Daisho

great points from both of you guys. i'm switching up my train sched this week, and both comments are going to be weighed in with the new routine. i'll post it up here, once i finalize it. seriously, i appreciate you guys taking the time to offer some advice =)

i can't speak to its effectiveness in an actual street confrontation, as the reliance on gripping the shirt would make it necessary that the shirt be strong enough to handle the force and not just tear away. however, during randori, i find the sac throw (heal on front of thigh) to a full mount, then front roll back to a standing position gives me great spacing. however, if the enemy hasn;'t had the wind knocked out of him from the fall, he may have the presence of mind to hook and ankle to stop you fromrolling off. Also the sacrifice throw, to full mount, to forward roll = ALOT of spent energy. so you better be sure the one you sac threw was the most dangerous of the bunch.

i never thought about it, but it is interesting how infrequent you see an open hand strike in MMA. I mean i like the utility, being as when sparring most of my strikes don't go exactly as planned, and it allows me to grab easily on a strike that would otherwise land ineffectively. however i've notcied that in the heat of sparring, my instinct is to close my hand into a fist after maybe an initial chop. I wonder if people that train more extensively in open hand striking are easily able to overcome that. as far as a spearhand into a board, ouch. that is not something i'd want to attempt.

closed

the snapping sound worries me. plz take my advice on this and see a professional. the knee is an amazing joint of the human body, and any injury at all that effects it is best to be checked out. even in the event it's just a hypersxtended ligament/tendon, it can have major ramifications with neglected care. I would say this to anyone with questions of joint pain GET IT CHECKED!!! a pulled muscle is a pulled muscle, and a broken bone will heal (whether optimally or not), but joints can have a serious impact on your quality of life.

bushido, i think you may have mistook my intention. I have yet to even become proficient in MR, and i certainly don't feel qualified enough topass judgement on what it should or should not be. I just know what it was when i signed up. Your namesake has always been a very important part of our studies, now it seems it's only important at a few of the older dojos.

i agree bushido, but aside from the rewritting of miyama ryu history (to make it some hardcore street-fighter system), the style was once based on the combat system of the samurai. It is taught at some Buddhist centers/zendos as a zen-warrior discipline. there's no doubt that jojutsu is amuch more practical martial art for typical self-defense, but this whole self-defense kick is rather new for Miyama Ryu. Before Shihan passed on I remember a writting that was sent to the dojos reminding us a samurai's goal was not to survive battle, but to strike down his enemy. the style was never about teaching women how to fight off a rapist. It was about training the mind and body in the warrior tradition. Having the ability to give no ground with a bokken, is more about life then it is swordplay.

That's quite a list. Did you take most of these in pairs? I started in Isshinryu when i was 14 and stopped at 18-19. fencing courses and competition was offered by my university, and so i took a year, which was like 6 months of training counting all the time off. kenjutsu/jujutsu/aikido/judo are my three nights a week of martial arts all taught at the same dojo. their not taught as part of an overall system. we learn each one from day one of their typical training, which works well conisdering the footwork for all beautifully blend with tai sebake. Jojutsu is taught by one of the Vee Arnis instructors at our dojo, and so we Miyama Ryu guys take it as a point ofpride that we can hold our own with those guys with the short staff.

zazen reminds you that you are a buddhist. as a buddhist you vow to be skillful in all endeavors (100% of yourself in every moment). I'm sure that helps my training, but to think i'd sit zazen for 45 minutes, then have some "enlightened" understanding of my training is ridiculous. also zazen doesn't begin to benefit after 2 years lol. each breath of your zazen is your benefit. understanding that the moment you live in is all you really have... is your benefit. if you're looking for enlightenment, zazen probably isn't for you. i mean unless you find sitting on a pillow facing a wall to be generally enlightening

Miyama Ryu is a style in transition these days. From an early time it was centered in battlefield combat. Kenjutsu and Jujutsu for the most part, Judo to build the basics of control, and Aikido for unarmed vs armed combat. Now it seems most of Miyama Ryu has jumped onto the self-defense "street-fight" craze. They dropped Kenjutsu almost entirely, replacing it with Jojutsu, which they believe to have more applications in street-fighting. The JJ has even changed to a more MMA style, in the dropping of ground-strike after a throw/takedown, to more complicated joint/choke manipulation. My sensei had left the home dojo to pursue being a zen buddhist monk. Upon return he started up training, in the same way he was originally trained. All of our students observe zazen to begin and end class, and the zen-mind (or Buddha-mind) is as much a part of the technique as the footwork/strike is. We're also closely affiliated with the local Buddhist center, and a mixed denomination Zendo. I do not know which teacher runs the dojo near your school, but it seems right now at least, there are two distinct Miyama Ryu philosophies floating out there.

everyone in my dojo wears a white belt aside form our sensei. he tests, and offers ranked belts, but for somereason it caught on to continue wearing our white belt. I wore my greenbelt the night i was awarded it, and was very proud, but i felt like i was boasting to continue to wear it, and so my next night, i was back there with my white belt firmly knotted. We don't need any rank designations in class, we all have trained hard together, and we all know exactly where we stand among our peers skill-wise, but i already told my friend Ching, if he doesn't show up with his blackbelt when he gets certified and returns from japan, i'm going to break his arms. he was our sensei's first student, and he's the one that started the whitebelt continuation, but he's also the heart and soul of our dojo, and i can't wait for him to lead the classes zazen that first sunday morning after he returns.

Isshinryu - 4 years Jujutsu - 7 years Aikido - 7 years Judo - 7 years Kenjutsu - 7 years Jojutsu - 7 years fencing - 6 months

once you go rashguard you never go back! honestly, we get our heartrates WAY up during training, and i was amazed people could wear anything under their gi and not pass out from heat. But no kidding a rashguard will actually help keep you cool, not to mention a cotton t-shirt tends to get sweat soaked and feel terrible, where the rashguard disperses sweat immeadiately, and allows it to cool the body more efficiently. our JJ is more traditional, so we don't spend alot of time on the ground, mostly just lock up a joint and utilize a finishing strike (or for kenjutsu we use our jujutsu to control the opponent and disarm them for a strike), but the rashguard stops the gi from rub-burning your shoulders due to the grabbing of your gi, or tumbling out of a technique.

*gassho* i bow before Aikiguy and Bushido's knowledge nice job guys. i spend ALOT of time in gyms (outside of training), and it's cool that there's a few here with some knowledge as well. I was on another martial arts forum for a long time, and every weight training/non dojo training question was fielded for me to answer, as if i've studied sports-science or something have either of you guys taken a look at my "postworkout recovery" thread (a few threads down now). I'd certainly appreciate the input

i always wear a rash-guard under my gi. I hate the feeling of a sweat soaked t-shirt, and the rashguards are great at wicking away sweat. If i happen to walk by a fan, it feels like an air conditioner blowing on me. aside from that it's great for reducing the gi burn from tumbling and rolling in a stiff judo gi. i bought a champion that has anti-bacterial properties too, but i heard that the a-b is useless after a wash or two. but even well washed and bleached mats can transmit ringworm and such.

welcome. nice job on the weight loss!

Hinote! paint the fence!

everything we do at my dojo is tai sebaki (ashi and te). It allows you to function in arcs, where the torque generated from your core increases your power. It's mainly a very common sense approach, i mean our te sebaki remains the same throughout aikido, jujutsu, judo, and even kenjutsu. circular movements, creating arcs of potential energy.

i was just teasing guys. seems like the most stereo-typed physical symbol of Eastern fighting arts is the open hand being fired in a chopping motion. my 6 y.o. niece even yells *karate-chop!!!* as her kiai in her TKD class lol

i used the woolite and fabric softener to relax the fabric, and stop it from contracting after washing. I hang it in my bathroom because i have no access to sunlight and because it's the brightest light in my apt, so i can see wear and tear, or fraying seams early. as far as gi brand geeez, i've worn tons. I mostly like the Japanese judogi brands, as they're a more firm fit. always double layered. I've had Mizuno, a Ku Sakura, hsu, pro-force, dragon, and Toraki off the top of my head through the past 7 years.

my favorite piece of literature Zen or otherwise is the Perfect Wisdom of the Heart Sutra. I see people here relate their Zen to their training, which i don't necessarily do with literature (koans/sutra), but as a Buddhist I have vowed to be skillful in all things I do, and that is the typical extent of my relationship between my Buddhism and my Jujutsu (aside from my zazen pre-training to remind me of my focus). Anyway a foundational belief for a Zen Buddhist is that form is emptiness, and emptiness is form. this is provactive to any martial art student, as the basis of our training is in forms. So here not to defeat the prajna paramita of the sutra, I will explain my understanding. We perceive reality through the prism of our senses and minds. Usually, our senses and minds work in a certain way and that way somehow constrains our perceptions and thoughts. So, to use a metaphor, it's like throwing a net or veil upon the reality and than seeing that veil and not the reality itself. On one hand, the net/veil captures reality, organizes it. On the other hand, it also simplifies reality, misses some important aspects of it. For every net we construe is conventional and so, it involves some "arbitrary" assumptions and preconceptions. The term "form" refers to reality understood as caught in that organizing net of assumptions and preconceptions. The term "Shunyata" refers to reality understood as this what transcends all forms, assumptions, predispositions. Another way to put it, when remove the net, when we put it aside, we access the "bare" reality (reality in itself). That's Shunyata. the idea that reality is not grasped purely, but only in relative terms, and that things therefore are "empty" of inherent value or status. But that's really all "Emptiness" means. Emptiness or Shunyata isn't some "ultimate reality"- it's simply the mode of being of Form. Whatever exists to our perceptions- Form- is empty; it is empty of any preconceived notions we have about it. It is empty of inherent existence, apart from other things. So emptiness is a mode of form, the true way form exists. Emptiness is NEVER a thing apart from form; you don't strip away form, leaving behind only emptiness. They are inseparable. They arise simultaneously and together, always. Therefore in a Kenjutsu kata, it's true reality is not Kenjutsu at all. When we actively think of our karate as a "mystical combat artform" we act in a "formed" way, to allow it to support our preconceptions of eastern philosophy/movement. When we empty the kata, and just do the movements in a combat mindset, the true nature of the form is revealed.

not on shotokan, but Zen & The Way of the Sword. great read!!

lets hear how you do it. i mean as soon as i get home from my training, i throw my gi in a cold/cold wash with woolite and fabric softener, then hang it in my bathroom for 2 days to dry. however, it STILL manages to shrink after each washing. geeeeeeeezzzzzz

the very core of all super-magical asian fighting styles!

use your sabake to spin toward your "inside" with an overhead redirection into elbow lock, destroy joint with a kiai