Martial Arts Training Prohibitions

Along the way, I've been admonished that we shouldn't practice in the wind or if it's raining, or a dozen other things. When I've asked why, the best answer I ever got was "Chinese medicine reasons."

Franklin Fick of the Spirit Dragon Institute has a series of articles enumerating the training prohibitions and most importantly, explaining the reasoning behind them. You can find the series of blog articles if you click here.

Please pay a visit. Enjoy.

The 48 Laws of Power, #3: Conceal Your Intentions

One of my favorite books on strategy is The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and Joost Elffers.  Where The Art of War, by Sun Tzu is written as an overview of the whole topic of strategy, seeking to provide an overall understanding of the subject; and The 36 Strategies tries to impart the knack of strategic thinking through 36 maxims related to well known Chinese folk stories, Mr. Greene focuses on how we influence and manipulate one another, ie "power".

Mr. Greene draws from both Eastern and Western history and literature as his source material. Sun Tzu and Machiavelli as cited as much as wonderful stories of famous con men. Among my favorites is about a scrap metal dealer thinking he bought the Eiffel Tower.

Each of the 48 Laws carries many examples, along with counter examples where it is appropriate that they be noted, and even reversals.

It is a very thorough study of the subject and the hardback version is beautifully produced.

Law #3: Conceal Your Intentions

This is not only straight from The Art of War, but just plain common sense. If people don't know what you're up to, they are less likely to stumble into thwarting your plans. You'll have the element of surprise in hand.

The Real Meaning of Kiai

Over at the Martial Art Terminology blog, Charles James Sensei wrote an excellent article on the meaning of Kiai. Below is an excerpt. The full article may be read here.

Let me being my feelings on this term/character/ideograms, kiai is not a battle cry or spirit shout in the sense westerners feel it is a loud expression of spirit and effort where effort is the louder the shout the greater your effort and supposedly spirit level. There is so much more than this when defining and understanding kiai and its energy source called, "Ki."

Ki is a cosmic energy; the animator of life. The Japanese/Chinese proved more than 2,000 years earlier, in such practices as acupuncture and a variety of health and martial arts, that some kind of special energy ran through the body.  They call this special cosmic energy ki (kee), which is translated variously as "energy," "spirit," "mind," and "cosmic breath."

A "kiai" can be a slogan, a word, or a nonsensical sound. The nonsensical sound is often used within the practice of karate kata or form. The concept of "ki" and some of its more astounding uses are on their way to being accepted universally.

The two characters/ideograms mean, "scream; yell; fighting spirit," and the first character means, "spirit; mind; air; atmosphere; mood," while the second character means, "fit; suit; join." The spirit yell as to my feelings and perception incorporates a lot more than the yell which is usually manifested as a short curt sound unique to one's system of practice.

But, there is more .... 

Women's Self Defense Blogging Carnival

As a follow up to the Anti Bullying Blogging Carnival, today I'd like to announce my support for the Women's Self Defense Blogging Carnival. Click on the logo below and you'll be directed to a jumping off point to many articles on Women's Self Defense, hosted this time by the BunKaiJutsu blog.

If you would like to contribute to future blogging carnivals, you can sign up for email notices at Traditional Tae Kwon Do Techniques.

 

The Feminine Form

The feminine form is nature's greatest work of art. A friend sent me this video. It is simply amazing. Enjoy.

Bagua Zhang and a Musical Interlude

Before getting to the music, I just saw where Kent Howard over at the Wang Shujin Bagua Zhang blog has announced that a new DVD is available to accompany the book Wang Shujin's Bagua Linked Palms.

Speaking of videos, it turns out that a feature of Blogger which I didn't know about is that all the videos that I've posted here have been collected in one spot on Youtube. Check out Cook Ding's Kitchen on YouTube!

Now to the music ...

An entertaining cover of a clasic:





A couple of songs from the Kill Bill Vol 2 soundtrack:

Goodnight Moon by Shivaree


A Satisfied Mind - Johnny Cash



I liked Shivaree so much, let's have one more:

Bossa Nova

The Struggle to Learn a Martial Art

"Hold on to the hard things and your mind will open." - Kushida Sensei
 
When it comes to learning a martial art, some have natural talent and others of us have to struggle. Who are the luckier ones?

When learning something comes naturally to you, where you just have to see something and you pick it up right away, I don't think you have the opportunity to really learn it in depth.
It is when you have to stuggle with something, grapple with it, find that with every correction that you are making new and more wonderous errors (sometimes to the exasperation of your teacher), that forces you to realy examine what you are doing and why. It is that struggle that leads to understanding.

An old post at 24 Fighting Chickens by Rob Redmond illustrates this phenomenon far better than I could ever hope. Enjoy.

Happy Fourth of July!

Happy Fourth of July!

Staying Behind

Below is an excerpt from the Japan Subculture Research Center blog. The full article may be read here.

The article concerns the state of affairs in Fukushima. 

The Buddha Of Fukushima 1-Year Later (Post 3/11)

Posted by nathaliekyoko on Friday, March 16, 2012 · 

Last year, we told you the story of Naoto Matsumura, Tomioka City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan–the last man standing in  Fukushima’s Forbidden Zone. He will not leave;  he risks an early death because his defiance of Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) and the government is his life now. He is not crazy and he is not going. He remains there to remind people of the human costs of nuclear accidents. He is the King of The Forbidden Zone; its protector. He is the caretaker or empty houses, a point of contact for those citizen who can’t return. He takes care of the animals, “the sentient beings”, that remain behind because no one else will.  He is the Buddha of the forbidden zone. 

This is how things are now.

“Nothing has improved inside the 20km zone.”

One year after the great Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster that hit northern Japan, the living conditions for most of the evacuees has not changed much, especially for the evacuees of the most dangerous zone defined by the Japanese government as being forbidden for people to stay in or live in. Naoto Matsumura, “the Buddha of Fukushima”, stayed in his farmhouse, in his town Tomioka, all this time. Although the people are not allowed there, the animals have been left behind, abandoned by the human beings.

（Naoto Matsumura、came to speak on February 28, 2012 at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club of Japan in Tokyo. This is what he had to say.）

Life in Temporary Housing Shelters

All the people who evacuated the town have been stuffed into very small quarters in these evacuation temporary housing shelters. Most of them have anything to do with their time waiting for the day the government will announce they can return to their homeland. The people in the temporary houses have a tremendous amount of stress, many people have developed illnesses over the past year. Many people have actually died. “The government is not taking action, in fact they don’t even think about us.” Matsumura says.

The victims ask themselves: “How many years will it be before we will be able to return?” It may be in fact many years before people might be able to return, if that is the case. Although the older people will be able to return, the younger people will not be willing to return in such deeply contaminated land.