Martial Arts?

[BlueScope]

@m_artist: Well, we don't do kumite, it's simply sparring, which means we're not doing full strenght... I guess you need to have some body-own armor, though *lol*

Ninjutsu has spreaded roots, but I guess the espionage thing has been developed after the basic idea. It is a major part, though.
Well, I was just talking about self defense, because I would use ninjutsu if someone would attack me, of course ^_^

 

[cloud08540]

Reading this has got me interested...I plan on taking Kendo starting next semester, but I was wondering if any of you know of a kenjutsu or ninjutsu instructor in or near New Jersey, US.

From what I've found so far most are either in NY, DE or CA...

 

[BlueScope]

Lol, it seems that anyone here either plans on doing or already does ninkenjutsu... every person I know either knows what it is from me or not at all ^_^

 

[m_artist200]

I can't say I know of any kenjutsu dojos or ninjutsu dojos in N.J. You said you were starting kendo? Try asking the sensei there.

A WORD OF WARNING: If your looking for a ninjutsu dojo, be VERY careful. Lots of "ninjutsu" dojos are set up to make a profit from gullible, gung-ho kids (no offense intened to actual practioners.). I think it might have to do with the sterotypical ninja image.....oh well. Just be careful. If they throw around words like "Ultimate Style" or "Secret Techinique" or such...*raises red flag*.

>_> Ya....I'll check around for dojos for ya. I'll post any here if i find em. Oh, and...

trust me, i can kick the crap out of any TKD boy anyday...

:D YOUR ON!!! Lemme know if your ever in Michigan!

-Edit-I'll start listing dojos i find i guess. I haven't checked how legit they are tho, just a heads up.

http://www.livingvalues.com/training.htm -Wesley Hall Auditorium in Spring Lake, NJ

GNUSKF
Shidogakuin Hakushikan
Lakeview Road
Edison, NJ W
Contact: Bella Church (908)755-6288
^may be kendo...not sure...

 

[syvkal]

(I haven't read any of the post but the first page ... :D )

Yeah I do Tae Kwon Do. I think it's great. I've not been in a while and have missed like 6 or more gradings. I'm on Green-Tag (almost green :D) but could be way further.

We learn loads of kool moves especially pressure points :D

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

@Static: Most martial arts are, but certain kept their sense. If you're practising an actual ryu kenjutsu (not just 'kenjutsu', but something like 'niten ichi ryu kenjutsu' (I don't think that's practised anymore...)), you most likely get the real art training, not the new-age simplified version...
Short test for you: Did you train 1 stance (kendo stance), 5 stances (kenjutsu default stances) or more stances (most likely ryu kenjutsu/ga-ryu) ? :D

<counts the stances> More than five. As I said before, the style is a hereditary variant of Ganryu (founded by Sasaki Kojiro) passed down from father to son since its creation. Only the past two generations of the family have taught people outside their family for money. Keep in mind, it's a variant, not the original style... so you'll never see me refer to it as simply "Ganryu." For practical purposes though, it is identical to Ganryu.

And it's really tough to train with bokken... (ah, I should say bokuto... I always forget :P ) in kenjutsu, you normally don't use any armor at all, so that's even worse, hence kenjutsu requires full-contact training to be effective.

That's exactly why the present generation of my school switched to shinai... to be effective we have to go full contact, and we can actually do that with a shinai with minimal risk of injury (they still happen, I... accidentally broke a new recruit's finger two weeks ago when he botched a parry).



And since this topic is fun, I'm going to mention a martial I practice at only a beginning level (taught to me by my kenjutsu teacher) which I almost never mention because it's so esoteric. Kiaijutsu. You get props if you know what it is without looking it up.



PS: Niten ichi-ryu, founded by Miyamoto Musashi (who defeated Sasaki Kojiro in a very famous duel) still most definitely exists. Last I heard, the current master is Imai Masayuki Nobukatsu.

 

[LegacyComplete]

something i really wanna look into and possible practice in the future is go tenshen "RyuKyu" style..

 

[m_artist200]

@BlackStatic: Isn't Kiaijutsu something like tai chi? *vaugely* something about controling body energy?

@Legacy: I have no idea what "Go Tenshen" is, but Ryukyu style...? Are you talking about kobudo/okiwanan (sp?) weaponry?

^_^ this is turning out to be a fun topic to talk about MA!!! Something I haven't been able to do in months!!

 

[BlueScope]

@Static: I know Kojiro Sasaki's ryu is called something like Tsubame (I remember that because of the Rurouni Kenshin character :D )... I also heard that he liked to duel and fought with a Nodachi (which I love, because of the increased weight :D )... well, I guess due to his illnesses (fancied duels), his technique could also be holey... but you said it's a transformed style ^_^

For the Shinai, it's simply to light for me. Both me and my training partner have a big-enough muscle armor to both being unable to handle light swords effectively and, on the other hand, can take a lot Well, those two facts makes training with a bokuto more effective...

I never heard about Kiaijutsu before... I know about the Kiai as a battle cry (and also be a synonym to the Japanese word 'kibun', which means 'mood'), but nothing of a style named like that... tell us about it :D

@m_: I bet there're a lot of fake ryu around, especially about styles like ninjutsu and kuen kung fu, whose spirit has been highly misteached by movies...

@Legacy: I also don't know about that... Ryukyu is a Japanese island, though ^_^ Well, and 'go' means 'five', translated, as everyone should know... tell us the rest of it :D

@Topic: I'm against turning this into a fun topic... for the sake of every serious martial artist, leave this thread as a discussion thread for serious people. Martial arts have been made ridiculous all around the world, but people like you guys who even attend ryu shouldn't contribute to that... not even a little.

 

[m_artist200]

>_< When i said fun topic, I meant its fun (for me at least) to finally be able to talk about MA seriously. Sorry 'bout that.

And of course theres loads of fake dojos around. They tend to be more common with some styles than others. Like....fake karate, ninjutsu, tkd, or kung fu dojos are far more common than...say....fake vale tudo dojos.

 

[BlueScope]

I seriously doubt that there are much fake karate dojo around... it's a well-known sport (not a martial art necessarily), but it wasn't sold in movies as 'the one and only technique whith which you could beat everyone with a fingersnap', if you know what I mean. Ninjutsu was, equally to kuen kung fu (shaolin kung fu partly, later). While kuen kung fu is about evading conflicts if possible, ninjutsu is about not killing your oponent unless necessary. Movies delivered the exact same message about both of them: Kung fu fighters started duels for fun (just hear the song 'kung fu fighting'), and ninja slaughtered everything in their way while almost not caring about their cover...

PS: In that case, I misunderstood 'fun topic'; my fault. Sorry.

 

[High Hopes]

I did a bit of wrestling. Honestly, I'm better with ranged combat than with martial arts.

 

[Karnage]

MMA Background grappler and Tae-kwon-do

 

[m_artist200]

:P i've actually seen quite a few karate/tkd dojos, even if they are considered to be "sport" MA. Why? Black belts. Somehow, people tend to think black belt=MA god.

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

I'm tired of using quote brackets for today... I used them enough in a certain other thread.

@BlueScope, actually Sasaki Kojiro's famous technique was named "Tsubame Gaeshi" or the "Swallow Tail Cut." It was supposed to mimic the motions of a swallows tail and was reputedly so fast that it could cut a bird from midflight. Sadly, he never actually taught it to anyone, so when Musashi killed him... it was lost. But that technique is where Kenshin got the name... the name of the dojo he actually founded was Ganryu which he got from his "fighting name." Sasaki Kojiro Ganryu. He was a bit of an egotist.

His favored weapon was the katana called the "Drying Pole". It was unusual because it actually had a straight blade with a length at about the mid-point between a katana and a no-dachi. Despite the length, Kojiro used it with amazing quickness and precision. As you said, it was one of the most renowned duelists of his age. He and Musashi were both quite famous during their day and had a long standing rivalry (they supposedly knew each other for years before dueling). Their duel is extraordinarily famous because of their individual fame.


As for kiaijutsu... you're on the right track with the battle shout. It roughly means: "the art of screaming." It's basically an art that focuses on the battle shout and various meditations and breathing techniques. It essentially attempts to use the voice itself as a weapon. Both through the typical inspiration and intimidating factors and in more direct ways such a screaming in the opponent's ear while grappling (which actually does help).

Legend has it that there were masters who could physically injure or even kill someone with a scream... but those are legends and likely completely untrue. Especially if you consider that fact that if you were able to use your voice to create a sonic attack it would actually hurt you to. But legends do tend to ignore things like that.

Like I said, it's pretty esoteric. But our teacher insisted that if we were going to shout at all, we should "learn right way."

 

[BlueScope]

@m_artist: Yeah, there are also 5-year-old kids and now and then even a grown-up that tell you they have a karate blackbelt (which is impossible on any ryu-legal way) or even a kung fu blackbelt :D (that is funny because in kung fu, they don't have a belt ranking system to represent kyu/dan grades ^_^ ). Also, in certain sports, the blackbelt isn't the highest. In karate, there are five levels of the blackbelt, while in judo, the highest belt (5th dan or so, not sure about that) is white-red.

@Static: Yeah, that was the name of the technique... but I doubt it actually was the idol for the Rurouni Kenshin character... as it's a little girl :P I'll check that twice, though.

For Kiaijutsu, it sounds very foolish for a ninjutsu student, because I tend to fight as quiet and calm as I could be. This saves strenght and'll also confuse your enemy (maybe in combination with ukemi (breath techniques), where you can train hard to not show any breathing, which makes you look quite relaxed even after a fight... can be insanely helpful, as all genjutsu).
Other than that, I can't imagine that screaming can do that much harm that it costs yourself strenght. It may be just me, though, and as I said, I lack of experience on this topic... (what I know is that you can't disable the enemies balance sense (no idea how it's called) by screaming alone, which is the only thing that'd make sense... in my opinion).

 

[BlackStaticWolf]

Other than that, I can't imagine that screaming can do that much harm that it costs yourself strenght. It may be just me, though, and as I said, I lack of experience on this topic... (what I know is that you can't disable the enemies balance sense (no idea how it's called) by screaming alone, which is the only thing that'd make sense... in my opinion).

That's why the "offensive" uses are legendary... no one can do that. It's just one of those martial arts legends... probably some kernal of truth to it (like the ninja "clone" technique that involved having other ninja in hiding nearby) but nothing like what the legends would have us believe.

The real uses though... that's key thing. It's used your the practitioners own benefit. Basically with the proper breathing and abdnominal control, the shout pretty much just triggers the release of more adrenaline... basically giving you a short burst of extra energy and strength.

If you were to just go around yelling... well that would just waste energy. Hence why my teacher said to learn the right way to give a battle shout.