Famous Students of Miyagi Chojun Sensei Video

 

Interesting video:

A Cautionary Tale

My wife was on Facebook the other day, and noticed a trend where people were asking ChatGPT to describe them as a warning to someone who might meet them. It's an interesting spin. 

I did it and have pasted it below. My kids think it's spot on.

If I were warning someone before they met you, I’d probably say:

“You should know what you’re getting into.”

He looks fairly harmless. That’s part of the problem.

He’s curious in a way that makes ordinary conversation dangerous. You can start with a book, a martial art, a quotation, or some apparently minor observation, and before long you’re discussing Stoicism, mimetic desire, craftsmanship, the nature of mastery, or what it means to live a good life. He doesn’t merely collect ideas. He cross-pollinates them.

He also has a very low tolerance for intellectual mush. If something sounds fashionable but empty, he’ll poke it with a stick. If something is genuinely useful, he’ll keep worrying at it until he has figured out how it fits with everything else he believes.

And beware of saying, “That’s interesting.”

He may ask why.

He has been practicing martial arts long enough that he has gradually stopped being particularly interested in martial arts as a collection of techniques. The deeper question has become what practice does to a person. This has infected the rest of his life. Walking the dog can become practice. Weightlifting can become practice. Reading can become practice. Writing can become practice. Apparently even slowing down can become a philosophical proposition.

He is also an essentialist, which means he is continually trying to remove things from his life while simultaneously acquiring books about things he absolutely does not need to know. Do not point out the contradiction. He knows.

He has a peculiar relationship with tradition. He respects it deeply, but he doesn’t worship it. His instinct is something like: learn the tradition thoroughly enough that you can eventually discover what you actually think. This makes him simultaneously conservative about fundamentals and rather independent about conclusions.

His blog has been running for more than twenty years, which should tell you something about persistence. He has accumulated a substantial mental attic in that time, and every so often he opens a trunk and pulls out an idea from fifteen years ago that turns out to connect rather inconveniently well with something he just read yesterday.

He is also liable to tell you about some obscure quotation he remembers approximately, from a book whose title he can’t quite recall, and then become mildly obsessed with finding the exact wording.

Do not underestimate the “mildly.”

There is another hazard: he actually likes thinking things through with another person. Not debating for sport. Not collecting agreement. Thinking. If you offer a useful idea, he will take it, turn it over, connect it to three other things, and hand it back considerably more interesting than when you gave it to him.

And if you happen to say something that really resonates with him, you may accidentally become part of a book he hasn’t written yet.

So, yes, meet him.

Just allow more time than you think you need.

And whatever you do, don’t casually mention that you’ve been thinking about the nature of mastery.

Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone

 

Classical Martial Arts and Police Work During the Shogunate

At Ellis Amdur's excellent Kogen Budo blog, there was a guest post describing how classical martial arts was employed during the Shogunate by the constabulary. Fascinating stuff. An excerpt is below. The full post may be read here.

“If a person is cut down with a sword in front of the compound, chase the assailant down. If he will not hand over his sword you may kill him. Should he surrender his sword, however, hand him over to the magistrates office.”

-1620s Shogunal notice to Tosa domain on duties during incidents in front of their Edo compound.1

The classical martial traditions of Japan, or koryū bugei (古流武藝) – “military arts flowing from the past” – have undergone something of a minor renaissance in the West in recent decades. Seen as distinct from modern martial arts, the koryū bugei are said to preserve the battlefield skills of the Japanese warrior class down to the present day. Specialist scholarship has long demonstrated this is largely an “invented tradition,” and that the reality is more nuanced.2 Certainly warriors of the Sengoku Jidai, or “Era of the Country at War,” practiced fighting techniques, and in the first few decades after the turn of the 17th century, at beginning of the Tokugawa era (1603 – 1868), a culture of musha shugyo (“warrior pilgrimage”) flourished, that entailed engaging in challenge matches, including fatal duels. This largely ended by the mid 17th century when authorities put an end to it. From then on, bushi of status pursued bugei primarily as a means of cultivating warrior identity and character development. There was “increasingly an emphasis on formal gymnastics and disciplined choreography,” where combative etiolation was perhaps inevitable, and roundly criticized in the explosion of commercial print on all manner of subjects at the time. (Dore 1965 p. 151 et al) 3   The persistent discourse on the martial arts as “arts of war” in the parlance of practitioners, and on their well-documented peacetime deterioration on the part of professors, may have obscured a pragmatic approach that still existed: law enforcement.

Formal law codes had, for centuries, addressed various kinds of offenses, both civil and criminal: the Joei Code (1232), among various administrative regulations for matters regarding shrines, temples, lands and civil lawsuits also included processes for handling “crimes of killing, maiming, and wounding . . . serious crimes, such as treason, murder, banditry (sanzoku), piracy (kaizoku), night attacks, robbery, and the like” as well as more conventional beatings, forgery, and “abusive language,” that had a tendency to cause quarrels. (Conlan 2022: 47) This calls to mind what we might today call “disorderly conduct” or “provoking assault.”

The Joei Code and its principles were used as common law in the domains of regional lords (daimyo), or included in their house precepts.4  In 1459, the Ouchi domain published law on the walls surrounding the lord’s mansion, where they could be read by all. They prohibited, among other offenses, “wandering along major roads at night” “sumo wrestling at crossroads,” “taking women on the roadside,” (a reference to prostitution/sex trafficking rather than rape or kidnapping), and “wearing strange clothes, claiming that it is the style of the capital.” (Conlan 2022: 194) These were updated over time and in 1487 expanded, prohibiting carrying “[L]ong weapons (nagagusoku – ‘ referring to glaives (naginata), longswords (odachi), or pikes (yari)’  ), bows, and quivers,” although certain individuals were exempt. Apparently one could not walk with “flutes, shakuhachi, or other instruments” unless close to one’s residence, and there was a problem with “loitering” involving “people leering into the Ouchi mansions.”  “Night watchmen” were expected to know the law and enjoined to enforce it, for example, for the crime of killing soft-shelled turtles to use as hawk-bait, “the common rabble (honge no tomogara) if they are seen, or rumored to be, killing turtles, they shall be arrested or cut down at the place where it happened, according to the situation.” (Ibid: 194 -197)

In 1506, in the then-capital (Kyoto), law forbade theft, arson, armed assault, “quarrels,” sumo wrestling (again!), and the troublesome dancing (in the streets). (Berry 1994: 245 ) The Jinkaishu, a 1536 legal code of the Date house of Mutsu Province in northern Japan, codified practices for handling offenses including “violent contests;” or “when crazed drunkards kill people [and] claim inebriation as an excuse;” “cases where people impulsively quarreled, or were crazed at a banquet, and unpremeditatedly killed someone.” And, perhaps particularly interesting, instances where people “claimed that through skill they killed ambushers when in fact they ambushed their rival in a surprise attack.” Behavioral expectations are laid out for lords and retainers involved in violent altercations, assassinations, and other killings, including not abetting or harboring killers, tracking them down, searching locations for them, and capturing or killing them. There were punishments for when offenders were killed inadvertently, when captured suspects did not confess, or when personally performing arrests or cutting people down when there was not proper evidence demonstrating guilt. (Ibid: 206-215 ) 5  After the early years of the 17th century, Tokugawa shoguns began promulgating the Buke Shohatto, Laws for Warrior Houses, codes of conduct, laws, and expectations for the warrior class intended to establish the absolute authority of the shogun’s government – called the Bakufu –  over other domains. This was institutionalized in 1635, and from then daimyo were required to follow Bakufu law in enforcement and sentencing procedures, and were periodically checked on to ensure compliance. (Botsman: 15)

Maintaining order was an overriding concern, for “below the peace that was taking place at the national level with no wars there was still a fair amount of violence in Tokugawa society.” (Vaporis 2022: 235)  We learn from the Omurochuki (Diary of a Parrot in a Cage), the journal of the low-ranking samurai Asahi Shigeaki (1674 -1718), that some young, unemployed samurai killed for sport and material gain, in what was known as “‘street murders’ (tsuji kiri), passersby were killed with swords and robbed.” (Vaporis 2022: 234-235, 351)  6  At the same time. there was a conscious effort by the warrior government to ameliorate the general image of warriors as fiendish butchers carried over from the Warring States period, and to turn warrior-lords away from ideas of military conquest toward keeping civil order. “‘[T]he way of the warrior’ (budō) should be understood as an ‘instrument for killing evil.” The government “was to use it to ‘purify the realm.’” Warriors were now to be seen as benevolent, serving and protecting the public, as “the Tokugawa judicial system came to place considerable emphasis on what would today be called “victim’s rights.” It was realized that too harsh a system of punishment would interfere with the shogun being seen as a benevolent ruler. “[W]arrior officials in the Tokugawa period combined relatively lax enforcement and a tendency to turn a blind eye to minor infractions with the use of “flamboyant” displays of their own power – to pardon as well as punish. This made it possible to bolster warrior authority with the threat of terrifying punishment on the one hand, while also cultivating the goodwill of the general population on the other, with evidence of official flexibility, restraint, and mercy.” (Botsman: 41-42. 49) 7

As we see in newsfeeds today, turning a blind eye toward petty crimes was not without its downstream effects or its critics. By the 1720s, Ogyu Sorai complained that “houses are broken into everywhere; criminals murder, steal and commit arson; and in the middle of the night they lie in waiting in deserted places to rob people,” and remembered “the days when officials routinely cut criminals down on the spot” while lamenting a “dramatic decline in the warrior’s martial spirit.”  (Botsman: 86-87) No social strata was above reproach. In 1747, a mentally unstable Shogun’s hatamoto  murdered a man in the toilet at Edo castle. 8 Even daimyo were suspected of terrible crimes, including the lord of Mito domain Tokugawa Mitsukuni, when he was young man. “The Tosa samurai Mori Masana, while traveling to Edo in 1829 reported stories that the retired lord of Wakayama would go out at night with four or five attendants, enter people’s homes, and kill them. He is reputed to have killed hundreds of people this way.” (Vaporis 2022: 351)

Enforcing laws and bringing violators to justice fell to local lords following Bakufu law. In rural areas, village headmen and low-status warriors acted as constabulary; maintaining order, capturing or killing violators, and rounding up vagrants and beggars – a persistent problem that only grew worse over time – and putting down public disturbances and uprisings throughout the Edo period. (Botsman) This included duties during sankin-kōtai, the system of “alternate attendance” at the capital city, Edo, in which lords were required to alternate between a year spent residing in their domains with one in the capital. (Nishiyama 1997) Retainers of individual daimyo were required to staff guard-houses in the samurai neighborhoods of Edo and perform basic policing functions in their jurisdiction. Written guides were produced for warriors staffing neighborhood guard stations (tsuji-bansho ) in “how to handle unusual situations.”  These situations included corpses (murders or suicides), violent behavior, altercations and fights in front of samurai mansions, violence and injuries within the samurai residences, and attacks using swords. The expectations and other job duties for the guards were strikingly similar to the kinds of things seen in law and policy for law enforcement today: deserted children (a child under three is “deserted” but an older child is “lost”), fugitives, drunks and vagrants, illegal disposals and dumping, lost objects, unruly or dead horses, rescuing people who had fallen into moats, suspicious characters, accidents on the streets, and jurisdictional matters (for instance if a body is found on the border between two tsuji-bansho, the location of the feet — for men it was the left foot, and for women, the right — determined which jurisdiction bore responsibility). 9

Lower-status warriors were required to train in the necessary skills to fill these roles. Passin noted that upper-class samurai learned swordsmanship, horse riding, and archery “as a form of spiritual training,” while lower-class warriors “were taught jūjutsu, lancemanship, group tactics, and rifle.” (1965 p. 21) Michael Wert, in his study of rural swordsmen also pointed out that “martial arts and swordsmanship were practiced differently by different samurai status groups, with an inverse relationship between cultural capital value and combat efficacy.” High ranking samurai were not compensated for their training and their official schools focussed on swordsmanship to strengthen their warrior identity. In the Kaga Han, low-status warriors were “ordered by the domain to learn staff fighting and grappling (jūjutsu).” These samurai foot soldiers (ashigaru), “who used the arts directly in their duties” received compensation for training and “studied arresting techniques or staff fighting (bōjutsu), skills used in their policing roles.”  (Wert, unpublished manuscript: 6-7)

The class expectations relative to “peace officer” duties, and how they changed, were illustrated by Confucian scholar, writer, and politician Arai Hakuseki (1657-1725) noting in his autobiography:  “when I was seventeen or eighteen, I accidentally dropped in my father’s presence, a torinawa, a finely wound green cord with a hook at the end used for tying people up, which I was carrying in my bosom.” His father noticed the item and said “Long ago, when I was in office, I used to keep this by me in my flint bag.  I thought that if I ordered men to seize  and bind some disorderly fellow, they might not have it in readiness. When I retired, I had no further use for it, and I kept it for tying up the cat. It is proper that a warrior should know every part of his duties. However, there are things which a man should or should not do, according to his station. This cord is not something you should keep about your person, and you are old enough to know better.” (Hakuseki, p. 48-49)

 

 

Martial Discipline

At the Okinawan Fighting Art, "Ti" blog, there was a recent post on martial arts training and discipline. And excerpt is below. The full post may be read here.

The Secret in Martial Discipline

Turning Intention into Prepared Self-Defense

Mind sees the pathway
Hands repeat what thought has shaped
Calm arrives through skill

Wish is not armor
Practice gives intention form
Awareness stands guard

A conversational essay on intention, visualization, confidence, disciplined practice, and reality-based self-defense

Introduction

Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret presents a simple and attractive proposition: what we consistently focus on, believe in, feel, and expect can influence what we experience. Its best-known formula is “Ask, Believe, Receive,” supported by practices such as visualization, gratitude, intention, affirmations, and deliberate management of thoughts and feelings. Taken literally, The Secret goes further and describes these practices as working through a universal “law of attraction.” That metaphysical claim is controversial and is not established by mainstream scientific evidence. Yet several of the practical habits wrapped inside the philosophy can be translated into useful methods for teaching and practicing martial disciplines for civilian self-defense.

The key is translation. 

In a dojo concerned with self-defense, “attraction” should never mean believing that a desired outcome will simply appear. It can instead be treated as a discipline of attention: decide what kind of martial artist you intend to become, mentally rehearse appropriate behavior, build confidence through competent practice, notice opportunities to improve, and repeatedly act in ways consistent with the desired result.

In that form, The Secret becomes less a promise that thoughts control external reality and more a reminder that thoughts can influence attention, motivation, emotional regulation, practice quality, and behavior. Those factors genuinely matter when a student is learning to protect himself or herself.

1. Ask: Define the Desired Outcome

The “Ask” principle begins with clarity. In self-defense training, a poorly defined goal often produces poorly organized practice. “I want to be good at fighting” is vague. A more useful intention is: “I want to recognize danger early, avoid unnecessary conflict, remain composed under pressure, protect myself or another person when necessary, and disengage safely.”

That distinction is important because civilian self-defense is not primarily about defeating an opponent. It is about managing danger. The desired outcome should therefore include awareness, avoidance, verbal boundary setting, positioning, escape, proportional physical response, and post-incident judgment—not merely striking or grappling ability.

An instructor can apply the Ask principle by having students identify specific capabilities. 

• One student may need to improve balance and movement. 
• Another may freeze when confronted verbally. 
• Another may possess strong technique but make poor tactical decisions. 

Clear intentions allow practice to become purposeful rather than mechanical.

In traditional martial language, this resembles giving direction to shugyō—disciplined training. The student is not merely accumulating techniques. He or she is deliberately shaping character, perception, judgment, and physical capability toward a defined end.

Japanese Koryu Martial Arts Transmission

As a result of his excellent post, which I've posted an excerpt here; The Budo Bum recently published a guest post by Tobin Threadgill, who is a senior practitioner of Shindo Yoshin-Ryu. An excerpt from the guest post is below. The full post may be read here.

---

I am honored to share this essay by Tobin Threadgill Sensei of Takamura Ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu, written in reaction to my essay Budo Isn’t Finished. I deeply appreciate him allowing me to share this here. P.B.

by Tobin Threadgill

Transmission of knowledge in a koryu budo can be challenging. No headmaster can transmit 100% of what they know. The headmaster must competently address this resulting vacuum of knowledge, or the compounding loss can cripple a koryu budo ryuha in only several generations.

The subject of evolution in koryu was a frequently discussed topic with my teacher, Takamura Yukiyoshi sensei. He believed a thorough understanding of this subject was necessary so that a koryu budo tradition would not degenerate into what he described as “empty or pretty dancing”. When I hear an uninitiated individual discuss the topic of koryu, I am often struck by their lack of context and/or familiarity with what they are observing. The most glaring misunderstanding is related to the purpose and function of kata. I assume that this misinterpretation is partially related to exposure to the solo kata (enrengata) performed in Okinawan Karate and its progeny. In Japanese, there are two different kanji characters both pronounced in kata. The differences are subtle, but the one used in Okinawan karate (型) implies something finished like a mold, pattern, or standard. The one used in most koryu budo, also pronounced gyo (形), implies something more subtle, like form, model, or configuration. In the context of koryu budo, kata (gyo) are repositories of knowledge in a different manner than that of Okinawan Karate. It must be understood that koryu budo kata do not necessarily represent actual fighting. They do not always have to be realistic because they are frequently vessels that contain, preserve, and give context to genri and riai (tactics, principles, and combat theory). Many observers outside koryu simply fixate on the particular movements they observe in the execution of a kata without any grasp of the purpose underlying the movements. It’s like an outside observer watching a boxer use a speed bag and then announcing that such training is pointless because such punching would never be practical. They simply don’t understand the what’s or why’s of what they are observing.

Legacy Techniques in Koryu

At The Budo Bum, the author explored the question of whether the koryu (old classical) arts carried around with it the teaching of inefficient, ineffective techniques. My own inclination is to answer "no." The principles, strategies, etc; are all at work.

An excerpt is below. The original post may be read here.

The efficacy and use of some techniques in various koryu have been questioned since at least the Meiji Era. Koryu are by definition “old schools.” Two or three hundred years from the founding, how can you be sure the techniques are still effective? How can you be sure they are consistent with what was originally taught? Have things been lost or changed to the point that they are no longer consistent?

My experience is that in well-maintained koryu, the techniques will be consistent, effective, and efficient. If they aren’t all three, then either something is being taught incorrectly, or the student doesn’t understand it well enough yet. I do see koryu that teach things poorly, especially in koryu that have become essentially fossils. These are koryu where the skeleton of the technique and kata have been preserved, but the knowledge that animates them has been lost, so people simply repeat motions without understanding them. There are a few of these around, and if you watch carefully, you can spot some of them at big koryu enbu like the one at Meiji Jingu every year.

Even in well-preserved, well-cared for koryu, things can get lost. Ellis Amdur of Kogen Budo has written extensively about reconstituting bojutsu of Tenshin Buko Ryu. They still had documents, but the practice had been lost. Koryu are living arts, and things are lost and added and rediscovered all the time. Not every teacher is a good teacher, so sometimes the transmission is weak. These things happen. In living koryu, as opposed to fossilized koryu, this isn’t an overwhelming problem. Senior teachers and practitioners should always be testing their understanding, challenging themselves and the art to be sure both are at their best.

Gendai budo practitioners often make the mistake of thinking that because koryu don’t have competitive sparring, there is no pressure testing. They couldn’t be more wrong. Anytime you have a two-person koryu kata, you have the potential for pressure testing. Ideally, each kata represents the optimal way of doing something. If you do everything correctly, the kata works. If your training partners are being honest, they will follow the logic of the kata, and attack where the best opening is. If the best opening they see is one you’ve left that shouldn’t be there, that’s where they will attack. This can make for an unpleasant surprise anytime you don’t do things well. A whack on the kote or do or men when you aren’t expecting it is one of the best ways of learning to close those suki (openings). I’ve collected plenty of small bruises because I left suki that shouldn’t be there.

This is pressure testing. Your partner isn’t breaking the kata when they attack into a suki that you left. You broke the kata when you created the suki. Your partner is following the logic of the kata and attacking the best target. It’s always possible that someone sees an opening that’s not part of the kata. The proper response to this is to talk with your teacher, and arrange to try attacking the opening so it can be tested. I’ve seen many “openings” in kata that I was learning, and I’ve discovered the hard way each time that they aren’t really openings. I just didn’t know enough yet to understand why that attack was a bad idea. Teachers of living koryu aren’t afraid of exploring and experimenting. Before you try something though, it’s useful to remember that the arts you are experimenting with are hundreds of years old, and whatever you think you’re seeing has likely been thoroughly explored during the previous centuries.

 

 

The Still Point of Kyudo

One of the things I have always liked about Kyudo as a Budo, is the stillness and settling which takes place before the shot. It's almost as if the shot is a side effect of the stillness.

In Chinese martial arts, there is a very deep practice of zhan zhuang, which is "just standing," which seems somewhat related to the stillness of kyudo.

At Zen's Sekai, the author, who has a background in both Japanese and Chinese martial arts, discussed this very phenomenon. An excerpt is below. The full post may be read here.

Wu Standing and Kyūdō: One Shot, No Arrow

Before discussing Kyūdō, it helps to clarify one term that may be unfamiliar: Wu standing.

What Is Wu Standing?

Wu standing (站樁, zhan zhuang) is a foundational practice in Wu-style Taiji. At first glance, it looks like simply standing still. In reality, it is a precise form of internal alignment and continuous expansion, practiced without visible movement.

There is:

No deliberate breath control No visualization No muscle-driven effort

The practitioner stands upright, relaxed, and structurally aligned, allowing the body to organize itself through gravity, balance, and awareness. The work is not to do something, but to stop interfering with how the body naturally supports itself.

Unlike seated meditation, Wu standing is trained fully embodied, under load, and in relationship to the ground. It is not about endurance or stillness for its own sake, but about discovering the point where effort drops away and posture sustains itself.

This is why Wu standing pairs so naturally with Kyūdō.

Wu Standing as the Complete Kyūdō Shot

In Kyūdō, the shot does not begin when the arrow is nocked.

In Wu standing, movement does not begin when the body moves.

Both practices train something far quieter and far more demanding:

Right placement before intention.

When viewed this way, Wu standing is not a meditation about stillness. It is Kyūdō before the bow appears.

Martial Arts Ethic

 

Today we have a guest post by Jim Russo, a senior Chinese internal martial arts teacher. 

The True Value of Martial Ethic - a Modern ”Social Experiment“

Chen Wei Ming”s event bringing family members together

I am a traditional martial artist. I have been training traditional martial arts, since I am a child. I had my throat slit as a child, and that motivated me to study these arts from a realistic standpoint and not a fantasy standpoint. Trash talking has always been a part of. Professional fighting, because it is a psychological tactic and, a promotional tactic to build interest in the event and to sell tickets. I have never observed the kind of trash talking I see in the traditional martial arts arena until the advent of the UFC. I have always been interested in the UFC as a reality-based fighter. I don't believe in breaks or rules as they don't apply in nature. Traditional martial arts culture endeavors to not only learn how to defend oneself, but how to refine oneself as a useful organism to humanity. Young practitioners are drawn into the trash talking because they can do it safely from the seclusion of their own room. There are many practitioners who use this as an opportunity to Authoritize themselves by criticizing other practitioners. This is even more complicated when we get into the Internal Martial Arts because , if they are in fact internal, lower level practitioners can not see what is happening. When a person decides to evaluate someone purely from the visual standpoint, it suggests that they never considered the inside of the body as a power making mechanism. I have been abused, bullied, harassed, fat shamed, age shamed, accused of being a thief, and a trickster when I wasn't even charging people for the knowledge. I decided that I would try to illuminate the minds of young practitioners via a social experiment. I outlined the basic idea of the experiment and I went to work. I began posting high level skills on various sites that have had an historical agenda at trying to dumb down the entire syllabus of the Art of Yang Family Taijiquan. This has created an unpleasant environment for many people who are seeking positive change in their life and evolution. It has also required a tremendous amount of work on my part to deal with these comments.

 

After 15 years of this abuse, I have decided to respond by simulating aggression on the edge of insanity. This is one of the biggest reasons that Martial Ethic exists ; because , you never know who you were talking to online or their background and history. You never know the challenges that they go through on a daily basis to attempt to live in a state of peace. You could be talking to a veteran with CPTSD who took up Tai Chi in an attempt to deal with his demons. You may be talking to an ex-convict who studied Tai Chi in prison so that he could learn how to harmonize with society and his personal issues. I would suggest that it is not a good idea to poke either of these “hornets nests’” with a stick. The same cast of characters arise, coffee in hand, every morning and starts casting insults around to the same individuals. There is a lot of nonsense going on in the Martial Arts world, but I always saw that as child's play and walked past it without interaction. I see the entire Yang Family as One Family, and the different lineages should not endeavor to stand on the shoulders of their brothers and sisters, in an attempt to appear larger than they actually are as far as their skill and knowledge. Endeavoring to do something about this disease, I thought that I would do a social experiment that would illuminate the reasons for preserving Martial Ethic within the traditional martial arts community. I utilized traditional tactics from Sun Tzu”s The Art of War as well as concepts from Miyamoto Musashi’s “Go Rin No Sho” or a” book of five rings”. These are standard readng for business students in Asia. I also utilized the principles of the Yang family art as well.

 

The Taiwanese Taijiquan Association

The first principal I used was Enticing Energy. I simply started posting knowing that they would attack me. I simply waited for one of the more abusive individuals to attack… This time however, I responded with intensity. I responded by appraising the skill of the attacker and "champion". I reached out to the attacker also through direct messaging to suggest that he could walk away from this looking elevated and not behaving badly in the future but he would just ruin his career by fighting me and if he were even lucky enough to win, he would look like an idiot as a big “champion” beating up an old man. I did this with several of the offenders. I did not waste my time with the “flying monkeys” and “minions” that do the dirty work. I went after the heads of the snakes. Every online group has administrators, who allow this behavior to happen because it suits their dark agenda or they don't allow it to happen like they did with my page. If you go onto my Group, you will not see abusive comments happen more than once. In the past, I tried to elevate these characters by talking to them and that proved fruitless so I don't waste my time anymore. I simply delete the comment and remove them. When your social media experience is darkened by negative comments, now you know who are to blame and who can stop it in an instant. There are also certain lineages of skill that do not go beyond the first level of training, and have no knowledge of the other evolutions that have existed historically. Many of these characters, practice a sport where they shove each other around, using muscles that violate the principles of the Art and then they call themselves “champions”. The Older lineages that predate Chinese Communism preserve the more Martial presentation of the Art, and are often analyzed from the perspective of the modern form. Different forms, have different goals, and when you understand the goals, then you might understand things that you consider to be violations of your principles. I have found that it's best to inquire open heartedly. Years of watching the degradation of the ethical elements and character, refinement associated with traditional martial arts, has led me to do a modern social experiment. The goal of the experiment what is to illuminate people on the realities of unethical behavior.

The idea of acting as if I had lost my mind was intentional, because that is something that could happen with someone. Suddenly, the attacker’s life is upended, because they “poked the hornets nest” . This is basically applying elements of psychological warfare to those who have been psychologically traumatizing others for many years running. The result of the experiment was that most of the “posers” disappeared immediately. The other result was associates of the attacker endeavored to attack my ethical qualities publicly. All this does is indicate that they do know right from wrong, and that they are acting wrong intentionally. Welcome to my trap. You see it is easy to make people with negative intention reveal themselves because they are not operating from a high level of intellect nor intention. The offenders were notified that I would identify who they were if they did not back off. The other option is we all just walk away quietly, and begin to act in an evolved fashion. Everyone wins but more importantly, we teach our younger practitioners, the value of something that they have been throwing away.

The real offenders behind this are the actual media platforms. Conflict results in more views and more activity. They want to create an environment for conflict. They are, however, creating an environment for bullying, harassment, and public shaming. This creates an unsafe space for the developing minds of our children. We as consumers have a right to share our various presentations without daily abuse. Martial Arts Practitioners often consider themselves to be warriors, which is quite delusional. The same characters look the other way to the daily abuse of others , which does not make them worthy of power. I will never look away from seeing someone abused by someone of more power. People can communicate on an intellectual level, without having to resort to violence. The true value of Martial Ethic is that the practitioners refined their character in parallel with the development of their power. A person with a great deal of power, and no character development is dangerous to society and to themselves. The real goal of all of this is to illuminate how dangerous unrefined characters can be, and how scary they can be. The goal is also to keep people interacting with each other in an ethical fashion , sharing ideas and perspectives with an open heart where they learn to stand on their own two feet instead of the necks of others. The result will be that traditional martial artists will begin to refine themselves and guide our children towards higher degrees of refinement and interaction.

When someone goes online and is critical about another person and their skill, they are doing so without actually testing them in person which is very inaccurate in drawing its conclusions. I would like to suggest that we help our younger brothers and sisters to rise the higher levels by inspiring them through our positive actions. I would like to see the entire Yang family become open hearted and share with each other. I would like to see them, become a true family again and stand in the rightful place in the history of Chinese Internal Martial Arts.

Northern vs Southern Kung Fu Styles Explained

 

Boxing and Martial Arts in the Movies

Budo Journeyman had an entertaining post on boxing and martial arts as portrayed in movies. Below are some excepts. The original may be read here, where there are lot of clips that you may enjoy.

 

Boxing.

Below is a list of the main themes encountered in boxing movies. But bear in mind that boxing on film has probably the longest history in cinema. Ideal for the silent era, because language is not needed to explain the drama (very early documentary movies feature famous boxing matches).

First theme:

The Underdog.

Pitched against the injustices of society, whether it’s race or class, or the wrong side of the tracks; the ‘zero to hero’ story always has appeal; it offers hope to even the most downtrodden.

Notice how many boxing movies come out of America, clearly it taps into the myth of the American Dream. You could start with Rocky (Stallone) and carry all the way through to the ‘Cinderella Man’ (Russell Crowe), a biopic where the underdog theme is really larded on.

Probably the most famous non-boxing scene from a boxing movie, every line quotable. Great acting ‘On the Waterfront’ 1954, Marlon Brando and Rod Steiger in the back of a taxi.

Second theme:

Obsessions and consequences.

Tragic individuals and catastrophic results.

Probably the most gritty story rendered on to screen is that of Jake LaMotta in the movie ‘Raging Bull’, artfully told by Martin Scorcese. A true-life story of how LaMotta’s urge to make a success of his life and career, results in human carnage, in terms of relationships and family.

LaMotta played by De Niro; strong stuff, not pleasant.

We also need to consider how neither LaMotta nor the fictional Rocky Balboa are blessed with high intelligence; but that seems okay in boxing movies, where philosophy never really gets a look in (unlike martial arts movies). You don’t need deep thinking to understand a boxing match.

Theme three:

Violence packaged for the public in the name of sport.

Naturally, everyone pretty much understands the rules and objectives of a boxing match. Consider also how the contest and the drama is all conveniently contained in a small space; no need for long rolling tracking shots to follow the action. Compared to other action movies, this makes things so much easier to manage.

Also, the narrative on every boxing movie is split into two zones; inside the ring and outside the ring. The viewer unconsciously understands this, and accepts it unconditionally.

We also tolerate the brutality of the ring, no matter how graphic. Example; ‘Raging Bull’ was a movie shot almost entirely in black and white, but it didn’t lessen the gore-factor. In fact, it enhanced it.

The next theme:

Masculinity, and, a place for women?.

There are women’s boxing movies, but they are quite rare (think of Clint Eastwood’s ‘Million Dollar Baby’). Decades ago, the idea was totally unthinkable. There have been combat sports movies with women as the central protagonists; recently ‘Tatami’ 2023, a judo movie which is worth watching, for many reasons, cerebral, cultural and political, and then there’s the judo.

From the male perspective there are often very positive themes of honour, duty and responsibility, as well as sportsmanship (there is also pressure against corruption).

A quick mention of bare-knuckle, whether historical or not. (But, let’s put aside anything with Brad Pitt in it).

My go-to examples for historical bare knuckles fighting are; the short section in Robert Downey Jnr’s ‘Sherlock Holmes’.

And, the not very successful, ‘Prizefighter, The Life of Jem Belcher’, 2022. The Americans don’t seem to have an interest in these stories, leaving it up to the Europeans, despite having their own pantheon of fighters from the bare-knuckles age. I suspect that across the Atlantic everything has to hook on the myth of the, previously mentioned, ‘Great American Dream’. Europe and the UK tend to be more historically nuanced.

Comparison with martial arts movies.

Now, on to my main objective.

The common ground:

· Discipline and grind (Rocky chasing chickens and Shaolin types carrying buckets up steps).

· Underdog tales in both genres. It taps into something fundamentally human.

· Final climactic showdown. Think ‘hall of mirrors’ in ‘Enter the Dragon’ and any Rocky movie.

All of the above are found in martial arts and boxing movies, but…

The real differences:

· Martial arts movies don’t go for the same grit as boxing movies. They are more about grace and aesthetics.

· Superhuman potential is really ramped-up in martial arts tales. The bar is set really high. With boxing it tends to be grind and muscle, and, dare I say it; more realism?

· Endurance versus self-actualisation and philosophy. Eastern religions and disciplines very much guide the martial arts storylines. While in the world of boxing, it tends to be just doggedly staying in the fight and clawing your way out of poverty etc.

· With boxing, the themes tend towards Western individualism, while the Eastern traditions lean heavily into collectivism, even heritage or ancestor worship.

· Technical aesthetics: In boxing it’s the close-up toughness of the brawl. While in martial arts movies we find the viewpoint is pulled back away from the action, so we can appreciate the artistry and the flair of the fighters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two Different Ways of Teaching the Art

There was an interest post at Applied Methods regarding the teaching karate formally in a school, and also outside of a commercial school. An excerpt is below. The full post may be read here.

When I first arrived in the United States, I was struck by the sheer scale of the martial arts landscape. Coming from the UK, my formative years of training and teaching were spent in the tradition of the rented hall instructor. We packed our gear into the boots of our cars and drove to drafty church halls, local sports centers, and sometimes schools. We set up, we trained, we packed up, and we went home. A permanent, dedicated facility was a rare luxury.

When I eventually became part of a storefront dojo here in the US, it felt like a significant milestone. In a culture that often values a commercial footprint as a visible marker of achievement, having a permanent mat and a sign on the window felt like validation that I had finally “arrived”.

A few years later, the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic forced a total re-evaluation. Like many instructors, the financial realities of that period eventually led me to close our doors. Today, my teaching happens on a much smaller scale - with a number of dedicated students training in a home garden dojo.

It is easy to view a shift like that through a negative lens. When you look around and see thriving commercial schools on every other street corner, modern metrics can quietly trick us into measuring our worth as educators by square footage, student rosters, and profit margins.

But as the dust settled, I began to see the transition differently. Losing the storefront did not diminish the transmission of the art. If anything, it returned the training to something closer to its historical roots.

 

The Cradle of Karate

 Below is an interesting documentary on the history and development of karate on Okinawa.

 

 

Japanese Sword Documentary

Below is an excerpt from a post at The Budo Journeyman, which is a review of a 2024 documentary about Japanese swords and the West, entitled The Sun's Shadow. The full post may be read here.

This is certainly not like the usual documentaries about culture and heritage based in Japan, e.g. the ones that National Geographic produce. Neither is it a bite-sized piece in a travelogue episode by a celebrity who happens to be visiting Japan. This is what makes it so intriguing.

With ‘The Sun’s Shadow’, over three episodes, we are introduced to a range of enthusiasts who have pitched their all into their particular shared obsession – the Japanese sword.

What is surprising is that contemporary Japanese sword makers barely feature, these are all Americans. I know that Europeans will raise a quizzical eyebrow at anything the Americans throw themselves into with their body and soul…. I certainly did; but even half way through episode one, I was totally convinced they’d got it right.

Admittedly, this series ticked many of my boxes; not only traditional Japanese martial arts, but Japanese culture, history and the world of crafted bespoke artefacts. I found myself salivating at the lingering shots of antique and contemporary Nihonto, beautiful understated sword furniture and wrappings, yes, sword porn.

But the characters… including grizzled elderly craftsmen, working away in backwoods forges, enthusing about types of steel, temperatures, carbon content and quenching, totally captivating. They were pushing beyond the boundaries that historical Japanese swordsmiths were struggling to reach, even seeming to recreate techniques the Japanese thought had died out centuries ago.

However, this was not approached with Western arrogance, but more with reverence and full respect for what these earlier smiths had achieved.

Two other aspects came over strongly:

Cultural understanding.

The American swordsmiths were not just focussed on the sweat and grind of the forge; they were all clear in their own heads that Japanese culture has a depth that must be really worked at for Westerners to get a grasp of what the real background is.

Swords as practical objects.

Although we are no longer in the age where people swing swords at each other, either one-to-one or in massed armed conflict, a sword loses its identity and status if it is just considered as a decorative artefact, or a historical curiosity. (or even an investment antique). By including in the documentary those individuals who, for various reasons, feel they are custodians of an uninterrupted tradition that includes the art of swordsmanship, this adds real value to the enterprise. It tightly ties the craftsmen of the forge to the craftsmen of the Dojo, in a line that stretches back into history.

 

 

 

 

Warrior Monks of Japan

Zen's Sekai thought this  link would be of interest. It's at article that appeared at BudoJapan about the history of the storied warrior monks. An excerpt is below. The full post may be read here.

Introduction

Esoteric Buddhism, known as “Mikkyo” in Japanese, had a profound influence on the development of Japanese martial arts. Infusing ritual and philosophy into warrior culture, Mikkyo created a fusion where spiritual practices and martial training became intertwined. This integration gave rise to a paradox: warrior monks caught between Buddhist precepts of nonviolence and the brutal realities of feudal Japan. In this article, we explore Mikkyo’s esoteric practices and how they shaped the evolution of sohei (warrior monks), samurai, kobudo (traditional martial arts), and ninjutsu.

Part 1: The Rise of Mikkyo and the Warrior Monks

The roots of Mikkyo trace back to the Shingon and Tendai sects of Buddhism. Shingon was brought to Japan by Kukai in 806 CE, following his studies in China under the esoteric master Huiguo. After receiving full transmission and authorization to teach, Kukai returned with sacred texts, mandalas, and ritual implements, eventually founding Japan’s first Shingon temple, Kongobu-ji, on Mt. Koya.

Around the same time, Saicho returned from China with the teachings of the Tendai school and established Enryaku-ji Temple on Mt. Hiei. Situated near Kyoto, the temple was favored by the Imperial Court, which helped it expand into a sprawling complex of nearly 3,000 buildings. Together, these mountaintop temples of Shingon and Tendai have remained influential monastic centers for over a thousand years.

However, the generous court donations that Enryaku-ji received came with strings attached. The Imperial Court felt this gave them the right to appoint the temple’s next leader. When Enryaku-ji’s monks refused a court-appointed zasu (abbot), samurai troops were sent in to enforce their decision. The temple yielded, but resentment simmered.

Tension over court appointments continued to rise until the year 970, when Ryogen—Enryaku-ji’s leader—made the decision to create a fighting force to protect its interests. This act contradicted a policy Ryogen had issued earlier that same year, forbidding monks from carrying weapons or engaging in violence. His reversal of policy is made clear in the Sanka Yoki Senryaku (Abridged Records of Mount Hiei), which quotes Ryogen as saying: “On Mount Hiei, in order to guard the true Dharma, to secure oil for lamps, and to defend the temple lands, warrior practitioners are needed. Therefore, monks who are foolish and have the least amount of talent should be assigned to that role.” So when the sohei system first began, it was the monks least suited to quiet monastic life who were chosen to become warrior monks.

The next time the Imperial Court attempted to appoint someone they didn’t like, Enryaku-ji’s warrior monks marched into Kyoto to protest. The Court called in samurai troops for support and a bloody battle began—but this time, it was the monks who were victorious. A document known as the “Taiheiki” captures their defiance: “When tyrants disturb the land, we borrow divine power to drive them back.”

Among these warrior monks, the most legendary was Benkei—a figure woven from both fact and folklore. He began his training at Enryaku-ji Temple but was eventually expelled for misconduct. After wandering the mountains, he took up residence in an old, abandoned shrine that lacked a temple bell. Known for his size and strength, Benkei is said to have stolen a massive bell from Miidera Temple—Enryaku-ji’s main rival. According to legend, he dragged the bell across the mountains to his new home. But when he rang the bell, it would only make a strange sound, as if moaning to return to Miidera.

During the Edo period (1603-1868), theater performances became popular and Benkei came to be portrayed as both fierce and funny. The idea eventually emerged that Benkei had a weak spot—his shin, a spot so tender that even Benkei would cry if struck there. This sensitive area was called “Benkei-no-nakidokoro” (Benkei’s crying spot) and the term is still used today whenever someone happens to hit their shin.

In contrast to Enryaku-ji, Mt. Koya’s Shingon temple was less politically active and never developed warrior monks. However, the Shingon sect’s Shingi branch developed its own militant force at Negoro-ji Temple. Around 1560, the Jesuit missionary Gaspor Vilela visited the temple and described what he saw in his travel diaries: “Their swords cut through armor like tender meat. Their training was intense and the death of one of their members during practice was met without emotion.”