SUBSIM Radio Room Forums - Martial Arts. Who has practiced/practices them?

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Skybird

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ishmael

Tai Chi Chu'an, Aikido, Kendo & Iai-do. Skybird, have you ever tried to find out what smith made your Katana? There's a great book out by the appropriately named John Yamato called,"The Samurai Sword." In it, Yamato went through and cataloged virtually every Japanese swordsmith from Medieval times to the present day. Generally, the markings of the sword smiths & their testers is stamped on the tang of the blade. If you don't have a copy, I do & can look it up for you. I priced swords about 15 years ago at gun shows & found the price starts in the low thousands & goes up to the seven-figure range.

As for my martial arts sayings, there are two that i have. The first is a zen koan:

The sword of the true samurai lies, rusting, in it's scabbard.

The second comes from the Shin Jin Mei:

No love and no hatred, that is enough.
Understanding can come spontaneously clear,
Like daylight in a cave.

As you can guess, I have always been drawn to the Rinzai school.

A bit of Lin-Chi fan myself, yes. Straight and direct, no distraction. Cut! :lol: Like a sword strike. Like Wing Tsun.

The one sword I have is a blade made by a smith of the Yoshimichi school/clan/family, somewhere around the middle of the 17th century. that date means it must have been made by someone of the first or second generation of that family. That's what I was told by my mentor, and it has been in his family's possession for very long. I already know that it is precious, although not as precious as swords from the 15th and 16th century, and I would ask you to not post an estimation from your book, I don't want to raise that kind of attention. I would never sell it anyway. It was a gift, and so it can only be given to the next one as a gift as well. I took the place of my mentor's son in line, i think, who had to leave too early. The constellation is kind of a problem for me - I have no students, and wouldn't be able to teach the technical training anyway. Sometimes i think to find a worthy solution to this was the last test my mentor gave me. Or a desparate solution by himself, for he had no other family left. Maybe I should spend more attention on that first koan of yours. :D

The other sword is an industrial sword from the early or even pre-WW2 era that I once bought myself - for very stupid reasons, i think today, or better: for no real reasons at all. I never needed it and probably was stupid to do it, since I also have two ebony-wood swords for training.

The two metal swords are not in my household (I have only Japanese kitchen knifes at hand which also are lethal weapons :lol: ), but currently are safely locked away elsewhere. I admit that I do not do any caring work on them as often as one maybe should wish to do. Because of that I do not use the traditional Choji oil and mineral powders, but use an old alcalic German weapon oil that never developes resin, I described it in another thread one or two weeks ago. I check the swords at least twice a year. Both are in good shape. It is incredible how sharp the old one still is. One needs to see it in order to believe it. Only the grain has become a bit uneven, but one needs to look very sharp and needs to know what to look out for in order to see it.

OK. I have 5 listed smiths named Yoshimichi in the 1600's.

Two from Yamashiro ca 1624 & 1688 with a point value of 10 & 5 respectively.

Three from Settsu ca 1658, 1661 & 1673 with point values of 5,10 & 5 respectively.

The third Yoshimichi from Settsu was also known as Tamba.

Yumoto assigns his point values on a scale of 1-300 with a Masamune of Sagami blade taking the top rating. Interestingly enough, blades by Muramasa of Ise who were such a bane to the Tokugawa family, are rated at an 85.

Also a correction. The author's name is John Yumoto not Yamato. The title is,

"The Samurai Sword A Handbook" published by Charles E. Tuttle Company.

Further reading indicates that they may be one smith as the Yoshimichis listed show the same title or surname(Tamba no Kami) in both Yamashiro & Settsu for the early New Sword period(Azuchi-Momoyama).

It is Tamba No Kami indeed, the sword probably was one of the first being made after he moved to Osaka. The markings for Osaka and Kyoto are slightly different, so one can tell where it was made. My teacher had it sent to Japan for polishing short before I left berlin and he gave it to me. I once let it estimate by a german collector and trader (whoeven learned smithing (?) in japan), and know since then that if I ever would feel like wanting to own a sporting car... well... :lol:

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Originally Posted by Yahoshua

Contrary to popular opinion, you can figure out how to use a pistol and STILL miss at close range.

Too true. Most pistol fights take place at ranges of 10 feet or less, and often involve many more misses than hits.

It makes a huge difference when the target is shooting back.

I take it most of you have seen Clint Eastwoods "Unforgiven". I liked very much when Gene Hackman explained what made the difference in being a "dangerous" gunner: It was not being faster, but instead being cooler. I have never been in a shot-exchange, but in martial arts it is to a certain extent similar: getting nervous or trying to do things too fast is sometimes worser. People who start a fight hitting all around madly often end up receiving a full blow in the nose before they even knew where it came from :up:

I hold instructor-level certifications in Hapkido and Hanmudo and I've dabbled (anything less than a 1st Dan rank is dabbling to me) in Wing Chun, Iaijutsu and Kenjutsu (Atlanta Budokan school, when I lived there), and Aikido.

I competed in the southeastern region on occasion when my Hapkido instructor would mention some friends of his were going to this tournament or that, generally the USMA all-style tournaments held across the region, and went to numerous seminars with the other advanced students in my school. The one I remember the most fondly was a seminar on the use of jointlocks and pain-submission techniques in real-life situations put on by Master He-Young Kimm in Baton Rouge. That old man is SPRY for his age.

As far as using anything I've learned outside a ring, the incidents are so few and far between that I can remember each and every one. A truly skilled martial artist wins fights simply by defusing situations before they begin. Often it's just as simple as looking utterly disinterested in fighting. Seems to work for me, anyway. Who wants to fight someone when there's nothing to learn in it? :know:

I'm also a gun owner and CCW licensee. I carry a Springfield XD40 V10 when out and about. Why, when at close range my hands are probably more accurate and deadly? Because not all situations will be close range. A true warrior prepares for all possibilities. Have I ever used it? Nope, and I hope to God I never have to. Who wants that on their conscience?

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Originally Posted by Psycluded

A truly skilled martial artist wins fights simply by defusing situations before they begin.

Absolutely true!! The first principle of all confrontations is avoidance.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yahoshua

Quote:

Originally Posted by Psycluded

A truly skilled martial artist wins fights simply by defusing situations before they begin.

Absolutely true!! The first principle of all confrontations is avoidance.

Sometimes true. But sometimes you can find yourself in situations where the price of not acting can appear to be higher than to act. It's a question of how you personally bilance the costs and gains. Also, this argument in that quote shows a certain ethical ripeness. Believe me, there are people in the world who simply are not up to that level. always assuming the other shares one's own noble views and is as disgusted of violance as oneself is - is not always wise.

the Budneswehr's mascot, or symbol, is a hedgehog. A hedgehog can remain passive and by that care for himself. But in no way he is able to protect others.

All those Zen philosophies and noble ideals are fine and well. But sometimes the world just is dark and dirty. Reminds me of one of my favourite mottos:

"Strong and noble is the one whose eyes can bear everything - but whose heart still feels everything." - Its from an entertainment movie! (La fille d'Artagnan)

Sorry if I came across as being ignorant to the plight of others, but I was coming more from the perspective of "someone personally confronting me" situation.

In which case I'd try to get the other party to calm down and avoid a fight if possible, but not give them the impression that I'm going to roll over to any demands they may make.

Quote:

I competed in the southeastern region on occasion when my Hapkido instructor would mention some friends of his were going to this tournament or that, generally the USMA all-style tournaments held across the region

It has always interested me how it is possible to do competition fighting with martial arts whose movements are meant mainly to cause a lot of damage. From my limited point of view -as I have only practiced boxing- amteur competition is easy in that you do exactly the same as you train and as what you would do in a real fight, you simply don't hit that hard as scoring points is what matters. But when doing tournement fights f.e. in Hapkido or Aikido, what is exactly done? I suppose you avoid those movements that would f.e. break a leg or a joint, but then I guess you are very limited in what you can do. Or not? I can't imagine how you can use all you have learnt and at the same time do it softly enough to avoid causing a real injury to your oponent. In boxing that is easier, and even so, it is not uncommon to end up with a blue rim around the eye or a blooding nose :hmm:

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Originally Posted by ASWnut101

Anyone want to post any useful moves/tips?

RUN!:rotfl:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hitman

Tournament fighting, as you say, is all about point-scoring and not about breaking things. With that knowledge in mind, you simply choose your approaches and attacks in such a way that will allow you to score without hurting your opponent. For instance, I'm a lightweight guy, which means I would get paired up with high-school age Tae Kwon Do "black belts" and smaller, faster kids from schools like Tang Soo Do and the occasional Wing Chun fight. Against these, mostly my job was to block and evade in such a way as to deny them points and score on counter-strikes, where my opponent overextends, I step into his inner circle and do a simple jab or elbow strike.

On a side note... I have never understood this idea of handing out 1st Dan to kids who've practiced for a year, maybe less, that seems prevalent in Tae Kwon Do in America. What gives? I worked -hard- every weekday afternoon for 4 years to earn my 1st Dan, and the next two years after that for my 2nd Dan, in Hapkido.

Used to do a fair bit but havnt in recent years i have done boxing kick boxing judo and a bit of wrestleing, that was when i was a bit better health at the moment i aint a clue why its all gone down hill i used to be around 13 stone im down to just under 9 now!

Observing the "resurrect a thread before starting a new one" rule..

I just started Kendo two months ago.
Most martial arts are overcrowded with "I just want to beat someone up" kind of people and seem to have lost their way.
I do martial arts not to beat up somebody but to improve dexterity, focus myself and have a better coordination.
Kendo is different, as its real life applications are somewhat limited (who's running around with a Katana all day?).
The Kendo crowd are more nerds (even a few subsimmers) and fans of japanese culture. And our Sensei is actually japanese, something I never encountered in German Judo or Karate.

My favorit marcial art: a shotgun under my jacket...:p Kidding.

I practice Karate,shotokan stile, praticed for 10 years,then left for 7 years and now returned. Did some aikido and kendo, but more for fun and to train with my father since he left karate because was tired how they( our masters) did several things.

AntEater, I once had a few classes (in a probation) with a japonese sensei in karate, was our "senior chief" sensei of the karate association. And a japanese woman that was here in my home town, told me that they have kendo in the schools, in schools sports as we here have soccer and other kinds.

I use to do karate years ago, and in more recent years I've done a bit of fencing and ti-chi, although more for fun than any desire to become brilliant at them. Attacking people with a sword is good fun, although it bloody hurts when someone's sword doesn't bow properly if they get a hit on you, and instead rides up under the neck guard of your face mask and stabs you in the throat!

:D Chock