Many martial arts schools today focus on belt-rank as an end goal. They have black-belt clubs, accelerated black-belt training, etc. That’s fine, and I’m sure most give good instruction. I take issue with the view that a black belt – or any rank should be an end-goal. The myth that the black belt makes you [...]
In the Western world, the practice of alchemy has a long history as predecessor to modern chemistry (it’s where we get the name), school shrouded in mystery, and practice persecuted as pseudoscience or blasphemy by the powers that be. Outwardly, alchemists main goal was to produce the philosopher’s stone, a substance rumored to be able [...]
Make contact, keep it. That’s a basic philosophy of our system or ketsugo jujutsu. When someone throws a punch or a kick, or moves in to grapple – they are giving us a gift by presenting us a set of targets for attack.
It’s a good idea not to box a boxer, or wrestle a wrestler, [...]
Kuzushi (崩し) is a Japanese word for unbalancing an opponent. It comes from the verb kuzusu, meaning to pull down or demolish. You’ll find it commonly used in jujutsu and derived arts such as judo and aikido. Normally it is the act of taking an opponent’s balance rendering them incapable of counterattack. In most schools [...]
Someone once asked my sensei what he would do if Royce Gracie attacked him and tried to take him down. My sensei’s answer, “I dunno, probably pull out my knife and stick him.” The questioner was awestruck at the answer. My sensei went on, “I don’t train for sport, this is a school of combat. [...]
There’s an old rule of thumb in the martial arts that less than one percent of those who start out will last long enough to earn a first degree black belt. Less than one percent of those people will stick with training long enough to earn a second degree black belt. I’m sure that this [...]
Japanese is an interesting language in that many terms have no direct translation into English. Single sounds can carry worlds of conotation and, when combined with other sounds, produce rich meanings beyond direct translation.
In Japanese, there are 3 almost interchangeable terms which are used to mean “martial arts” – Budo, Bugei, and Bujutsu. Understanding the [...]
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Martial Artists Images From Flickr
