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Although I have nothin' against you getting a tattoo, I just think that if you're gonna get a black belt tattooed on, you should be at the skill level of a black belt. Some people, especially senseis or sifus, might find it offensive, if you're not actually at that skill level. But if you want it, no one's stopping you (except your mom, maybe).

Oh, dear God...okay, here goes: Ninja live in clans. Unless you were born into a clan, I'm sorry, you are not a ninja. If you attempted to claim you were a ninja, a real clan, usually affiliated with the Yakuza, would send a real ninja to hunt you down. Oh, did I mention kill you? Bujinkan Taijutsu will teach you to fight like a ninja, but that doesn't mean you are one. These schools come from the Koga lineage, a clan which is now extinct. Therefore, their techniques are chronicled and taught, but that doesn't make you a ninja. Ninja are very secretive, and if there was one on these forums, he would never say it. A shinobi, on the other hand, is something within your reach, if you want to be one. This means that you: 1)Give up your life, family, friends, and home 2)Train your ass off to be the best of the best of the best 3)Get to know the Yakuze, Mafia, or some similar orginization 4)Do whatever you can to earn your pay Being a ninja is not like being in the army, where you go through training, go into service for five years, earn some cash, and go home. If you are to be a ninja or shinobi, you will live by clan rules, you will never reveal yourself, and you will be ready to give up your life at the snap of your superior's fingers. If you are told to go murder someone's three-year old daughter, you will do so. If you are told to assasinate your own mother, because she might have suspicions as to your 'line of work', you WILL assasinate your own mother. If you don't, and if you simply wish to leave the profession, there are two ways to getting out of it: 1)Seppukku (very messy suicide ritual) 2)Running away and being hunted down like a dog, then killed messily, and wrapped in your own intestines for the police to find I hope I have clarified regarding the nature of ninja. It is not something to be taken lightly. If you wish to be a shinobi, you may, but remember that you hold no honor. You are a hired killer. You will accept any job you are given, obey all orders, and put no value upon your own life. The only retirement you will recieve is death. This ain't the Marines, kid.

Yo.

Yo.

"Pain is healing." -Scott Norm

Crack your brain open in school, then crack your shins in Muay Thai. Nice life ya leadin' Ever come across this, by any chace? http://www.minandjen.com/lounge/lounge.htm (click on Kickboxing Accident) Have fun at Muay Thai! _________________ d----- [ This Message was edited by: -: on 2002-06-26 16:44 ]

This calls to mind an interesting Sanshou technique I saw done a while back. A groin grab called 'Gibbon Steals Fruit'. No, I'm dead serious. You can't halp but appreciate the Chinese for their morbidly poetic sense of humor.

Kali is more of a boxing style, used in sport and for self defense. It is quick, energetic, and great to watch, with most of the attacks aimed at knocking the crap out of your opponent without mortally injuring them. Broken bones, busted up face, stuff like that, but no killing. Silat, on the other hand, is made to kill, especially Pentjak Silat. Like Karate, it has been changed around in its modern form to be safer for practice, but to this day, 'village wrestling', it's traditional, deadly form, is still practiced. There's a lot more grappling than Kali, and you roll around a lot. The idea is to advance upon your opponent in slow circles. It's based on the same principle as Chinese water torture, and will, given time, make your opponent dizzy tracking your movements. When you close in, you find an opening, usually a pressure point, and start throwing a barrage of strikes at the area. For example, if your enemy stumbles, you slide into his range, hook his leg, and began punching him in the ribs. You continue punching him in the ribs until: a)he is dead b)he attempts to defend that area, in which case you find another exposed region and began your attack Kali is striking, Silat is wrestling. Kali is sport, Silat is lethal. Both are very diverse, and can be found in hundreds of forms, but share these basic characteristics.

That's the problem with Gracie JJ. It works in tournaments, but on the streets...sure, you can take one guy down, while the other kicks your head in. That's why traditional JJ has a lot of strikes, some strong enough to kill. the basic idea was that you move in with fast, hard attacks, grapple to pin them, leaving them vulnerable, and then finish them with a strong blow, such as to the back of the head or neck. Kind of like Shuai Chiao, except leaning more towards striking, instead of grappling.

Cameron liked push-ups, sitting in the corner, whatever. He didn't mind. We found his weakness, country music. I think that's why he left

The art does make the artist, to some degree. I can guarantee you that someone who takes Aikido as opposed to Muay Thai is going to turn out differently, physically, mentally, whatever. On top of that, certain arts just aren't for certain people. A pacifist may have moral issues with taking Ninjutsu, for example. Or how someone with weak bones wouldn't last long in Chin Na training. I think what they mean is that you can take almost any art and be good enough to defend yourself if you needed to, but different people have different preferences. Obviously, an adrenaline junkie wouldn't enjoy Tai Chi too much, even if it is good self defense.

I don't get it. Why not just watch contemporary Wushu forms competitions? They're basically kata-dances, except they are themed around traditional martial arts, the guys do awesome flips, and can jump over two meters up into the air. Why not watch Wushu instead, if you're just in it for the fancy stuff?

Wow...12 hours!? Man, I can't even watch tv twelve hours straight, much less work. Hope you got paid like heck for that.

Lol. We used to have this kid in our class named Cameron, ten years old. He was one of those obnoxious kids, y'know, the kind that try to go around picking fights with other kids to try out the new move they just learned. Whenever our sensei would be talking, Cameron would fold his arms across his chest and put his hand in his chin, in a 'thinker' type pose. This really annoyed our sensei, who specifically told us that arms crossed, on your hips, on your head, or any such variation, was improper Shotokan ettiquete. Anyway, Cameron would do that on purpose, so often, in fact, that we dubbed his pose the 'Kamerundachi' (Cameron stance). When we recieved our new belts at the beginning of class, he proudly strutted up, almost snatched the yellow belt from our sensei, spun around with a smug grin on his face...and tripped over the end of his dangling belt. Flat on his back. There's really no point to this story, I just felt like sharing it. Remember kids, if your sensei doesn't get you, your belt will!

Blah...you know what I'm trying to say! Okay, let's put it this way. You have two Shotokan guys. One is 250 lbs, large body frame, heavily muscled. The other is 120 lbs, small body frame, frail. Assuming they are of equal skill, and both use Shotokan, who has the advantage?

Ya...they say a newly promoted yellow belt (or whatever belt comes right after white in your art) is the most dangerous individual in the dojo. Not because he has skill, but because he knows enough to hurt someone, doesn't know enough to control himself, and thinks he knows enough to do so. I'd rather spar my sensei than a yellow belt...

Hi, welcome to the boards. Try Wing Chun or Aikido. Both rather popular and effective, so you should find a school somewhere around your area.

I know, I know, I'm generalizing, but I'm trying to get a point across. Let's be very broad. What would you consider to be a better martial art for a skinny 12 y/o girl to be involved in, Shotokan or Tai Chi?

Coming out triumphant every time? No art can guarantee that. It's up to you. As for a good, all around fighting art for the streets, I HIGHLY recommend Wing Chun. It is very easy to learn, for one thing. In under a year of training, you can effectively defend yourself against almost anything. It's very effective, being streamlined down to the fastest, most conservative movements, and is very adaptable. It's also supposed to be very good against boxers, who will probably be your most common adversaries on the streets.

I realize that, but the point I'm trying to make is that there are other martial arts that might better suit some people. If you have someone who is relatively small in Shotokan, there's not much they can do against someone much bigger. Their punches, although still strong, will not be able to match their opponent's in power, and they could simply get hammered and worn down by the bigger guy until they give way. Their best tactic is to deflect and counter. Now if they're going to do that, wouldn't Aikido be better for them, seeing as how it focuses on that aspect? That's what I'm trying to say. Almost any martial art will work for almost anyone, but some people, depending on body type, personality, convinience, and motive, would be better off in one art or another. And compared to most, Karate, in all its forms, is generally a lot rougher and more physical than most styles. It might not seem like it during training, maybe not even in sparring, but it is in application. I see what you're saying. Vice versa...?

Nothing is better for the masochist ego than getting beat down by a woman half your size and one-third your weight.

Okay, I'll rephrase: Many people, even those who are capable, do not like this type of training. The human body can take an incredible amoutnt of punishment. A samurai by the name od Nitta Yoshida actually fought on for over a minute and killed his adversary, after his head had been sliced off. Pure willpower. I suppose what I mean to say is that, due to liestyle or physical condition, most people choose not to go through this kind of training. Me? I don't mind, because the people I train are people I can trust. In the kwoon (dojo), we are all good friends and know each other personally, something our sifu encourages. We are all capable of controlling ourselves, and know how much damae we do. If I was in a class with a bunch of UFC dropouts, I would be reluctant, to say the least, but these are all controlled, dignified people, not brutes.

Although I agree that there is no such thin as 'cheating' in a real fight, there are codes of honor observed, depending on where you go. Among boxers, and just about anyone in the States, kicking someone in the balls is just wrong. Even fighting for your life, most people won't do that. So if the other guy doesn't, it might be considered 'cheating' to do so. Of course, if it's a life and death thing, I value my life over their fertility, and if that offends them, excuse me

The only real probem with modern BJJ is that it takes the fight straight to the gound. When you have more than one uy against you, you never do that, especially in a street situatin, y'know? But I like how BJJ is much more flexible than the traditional styles, where it's just the same old 'punch, lock, throw' over and over. So I suppose yes, a combination would be best. That still doesn't give Royce any reason to talk so much trash

We usually go straight in to the grapple, but there's a boxing gym next door (we practice at the local community center), and against them, it's always best to throw a few jabs to get them movin, then sweep them and come down on top. On the street, I'd probably get a good hard hit in first, then take them down and pin them while they're stunned. I think I'm giving the wrong idea about our classes. This is not like the UFC, where they roll around and knock the living crap out of each other. Shuai Chiao is Fast Wrestling, as it is called in Chinese. A normal match goes like this. Two guys square off. One jabs to the head, stunning his opponent. He kicks to the stomach and tackles. Throwing an elbow to the head, he grabs the raised arm and pins. Tapout. No repeated blows to the head, no pounding and slamming, just quick, simple strike, tackle, grapple, tapout. For people who can't take this kind of training, they also have Aikido, Judo, Jujutsu, and Cin Na classes. There's not really much distinction, other than what each has to offer to speific body frames and sizes. Whenever a new student questions about th differences in styles offered, our sifu asks him, "if you were blindfolded and thrown by a Judo guy and a Shuai Chiao guy, would YOU be able to tell the difference?"