daizyblackbelt

I personally loathe getting hit in the head (who doesn't?), but it happens. No matter how good you are. It should be expected that you're going to get hit, and if you do, you deal with it. Get up, roll with it, take it, stumble backwards with your hands in a covering guard; whatever is appropriate for how you got hit. I've had my nose rearranged by a punch with those WKF approved inch and a half padded sparring gloves. That was a hard punch. What bothers me is when the rules of the tournament say light-contact and you see people getting drilled and none of the judges do anything about it. That's the only time that I "whine". but that's always been a problem with judged sports, whether they be ice-skating or martial arts. I personally pride myself on my control. I can throw a full speed punch to the face while attacking and my opponent's nose will mostly feel wind. but recently, I've noticed myself going for slightly heavier contact. I've become very disenchanted with point sparring. It's given me many things (speed, agility, patience, etc) but i'm looking for something else.

i've never known a dojo to ban punches to the head. My experience isn't all that diverse, but everywhere i've been the head has always been a target. We don't allow younger and less experienced students to attack the head in a friendly sparring match, but i know a lot of headhunters who pretty much only go for the face. And i agree with bushido man, it seems to be that they should have their hands up more.

from my various kendo instructors, I've been to told to bow while looking my "dangerous" partner in the eyes and to show them respect by bowing without staring at them. In my karate dojo, we bow eyes down. you can still see them in your peripheral vision, and it we say that it provides protection for the throat by keeping the chin down. Either way, i don't think it's all that big a deal.

yeah, no matter how good you are, it's nearly impossible to block something from that close (except by luck). best bet is to act with caution and keep your distance.

my training has been quite sketchy recently as i'm no longer in my home town, working through college, and trying to start a karate club here at my university. But i decided to compete in an in style tournament, just for fun. one of my friend's and i always compete in the entertainment division for kicks and we always (ALWAYS) make it up the night before. we were practicing our fight scene the morning of the tournament, and he swept me, and he did it quite well, but i landed on my butt. on his knee. he was fine of course, but my leg was pretty much useless. but i walked it off, and stretch it, and it seemed to just be a nasty bruise. so i decided to compete in kata, but not in sparring. the 3rd to last move of my kata (chatanyara kusanku) is a double flying front kick. on the second kick, my right leg (the same one that was already injured) made an odd popping noise. i landed on it in a front stance and performed the last two moves, in cat stances (all the weight on the back leg) managing to keep from showing it. and then i limped back to the sidelines. on the plus side, my leg is finally getting better. the bruise healed after a month or so (it was the most impressive shades of purple, blue, black, green, and yellow), and the hamstring was pulled just like bushido_man's.

it's debatable. grew up in eugene, but going to school in corvallis. duck by heritage, beaver by association. when they play each other i just hide somewhere until everybody calms down.

my worst experience was last year with a TKD "club" that some people formed in my dorm. the guy who was nominally in charge claimed to have something on par of 7 Dan ranks in different styles including a style of karate i'd never heard of, ninjustsu, several styles of kung fu, and so on. i decided to tag along because i needed some sort of training, not having started the club i'm trying to found now. the class began with some simple enough kicks, and then progressed onward to more and more ludicrous techniques. he continued to preach about "combat effctiveness" and then belied that with every technique he wanted us to do. spinning hook kicks, "knife" kicks, right spinning back fist to left spinning backfist (yeah...turn your back on the enemy TWICE! good plan!) i was also a little under the weather and he didn't get the best impression of my skill-level, but i'm positive i could have taken him apart. depsite his claim of immense knowledge he was way to dependant on kicks. His philosopies on self-defense were stilted and inconsistant and were preached at us from beginning to end. the legality of killing someone never came up, but the morality did. we were told to avoid palm strikes. he discouraged ad-libbing and innovation. the list goes on. in 3 hours this guy became one of my least favorite people on the planet. needless to say i never went back.

most so-called "traditional" styles of japanese kobudo are taught this way. you'll also notice the rigidity and similarity to empty hand forms don't seem to translate very well into effective armed techniques. sure the punch with sai/tonfa in hand works, but the "punching" motion in bo katas for the basic strike? where's the practicality in that? you deny yourself the SIX FOOT reach of your weapon if you remain in the 1/3 1/3 1/3 grip that is taught. Yamanni Chinen-ryu is a style of kobudo that (so far as i have been told by the experts, who are admittedly biased being being practioners of the art) is virtually unchanged from the times it was acutally used in combat. The katas are much more dynamic and free-flowing than any other you will see. the foot work in every sequence can cover an entire gym, or 2 inches depending on the situation. Emphasis is made on power generation using the core/abs and forward momentum of the user rather than generating power from a static stance. in the case of bo the hands are always in motion, to allow striking with both ends at their maximum range and for different distancing. The man who is spreading this style (Sensei Toshihiro Oshiro) also has experience in kendo and is attempting to modify the combat rules of kendo to create a bo-fighting system using what is effectively two shinai attached end to end. (i haven't been exposed to this yet...but i'm hoping will be at some point). Additionally, there seems to be a variability in the nature of the kata taught. the basic pattern remains the same, but occaisional changes suggest that the actual order is really immaterial, which is a very odd take on kata for a man who is also a traditional karateka. it's also been speculated (though no one has asked him) that he changes the katas depending on what he decided people need to work on.

i've been taking kendo for a little less than a year now. it's a fun activity, but it always has to be kept in mind that it's a SPORT. not everything is as practical as one might like. (though asking a martial art dealing with ancient japanese weapons to be practical is a bit of a stretch). you're LUCKY you're a lefty. the left hand does all of the work in a correct cut. the sword is only sheathed on the left side so as to be drawn with the right right hand. your typical kendo cut is powered by the left hand, and controlled by the right. i don't personally have any knowledge of korean kendo other than it's name: kumdo.

i think that most everyone has doubted their abilities at one point or another. in a way, it's important to do so. overconfidence is never a good thing, especially when dealing with self-defense situations. That being said, knowing the basics is the most important thing. a simple block and punch, or a preemptive strike can end a situation very quickly. and much of the time, the best option is to run, forgoing the combat completely. Personally, my doubts lie in my ability to be aware of my surroundings. i know that no matter how vigilant i am, i cannot notice everything. something can blindside me at anytime. so i practice my BASIC martial skills (blocks, kicks, strikes, simple takedowns/submissions) and hope that that doesn't ever happen.

Shudokan Karate: footwork, power generation, speed, accuracy, flexibility, low kicks, agility. Kendo: the impractical knowledge of how to whack people in the head with bamboo. Yamanni-ryu: power generation, grace, bo techniques Navaja Knife: commitment.

Shudokan Karate (NOT Shotokan) Shudokan karate is most easily described by comparing it to other styles of karate. It's formal, but less rigid than shotokan; circular, but less so than Goju-ryu; and sometimes short and fast like shito-ryu. It comes from the dojo of Kanken Toyama (a student of Itosu's who was one of two of that master's trusted student, the other being Gichin Funakoshi). We practice many kata, many bunkai, point sparring, and have a self-defense curriculum that has saved many people from attackers. Our unique katas include the "secret" (i.e. not taught or demonstrated outside the style) kyoku katas (seven in all, shodan, nidan, sandan, etc), and many katas ending in the word "shin" (SHEEN, meaning spirit). Our self-defense system covers everything from hand/wrist grabs, to gun defenses (i wouldn't ever want to use those, but they are bloody effective as proved through practice with squirt guns...). It comes both from traditional karate and newer systems like krav maga and CDT. The general emphasis is mostly on basics however, the simplest techniques that will get you through most anything. Simple kicks, blocks, and strikes. Kicks are either snapping or thrusting. All techniques involve the use of the hips to power them. Our kumite is generally light/medium contact, but we mix it up among the higher ranks sometimes. Yamanni Chinen-ryu (kobudo) Yamanni-ryu is, so far as can be determined, the real martial weapons heritage of Okinawa. The "traditional" weapons forms practiced by most people these days lack the power, grace, and combat effectiveness of this style. It is being spread by Sensei Toshiro Oshiro from his dojo in San Diego. The weapons taught are bo, sai, and tonfa. I've currently only progressed with the bo and sai, but i adore it. The key to the style is controlled imbalance, using your body to generate power and speed with little effort by seemingly almost falling over (still working on that one...). It relies heavily on the use of the body to power the weapon, not using the muscles of the arm, but of the core. In the case of the bo, the weapon is constantly in motion, never sticking to the hands, but always sliding to make the best use of leverage (unlike the 1/3 divisions of traditional bojutsu). Supposedly, though i have not been exposed to it, there is a form of sparring being introduced. Sensei Oshiro has practiced kendo and it is very similar to that, but using two shinai connected end-to-end to form a bo. This is something fairly unique as it would allow practitioners to become more combat proficient with traditional weapons. Kendo and Iaido Kendo is a martial art/sport that teaches the use of the japanese sword using non-lethal alternatives. Shinai and bokuto (bokken) are used in practice to learn form and technique. The emphasis is on learning to spar in a ring with judges awarding points to the strikes that show the most ki-ken-tai-ichi (spirit, sword, and body acting as one). Primarily a sport, it ignore many of the traditional cuts found in iaido and sticks with 4 basics attacks: shomen-uchi (cut to the head), kote-uchi (cut to the hand), do-uchi (cut to the side), and tsuki (stab to the throat). Bogu (armor) is worn to protect those targets. All cuts are made with a downward motion. The foot work is very bizarre, requiring a straight posture and mostly straight legs. but it seems to work fairly well for the sport. The weapon work takes some getting used to (though my out of the ordinary bo experience helped) as it requires the most effort from the left hand. Iaido is the art of sword drawing and cutting. I just started practicing this, but it is the more formal, internal version of japanese swordsmanship. It consists of many katas, that consist of a movement drawing, cutting with, cleaning, and then sheathing the sword. I could also tack on Spanish Navaja knife fighting, and medieval weapons, but this is long enough as it is. And soon i get to take judo! yay!

i would say that style, at least in terms of TECHNIQUE, is important. an "ugly" punch is generally one that wouldn't work as well as a "pretty" punch. you're right about a move just having to work. an ugly block that works is better than ending up with a broken nose. adaptation is also very important though. but without knowing how to execute a technique properly it's impossible to adapt it to anything else. That being said, a bit of style never hurt anyone as long it's not theatrical. Looking in control and not just flailing around tends to make people take you more seriously.

i find it curious that the sidebar info about the movie references geoff thompson, who is a renowned self-defense expert and previous traditional martial artist. I don't know if Mr. Thompson had anything to do with the video, but it is intriguing.

low right mawashi geri (fake to suck them in) right leg retracts, right yoko geri to stop them (stomach or chest) right jab, left reverse punch. unstoppable combo if they fall for the round kick. i love it!