Isshinryu One Strike, One Kill?

[kansascityshuffle]

I've had quite a bit of "real life altercations" and in my past have worked as a door man, fought many times in kickboxing, Muay Thai, Kyokushin, and Sabaki tournaments..and I'm also a veteran of 10th Special Forces Group (the latter required very few empty handed altercations).

With that being said, I'm nobody special, just a guy that's been in a lot of fights, that's a Kyokushin and Muay Thai instructor, that had jobs that forced him in real life altercations.

Consider yourself very lucky if you win a fight or prevail in a self defense situation with one strike.

The closest I have been able to do something like that, is to throw or take down immediately followed by me crushing my knee on somebody's windpipe as soon as they hit the ground. I've been able to do this with very good success, and have had students of mine over the years that have successfully used it, as well.

Honestly, I just don't have the patience, nor want to take chances anymore, I always have at least a tactical knife on me, if not my sub compact .45 that I legally conceal carry. I'm not a young punk anymore, trying to see if I "have it," but trust me on this, train doing rounds of pad work if you're a striker, and intelligent pad work with intelligent combinations.

The reason for doing the latter is so that you really have the cardio/conditioning to keep fighting, because in a real fight, especially if you don't have experience in one, your adrenaline takes over, you forget much of what you can easily do in the dojo...simple things like keeping your hands up to help defend some wild haymakers to your head.

If you can't do at least 5, two minute rounds with only 30 second breaks in between rounds, get your fitness up...and by rounds, I mean not faking the funk, make sure you can keep on going without stopping.

If you preach to your students that they can win a fight in one strike, you're doing them a disservice, might as well tell them they're going to win the lottery.

Osu!

[muttley]

I have trained in Shotokan initially as a self defence art. I have been in several confrontational situations in my line of work and now instruct control and restraint as a part of my job.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as one strike, one kill and if you are thinking there is, you will be left in a world of pain. The only way to train for a confrontational situation is to train regularly and train with the mentality that you are facing someone intent on delivering a world of pain to you. Maintain good levels of fitness and condition your body to getting hit. Anyone who says they have never been hit in a fight is a liar IMHO.

Also anyone who is training in self defence needs to learn to control the effects of adrenaline otherwise you will start with the tunnel vision, auditory exclusion etc etc, control the negatives, enhance the positives!

[Harkon72]

The kind of mindset that was looked for in Ancient Japan was "Mushin", no-mind or "mind like water". It is the same as the Typhoon in Aikido; around the combatant there is a dervish of activity, chaotic and violent. But the center of the storm is calm and peaceful. We must not become aroused, the pool of our mind must be calm. Only then can we see the situation for what it is. This can take many years of training, experience and conditioning of the Soul.

[brickshooter]

Personally, I think that alot of Japanese tend to get mistranslated to English. Consequently you get alot of misinterpretations.

So somehow we end up with "one strike kills" that was meant to be "hit your attacker as hard as you can." Or we end up with "no first strikes" that was meant to be "don't start fights."

[Dobbersky]

Personally, I think that alot of Japanese tend to get mistranslated to English. Consequently you get alot of misinterpretations.

So somehow we end up with "one strike kills" that was meant to be "hit your attacker as hard as you can." Or we end up with "no first strikes" that was meant to be "don't start fights."

Totally agree, my wife is Filipino and advises some words do not translate into English, so I would say the same for Japanese too

[Fu Man]

The purpose of chart 1 is to learn and practice fundamental blocking and striking techniques, in lieu of basic katas. That's it. Nothing more, nothing less.

[pers]

The kind of mindset that was looked for in Ancient Japan was "Mushin", no-mind or "mind like water". It is the same as the Typhoon in Aikido; around the combatant there is a dervish of activity, chaotic and violent. But the center of the storm is calm and peaceful. We must not become aroused, the pool of our mind must be calm. Only then can we see the situation for what it is. This can take many years of training, experience and conditioning of the Soul.

This is the ultimate state of mind .

One strike one kill is the concept and the mind set , to end the conflict as quickly as possible .

[Jissen]

Some good posts.

My take on Ikken Hisatsu is 2 tiered (like everything Japanese)

On one level it means you should have ill intentions on every single strike that you throw.

On another level it explains why.

Karateka (martial artists in general) tend to be, or at least strive to be peace loving people who have a great responsibility that comes along with all that power over other people (the ability to kick their *ss). So when the situation is dire enough for me to actually strike someone....the time for diplomacy is over and it's time to get down to business, so I'm going to try to "kill you" (metaphorically) with each and every strike. As has been said, it's a philosophy and mindset. The "one strike" portion refers to you being clear minded enough to know when that one strike (whether it was the first or 12th) has "killed" the situation, so you don't actually kill someone needlessly.

In other words treat your fists as if they were guns. You wouldn't pull a gun out unless you intended to, or were at least willing to use it because the situation has gotten that out of hand. Thus it also stresses the importance of being aware, and of de-escalation, or escape when possible...so you don't get in that situation in the first place.

[Harkon72]

There is a school of thought that says if you need to throw a punch in a situation, then you have failed as a martial artist. The best you can do is fail very well!

[MasterPain]

The kind of mindset that was looked for in Ancient Japan was "Mushin", no-mind or "mind like water". It is the same as the Typhoon in Aikido; around the combatant there is a dervish of activity, chaotic and violent. But the center of the storm is calm and peaceful. We must not become aroused, the pool of our mind must be calm. Only then can we see the situation for what it is. This can take many years of training, experience and conditioning of the Soul.

Here's a friend's fight. He's the one with the angel wings and the phoenix tats. I don't know if he knows about mushin, but he is definitely in that state going in. Look at his eyes going in, and the contrast to the bouncing around his body is doing to stay warm. Excellent combat mentality. The fight starts at about 5:20. Don't blink.