conflicted?

[RichardZ]

Can any martial art be truly experienced without sparring?

[Blade96]

I learned my first bit of Kumite/sparrin' a month or so ago. (like when someone throws an oi zuki at yer middle and you counter with either uchi uke or soto uke)

I enjoy it, too. For me I see it as using what you learned. It shows you exactly what the blocks are for. If you show someone a jodan age uke a little white belt who didnt know what its for and how to use it. sparring shows you.

same with Katas, our BB is currently teaching us how to apply our kata Heian Shodan to taking on 4 people at once (and tbh I almost got him in the neck while doing Shuto- uke, oops, I also punched him a little too hard in the chest with my oi zuki, my fault, I love it so much I can get carried away, oops)

I love sparring, too. one of my friends likes to sing the word 'sparsparsparspar, sparsparsparspar.....'

[Wa-No-Michi]

Can any martial art be truly experienced without sparring?

Kyudo?

Iaido?

Taichi?

It's not all about fighting (at least in a "sparring" sense).

WNM

[Ichi_Geki]

Can any martial art be truly experienced without sparring?

Kyudo?

Iaido?

Taichi?

It's not all about fighting (at least in a "sparring" sense).

WNM

haha about the kyudo part.

But some schools of Iaido and Tai Ji influence some sort or sparring. Like in Tai Ji they use push hands to determine who has more skill and better technique.

And in Iaido a Sano Sensei of the yatsukaido dojo in Japan uses bokken to simulate a cutting exercise on a person.

But I agree, its not all about sparring.

[arcelt]

I'm not sure that one can really be "experienced" in a martial endeavor without having been in a number of situations where there are no rules and one must overcome an adversary in defense of one's life.

In that respect, I think the only truly "experienced" martial arts are those practiced by the military and police forces.

Sparring is great for developing timing and getting a feel for going against a real opponent, but all sparring has rules. The rules keep us safe and sane, but they also detract from the ultimate reality of the situation.

I am horribly inexperienced and I hope to remain so.