Tradition or Confusion ?

It's 1592. You're a Japanese foot soldier, part of an advance unit sent to capture a strategic mountain pass in Korea. Farmer-warriors stare at you from behind rocks and trees, armed only with crude iron swords and tools. Steam rises from their breath and their sweat in the icy dawn air.

Many leagues behind you, Samurai General Toyotomi Hideyoshi is commanding a 160,000-strong force that is steadily advancing over Korea towards the eventual goal of China. Right now, you're outnumbered.

The Koreans have fought bravely to defend their huts, but your your superior weaponry, strategy and above all, European-designed Arquebus, a flintlock rifle that hit Japan 49 years ago, is turning the tide. Soon, this mountainside will fall to the Japanese, as will the whole of Korea.

Suddenly, Hideyoshi appears in full Samurai helmet, blasting orders from a loudspeaker. "Ok, boys, drop the Arquebus and the new military strategies."

The the clinker: "They're not traditional. We can't betray the fighting traditions of our Samurai ancestors."

He adds: "In fact, even the Katana is only few hundred years old -- so you'll have to use sticks and stones."

Such is the dilemma students of the traditional martial arts. They risk preserving outdated techniques and rituals thus turning the Dojo into a museum. They risk becoming not martial artists, but instead martial archeologists.

Back when I was at University in Australia, there was a campus group called, "the Society for Creative Anachronism." (See photo above). It's members liked to dress up in mediaeval armour and clothes and have Camelot-style jousting matches.

The society has organized itself across the world into little Kingdoms where the monarchs bestow upon members the right to call themselves "Baron,'"or "Duchess," or "Lord". Their unofficial motto is,"reacreate the Middle Ages as they should have been, " i.e., without things such as serfdom, the bubonic plague, and open-pit sewers. They were odd, if endearing people.

A lot of young Japanese see traditional martial arts Budoka in the same way.

Jigoro Kano, the founder of Judo, didn't see a problem in tinkering with tradition. He introduced Randori so as Judoka could train against a resisting opponent. Thus when the Randori-trained Kodokan faced a group of Kata-only trained Jujutsuka, they kicked their asses.

In fact, even one of the 'traditional' Jujutsu schools Kano studied was only founded in 1832, after the period of civil war. The greater emphasis on Atemi was possible due to delicate parts of the body exposed due to the lack of armour.

Traditional jujutsuka today who only train in Kata, without any pressure-testing, reaction drills, sparring, Randori, or body conditioning are risking having their own asses kicked, thrown, and choked either on the street or in the Dojo.

So what traditions are we preserving and why ? Is Japan after the Meiji restoration ? Pre-Meiji ? Civil War period ? Kamakura ? Tokugawa ? Sengoku ?

In fact, if we're serious about respecting tradition, why not go all the way to China, hell, even India and Bodhidharma, which according to many martial arts histories is where the arts come from.

Should we be wearing Lunghis (Indian loinclothes) instead of Gis ?

Most Senseis won't have any answer to these questions: they don't know.

In reality, they present tradition as a weird amalgamation of the last 2,000 years of Japanese history, much like a chain Sushi restaurant aimed at middle America. A few Kanji characters on the wall, maybe a Hokusai print or Zen painting, lots of Japanese counting, kneeling and bowing.

More importantly, tradition - as many Senseis define it - serves for them very important roles:

* Boosting their personal authority
* Shrouding the school in vague mystique which they and they only define.

The truth is the Samurai were practical fighting men. If you're serious about honouring their tradition and legacy, keep the style realistic and effective. By all means, there's nothing wrong with the bows, Japanese names, and mat courtesies.

If you want to dress-up in Hakama, go ahead.

But for those of us who are interested in defending ourselves, and staying fit, let's remember Toyotomi Hideyoshi and those that followed him were soldiers, not archeologists.

Training With Myself

Friends,

At Cempaka Putih Dojo, we're pioneering a radical new training concept that will take one's jujutsu to a whole new level, a one-person sparring method that breaks boundaries, wrists, and elbows in search of excellence.

It's called self-submission.

Friends, this is a one-person training drill that involves applying an Americana, Kimura, Udi-Gatama, Triangle choke, or any other submission you can manage to the person who matters most: yourself.

The concept can also be extended to sparring, whereby you swipe at yourself with hooks, jabs and crosses, even Thai roundhouse kicks and knee-strikes.

We can't pretend it's 100 percent safe, but hey, this is martial arts. If you want safe, go and take up knitting or even better - play with your Dolly.

Joey Danu, ever the pioneer, added an ukemi element to the drill, called 'Superman,' where you just throw yourself off progressively higher levels of a building. (You can work up to this level by falling down the stairs).

Ok. Enjoy training and stay safe.

Salam Budo !

Kusanagi Research Project - Month 2.

The Kusanagi is a mythical Japanese sword said to be handed down from the sun-goddess Amaterasu. (See above). Kusanagi, it seems, is also a Japanese model and possibly porn star (see above). Unfortunately, we're concerned with the former.

The second month of the Kusanagi Research Project has yielded a curriculum of basic techniques for common attacks, a database of attacks and source list, or 'bibliography.'

The curriculum, which Joey Danu has set out in a chart, resembles a cross between WW2 combatives, Moni Aizik's combat jujutsu, John Perkin's attack proof, and some Indonesian spices and flavourings.

The trick now will be refine, modify, and practice, practice, practice. Drill, drill, and drill some more.

The practice will involve full contact attacks with mats, shields, and mits.

We'll also train outdoors on a variety of different surfaces. This environment training is what is most lacking in nearly all reality programs, I'm told, including the pros, that is military and police. (In fact, it seems from our research that the military and police aren't all they're cracked out to be when it comes to unarmed combat, because they're rarely unarmed. Even the special forces have to spend so much time studying stuff like ballistics and technology, they might not have time to be cutting edge in hand-to-hand stuff).

Some materials from Geoff Thompson

Who doesn't know Geoff Thompson? What? You don't? Well, get over HERE.

Anyway, Geoff Thompson wrote Dead or Alive: The Choice is Yours, which is basically the primer of the physical side of self-defence. It is being serialised by Fight Times Magazine as a bimonthly article. Good stuff. Check it out here, if you missed the link.

Also, another interesting tidbit from Mr. Thompson is his Fighting Without Fighting e-book, which basically covers the non-physical aspects of self defence. Normally you would have to subscribe to his newsgroup to get this e-book, but... well, you know...

Skinny tomes, them both, but vastly less intimidating that any other resource that I have posted in this blog.

Use them well.

Keep safe.

The Ubiquitous Umbrella

Aaannd... I say thank you to those who wished my family and I luck, and stuff.

As a sign of gratitude, I would like to share a small tidbit on using, again, the ubiquitous umbrella, as a self-defense tool.

As Mother Nature would have it, here I am, sitting in my office, staring blankly at the dark skies beyond the citysscapes, pondering my fate without my trusty red umbrella in sight.

My red umbrella had an accident. Carelessness on my part, actually. Involving a huge ass bus to boot. Cutting the story short, my umbrella is no more. Long live my red umbrella.

Anyway, back to me staring blankly to the darkened skyes (typo intentional), feeling oh so defenseless without my primary defensive tool, I can't help to ponder how I would use my umbrella in a self-defense situation.

I ran across this transcript, Cold Steel, written by John Styers.

Now, John Styers was a student of A.J. Biddle, who tried to incorporate elements of dueling into the USMC knife fighting repertoire. It didn't go very well, since the marines aren't that hot on dueling. But, Biddle did have some long-standing students, such as Mr. Steyrs here.

Now, though I find Styers method on knife and empty hand fighting somewhat suspect (since the knife is about dueling and the hand-to-hand has holes the size of Titanic in the guard), the bayonet fencing is very simple and directly applicable to umbrella for self-defense.

For starters, the Guard position is an effective fence-like stance to assert personal space.

Second, the Beat Thrust maneuvre is simple and gross enough to learn in short time for self-defense. You step aside while parrying (beating the attack), and follow up with a simple thrust with your whole bodyweight behind it to the head.

Check it out. I think you will like it.

Yet, I do have one reserve. If it downpours later in the afternoon, how am I supposed to go home early? I do despise staying late in the office.

Be safe.

Welcome, Contratulations to Dasa Man.

On behalf of the Cempaka Putih Dojo I'd like to offer congratulations to the real-world incarnation of Dasa Man and his wife on the arrival of their baby, sometime in April. I'm presented to them this cyber-bouquet, known in Japanese as Sakura. . The Sakura in Japan is a symbol for spring, but also the transient and precious nature of life. In China, it's the flower of April.

Armed "Preman" = Hopeless Martial Arts Training?

Salam Budo! Last Saturday April 29th Pak Lili came over our dojo to share with us several techniques and insights regarding knife fighting, street gangs and street fights. Being a former street fighter himself, Pak Lili is now reformed and a priest, during his youth Pak Lili was involved in many real fights that were not 3 minute rounds tournaments but actual life & death encounters which was decided in close-up lethal skirmishes within 10 seconds. A careful look at hims arms and one can't help notice the scars in what he humbly shares as "old, reckless, youth memories". During our two hour session Pak Lili sat us down to highlight several interesting facts in regards to preman, street fighting and knife realities:

Knife techniques are relatively easier to learn than empty-hand techniques due to the fact that most of the knife techniques aren't flashy three or four moves rather than simple one-two counter or combos which easily result in serious injury and in most cases death.

Due to its nature, speed, power and its area of impact, knife techniques WILL slow down any opponent regardless of size, and in the right spot a single "stab" or "cut" is sufficient to "shock" or kill an opponent. Multiple stabbings add to the overkill

Unarmed knife defenses are STRICTLY "last resort" (case study: Thomas Autry Ex Marine story) and anyone faced with a knife attack must accept the fact that you WILL sustain injuries. Improvised weapons with a longer reach or strategically placing obstacles to nullify the sharp weapons reach is highly recommended along with aggression and the WILL to WIN & SURVIVE

The general "preman" or street criminals are not trained as "knife fighters" or "street fighters" the standard operating procedure is wolf pack mentality, substance abuse which impairs judgement, rational logic and emotional attachment to victims. "Knife fighters" that do know how to "dance" generally do come from "traditional" martial art systems predominantly from silat, although cultural influence usually dictate the weapon of choice, style and technique of fighting (killing).

Lesson learned:

Train your knife defenses to be "dynamic" and train yourself to learn responses which can be universally adapted regardless of the attack

Experiment with going to the ground and actively using your legs to block and sweep the attacker of his/her feet

Experiment with using longer range impact weapons to defend yourself. Umbrella, cane, stick etc.

Understand that "taps" to disarm the weapon away from the opponent MAY NOT work! If he or she is hell bent on actually killing you, the person will "instinctively" hold on to his/her weapon as hard as the person can

Understand that FEAR is NORMAL, but learn to control your fear by submerging yourself into these scenarios. The absence of such training will result that in a stressful situation your brain will fail to search for "a set of moves, reaction and response" critical to self protection

High levels of stress during either high-risk phsyical or weapon altercations will significantly affect your "motor" movements, in Marc Young's word... if it doesn't work now it's not going to work later!



Strength and Honor