What are the "common themes" to the popular styles

[krunchyfrogg]

Sorry about the horrible thread title (I'd love for an admin/mod to edit it if they can think of a more appropriate title), but I'd like to know what the common theme is to some of the popular styles out there.

 

I'm looking for a new dojo, possibly a new style (as many of you know already), and I'd like to know what I'd be getting myself into before exploring styles I know nothing about.

 

For instance, I know Shotokan uses a lot of deep stances, and has hard strikes and blocks.

 

What are some of the themes to:

 

Aikindo

 

Tae Kwon Do

 

Jui Jitsu

 

Kung Fu

 

Kendo

 

Muay Thai

 

ect. I know this list could go on forever, and I'd list more styles if: 1) I knew more, and 2) my brain were'nt mush right now.

 

Please list "generalities" of the styles I've listed above, as well as many of them I didn't list (any you can think of!).

 

TIA

[granmasterchen]

aikido is a style that uses opponents own momentum against them, lots of manipulation and the concept of ki, japanese

 

taekwondo has large amounts of kicking in general, some schools may differ but in the states it has become more of a sport than the original idea of the art....yet there are schools that still teach well rounded material....korean, the true original art is considered a hard style, where today mostly we see only the sport side sadly

 

jui jitsu is one of your ground based martial arts lots of grappling and submissions holds and locks

 

kung fu is considered a soft style and is very flowing and smooth a nice addition to many who have only practiced hard styles, chinese also called chinese boxing, there are many variations from different animal styles and so forth, so there is much diversity

 

kendo is the art of sword fighting known to japan, one of many, you generally where armor and beat each other, also a famous sport

 

muay thai is a form of kick boxing that incorporates elbows, knees and head butts a very hard style where you are generally fighting in a boxer stance, also known as thai boxing

 

judo is a japanese art where you do lots of throws and such some styles are similar to jui jitsu

 

kenpo is a chinese art that is somewhat karate and somewhat kung fu a new combination to the arts

 

kaju kenbo is a hawaiian style that combines karate, judo/jui jitsu, kenpo and chinese boxing(kung fu) a well rounded street fighting art

 

tang soo do is another korean art and some schools are very similar to taekwondo depending on instructors, but is generally a well rounded fighting art with punches and kicks and such, considered a hard style

 

Kuk sool won is another korean style that can be well rounded as well depending on instructors,

 

ninpo budo taijutsu is a japanese style of the classic ninja and has adapted to be effective in our modern day society...

 

jeet koon do is a style created by bruce lee and is a rather useful street art where he took the best aspects of his wing chun kung fu and added his own personal aspects, this art has trapping

 

capoera is a style that relies on exotic moves and very flashy kicks that are meant to evade the opponent and have them distracted.

 

hmmmm i hope that is a good start.....i apologize for any spelling errors or any misconceptions, these are based on my experiences with many styles....

[italian_guy]

Kickboxing:

 

very informal and hard style based on heavy aerobic/anaerobic training. It has the stance and the hand techniques similar to western boxing and the kicks of karate and muay thai. It has no katas/forms, just combo practice.

 

Its advantage is that it is focused on sparring, it will not take long for you to have some knoledge of the basics in order to start sparring. Of course mastering this art may take much longer. Its disadvantages is that it has very few techniques so you may get bored always practicing the same punches and kicks. It has no (or very few) internal aspects. It has no grappling, locks and throws. It is not self-defence focused but self-defence skills can be easily added.

 

Tai chi chuan gong fu:

 

very formal and soft style based on slow movements and manegement of internal energy (chi). It has the same fundametal stances of shaolin chuan gong fu. It has kicks, strikes, punces, grappling, locks. It is very rich of techniques. It has lots of forms (very long). It take long time to master, it is a lifetime journey. It is full of internal aspects and health benefits. It can be practiced at all ages. It needs some time to become self-defence effective.

 

As you see I took two completely different MAs. But they complement each other very well.

Edited February 13, 2004 by italian_guy

[Tal]

Jujitsu is the Samurai's unarmed method of combat. Its a very complete art with striking, throws and grappling. Lots of very lethal moves in it. IMO it is the most well rounded unarmed MA around.

 

The main principle of Jujitsu is to momentarily stun your opponent or part of your opponent with a strike, use that fraction of a second to manipulate them to your advantage, disable them with a throw or lock, and finally kill them with a lock or strike. You can of course, miss out the killing part and finish by breaking a limb or something.

 

Kendo is a watered down form of Kenjitsu - Samurai sword fencing. Kenjitsu is an amalgamation of many different japanese sword schools. Kendo is a much simplified and safer form of Kenjitsu, and only includes a fraction of the techniques used in Kenjitsu. Today, Kendo is really a sport, but it still involves a lot of etiquette and spriritual stuff.

 

Kendo emphasises concentration, speed and precision, and strikes have to be accurately executed if they are to count (just hitting your opponent won't do).

[SevenStar]

for jujutsu, it depends... are you referring to japanese or brazilian? grandmasterchen described brazilian, a few others described japanese.

[Drunken Monkey]

gonna nit-pick but kung fu isn't a style.

 

it is a 'name' that encompasses martial arts from one country.

[aefibird]

My £0.02 about the styles I do...

 

Shotokan karate is a hard, external striking style. It is a Japanese style of karate, as opposed to Okinawan lineage styles. It encompasses punching and kicking, along with locks, throws and sweeps (grappling stuff), although how much of this you do depends on your instructor. Shotokan also has kata (patterns/forms). It is often seen as a slow and rigid style, although that's usually said by people that have no experience with it... Yes, it has very low stances compared to other MA styles, but this can work as an advantage as it is a good excercise in strength training as well as giving you a good grounded stance for fighting. There generally isn't any weapons training in Shotokan karate.

 

Aikido is an internal, soft style martial art. It uses the concept of Ki (which can be described as internal energy, although I'm not gonna get into a discussion about Ki here!!). However, it isn't necessary to believe in Ki in order to practice Aikido, although it can help. Aikido has been described as a truly defesive style. It uses the energy and momentum of an attacker and blends with it in order to create harmony with the attacker. Training in Aikido is in joint locks, throws and pins, although Atemi (striking) also plays a part. There is also weapons training in Aikido, with the Jo, the Bokken and the Tanto. There are kata in Aikido, although these are two person weapons forms and are used as a training aid. There are several styles of Aikido, including Aikikai, Yoshinkan and Tomiki.