Unarmed Fighting Techniques of the Samurai
Arts & Culture ( 13 )
The warrior traditions of Japan’s martial history have long inspired awe and respect throughout the world, drawing generations of devotees and admirers. Few would be able to claim more knowledge and authority on these traditions than Dr Masaaki Hatsumi, the most famous Ninja grandmaster alive.
In this book he explores the essence of various unarmed techniques unique to the Japanese martial arts, known as Budo Taijutsu. These techniques are highly specialized, drawn from a wealth of hidden teachings from the rich heritage of JapanVs various schools.
With his captivating employment of metaphor and allusion, the author follows on from his bestselling works “The Way of the Ninja” and “Advanced Stick Fighting” to guide the reader through an array of techniques passed down through the lineages of the great masters. Armed with these techniques, the practitioner will be able to evade or receive an attack even from an opponent wielding a sword, then to punch, kick, and finally to lock or control the body of his opponent.
These fighting arts were inherited by the author himself from the master Toshitsugu Takamatsu, and derive from schools as diverse as Gyokko-ryu Kosshi jutsu, Koto-ryu Koppo jutsu, and Togakure-ryu Ninpo Taijutsu. Indeed, the techniques have become the basis of a range of other more widely known martial arts, including jujutsu and judo.
This is the most comprehensive work by Hatsumi to date, and will offer the reader a unique insight into some of the lesser known areas of the Japanese martial arts, thus enhancing his understanding of the roots of such arts, as well as enabling him to learn more practical fighting techniques.
The author goes beyond mere explanations, and attempts to shine light on the very essence of the spirit of Japanese Budo and Bushido. Including a wealth of photos of the techniques as well as rare drawings, pictures, documents, and hidden scrolls, this book will be an invaluable addition to the library of anyone with an interest in the more esoteric aspects of Japan’s venerable martial history.
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13 Comments
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bushlover
Wax on! Wax off! ?
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WMD
bushlover good one mate!
Martial arts these days are mostly just sports. Giving the practioners over-confidence in their abilities should a real situation arise. Can't beat the combination of boxing and wrestling, which I'm into, in my opinion.
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telecasterplayer
Martial Arts education and profiteering are real obstacles. I spent a few months at a shotokan karate dojo, and we did nothing into the way of learning to fall, to roll, or groundwork. Maybe.. 40 minutes in 6 months. Mostly, it was anal-retentive correction of posture, lol. Yeah, my posture is going to be graded when a knife-wielding crack addict wants my wallet. You couldn't be effective in that dojo in under 5 years.
Meanwhile, the dork upstairs from me can't get his kicks above the knee and he's a green belt in park district tae kwon do.. in 3 months. God help him if something happens and he has to defend himself. Just look for "Tae Kwon Do Sucks" on youtube for reasons why friends don't let friends do tae kwon do, at least not the profit-hungry mcdojo way. MMA seems to be the new profiteering frontier.
I have to wonder if it's better in Japan.. I could care less about belts, I want to be effective.
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rjd_jr
I agree, while I respect these ninja techniques and other martial forms for their historical background, and the discipline it requires to master it, by no means do I attach any special significance to any of it in terms of actual self defense. Decades ago, maybe, there still was this mystical aura about martial arts, that it was some mysteriously deadly form. Not anymore. The whole UFC type sporting arena has shown the world that fancy katas and techniques mean little in a real fight situation. Who can forget UFC2, where an American ninjutsu specialist fought kickboxer Pat Smith. The ninjutsu practitioner tried to rush and grapple Pat but Pat simply demolished him with brutal elbows.
Now, if these fighting techniques are incorporated into real life fighting situations, and practiced as such, sure, it can be helpful. But on its own merits apart from a cultural/historical perspective, not worth its weight in real life situations.
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Zen_Builder
Problem is that a LOT of the martial arts schools are run by people that themselves are not good or fully qualified. Many of the teachers today don't even know the applications of the forms/techs. Sad but true.
Majority of what is taught these days is more acrobatics(XMA, etc), fitness and mumbo-jumbo by many guys that bought their ranks from fake associations or simply elevated themselves to sell themselves better.
Looking at the history of the fighting arts(don't like the term "Martial arts" as it is less than30yrs old). When I started you were simply a style X or Y practicioner.
Kano-San the guy who created Judo & by extension BJJ also created the Dogi/Keikogi and the belt-ranking system about 100yrs ago. http://www.e-budokai.com/articles/belts.htm
Another problem the fabled "Black Belt" and being told you can teach once your reach it. Add to that in most schools belts are handed out like cookies at a scout meet. And the introduction of junior and kids black-belts, etc.
When I started in the fighting arts, you couldn't get a Black Belt prior to the age of 18(Junior BB at 16), Black-Belt exam also included having to write an essay about the style and its application as well as creation of a demo-from with explanation. After that you had to spend a minimum of years equal your Dan-rank before you were allowed to test for the next rank.
This is mostly for the Japanese & Korean styles though. You will find less of that in the Chinese, Phillipine, etc arts. One reason for that I think is the history of japan, during the edo-period japan was relative calm and peaceful, samurai were not allowed to duel, etc so they shifted them emphasis towards the mental developments "-Jutsu --> -Do". Whereas in other countries the styles remained more martial and thus were practiced more with the original intent.
Not saying the Japanese and Korean styles are bad, there are very good and tough styles/teachers out there.
Like with anything you need to do your homework prior to joining a style, find out who the good guys are what they teach, etc.
IME, I found that the good teachers don't advertise themselves much and train in non-flashy locations with very few creature comforts.
For me I found many similarities between the styles and got to say the teacher is more important than the style you practice.
Just my experience.
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timeon
the ultimate unarmed fighting technique: kick his balls
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soothsayer
And if she keeps coming at you, what then?:)
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timeon
you wanna fight girls, nasty guy? read bushido first, it's a no-no
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toguro
Martial Arts education and profiteering are real obstacles. I spent a few months at a shotokan karate dojo, and we did nothing into the way of learning to fall, to roll, or groundwork. Maybe.. 40 minutes in 6 months. Mostly, it was anal-retentive correction of posture, lol. Yeah, my posture is going to be graded when a knife-wielding crack addict wants my wallet. You couldn't be effective in that dojo in under 5 years.
telecasterplayer:
As someone that has trained in the Bujinkan, let me tell you, that every class begins with practising rolling, and break falls, after bowing in of course. I too have been burned in the past by people claiming to be things, or teach things that they are not, fortunately, it hasn't been too many. I respect everyones opinion on here, and so I'll offer mine. I feel that the Bujinkan is very real, and very effective. As for the guy that fought in the UFC, and lost, claiming to train in Ninjutsu, I don't know anything on his background, so I won't say that he's a fraud, but from my personal experience, I don't know of any members within the Bujinkan that compete in MMA events, at least as a representative of the Bujinkan, as competition is neither encouraged or stressed upon. Though there may be some that cross train in BJJ (Brazilian Jujutsu), and compete from that aspect. There are a lot of people that do claim to be teaching Ninjutsu, when in fact they are not.
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Zen_Builder
Another thing a LOT of schools/Instructors will train students towards competitions and not teach them a specific style.
Those do not teach self-defense/real fighting(Self defense and fighting are different animals anyway).
Those are easy to spot, usually lost of trophies/certificates around the place and they will point to them as proof that what they teach works.
IMO & IME, the less flashy the place the better the instructions(exceptions exist of course). But a lot of your fees go towards the upkeep of a place/school and its associated creature comforts.
Example: I mostly study now CMA(internal arts) now, my teacher(head of his style worldwide) claims nothing apart from teaching us his style. No health benefits, no magical fighting skills, etc. He teaches in a rented/borrowed school gym that we share with a ping-pong class. We have NO uniforms/belts, NO mats, NO bowing/rituals, NOTHING, a 10yr veteran will train together with a 3month newcomer.
We also don't do stretching/warmups in class you are supposed to do them yourself before-hand same as some exercises you are taught. Class is for corrections and teaching/showing you new stuff but I reckon that less than 10% of our actual training happens in class.
Students that show commitment are invited for extra advanced classes(free of charge).
I prefer this system.
Said that there are a lot of shysters in the Internal Arts, many teach the PRC forms that were created by the chinese goverment and claim to be certified by one of the 5 main-styles.
Back to my original point.
You NEED to train towards a goal, may it be self-defense, competiton, UFC, etc. There is not one training that fits all the bills.
Will be interesting to see what will happen in the west when the K1 scene opens up. I reckon a lot of the MMA/UFC guys will get beaten as K! stops a fight when it goes to the ground and restarts with both guys standing.
And watch out for the kyokyushin fighters, those are nutscases who NEVER wear protective gear, etc but go full-out.
Heck even the Dojo we rented from a 9th Dan Aikido Master had blood-stained Tatami. FYI, the Dojo is in Kichijoji opposite Seiyu in the basement of a Zen-Buddhist temple.
Just my view.
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Badsey
There is a reason your "extreme" fighters wear boxing gloves, otherwise the fights wouldn't last very long. These are sports and I don't think you will get attacked by a K1 athlete anytime soon.
No holds barred is a whole different story.
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ca1ic0cat
anything in the book about serving a cup of tea and conversation?
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RepublicofTexas
Like many other parts of Japanese culture such as tea ceremony, the Japanese raised martial arts to an art form, which is why it's stylized and might seem ineffective. However there are a lot of bogus instructors out there so that's part of the problem.
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