TFL martial artists

Guess I will throw my .02 in...
As you might deduce from my screen name, I am into grappling!
I have studied for nearly 19 years. Predominantly muay thai, Kali (VERY weapons oriented), and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. In fact, I am partners in a school in which we teach BJJ and Thai. My partner is one of the original Gracie students to boot. And we as a school have a very tight interest in firearms, as my partners' brother is literally the owner of Taurus firearms... So...
We like guns, as does everyone who trains with us...
 
1st dan in Kendo, Arnis, Judo & Hapkido.
Former Criminology Instructor.

Barehand is good when no more steel weapons to use. What I've learned from my martial arts is the mobility, discipline, self confident and self control to get into a fight.

Thanks
 
TKD for 16 years. Doses of hapkido, jui-jutsu, and boxing thrown in for good measure. Smattering of weapons training with staff, stick, knife, and sword.

My grandmaster is a pro-carry man as is my master. He and I have shot at a few handgun matches together. I try to impress upon students that learning safe gun handling and shooting skills can save their lives as easily as anything a martial art has to offer.

A friend once said that he felt a martial artist is obsolete by not learning to use a gun.

I tend to agree with that sentiment; it put me over the edge for finalizing my first handgun purchase a few years ago.
 
ikken hiastsu

okinanwan shorei-ryu 20 years. also . tangsodo, shalintsu kung fu mixed in ....... ikkenhiasatsu means victory with one strike. the martial art I studied was drilled in us by our sensai to perfection not the stuff you see on the tube but real self defence. today the new generation seems not to be able to work out everyday to dedicate thier lives to greater understanding in the dojo. to be first in their lives instead of tv or some other diverting pleasure . hence bushido ( warrior spirit ) will be lost ... I have trained hundreds of students in my years and out of all those only a hand full made it to mastery. today I cant even get one to show up for class.. now if this is a sign of the future you can kiss all your guns , freedoms , everything, good bye. there just wont be anyone left to fight ... kara-te was the way pheasnts defended themself after arms were banned....... what will happen this time? as for firearms ... every weapon has a nature to it. the marital arts teaches to learn the nature of all weapons starting with your empty hands(karate).. all the people I know of who study are AAA+ shooters.... THE THORN STANDS TO PROTECT THE ROSE, YET IT IS AT PEACE AND SEEKS NOT CONFLICT........ GHILLIEMAN
 
"today the new generation seems not to be able to work out everyday to dedicate thier lives to greater understanding in the dojo."


No, I think the "new generation" doesn't buy into all the pajama wearing, "wax on, wax off", chi channeling, or breaking perfectly good pieces of wood.

Yea, I'll admit it. Bruce Lee and (gulp) the "karate kid" pushed me into my first foray with martial arts.

"Master Wing Chung Chan's far eastern ancient Green Tiger style of hip hop twae do !!!" Or something like that...

The whole ballet in pajamas routine bored me after a few weeks. Years later I discovered Thai kickboxing, boxing, and freestyle grappling.

Every year I notice more and more kids getting involved in grappling and real striking arts. They come here to have fun, get in shape, but mostly to fight and compete. None of that at master Wing Chun Chan's place. Too dangerous. Lot's of board breaking though.
 
I love when martial artists start talking about "Bushido."

I seriously doubt that the vast majority of those who talk of Bushido really understands the historical, cultural and social implication of what Bushido really meant.

Its much too romanticized in this country (like the word "Ninja" is). But it is really a highly outdated (uh, by about 300 years) and completely irrelevant myth.

It is about as applicable and realistic as Arthurian knighthood ideals were to the actual historical reality of the good knightly deeds such as raping, pillaging and murdering of peasantry that went on during the medieval times.

Skorzeny
 
Seeing that it's a "do", I would assume it's a fairly recent concept? Or, is that only applicable to martial arts styles, not philosophy?
 
"Do" (or Dao, in Chinese) is actually an ancient word. It means "way" or "way of life."

Adding "Do" to the end of martial arts is a relatively recent phenomenon. It began with Judo when Dr. Kano Jigaro revolutionized transitional Jujutsu techniques into Kodokan Judo and began to emphasize martial arts as a way of life and a moral guide, rather than a series of techniques ("Jutsu") only.

Bushido means "the (life) way of the warrior" and was an romantic equivalent of European medieval chivalry.

Skorzeny
 
I took a couple of years of TKD as a kid, then a year of Okinawan Kenpo when I was stationed there. I just recently started Krav Maga, and I'm going four times a week.

KM seems to be a no-BS fighting system and the classes are a real endurance challenge. The fighting we've done has been just that, fighting, not tournament style sparring. My goal the first time I fought was just to avoid throwing up in the headgear. The instructor kept rotating in fresh opponents as I sweated and saw little white dots swirling around me. Good stuff.
 
bushido

I agree that modern students do not understand bushido... the old code of ethics of the samurai, how ever the the few who still practice with the same spirit that those old samurai did are the few who keep the warrior spirit alive AND THERE ARE DAMED FEW!! That is why I do not see it in our youth today as they dont even have a zest for life.. the tv mostly.... I do not mean to seem hard on todays youth... but I see the last of us dying out .... I dont know about you guys my dojo was my home ... 7 days a week for years and years. no other thing occupied our minds... we did not do it for FUN. or to be bad asses. we did it to perfect our mind, body and spirits. the zen that was passed to me was the same as it was to the bhudda, the warrior spirit the same as it was to the ancient samurai, my shodan came with blood sweat and tears. and strict and hard sensei, in my years I have seen the maritial arts dwindle to a joke... people today do not want to give there lives to it... to many easy things in thier lives.. they miss the meaning of it all .... karate is not a sport. it is a deadly self defence (or it used to be) I feel a great sadness as i see what has become of it all... you younger guys don"t know what you missed . ghillieman (PERHAPS> the last warrior)
 
to skorzeny....... you do not understand true bushido..... sorry.
to Ateam ......... you never were in a real dojo...... sorry also
 
Fear not Ghillieman, all is not lost....for Bruce LeeRoy lives !!!

leroy1.jpg


And no, that smile does not not mean he is having fun. Bruce Leeroy is all business. You can almost see the Chi reverbrating off of him. OK, enough of this post, this is getting too silly. I'll leave you with LeeRoy...HEEEEYAA !!
 
ATeaM:

You are a riot! That was a great response...

Ghillieman:

Pray tell me, then, what Bushido really means and how it was actually practiced by the Samurais in medieval Japan.

Since I have post graduate training in East Asian history among other things, I would find it very interesting if you could enlighten me...

Skorzeny
 
hey , Ateam. good one ......

hey skorzeny ... I would, if your cup is empty...........


to search for the old, is to understand the new. the old,the new, this is a matter of time. in all things man must have a clear mind. the way. Who will pass it on striaght and well?....... funakoshi
 
Where are all the Thai fighters?

Wow, I'm a bit late on this thread...Muay Thai, going on nine years. Started as a freshman in high school. I slacked off the last couple of years, but got back into a regular routine a couple months ago. And no, I don't mean your local gym's aerobic version of Muay Thai, or the American version of Kickboxing, for that matter. Also, because of my girlfriend's displeasure with my "bad temper," I've been doing Tai Chi, but that's from a book. No I don't teach. Hell, I spent the last two years looking for a sparring partner! Muay Thai goes very well with a knife, but, quite honestly, the thought of integrating one of my firearms into a combination had never even crossed my mind! Duh, WTF, huh? I bet a long gun would go well, though. Hope I never purchase any furniture from spartacus's store, at least furniture I don't intend to pay for!
 
Spartacus now works in an ER in SC. He stopped repo'ing his furniture before he killed anyone, thank god! :D

A lot of different perspectives, here. Much as Skorzeny and I disagree on some topics (namely, efficacy of some systems), I will be near the last to acuse him of ignorance.

I believe zen was much less influential in genuine Japanese warriors' lives than mikkyo. (Do you know what mikkyo is, ghillieman?) I believe the integration of zen into some Japanese martial arts is a fairly recent act, so mourning the "loss" is rather laughable, since it wasn't traditionally there.

Interesting to lament the loss of the "old ways" while quoting a recent karate master!

The ultimate aim of the art of karate lies not in victory or defeat, but in the perfection of the characters of its participants.

Hah! Spiritual development is wonderful, but I'll take vanilla if it means I can't save my family when they're in trouble.

Contrast Funakoshi's quote with Takamatsu (a kobudo master):

The essence of all Martial Arts and military strategies is self protection and the prevention of
danger.

The quote goes on to speak of the well-rounded and spiritually healthy trainee, but the CORE is SELF-DEFENSE.
 
Ghillieman:

Thanks for reminding me that my beer cup is empty. I will re-fill it immediately.

As for the badly garbled quote, is it from Funakoshi Giichin (the founder of Shotokan) or Frank Funakoshi who runs a Teriyaki shop two blocks from me?

Spectre:

Excellent point on Zen. I thinkt that A LOT of people think of various Karate, Judo and "Jujutsu" ryu's (particularly the last) as being "ancient and traditional" when in fact they are modern systems that began life in the late 19th century.

Some even confuse transitional systems such as Daito-Ryu Aiki-Jujutsu as being "traditional."

The fact is that true Kobujtsu (including real traditional Jujutsu) by and large involved the use of, and training in, medieval battlefield weapons (sword, lance, shield, bow, spear, dagger, etc.).

Then when the wearing of two swords was banned, many martial schools began to emphasize empty hand and less-lethal weapons. Daito-Ryu, for example, was one of these. One can still see much of the sword-influenced techniques in these arts.

During this transitional period emerged a series of "modern" Budo systems, beginning with Kodokan Judo.

It's sad that how many folks are mislead by mystical "Dojo oral history" rather than by actual history grounded in reality. This has been, sadly, a much neglected field in the academic history.

Skorzeny
 
gentleman, First let me state my goal is not to contend with anyone, if you will reread my post"s I tried to convey that the "spirit of bushido" is the dying. the life style has been gone like you say skorzeny for centurys. A good reference to this is a book by Inazato Nitobe. the code of bushido.. anyone reading will be awe struck by the magnitude of those samurai's dedication to their master. Also specter if you will reread my posts you will see that I stated that karate used to be a deadly self defence Not a sport..... As one of my teachers used to say Traditional in spirit only.. this spirit is what is important.... times and ages change but the warriors spirit is the same..... and as the ages pass us bye those who are truely deicated to it are vanishing.EXAMPLE: hOW MANY OF YOU STOOD OUTSIDE OF THE DOJO FOR A YEAR BEFORE BEING ACCEPTTED IN? AND THAN MISSING EVEN ONE NIGHT WOULD MEAN EXPOLSION, FOR THE NEXT YEAR.......? see what I mean... thats the way it used to be..... we were made to give up all our earthly things and to have nothing .... nothing . I can tell you . only the serious stundents went this far...... Today it just isnt there........... now times have changed cant find anyone willing to go this far... since you guys are On the firingline I take it that you all are good guys ,wanting to save our freedoms if so then no matter if we diagree on this we are bothers in arms..... take care all of you this is my last post on this........ live with warriors spirit............ghillieman
 
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