Top 10 Self Defense Martial Arts

[SevenStar]

Taijutsu is the proper name for what most people call "ninjutsu". there are parallels between Taijutsu and JuJutsu, because 6 of the nine "schools" the taijutsu system consists of are JuJutsu. i only have some knowlegde of Budo Taijutsu, which is mainly very soft moves, and redirecting techniques. u dont meet your opponent with brute force.

 

taijutsu translates to "body arts" and makes up the grappling side of ninjutsu. Back in the day, the term was actually synonymous with jujutsu.

[Treebranch]

Thanks SevenStar, that's exactly right.

 

Icetuete Budo Taijutsu is not soft at all. It can be soft, because you have that option if you are experienced. Budo Taijutsu is one of those MA's that you have to have done to you in order to really judge it. We have some very powerful strikes with all of our body weapons. Hands, feet, knees, elbows, fists, head, hips, shoulders are all used effectively for striking. Of course strikes lead to throws and the throws are brutal. In Budo Taijutsu you can meet you're opponent with full force if you think you can, or you can left them come to you and take advantage of their force. There's lots to learn in Budo Taijutsu and the deeper you get into it, the more you realize it is infinite so you have to choose what you want to master. So basically you can make Budo Taijutsu work for you and everyones Taijutsu is a little different even if you are from the same school. I've taken other MA's and I've never been able to hit with so much power before or have I been able to move as fast. It's a great MA's just like most. MA's are awesome and all MA's have something great to offer. You just have to find the one that fits you best.

[wing chun kuen man]

I have joined this thread a little late but here goes my list, and this is according to my personal research.

 

1. Wing Chun

 

2. Baji Quan kung fu

 

3. Shaolin Five Animals

 

4. Five Ancestor Fist kung fu

 

5. Traditional Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karate

 

6. Traditional Shorin-Ryu Karate

 

7. Kyokushinkai

 

8. Muy Thai

 

9. Shotokan Karate (traditional, non sport)

 

10. Praying Mantis kung fu (there are various styles,

 

surely some more deadly than others).

 

My list is based on what I consider as powerful martial arts and not on how fast you will be able to defend yourself in a street fight after iniciating your training. Most of them will take a very long time to master, but once this is achieved the practioner will become a lethal weapon in most of the styles mentioned above. Most chinese and traditional okinawan styles were used to maim and kill the enemy in as short a time as possible. Many traditional chinese styles use high level energy training that gives its exponents incredible penetrative striking power which combined with pressure point knowledge make its exponents such deadly fighters . However, to achieve this one needs to train for many many years and with dedication, with a good master - which in this era of Mcdojos might be almost impossible.

 

The same is true with karate. Real karate training involves a lot of repetition. What us westerners find as too repetitive is nothing compared to what you will find in Okinawa. They train hard, with hard kumite and it is kata, kata, and more kata, and hard makiwara training. From what I know about karate, if you want to be good you have to practise your katas every day many times and train makiwara, yes every day, many okinawans have them at home.. Many okinawan schools consider kata training more important than kumite. And yes I know this kind of training, not to mention a good sensei are difficult to find in the west but it is not impossible. I think what is more difficult is to find the will to train so hard.

 

If one is impatient then yes they should take up bjj, krav maga, muy thai where he/she can learn basic self defence skills in a relatively short amount of time and ofcourse improve on that as he/she trains more, but in my opinion and this is my opinion, if you pick a good kung fu school or traditional karate style and train hard and with patience you will achieve more on the long run as well as health wise - the latter is specially true with practioners of traditional chinese kung fu.

 

Wing Chun Kuen Man

[Drunken Monkey]

wow, from sil lim tao to chum kiu in two days....

[wing chun kuen man]

Drunken Monkey,

 

That was my error. I have been chum kiu level for about 5 months. I still don´t know how I made that mistake, but I just noticed my error today and corrected it as fast as I could.

[MauyThaiMonster]

Wing Chun man, since when has Wing Chun been a powerful system?

 

I see once again, MT is being classified as simplistic, would this have anything to do witht the fact its a sport and fights in the ring as well as being amartial art.

 

You say its quick to get good at, but you imply that it lacks depth, how? in what way?

[muaythaifreak]

I believe, and correct me if I am wrong, that he is alluding to the fact that in MT the basic fundamental skills of fighting are taught at a much earlier point in the training than they are in other MA's. In that sense anyway I would agree that MT is "easier". However, I fail to see how this is a flaw rather than an advantage as you are a better fighter sooner.

[Drunken Monkey]

the strengths of a style do not automatically discount from the weaknesses of a style.

 

the same is true if you switch the words around;

 

the weaknesses of a style do not sutomatically discount from its strengths.

 

who cares if it takes longer to learn as long as the end result is the same.

 

who cares if the style is 'simple' (isn't that a good thing?).

 

remove all of the baggage and we are all essentially learning how to hit people and not get hit.

 

when deciding if a style is good or not, look at if it teaches and trains you (not the same thing) to hit and avoid hits.

 

i have said this many many times before.

 

i seriously doubt that many of the chinese schools these days teach you to fight like the style is supposed to.

 

that's where the 'sports' styles have their advantage.

 

imagine training your 'classical' style how they do.

 

actually fighting with it.

 

after all, it's what they used to do.

 

bruises, loss of blood and broken bones used to be regular events in the old martial arts schools.

 

that's why the sifus NEEDED to be bone-setters as well.

 

on the other hand for those that say that the 'sports' styles lack depth, imagine what they could do with the material that the 'classical' guys have?

 

peace keeping mission over.

 

monkey out.

[wing chun kuen man]

Let me make a few points.

 

First, Wing Chun IS a powerful system wether you agree or not. It was made to fight wars and it works. I even know martial artists who do not practice it and a few who don´t like it , but at the same time they respect its effectiveness.

 

Second, I don´t have anything against Muay Thai, I respect it, and its effectiveness as a martial art and a self defence system. THAT is why I included it in my top 10 list.

 

Third, yes it is relatively "easy" to get fighting and self defence skills in a relatively short time. That is an ADVANTAGE, specially for people for whom learning to fight quickly is a priority. Another reason that MT was in my top 10 list.

 

Fourth, I did not say that MT has no depth. Infact it has, as it is an art that is centuries old and it works.

 

Now if you ask me if Thai Boxing has more depth than kung fu I would say, NO, it doesn´t. High level kung fu styles have many techiques that do not exist in MT. They are complete arts that incorporate grappling, Chin-na(joint and nervecenter manipulation) and of course internal(chi kung) trainning. The internal kung fu trainning takes many, many years of daily exercise. In time this commitment gives the practitioner the capability to strike and penetrate the opponent with internal energy(chi). At this level, the exponent strikes nerve centers on the body of the "enemy" with fingers,knuckles and from distinct angles to cause various types of damage, including death. Wether this kind of trainning or time span is practical or not for the average martial artist, or wether today´s average martial artist will even be accepted into a school that teaches real kung fu is not the issue. The issue is depth and the above gives kung fu superior depth to that of Muay Thai. I stress again that I am not putting down MT. This is my honest belief based on my knowledge.

 

Peace,

 

Wing Chun Kuen Man

[muaythaifreak]

Your knowledge of Muay Thai is lacking, therefore your opinion is biased. I however have sparred with MANY practitioners of several different KF disciplines, of varying experience. I have had "dim mak" demonstrated upon my person. I am not dead by the way, nor did it make me ill or damage my person. Not to say mind you that I can take from this that all "dim mak" practioners are bogus. I would however have to experience it firsthand to become a believer. From my experience with Kung Fu, I've never known it to work, nor have I ever seen it work. Unless of course it was KF vs. KF. I do however know that in the seventies several KF masters went to Thailand and challenged some Thai boxers to a contest. I don't recall exactly how long they lasted, but none went to the second round.