I am really unlucky (or Enworld martial artists help me part 2)...

[Lord Ravinous]

D'oh! I have now officially been labeled a troll. And if you were calling me a smartass, you really have nothing to worry about, offensewise. Unless Eric's Grandma doesn't like the term.

Eh, if she does were both in trouble , if someone tells me to change it I will, but since you refered to yourself as a smartass, I won't disagree with ya on that one.

 

[LGodamus]

Glad we finally got that cleared up......

uhhh, hmmmm...............

Well now we need something else to talk about.

 

[Drakmar]

I'm sure one of the combatants in one of the Karate Kid movies had a purple gi.. dunno bout the gold trim.. Actually.. I think I have a mpeg of a Wu Shu comp in Hong Kong/China (dunno where exactly) of some guy doing a Wu Shu form in a purple gi.

man.. I wish I had a purple gi.. it would look mad with my green skin (once I have mastered Blanka's electric shock thingy)

Woot!!!

 

[Lord Ravinous]

lol

 

[ph34r]

I'm sure one of the combatants in one of the Karate Kid movies had a purple gi.. dunno bout the gold trim.. Actually.. I think I have a mpeg of a Wu Shu comp in Hong Kong/China (dunno where exactly) of some guy doing a Wu Shu form in a purple gi.

man.. I wish I had a purple gi.. it would look mad with my green skin (once I have mastered Blanka's electric shock thingy)

Woot!!!

Dude, I've seen that vid. I think it's a chick though cause her friends keep yelling her name while they cheer.

 

[Darius101]

Interesting LG, that the state of Ninjutsu today has changed so much. I was unaware that many of the Ninpo practioners were so swayed to one side nowadays. What a disappointment for me.
Hatsumi always taught us that Ninpo was the art of survival and that all arts had something to teach us. No art is above any other art and that is probably one reason Hatsumi san has such a great backround in so many arts (over 20 or 30 I believe). There is even diversity in the Togakure Ryu that varies widly from school to school. Morris states this in his second book, I did not like the way he stated it though.
When looking for a school I again say look at what they teach and how they teach it rather than going on a reputation.
Having been in the Bujinkan for 20+yrs I do not agree with what you were saying about many things in releation to the art of ninpo. I do however respect your right to have an individual opinion based on your experience.
Genbukan is also another interesting school for learning Ninpo. This school was started by Shoto Tanemura who is a cousin of Hatsumi. It is a harder style and just as relevent to the art as Bujinkan. Bujinkan has become too comercial in recent years in my opinion and that has watered the art down to a large extent. At least from the articles and experience with the current crop of 5th degree black belts coming up in the ranks. This may have more to do with the teachers than the individuals I have worked with though. There are two individuals I know of that when you look at their techniques you would say to yourself why are they 5th degree or above? They must have bought their belts rather than earned it. Someone who earns their belt has a certain pride in the acomplishment that these individuals seem to lack.

We always sparred from the begining. We never did competition. We have always had an open door policy with respect being very important. Anyone at anytime could come in for a try out,for FREE. Anyone at anytime could challenge our Sensei.
We only had one person ever come in to interupt class to challenge Sensei and this individual showed very little respect. The individual tried to sucker punch our teacher when our teacher said not right now and then this man was swiftly knocked unconcious with a light touch knockout. The class stopped to see what was going on and Sensei asked us to continue class while he woke the man up. He then asked the individual to leave the school as what he was looking for could not be found with us. Nothing else was ever said about it in class or out of class. We never saw the person again.
I miss my teacher as he has gone back to Japan and retied from formal teaching. I also miss my Chinese instructor for Wing Chun as he also has retired from teaching but I am thankful that they gave me a well rounded education in the Martial Ways. They were like all of the Masters that I have met in that they were humble about themselves and their arts. They did not put on airs or say my art is better than your art. I will always be leery of an individual or a school that does have this persona. There are great people out there teaching and I would like to think there are great people out there learning the way as a path rather than a highway.
"I would rather be caught on a trail in the woods than be stuck in the middle of the highway with a flat tire."

You must always walk before you get to the proverbial 'good stuff'. In my opinion it is all good stuff that can get muddled and bogged down in BS.

Later,
Darius

Koryu Link ---Click Here---
The Koryu Primer ---Click Here ---
Lgodamus this last one is for you:
Ninjutsu and why it is not currently considered a Koryu ---Click Here---

What exactly is Togakure Ryu style Ninjutsu?

The Togakure ryu, established approximately eight hundred years ago, is now in it's thirty-fourth generation. The ryu (style) exist today as an organisation dedicated to teaching effective methods of self-protection and promoting the self-development and awareness of its members. Due to the stabilized nature of contemporary Japanese government and judical systems, the Togakure ninja ryu no longer involves itself directly in combat or espionage work. Previous to the unification of Japan during the 16th century; however, it was necessary for Togakure ninja to operate out of south centrl Iga Province. At the height of the historical ninja period, the clan's ninja operatives were trained in eighteen fundamental areas of expertise, beginning with this "psychic purity" and progressing through a vast range of physical and mental skills.
---Dr. Masaaki Hatsumi---
Adapted from the book
"Ninjutsu, history and tradition"

Largest online library of Martial Arts Releated Material ----Click Here----

 

[Darius101]

Quote of the day.

The perfection of art is to conceal art.

-- QUINTILIAN

How very true. My sensei always would tease us with the saying " Looks easy, hard to practice". When you reach a certain level your technique become second nature. When technique becomes second nature it becomes smooth and fluid. When it becomes smooth and fluid you do things naturally and this in itself can hide technique. It can become difficult to learn something merely by watching at this level unless you have a good interpreter to show you what you saw/see.
This is what makes a good teacher great...the great ones can slow it down to the point you can learn it.
Later,
Darius

 

[Synicism]

Synicism: Definitely agree on the mental training being important as well. I find that this also varies from school to school -- some schools assume that you'll pick it up naturally, while other schools try to cultivate it in their students.

In many circumstances, I really think that this is the kind of thing that you can only learn by yourself. We're all roleplayers here. We should be familiar with the idea of imagining encounters. I believe that the ability to use martial arts to protect yourself when you really have to fight comes from mental and physical practice.

Will sparring alone cut it? No. As it's been pointed out, there are a lot of rules. I really discovered that doing grappling practice with a judo student at my school when I used a thumb-lock to break his leg guard and found out that I wasn't supposed to. However, sparring teaches two fundamentally important concepts - distance (how far you have to be to launch an attack that will do damage) and timing (when to launch an attack that will do damage).

So how do you translate it? I certainly do not recommend going "no holds barred" with your classmates. Someone will get hurt. However, if you know your distance and timing from sparring, you can train yourself to execute other "illegal" techniques with the same distance and timing you use in sparring, but on a static target. Heavy bags, wooden dummies, whatever.

Sparring will train you to move in combat to control distance and timing. Static practice and use of your imagination will give you an opportunity to practice other techniques. It will also build your endurance in a way no other form of practice can safely accomplish. From there, it's a matter of putting the two together and that is all up to you. I really don't care what style you study. Only lots and lots of practice outside of your regularly scheduled classes is going to give that to you.

They might, however, come at you with a weapon. A good street-effective school will teach students how to handle club and knife attacks from a variety of forms, as well as gun attacks -- although the whole ranged aspect of a gun attack takes some of it out of your control. You sorta have to hope that you get a nice dumb gun attacker who gets within five feet of you, or that you can close the distance before they get their gun out and aimed.

The best instructors will teach you that the best way to protect yourself from a firearm is to adopt a posture that is as psychologically non-threatening as possible and to give your assailant exactly what he wants. Unless he actually wants to kill you, then nothing he can possibly do to you is worth the risk of getting your guts blown out.

Note: Some styles teach techniques against weapons, but only at higher ranks. This is fine and dandy and good and wonderful. I'm not saying that you should learn how to parry a knife on the first day of class. That's an example of "a little knowledge is a dangerous thing" just waiting to happen.

That is all well and good, and something I think that people should learn, but it's not easy by any stretch of the imagination. You're absolutely correct when you say that a little knowledge is dangerous. There's no sense in teaching someone how to stop a knife attack or a baseball bat swing before they are able to assume the mindset that allows them to react to such a thing, and that takes time and practice.

 

[LGodamus]

Darius, I am unclear what you are disagreeing with me about. If you would be more clear perhaps I could come up with a better response....from your post it appears you do not understand my positions.

Further more your link doesnt prove ninpo isnt a koryu, just that ninpo insnt part of some little Koryu organization. The japanese government has put forth that Hatsumi soke is a national living treasure of japan and the last soke of authentic ninja arts....

 

[takyris]

[edited out so as not to give offense]

-Tacky