Year Round The Martial Arts thread

[Gold Knight]

Let's see what kind of army of hand-to-hand combatants we have here!

I took T'ai Chi Ch'uan classes for a year, though I'm out of practice. It was the Chen style, and we had two alternating teachers who had drastically different personalities which was almost as fun as learning Tai Chi itself.

One was stone-faced, in shape, and all business, and the other was... laidback and fat! But the latter was a LOT more experienced and would probably be able beat the former, which is just hilarious... but I guess that's the power of being experienced at martial arts right there.

Anyway, ever done martial arts? Any interesting experiences?

 

[Pazuzu]

Karate for 9 years so far.

Never get involved in martial art politics. Ever. It just causes pain.

 

[The Boff]

kickboxing for a year. then i had to stop.. got hurt.

 

[ILUVATAR]

TAE-KWON-DO is my style.
a few years ago i stoped cause of the studying (believe it)
i also like Kanto a LOT (i simply LOOOOVE katanas) but i never had a chance to practice it with someone
Anax has a katana but he hasn't showed it to me yet

 

[conan]

Ki Aikido, it was one of the best experiences i ever had, its a bit different from traditional aikido
stayed with it for 8 months and i had to move cuase my university is in another city, .
that was the only one i stuck with, i tried a lot but luck and discipline were not on my side.
never the less you can ask me about almost any martial art ,my fondness in martial made me obsessed for a while and i have researched a lot
of them on the web.

 

[chin sai]

jeet kune do 8yrs
wataa!

 

[conan]

not bad at all chin sai,so staying that long with jeet kune do i would suspect you know phillipino kali and other martial arts in the jeet kune do matrix.
Modified:
well i have to modify this i think since i wont get an answer from chin sai anytime soon.
any one else practiced martial arts?

 

[Bibichan]

I've been training Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, more commenly known as Ninjutsu, for almost three years and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
Our dojo used to be really small (actually, it still is) and we didn't have a sensei who was authorized to carry out gradings. Fortunately, last autumn our dojo joined a cooperation with a dojo in another city and now we have an authorized sensei. He's a really good sensei and he has even trained under our grandmaster Hatsumi-sensei in Japan.

 

[conan]

wow, bujinkan eh,thats quite cool,was never able to stick with it though after giving it a try,never the less,it has one of the best
reputations as a japanese martial art and Budo schools.
but then your name bibichan doesnt really reflect that
so three years should make you about shodan,am i right.

 

[Chapel]

i've been doing ju jitsu for ten years.
bibichan how is ninjutsu?what do you do in your dojo?any kind of acrobatic jutsu(i'd like it very much,even if it's really riskious doing acrobatic jutsus in a real fight)?

 

[Hakkeshou]

Shotokan karate and Uechi Ryu karate-do for 10 years now :P woo taijutsu

 

[Bibichan]

wow, bujinkan eh,thats quite cool,was never able to stick with it though after giving it a try,never the less,it has one of the best
reputations as a japanese martial art and Budo schools.
but then your name bibichan doesnt really reflect that
so three years should make you about shodan,am i right.

I got my nick from something else anyway.
Shodan? Hell no. Bujinkan is not Karate. Shodan would make you Shidoshi-ho; sensei in-training. Our new sensei is 6. Dan (Shidoshi).
And like I wrote, there were no gradings in a loooong time, about 2 years and something. I'm 9. Kyu with a lot of experience. Unfortunately, my sensei thought too late of having my friend and me do 8. Kyu grading right away. But you don't train Bujinkan for the grades anyway, but for yourself. In Japan there usually aren't even gradings. Your sensei decides when you're ready.

bibichan how is ninjutsu?what do you do in your dojo?any kind of acrobatic jutsu(i'd like it very much,even if it's really riskious doing acrobatic jutsus in a real fight)?

We don't really do any "acrobatic jutsus". Ninjutsu is more about efficience; quick and deadly/efficient. It usually hurts a lot to be on the receiving end of a jutsu.
Nevertheless, we do have "acrobatic elements", like cartwheels or handspring.

 

[Miso]

I have done Taekwondo for 3 years and Judo and Jiu-Jitsu for some months.
I liked Taekwondo best but I had to stop because of boarding school. As I lived at a different place than my home during the week I could not attend the training.

 

[lee-nus]

hapkido is my style! i have practiced for seven years and have 1 dan, soon to be 2...

 

[sagnik]

Shito Ryu for 7 yrs but shifted to JU JItsu after I got beaten by one of them.

 

[Anax]

Tae-Kwon-Do (ITF) for 2 years, though I also attended two seminars, so by the time I stopped/quit I was at half red belt. I'm really out of practise, though Tae-Kwon-Do is purely Taijutsu, thus not what I was looking for anyway. Still, I'm not the person to be involved in fights.

@ Bibichan

When my father was in Uni he was trained unofficially by one of those kung fu sensei's you have to seek (of course he was merely taught 5%-10% of what the sensei's son and daughter knew, but that's another story). He often told me (and still does) that the key in kung fu is to kill your opponent with as less strikes as possible, as quickly as possible, perfection being an one-hit-kill. He told me that his sensei had received the training army generals receive, to be able to survive assasination attempts. He even had a vast knowledge of poisons... Anyway, you make it seem that Ninjutsu is somewhat like that (whereas Ninpo is not, at least according to Shoto Tanemura's book that I've read). So, is it? And what do you think is the use of such a martial art nowadays?

@ Iluvatar

Actually it's not a katana, unless you mean it in the general "sword" way. My sword is a tachi. I'd like to have a Katana too and feel the difference in weight and length. In Kavala there's an Iaido school (opened recently) and I think a Kendo school. What do you say, do we join together?

 

[Bibichan]

Anyway, you make it seem that Ninjutsu is somewhat like that (whereas Ninpo is not, at least according to Shoto Tanemura's book that I've read). So, is it?

Most of the techniques I have come across so far do not allow a second attack by the attacker. You have to consider that the jutsus orginate from the techniques used by ninjas back in the days. They had to be efficient to carry out their missions.
In contrast to martial arts like Karate or Judo, Ninjutsu does not have tournaments, because
a) it's about mastering your own life, not the martial art
b) it's based on every day life.
There is no second place in a real fight. When you're being attacked, maybe even with more than one opponent, you can't afford to have the opponent stand up again.
My senseis also always tell us to get the hell out of there, if he happen to be in a real fight, especially when there are multiple opponents.
From what I know about Tanemura, he used to be part of Bujinkan, but he left it to teach a whole range of martial arts in his own dojo, but I may be wrong.

And what do you think is the use of such a martial art nowadays?

I can only speak for Ninjutsu. It's supposed to help you master your life by gaining confidence in your own abilities. Actually, that's what's it about.
When you know what to do to defend yourself in a fight, you make a more confident impression and you're less likely to be attacked. Still, running around attacking people just because you can, because you're learning martial arts is NOT the way it's supposed to be.

 

[bigank]

I have done Tae Kwon Do for about one year and half, my favorite was sparring, i have won couple medal from tournments at my school had hosted

 

[okyatoks]

Yeah, I read about Master Hatsumi's work in a book by Stephen Hayes. I really wanted to join the dojo but I'm afraid I'm miles away...way, way far away from the place, even it's affiliates.

at most, I could only see him and his school from afar:

http://www.nybujinkan.com/hatsumi.php
http://www.bujinkan.co.za/H3.html
http://www.bujinkan.com/index.html

well, that's life.

 

[Kirawea]

I've got five years of karate wado-ryu behind me, and I'm in my second year for kung-fu wushu.
Had some judo as a kid, but no memories now, except for I was really bad at it ! (as heavy as a shrimp !)
I'm happy to see there's some amazing martial arts experience here ! Even if here is everywhere !