Daisho

I was born a Roman Catholic, educated by first Franciscans, then Jesuits through high school and college. At 17 I became a Buddhist, and through my first Buddhist teacher I found a Zen teacher. I've been a practicing and active member of the Zen Buddhist community of NYC, and have been on at least 15 sesshin over the passed 13 years. Zen can be a part of Christianity as well as almost any other religion, as Zen is essentially zazen, which is sitting zen meditation. Zen students always keep in mind Buddhas wisdom of "light your own lamp" meaning don't take his word for anything... but go find dharma yourself. Actually many sects of Zen strongly feel that zazen is the ONLY practical part of Zen Buddhism, and everything from the 4 noble truths to ancient koans do nothing but destroy the prajna paramitas of the practice. Locally there is a Jesuit college (St. Peter's), that has many priests that operate the Morning Star Zendo. I believe the head of the Zendo is a Father Kennedy, S.J., and as far as I've heard he has recieved "dharma transmission", which basically means his teacher believes him to be worthy of teaching Zen. Apparently they feel that Zen does not in anyway effect their faith. As for the above comment, perhaps your friend follows a Taoist philosophy? I don't see anyway a Christian would be able to accept even preliminary Buddhist precepts outside of the practice of Zen itself. Many times people who are have strong Taoist leanings, mistaken them for Buddhism, especially "the middle way" of Zen can seem so similar to "the path" of the Tao, but Buddhism much like Christianity requires leaps of faith and it's morality is centered on dogma. That dogma would seriously call into question the Christian's insistence on a single God, to begin with, and from there would only divide MUCH further. However we have many Taoists at both my Zendo and the local Buddhist monastery, and I know of at least one Taoist Jew from my former job. I wouldn't be surprised at all to know that there are Christian Taoists as well. I recieved the Tao Te Ching as a gift this passed Christmas, and wind up talking about it endlessly at my Zendo. But even as similar as it is to my Zen, the Tao isn't necessarily true dharma in my life.

thanks for the responses guys. I do regularly put the arm, just above the elbow up against my inner thigh then exert the pressure. However when I'm dealing with another dan with full resistance, many times I'll roll into the arm bar and wind up with it directly on my jewels (lol, sorry I can't think of any better term for that). I've been studying JJJ for 13 years, and have been performing arm bars almost that entire time, yet I find when rolling into the arm bar from their back, or attempting to arm bar during a disarm, it winds up there all the time. The other dans at my dojo have worked on it themselves and notcied the same thing. Also, this is never an issue if I slide into an arm bar from a standing position (like after a Judo or A-JJ thow). In those techniques I get the arm bar just the way I want it. What I was really wondering is if anyone else had that topic come up in their dojo, and what the typical problem with my technique might be. Maybe I'll bring a camera to the dojo tomorrow and post a vid on here, so you guys can see where I'm going wrong.

what about visualization or creativity? do you find that it accentuates those processes?

ha, that's awesome tallgeese. I'm now looking for a download of Black Sabbath's War Pig, for our next workout!

This topic interested me, for one because we train OFTEN to counter both knife and katana wielding opponents. And also because for the first few years I trained Miyama Ryu, we shared our dojo with a Vee Arnis class, and I had many opportunities to both observe their classes, and to cross train with their instructors. However, I can't remember any of their training that was in defense of blade attacks. Firstly in our training vs a knife, we keep our arms bent, but in front of our stomach, for almost all techniques. Our primary focus is to evade strikes while waiting for an opening where the attacker is off balance, and we're taught to immediately use that opportunity to get the attackers back. This often includes slapping the outer wrist similar to how you explained, while lunging inside and behind the assailant. As far as prepping the defense by raising my arms into a combat stance, I can't imagine that being a strong move. First off, we keep our arms low to not allow the attacker any better idea of proper spacing. If I were to raise my arms, the attacker has a much better sense of distance, and is likely to slash out at my exposed arms. Second, you said he instructed you to take hold of the attacker's forearm from a frontal position. I have no idea what would stop the attacker from twisting the blade and burying it in your side. Or just slamming his upper body into yours to force you into a wide stance, from which you'd have balance... but no ability to be explosive. I believe your instincts in defense were correct, and would need a VERY convincing demonstration to ever buy into remaining in front of my attacker and attempting to restrain his arm, or putting my only true means of defense directly into his attack range.

What music do you guys/girls like to train to when you're alone? During instruction, we never have music on, but we'll usually put on someones ipod when we're just practicing. Personally if we're doing hand to hand stuff we'll have on some video game symphony stuff. One of our dans is huge into that stuff, and final fantasy sound track is some awesome stuff to fight to (ex. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_MW65XxS7s ). But in my training room, i'll pump some Prodigy or some old breakbeats when I want to get in a good Kenjutsu workout. I also find music helps with my visualization, and since I'm trying to stay in constant motion to keep with the beat, I'll be much more creative with flow processes. So, what music do you guys enjoy training to when you're not at the dojo?

we often train at peak aliveness, which in case your not familiar is full contact, and full and creative resistance. Throughout my training I've often caught my partner with some hard shots to the sides of the neck (never intentionally), and have yet to break, or ever witness the breaking of a neck. Also what the above poster said is correct. many MMA artists in sanctioned matches such as UFC and K-1 have landed full shots to opponents necks, and I can't recall it ever resulting in a broken vertebrae. I would assume it would take a tremendous amount of force, to actually fracture a vertebrae into an actual break.

Many of those WWF guys are extremely powerful and agile athletes. And the high probablility of them catching elbows etc to their noggins, would lead me to believe a WWF guy wouldn't last long in that business for long if they didn't have an exceptional chin. Further, many of those guys have legit background in wrestling, judo, etc. I mean my shihan is in ridiculous shape, and a rokudan with 30 years of training in Miyama Ryu and Ogawa Ryu, as well as a world class Judo competitor.... yet if he were to step in the ring with Brock Lesnar I would give him very VERY slim odds at victory. now put a weapon of their choice in one of their hands, and allow me use of a katana, and I'm fairly sure I could dismember them at will with ease.

also I would probably count myself VERY lucky that osoto gari is one of my most proficient throws, as it's something I often train from close in positions during kenjutsu.

honestly, and not to sound brash, if I get into the position of image #1 I would be hoping an ambulance gets there really fast. If I can get a moment of distraction, my instinct would probably be to go for a Osoto Gari http://judoinfo.com/images/animations/blue/osotogari.htm then try to drop down and arm bar the knife hand that I would hope hasn't accidently found its way into my kidney during the throw. But god, if he was skilled enough to get me into that position to begin with, im probably in a whole world of trouble.

ok, this may sound ridiculous, but I always have trained while wearing a cup. About a month back I didn't bring one to the dojo with me, and was fine for the most part. Yet not having on a cup made it impossible for me to sink an arm bar, without hurting my... err family jewels. I kind of put it out of my mind, but this past tuesday I stuck around the dojo after my shower, and was demonstrating ways to roll into an arm bar from being on top and having someone's back, instead of going for a choke. Same result. So one of the other dans came over and let me apply it a few times, while trying to adjust the position of his elbow, but I couldn't find a way to sink it without serious pinching. Anyone else have this issue?

we've had discussions about this at my dojo quite a bit. Since 99% of what we do is JJJ and Judo, being at a major strength disadvantage can cause a huge problem. Most people at my dojo are pretty hardcore gym rats outside of the dojo, and me and a few other dans all workout together at a local gym for strength and power conditioning. We have a brown belt who's been training with us for a little over 8 years, and he's a monster powerlifter. My technique is far superior to his, especially in JJJ, but if I have him set for a Ushiro Goshi, chances are I'm not going to have the ability to keep him from pulling my head down into a side headlock. My best bet would be to grab sonething long and rely on my jojutsu and kenjutsu, and convince him continuing the fight is a bad idea, lol. MA training or not, having a major strength advantage can make someone a very dangerous adversary.

yea bushido, the most important part was to be able to hear if he was beginning to do something stupid. I kept the phones in to also keep him from speaking to me, considering i'd stood up and faced him. I didn't want to give him an opportunity to get himself worked up, and having the phones in allowed me to stand there and not acknowledge his craziness. I knew even by getting up I was breaking a NYC code of provocation, but he was in a seat directly behind me. Thinking back now, I find it amazing the visualization that goes on in moments like that. I wasn't thinking about training, or techniques i'd use to stop him. The only active thought was to be fast, and not get frozen. Aside from that it seemed like I was preparing myself to kill someone. I saw blood, i thought about what it would be like if i was shot, and how hard it would be to keep fighting if the wound was in a really dangerous place. Maybe the craziest part about this was the fact that he was getting off at the next stop. But for some reason the doors on our car wouldn't open at that stop. His irateness was through the roof at this point. But by this time he was up and standing right next to me. I felt pretty comfortable because other guys on the train were starting to regain themselves and lookin me in the face as if to say they would help out, and his positioning would allow me to have his neck from behind right away. Armed or not he'd be dead long before much damage could be done from that position.

I had a guy on the subway sit behind me and talk about shooting up the train a few weeks ago. Everyone else sat so still as to not provoke him, but he was directly behind me, and i'll be damned if i'm not even going to see trouble coming. So I got up, and stood across from him so I could at least face him if he was crazy enough to be armed. I kept my ipod headphones in my ears, but kept them muted the rest of the trip. I was seriously hoping he was just talking crazy, but i was keeping in my mind to be as quick and violent as possible if I wound up in his crosshairs.

i made shodan after 7 years. If I was in top shape I could've taken the test about a year earlier, but I took forever deciding to put the gym/cardio time in required. 8 months of 3 days a week at the gym, 3 days a week at the dojo, and running EVERY night, and my shodan test still was something I was barely able to handle.

I tend to think the "stream" part is kind of a meta-thought, or narrative that is constantly being applied in retrospect. Only time I can think of to illustrate is when the more Kendo minded would refer to zanshin. When instant and decisive action is necessary, we rarely act in accordance with thought. Also the sheer number of times people are asked what they're thinking when something sudden or unexpected has happened and they reply that they weren't thinking, only acting [reacting]. It seems our narrative is suspended as our action empties us. Or even the times we're momentarily distracted while mid sentence, and completely forget what we were saying. The distraction didn't just merge into our constant flowing stream of conscious, it (for whatever reason) warranted immediate thought (action) and the mind didn't yet have a chance to apply form. When you sit zazen you find these snapshots of moments often. Yes i absolutely agree here. All of our instinct is either routed through the brain or at least the spine. However I don't think the natural reaction of blinking is thought (or a process of thought), if that was the intention of the opening sentence. The instinct of blinking is the bodies reaction in the moment. It does not plan to blink at certain intervals, it feels a dryness or a grain of sand and reacts. (That entire last statement was only an assumption, as I have little idea the exact mechanics of blinking). As for the following statement, yes, in retrospect we can assemble a steady stream of vision throughout blinking, as our mind continues the narrative and deduces logical progression of anything it happened to miss. There's many mind tricks out there that show how the brain applies implied information where none exists. But again this is formulated as narrative of what it missed and therefore the past. If a color were to flash in the exact moment of the blink and be gone before the eyes reopened, it would go unnoticed. Because we didn't notice the curtains drop, doesn't mean we didn't just look at our eye-lids when that color flashed I was using form to mean my idea of kenjutsu. When I'm fighting someone trained in the same style, I attempt technique and counter technique. Because we're both trained and know the other is as well, our randori can be stagnant. We're both actively using technique, and it has little to do with "martial" art. In the times I've had a go with the kendo students, I cannot plan far ahead. They're not playing by the same rules, and I'm not about to get my behind kicked by them. In that competition I see my trainings importance. My muscles are conditioned to give me the most possible time and strength, so when my mind percieves something i can react. These matches are what pushes those moments to their limit. And in those moments my style is empty, my mind is focused, and my bokken is swift. lol, yea ain't that the truth. I'd been living in brooklyn for the passed 7 years, and happened to move back home with the fam on my 30th b-day this august Do you train in town? Is there a local Judo school? I would like to keep the tempo of my training up since I'll be staying here through the winter.

OMG, I had spent a half hour fleshing out thoughts on the form of the horse, and my browser crapped out when i hit submit =((((((((((( Anyway the point of it all was that form doesn't exist in the exact moment that we live in. It is applied to events as they pass. The moment to moment of life doesn't support conscious thought. If I'm engaed in kenjutsu randori with someone who has trained deeply in kenjutsu I find that my defense and offense is strongly based in technique. However when I've engaged non-practioners or even kendo focused students their differences of angles and arcs leads me to act much more dynamically and immediately decisive. Then reviewing my fight I notcie alot of the principles of the techniques I've learned in my engagement, if not the exact technique. So when I apply form to my studies, my style is dead, it's a relic of my preconceptions and training. When I engage in combat my style is alive, and rooted in technique, but not limited by it. btw joe, I grew up and am currently staying in bayonne and am also named joe lol.

our JJ is derived from our kenjutsu, just minus the sword. So it's decisive movement to close distance (usually a strike), followed by immediate takedown, or should the person be armed as well, aikido styled grabs to control the weapon weilding hand. btw, your post was very helpful, and much appreciated

wow, thank you for taking the time to reply Ironsifu, congrats on your first student as well! I've been excited for this experience for the past year, but now I feel like a bundle of nerves lol. Probably would be more confident would it have been a male student though. For this girl's size, I really feel I need to narrow down the training to stress potent openers, and give her tools to negate a more powerful attacker. I think an early emphasis on striking and and grab defense is excellent advice for teaching her to find her distance. I was just a bit worried that the repetition of her learning striking combos might lock that into her muscle memory. as many times as I've repeated the same techniques, it's definitely weird how much more you analyze every part of each movement when you're thinking about teaching it to someone else. it's like I could incorporate the techniques effectively when called upon to, but planning on teaching them is forcing me to really understand the purpose of the technique. I haven't been this excited about my art in a loooong time

awww been gone for a year and no-one found this interesting?

So I just took on my first student for traditional Jujutsu / Judo /Aikido. When I first began my training it was alot of footwork tai sabake, and I wanted to stress early on the importance of learning and maintaining your neutral distance. To teach my student that when she decides to enter within that neutral area she's given between herself and an opponent, it's with purpose and explosiveness. However aside from my sensei's constant insistance on maintaining your distance at every moment in the dojo, and some hopping around to teach me to immeadiately find my "safe" distance each class, I wanted to know if anyone had any ideas on other training techniques to really get that point across to my new student. Because of her small size, I really want this understanding to become a part of her instinctual muscle memory, as in close combat she'd need to have initiative and room to generate power for any positive outcome. Anyone teaching anything similar that could share some ideas. My sensei feels the training classes between me and my student will take on a life of their own, and she'll learn that which she should through my patience and empathy. I understand what he means, but I really would like to incorporate a tried and true exercise to help in this process. Anyway, to make a long story short, I know boxers regularly train in finding their distances, but am not having any luck finding info on how they go about that. Thank you very much for your time =)

thats exactly what it is. but it's not done with any chambering really, just the typical slide step we use to move around the floor. i did a little research on it, and it's the same kinda injury you see basketball players get when they land on someones foot on the way down from a dunk, and roll there foot. as we all know, 9 times out of ten that leads to the player missing significant time due to knee ligament injury. do any other styles use a similar strike?

sorry that was me trying to explain the tech after taking an ambien. it's basically a strike witht he ball of the foot to the ankle, if their weight isn't on that foot hitting the ankle from an angle to cause the leg to bend in and maybe break the ankle, or if it is supporting weight to cause the foot to roll, and probably do some ligament damage. it's basically a kenjutsu front step, but your foot actually leaves the floor a few inches. i found it very deceptive, and there's no chambering to telegraph the move.

ok, so 7 years of studying M-R, and tonight I learned my first "kick", or more appropriately foot-strike. All our foot work through all styles we train remains Kenjutsu te sabaki. So if I want to close large distance, i slide my front foot toward my enemy, while slifing my back foot to return me to a short front stance. In kenjutsu this is how we move, both feet always remain on the floor, and we slide themalong when we're moving. Anyways, so my sensei explained the "kick" then went on to tightly wrap both his ankle and knee, as he always has us work on our new techniqies with him first for safety reasons. so i step up to him with a backstance-sabaki-frontstance swing, which put me just within range of his bokken. I slid across him into a deep backstance to protect his overhand strike, and i launched myself into him, with my goal of making the ball of my foot hit, and roll his ankle. I noticed his immeadiate loss of balance was back in my direction (from Judo leg sweeping i expected the opposite). Forcing him to lean over toward where i ended up, putting him in easy position for a rear naked choke. Now should he not have been so heavily taped, that contact at his ankle couldve easily rolled his ankle, and possibly tore his mcl/acl. Regardless of the style of stance this seems to be very effective way to break their mind-string thet they've prepared for the fight. Also the speed in which it can be struck, and the odd placement, increases the chances of it's effectiveness. Actually shoud I wanted, I could easily have slid back to back with him, and did the same to his other foot while he'd be trying to get a trap off on me. If successful, that would've left me with an enemy with some severe ligament damage in both of their knees, and they never saw it comming. i don't know if i'm explaining this well, but has anyone else come across a technique similar to this?? also, should you slide step into the kick, and your only shot is to go at the ankle head on, you're actually at an advantage there as well, considering if they're applying any weight to that foot as you strike, you prob have a good chance of busting the ankle up pretty good. I couldn't believe how well these simple step strikes could make a fighter so disadvantaged, and at the mercy of more destructive JJ immeadiately. Further, it can be disguised nice with my judo foot work, as they expect the standing 1 leg sweep, and instead i just delivered a strike that may've dealt considerable damage, and could quickly be followed up with a hard throw. so yea, again... anyone train a kick, or more correctly a walk, like this?

while beginning with the current arts, and tracing back lineages would have it's advantages. jumping back and trying to find some of the earliest known organized struggles, and examining how they fought their battles would probably give you a more relevant starting point. Major conflict and struggle from these early periods is not documented strongly from civil institutions (scribes, artists), however the groups with the strongest vested interest in documenting the conflicts of humanity to some degree of accuracy would probably be religious texts, considering victory, to many of the world's ancient religions, signified their spiritual superiority, and would be great propaganda for the masses. That idea comes from facts like the ancient Egyptians believing that military use of the chariot, and archery were gifts from their god's and passed down to deliver victory. Even books like the Odyssey which is primarily a book of the relationship between the god's of greece, and their interactions with their human subjects, is heavily laced with what we believe to be accurate descriptions of the battle for Troy. In the far-east this connection could be even more evident, due to the fact that ancient religious temples were largely also the training grounds for armed and unarmed combat. unfortunately i'm half-asleep as it is, and unsure if i'm making any sense (looooooooong day, lol).