body and my mind, and become more in tune with both. And of course, as a usefull side effect, I will also learn to defend myself. I have luckily never been in a situation where I have had to fight someone, but I know that because of my absolute lack of experience, should I ever need to, I would be creamed. The style I'm thinking of getting into is Karate, but I have a few questions for you guys/gals first. First of all, I've heard/read about different styles of karate. Is there really a big difference between them all and should I worry about this when I choose where I'm gonna train? I've also read that when you choose your style you should choose one that matches your body type, I'm about 5'11" or 6' and 200lbs (not ALL muscle unfortunatly ) So would karate suit my body type? For those of you who take karate, do you find it a well rounded art, with a good balance of grappling, strikes, and weapons training? Because I'm interested in all of them and don't want to get into something that emphasises to much on just on of those. And lastely, what's a good training schedule like, as in how many lessons a week? I don't want to invest in something without first knowing I'm going to have enough time to get anything out of it. Because of heard that if you only go lets say once a week, you wont get enough out of it to make it worth your while. I know thats a lot to ask, I'm sorry, but I know you are all knowledgeable so I'm sure you'll be able to answer my n00bish questions Thanks alot for all your help in advance Edit: Thanks for moving my thread, I didn't notice I placed it in the wrong place.

For those of you who said you have had a personal experiance with dragons, would you be willing to retell the story for us? I'd be really interested in hearing this, it sounds like it could be a rather powerfull or spiritual experiance.

They had a very large range of weaponry. Even their swords where varied. Traditionaly a ninja's sword was straight, but they also used katanas (especially if they were taken from a dead samurai,) and I've even heard of them using wooden swords (because they were lighter/quieter.) They used caltrops to stop enemies from following them, and sometimes dipped their blades/arrows/darts in poison. They were also very tricky, and there possesions often had hidden secondary uses. Such as making the scabard of their sword longer than it needed to be so that a hidden compartment could be built into the end, or desighning it so that the closed end could open up and then the scabbard could be used as a type of snorkle, allowing them to hide under water for long periods of time. Kusara-kama are another weapon they used, and a favourite of mine

But if this is true then you could say the same for any fight between two swordsmen who are at the same skill level.