Basic Understandings #1

This article is an attempt to discuss an old issue – different styles of martial arts and ‘modern vs ancient’ martial arts.

Martial Arts Styles

Styles of Martial Arts – me

First we need to talk about differing styles of Martial Arts.

I need to come clean straight off the bat. I have grades in multiple martial arts – Karate (various forms), Ju Jutsu (Japanese), Tao Shield/Tao Effect (a Wing Chun Do offshoot with a focus on Bruce Lees method and modern understandings around it), Tae Kwon Do… but over a great many years I have trained and studied with many other styles including Tai Chi and other Chinese ‘internal’ Martial Arts.

I have been involved in the martial arts for around 45 years.

My main focus is an in-depth understanding Karate – mostly before the Japanese overlaid their flavor on it. Todi or Chinese hand as the Okinawans named and knew it.

Martial Arts Styles – Karate

I often say to people that my understanding of Karate grew exponentially when I started to study Ju Jutsu.

My Bushin Ryu instructor Mike Addison-Saipe taught ‘practical’ Karate. Sensei Mike gave me the first real understanding that what we were being taught, as Karateka, wasn’t what the original understanding of what Karate was.

In a very specific sense – sparing at distance and high kicks are NOT what the origin arts taught or thought.

A fight happens within arms reach full stop … and an art that teaches distance sparing is leaning toward sport.

I love combat sport …

… but when I was doing security on night club doors (and an angry young punk at pubs and parties), I found distance closed fast, and I found that in-out bouncing around and distance fighting virtually never happened.

Old school Karate taught throws and locks as well as punches and kicks.

For throws and locks you need to be very close…for a Shuto Uke to strike side of head/neck while holding with hikite hand, you opponent is only a foot to 18 inches away.

This is combat distance, and the old masters knew it.

Distance and Combat in History

Thousands of years ago humans understood that fights happened close in. We developed weapons to give us the advantage of distance, and we have continued this process of expanding distance until today we can fly a missile around the world or fire a weapon from space.

2000 years ago we knew human hand to hand combat happened close in…arms reach.

200 years ago we knew civil self defence had to happen up close and personal.

Then what the hell happened in the 20th centaury that made us suddenly think fights happen at a distance.

The only practical answers I can offer would be – guns and sport. And very little fight to survive.

When these ‘traditional’ martial arts were put together THEY understood that you have to be close for hand to hand civilian combat, and they built their styles around this knowledge.

Take as an easy example – Wing Chuns sticky hands or classical Tai Chi push hands – control and striking is done at extreme close range.

For Karate, high kicks and roundhouse kicks developed in Japan in the 20th centaury along with competition sparing.

Karate vs Ju Jutsu

Karate is from Okinawa and Ju Jutsu is from Japan.

Even though Okinawa is part of the Japanese island group, the arts of karate and Ju Jutsu developed separately.

Ju Jutsu developed in Japan and was heavily influenced by the Samurai culture prominent in mainland Japan.

Karate was developed in Okinawa and was heavily influenced by the Chinese Martial Arts.

When you change the distance of Karate kata practice and overlay the Ju Jutsu close quarter combat you find that the movements of kata mirror that of Ju Jutsu practice and application.

This should come as no surprise as they were developed by very similar people and at a very close geographical location at around the same historical time period.

Humans

Humans have had the same bodies for many thousands of years.

2 arms 2 legs head organs arteries veins nerves .. etc etc

Since the distant past – arms, legs and head/neck bend in a certain directions and not in others – this hasn’t changed.

A hip toss is VERY similar from 2000 year old Pancrease documents, medieval manuscripts, Samurai scrolls, Okinawan and Chinese ‘secret’ manuscripts, Kanos Judo, BJJ and modern wrestling.

Timing, distancing, how to generate power, how to take balance, how to hurt, break or kill a human being hasn’t changed in millennia.

Humans have taken mortal damage or been knocked out on the same anatomical structures for ever…our basic anatomy has not changed.

The things that work and the principals involved are universal to HUMANS not to specific styles.

Schools of martial arts have developed different aspects of these principals thereby creating different ‘styles’.

Some focus on kicking, some on grappling, some on punching and some on martial science, internal styles, external styles…the list is very long.

Schools change over time, the classes I teach will be flavoured by me, even though I teach the same syllabus as my instructor – it is a natural process. Different life experience and different focus.

But in the end we are all one, we are martial artists. We are humans that fight other humans.

Styles of Martial Arts should bring us together not tear us apart.

Conclusion

Martial Arts Styles are many and varied BUT the human body is the same across all humans.

Virtually all old traditional Martial arts Styles had a grapple aspect with their strikes – all traditional arts had, what is in modern language, Mixed Martial Arts.

All civilian hand to hand combat happens close – they cant be beyond arms reach or they cant hit you!!!

Grabbing someone to ragdoll them, control their posture, stop them having a free hit or to stop them escaping is a part of any good traditional Martial Art.

These ideas aren’t taught often in modern traditional schools…but they ARE taught by the best self defence instructors.

Don’t let tradition become dogma…unbending things break.

To understand the deeper principals of Martial Arts sometimes you may have to look at another schools expertise to improve an aspect of ‘your art’.

BJJ has the best ground game (Sambo may disagree). Judo the best throws (for competition). TKD stunning kicks, boxing…on and on.

I grew in my study of Karate bunkai (kata application) by training in Ju Jutsu.

You can improve your art also by looking outside your ‘style’. Mix your Martial Arts!!

We all need to be Martial Artists NOT stylists.

Thank you for reading.

Simon