hobbitbob

I appreciate your viewpoint. I don't agree with it, but I appreciate it. I'm a graduate student in Medieval History, so lets just say our approraches to the subject differ. Ceers. Off to practice!

Those of us interested in the origins of the Asian Fighting Arts do care about such things. It is not mere semantics.

This is not a valid source list. A valid source list includes: Author, Title, Periodical Title (if Periodical Article), Publication Date, Publisher. Academic sources I have found tend to refute your claims. Robert Dohrerend," Toward an Accurate History of Taekwondo." Dragon Times, Fall 2002, Winter 2003, Spring 2003. Dragon-Tsunami. Los Angeles, 2002,2003. "Muye Doboi Tongje" (tr. Kim), Turtle Press, Vermont. 2000. Harry Cook, "Shotokan: A Precise History." Dragon-Tsunami, Los Angeles, CA, 2001. 84-85, 272,292-293. Journal of Asian Martial Arts: Vol. 9:1 -- Henning, Stanley E. "Traditional Korean martial arts" Vol. 6:4 -- Ouyang, Y. "The elevation of taekkyon from folk game to martial art" Vol. 6:1 -- Burdick, D. "People & events in taekwondo's formative years" Vol. 4:2 -- Della Pia, J. "Native Korean sword techniques described in the mu yae do bo tong ji" Vol. 3:2 -- Della Pia, J. "Korea's mu yei do bo tong ji" Vol. 3:1 -- Pieter, W. "Notes on the historical development of Korean martial sports--An addendum to Young's history and development of tae kyon" Vol. 2:2 -- Young, R. "The history and development of tae kyon" These scholarly sources call most of your assertions into question. When one writes an historical piece, or indeed makes assertions based on historical evidence, it behooves one to list sources so that those reading the study may view these same sources and more fully understand the chain of reasoning that led to its author's conclusions.

No, but I met him at a seminar waaaaaayyy back in 1983. Wonderful man. I was doing a "summer of science" thing for HS students at Vanderbilt,and there was a Wado seminar in Nashville that he attended.

Wado guy, are you one of Cecil Patterson's students?

I practice karate-DO, and we spar full contact, no point sparring, and we do some kata, but not that much. I think it really depends on the school/instructor, as most of our techniques we learn are pretty devastating and tend to hurt people really badly when applied. The key concept is that you are learning the application of those techniques.

I'm not going to argue with someone wearing philosophical blinders. Good day!

"Mind like Water (mizu no kokoro)" implies a calm mind that reflects the world. This is an honourable aspect to strive for. It is also a very "Christian" veiewpoint (see Theresa of Avila, or the collected writings of St. John of teh Cross.).

Qi as an explanatory concept for a pre-technological civilization is wonderful. But, to quote Harry Cook, "If Qi were as powerful as it is said, why aren't their teams of 90 lb. men in their 80s defeating proffesional rugby players?"

Hmmm.....

I came across this question on another thread, where a poster said, in essence: "You cannot practice a Do and still be a Christian." I am curious how many others on this forum have heard such statements,and how they address them. Certainly much of this view comes from a misunderstanding of the concept of Do,and and its place in the practice of martial arts. Taking as a starting point the concept of Do as applied to Budo, the purpose of practice becomes to perfect the self,and banish illusory aspects of the personality. If one were to accomplish this, one would become someone who eschewed violent conflict. This has been misunderstood to become: - To do martial arts you have to worship the Buddha (even Buddhists don't "worship" Buddha.). -Bowing to your instructor/each other implies that you are seeting them up as gods. -People who do Shotokan worship Funakoshi, people who do Aikido worship Ueshiba,etc... -Because the Asian MA come from Asia (hmm...) and Asian countries are Buddhist, the martial arts are all based in black magic. I am curious how self improvement is antithetical to "Christianity." Unless you are John Ashcroft, the message of Christianity is love and peace, both of which are very compatible with the concept of Do.

Do, as an aspect of Buddhism (and it is in actuality, derived from Taoism) is separate from Do as an aspect of martial art training. As for Catholic Theology, I am discussing the theology I am familiar with, that of the 10th-15th centuries. I was not attacking you personally, just suggesting you do some research.

Jutsu may be thought of as concentration on technique, where Do implies the effort to be a complete person. As for Do being incompatible with Christianity, this implies a very superficial understanding of both Do and Christianity. A Do is not a religion, it does not imply the veneration or indeed the existance, of a creator. It instead implies the practitoiner is striving to become a more humane, aware,and focussed individual. Margery Kempe, Julian of Norwich, Christina of Avila, Francis of Assisi, etc... may all be said to have practiced "Do." Followers of post modern fundamentalist Christian sects have attempted to reduce everything to a "Good and bad" dualism, that is far from the basic tenets of Christian Theology. This belief system seeks to prevent its follwers from engaging in any activity that might serve to inspire them to strive and ask questions. Does Chritianity prohibit academic study? Does it prohibit attempting to become a better, more moral individual? If so, then yes, Do is incompatible with Christianity (Hello Mr. Ashcroft ). I doubt that any of these things are antithetical to Christianity!

One has to take into account the political climate in Japan in the early part of the Twentieth Century. In order for karate to be successful in Japan, it had to be made to conform with the Japanese idea of "Budo." This meant restructuring the art to enhance phiosophical ideals. In addition, the militaristic climate of the Showa era made group training in martial arts very popular. In order for Karate to survive and flourish it needed to have these attributes emphasized. Two of Funaksohi's early students, Konishi Yasuhiro and Otsuka Hitonori were accomplished practitioners of Shindo yoshin Ryu Jujutsu, as well as high Dan ranks in Kendo. Dissatisfied with Funakoshi's emphasis on Kata, both studied with Motobu Choki, who advocated Kumite (indeed, Wado's head level blocking may be directly attibuted to Motobu). Otsuka's departure from the Shotokan due to rivalry with Funakoshi Gigo allowed him to expand his ideas about martial art training. With the help of Motobu he developed the Yakusoku Kumite exercises of Wado. He also adapted the movements and techniques to more closely fit a "Japanese" model. Indeed, the Kanji for "wa" may be interepereted as "Japanese" as well as "Peace," thus making Wado Ryu Karate "Japanese way Karate." In my ten years of training in Wado Ryu I met many people who were indeed excellent fighters, and would doubtless have been effective in self defence situations. They were ,however, aware that standard Dojo training was designed around the competition model, not the self-defence model.

While that pretty much answers my question (if you don't know what they are, you don't use them. ), Bogu are chest protectors and head gear allowing contact when sparring. It was my understanding that the way in which Genwakai differed from the parent system of Gensei-Ryu was that the former practiced Bogu kumite. I met your instructor once, way back in the mid 1980s, and found him to be a knowledgeable, friendly person. Unfortuately I was too new to Karate to have asked him any intelligent questions! I have been meaning to venture south and west again to visit his dojo, but most of my time is spent in Norlin Library!

Starturtle, do you guys use Bogu when sparring?

I agree! I included it in my list of essentials for a good library. The major advantage of this book lies not in the techniques, but in the intereviews Mr. Tedesche conducted,and his efforts at being historically accurate.

If not spirit, an unwashed and well used belt certainly has an "air" about it!

The initial quote from Kensho Furuya was made: "If you think you deserve or are ready for a black belt, then you are not." THis was posted in response to your comment: "I think I deserve a black belt as much as the others." Think about how the two statements relate to each other. In answer to your question about ranking: Very... I just came in from mowing the lawn! If that isn't satisfactory, see my profile page, please.

See your physician prior to beginning, and discuss your asthma treatment regimen with him. Also, let your isntructor know about your asthma. Have you a medic-alert bracelet or something similar (not that we ever actually check for them if we find someone down, but bystanders often do... )? If not, get one. One of our yudansha is a particularly "brittle" asthmatic,and has a ma bracelet that warns he is a difficult intubation! If you use an mdi, make sure you keep one near you in class (with a spacer, if you commonly use one). National Jewish here in Denver has been doing some research on adolescents with asthma and karate, I will try to find a link to some of their research and post it here.

A quote from the wonderful world of emergency medicine: "Neurologists don't treat disease, they merely observe it."

URINATING BLOOD IS A BAD THING!!!!!! It often indicates excessive myoglobin breakdown.

One of the instructors at the university club in MD. where I trained had NIDDM. He usually managed his glucose levels quite well, but if he was overtired, or in the beginning phases of a URI or something similar, he would start "petereing out" about half way through. Usually he was on top of the situation and managed to gulp a quick orange juice. He also had CAD, and had undergone bypass in 1984 (the CAD was due to the diabetes). This brings me to a question I've often wondered about: is Karate training effective as cardiac rehab?

Rich, I haven't forgotten! Anyway, since I have moved back home, and have access to a basement (!), I have cleared a large area of floor, installed a mirror along one wall, and hung a heavy bag. I also installed a makiwara. I try to get an hour in with the bag and makiwara each day, in addition to practice in the Dojo four nights a week (Monday-Thrusday). Having just taken an instructor position in the history department of a local community college, the first paycheck is going toward free-weights.

I would think that getting bopped in the nose a few times would teach one to keep one's guard up.....