Episode XX-The Good, The Bad, and the Podcast

Episode XX-The Good, The Bad, and the Podcast

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Recorded: Wednesday November 26th, 2014

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Intro:  Theme from "Enter the Dragon" by Lalo Schifri

Introduction:
  Black Friday = Ninja Day
  (Ancient Assassins) 47 Ronin
  Ninja Turtles

Interlude Music: Clint Eastwood by Gorilaz

News:
  Bonsian Ninjas Gather Under the Roof of Ninjutsu Samurai Club
    Samurai
    Ninja Olympics
    Scottish Games
    Caber Toss
    Nippon Era
    Sensei Darko Treykovic
    Power Rangers
  Vladamir Putin Earns Black Belt, 8th Dan in Kyokushin Karate
    Judo
    9th Dan in Tae Kwon Do
  Rare Samurai Swords and Arms up for bid in online Christie's Auction 
    Tsuba
  Soke Don Angier (10/9/2014
    James Williams
    Bugei
    Atlanta Knife Show
    Tantojutsu
    Yanagi Ryu
    Don Angier on Youtube

Interlude Music: Man in Black by Johnny Cash

Ninja/Shinobi no mono kanji

Interview: Antony Cummins

  The Book of the Ninja
  True Path of the Ninja
  Iga and Koka Ninja Skills
  In Search of the Ninja
  The Illustrated Guide to Viking Martial Arts
  Ninja (Shinobi no Mono) Kanji
  Taihiki Scroll
  Shoniki Scroll
  Jonin = Great Ninja (Upper level ninja)
  Koga Ninja Clan
  Iga Ninja Clan
  Ninjas walking on water
  Ninja walking through walls
  Mizagumo = "Water Spider"
  Fuji Taseko
  Shuriken
  Iga Ninja Museum
  Nakashima Sensei
  Storm Shadow
  James Bond 1st Ninja Reference in American Film (You Only Live Twice)
  Stephen K. Hayes
  Shogun TV Mini-series
  (Teenage Mutant Ninja) Turtles
  Sakura Killers
  13 Assassins
  Misukugami
  Hagiwara Juzo
  Deadliest Warrior Viking vs. Ninja?
  Secret Traditions of the Shinobi
  www.natori.co.uk
  Antony Cummins Youtube Channel
  Antony Cummins Facebook

Interlude Music: Shadow of the Wind by Black Sabbath

This Week in Martial Arts: November 25th, 1931, Shintaro Katsu's Birthday
  Zatoichi
  Shamisen

  Tomisubura Wakiyama
  Akira Kurasawa
  Kagemusha
  Lone Wolf and Cub
  Blind Fury
  Rutger Hauer

  

Contact Information
Twitter Account: @martialthoughts
Email: martialthoughts@gmail.com
Atemicast Youtube Channel
www.thinkingmartial.blogspot.com

Outro Music: Voodoo Chile-Jimi Hendrix / Gayageum ver. by Luna

Episode XIX-Do the Right Podcast Shownotes

Episode XIX-Do the Right Podcast Shownotes

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Recorded: Thursday October 9th, 2014

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Intro:  Theme from "Enter the Dragon" by Lalo Schifri

Introduction:
Return of Mariano
Plinio
Our Groupie: Chris
Moses Powell Memorial Seminar
Aikido vs. Aikijujutsu
kote gaeshi
Shorin ryu karate
Kenpo karate
Tenkan
Irimi nage
Kokyu nage/Kokyu ho
"Clothesline otoshi"

Discussion Topic: The martial arts test
Why do martial arts have tests?
  Menkyo
  Dan/Kyu system
  Jigoro Kano
  Black Dragon Jujutsu

Formal vs. Informal Testing

Getting rid of kata in testing
Black Belt class
The Black Belt club
"The secret ingredient is You."
Randori
CPR
First Aid
Meiji Restoration
  Bonesetters
Chen style Taiji
Subjectivity of Grading tests
Plinio's Rant on kata
Ukemi kata
Bunkai
Absinthe
Iain Abbernathy Podcast
Wakizashi

Should Etiquette be tested?
  Hygiene
  Bowing 

Interlude Music: Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple

News: 
Garrett Holeve

Vietnamese Hairdresser

This Week in Martial Arts: November 23rd, 1899
Maneuel dos Reis Machado "Mastre Bimba"
Capoeira
  Bimbe Angola
  Batuque 

Contact Information
Twitter Account: @martialthoughts
Email: martialthoughts@gmail.com
Atemicast Youtube Channel
www.thinkingmartial.blogspot.com

Outro Music: Voodoo Chile-Jimi Hendrix / Gayageum ver. by Luna

4 Ninja Stars for Shang Yun-Xiang Style Xingyiquan by Li Wen-Bin

Shang Yun-Xiang Style Xingyiquan by Li Wen-Bin

    Okay before I review this book two things to get off my chest.  First.  Although my interest in the internal Chinese martial arts is new, and I have been reading up on some of them, my experience with Xingyi consists of one class with Allen Carroll in Atlanta.  Second, for full disclosure purposes, I was given this book by the publisher, Blue Snake Books, for the purposes of reviewing it.  Phew, not that that's over, on to the review.

    Let me start off with this first impression of the book.  It is dense.  Even though there is 290 pages, each page seems to be filled to the brim with information.  After finishing it, I felt that I needed to read it again, just to get the second layer of information from it.  One of the things I particularly liked about this book was when it gave you the names it did so in the Chinese characters, the English lettering translation(what I would call romanji if this were Japanese), and then the English language translation. This was cool to me, as I can read a character or two (from studying Japanese) here and there, and it added to the depth that I was able to assimilate some of the information.

Content

    The title of this book says a lot about what the content is.  This book covers one style Shang Yun-Xian, of the Chinese martial art Xingyiquan.  This does in no way distract from its value.  If fact the first part of the book is dedicated to telling you the differences between Shang style, and other styles of Xingyi.  The author, Mr. Li Wen-Bin, then went on to explain why these differences were in place, even siting the original art that Xingyi was derived from Xinyi.  Even though I'm not familiar enough with Xingyi, I appreciated the open discussion on his part.  Included in the first third of the book is a discussion on how and why Xingyi works, and why it is an internal art, as well as how it is linked to the ideas of traditional Chinese medicine.
  The second part of the book goes through the ideas of the key stance and what are called the five fists.  Again, the author explains, in terms of internal arts and traditional Chinese medicine, why Shang style teaches them in a different sequence than most Xingyi.  For those that don't know, there are five elements in Chinese ideology: Earth, Fire, Water, Metal, and Wood.  The reason for the difference has to do with the cycle of elements, how each if encouraged by a different element in the cycle, and how each element is linked to one of the five fists.  The book then, in very detailed description, goes through some of the Xingyi forms, in a way that can be easily interpreted from the combination of description and illustration.  Each form also includes a description of what the purpose of the form is, or rather, what should be learned/studied through that particular form.
    The third and last part of the book follows the pattern set in the second, but describes some of the weapons forms, including broadsword, jian sword, staff, and spear.  Again, with diligence, the forms could be done from just the description and illustration alone.

Pros

    There are many good points about this book.  Like I said earlier, this book is DENSE.  There is a lot of information and effort put into this book, and you can tell.  The tone doesn't convey the typical "why my style is better" mood, but rather, it reads more like an argumentative essay where the author says "here's what's different about my style, and here are my reasons why the differences are there."  There isn't any sense of condemnation or superiority, just a explanation of why, and I liked that .
    In the forms section, as I said, the pictures and description are very will done, which is hard to do.  Trying to show a system of movements in still photography is a skill all in itself, and this book does it well.  If you wanted to learn the form, you of course still need an instructor to critique you, but this book does a good job giving you the basic framework to build those critiques on.

Cons

    There is only one real complaint I have with this book, and it has more to do with me than the book.  This book is written for people who already have at least a decent background in Xingyi.  For example, several times it referred to "the classics of Xingyi" or the "songs of Xingyi," which I was not familiar with.  The author did explain somewhat what the information contained in them was, but i just didn't have that reference point in common with the author.

Conclusion

    Overall, I give this book 4 out of 5  Ninja Stars.  The book is well written, the illustrations and techniques are easy to follow, and I enjoyed the tone of the book.  I just think I wasn't part of the intended audience.  If I was a practitioner of Xingyi, or if I was starting out in Xingyi, this would be a great book.  I have a feeling that if I were to start studying Xingyi, then this would be a book I would read every couple of years, and gain new insights every time I read it.

My martial inspiration for this week

Your Martial Thoughts Hosts: Mariano, Rick, Plinio, Jaredd and Tony

    I just got back from our system's annual seminar, a memorial to Dr. Moses Powell, my instructor's instructor.  Normally, I train in South Florida with my instructor, but because I've moved to Nashville, I haven't had the opportunity for a while now.  For about 2 months now, I haven't been able to train, and I didn't realize how much I really missed it.
    It started on the drive down there.  I picked up Mariano (see Episode XV of Martial Thoughts Podcast) on the way, and we started talking martial arts.  This started to get my martial mind back in order.  By the time Friday night came about, I was reved for the seminar.  Because of the time off, I was rusty.  I had expected this to happen.  My mind could remember what I was supposed to do, but my body wasn't quite up to it.  The mind-body coordination was off.  However, what surprised me was how quickly, the flow came back.  I really did think I was going to have to re-learn a lot.  I guess I've been doing it long enough that some of that information stuck.  Our theme for this year was something along the lines of taking aikido, and making it a practical self-defense art.  I don't know how successful we were at doing this, but there was a lot of tough practice, and hard falls.
  The next morning, the seminar started at 10:00.  Which means I had to get up relatively early to make it to the dojo by 9:00 (I needed A LOT of warm up time, even before the warm-ups).  I woke up excited to go again.  Excited, but sore.  I realized as I was entering the dojo, and putting on my backup gi (the first one was soaked through), that I was smiling.  I couldn't wait to get back on the mat.  We trained hard for about 4 hours, and then went out with friends, to do what?...talk martial arts.  I then had to drive the 14 hour trip back home on Sunday, so that I could work on Monday.  This may have been the best answer for the seminar is a long time to think over everything I just was taught.  Digestion time.  It gave me time to unfold the origami of information I had just given.  I vowed to start going to martial arts again.  I realized how incomplete I was feeling without it.  And not just the physical part, though that is important, but the social/tribal part of martial arts as well.  I missed everything that is martial.
    I guess my take away for this week is that everyone should go to a seminar occasionally, even if it's not in your system.  Try them out, and see how inspiring they are to you.

    In the comments section, please tell me about your seminar experience, both good and bad.

Episode XVIII-The Nightmare Before Podcast Shownotes

Episode XVIII-The Nightmare Before Podcast

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Recorded: Wednesday October 22nd, 2014

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Intro:  This is Halloween by Marilyn Manson

Introduction: 
  Dr. Moses Powell Memorial Seminar
  www.atemi-ryu.com

Interlude Music: Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden

Interview with: Noel Plaugher

  Qi Gong

  Shou Shu

  Moore's Family Shou Shu

  Standing Qi Gong

  Xing Yi Chuan
  Kendo
  Judo
  Shidokan
  Standing QiGong for Health and Martial Arts


Interlude Music: The Ripper by Judas Priest


This Week in Martial Arts: October 28th, 1860 = Birthday of Jigoro Kano
  Tenjin Shin'yo ryu
  Kito ryu
  Kodokan dojo

Contact Information
Twitter Account: @martialthoughts
Email: martialthoughts@gmail.com
Atemicast Youtube Channel
www.thinkingmartial.blogspot.com



Outro Music: Vincent Price by Deep Purple

Are you a "Warrior"?

The Advertising of Martial Arts

The Ultimate Warrior?  Really?

    Martial arts have to be marketed.  I understand that...to some extent.  My income and livelihood doesn't rely on martial arts, so I can afford to have a more superior attitude about trying to get new students.  However, I don't begrudge those that do.  At some point, it is my goal to open my own dojo.  At which point I'll have to join in on all the buzz word fun.  But for now, I want to poke fun at many of them.  Here's a list of buzz words that bug me (hah! buzz...bug), what I think they are trying to mean, and how they are often abused.  Open up any martial arts magazine, or the Yellow Pages (do we even have those any more?) and you'll see adds splattered with these words.

"Realistic"

    This adjective is often used to describe martial arts in advertising.  I'm guessing, in order to distinguish them from "unrealistic" martial arts?  If its a realistic martial art, then I'm guessing they train you how to run away from 3 on 1 situations, or when both the guys attacking you have weapons.  Because from what research I've done, that's how realistic attacks happen.  It isn't going to be a civil one-on-one at the bar that we see in movies.  Its going to be a person, or often people, taking whatever advantage they think they can get.  They're not looking for competition, they're looking for a resource, or social standing.  (See anything by Wilder and Kane for the difference between social and asocial violence).  They should teach awareness, avoidance, Rory Miller's Monkey Dance, and the effects of adrenaline.  They should teach eye gouges in close combat, they should teach about the medical effects of having your intestines go septic from a knife wound after getting stabbed.  They should have a lawyer talk to you about the realities and costs of self-defense, and how to defend yourself legally.  That's realistic self-defense.
        What I think their point in calling an art realistic is that it is not a sport martial art.  If they are saying that they train you to not think in terms of rules, then maybe realistic has a place.  One of my favorite quotes is by, of all people, Mike Tyson "Everyone has a plan till they get punched in the mouth."  Most people that I've talked to who have had "real" encounters have said there isn't time to apply many techniques, and that quick and simple works the best.  Realistic could mean that: They have a limited number, highest chance of success, list of techniques that they train and practice with.  Then I guess realistic would apply.

"Effective"

    If you look at a martial art from a hoplogical position, every martial art is effective in a certain context.  They example I read was from knife techniques.  Filipino knife martial arts are great, and very different from Japanese tanto (knife) techniques.  As a generalization, the Filipino focus more of fast movements and quick attacks, where as the Japanese practice precision and reinforced power.  In the barrios of Manila, the Japanese tanto attacks would probably get you killed in a conflict situation.  However, if you took the Filipino art and put it against an armored samurai, they would suffer the same fate.  Would Filipino techniques and methodology work if you were in a Wisconsin winter where everyone has 3-5 layers of clothing on?  Just know what your context is for your martial arts effectiveness, and practice within the knowledge of those parameters, and they are all effective.
    When an advertisement says effective, I believe they are again comparing it to sport martial arts, or they are preying on our need to distinguish truth from lies.  Most of us traditional martial artists take it on faith that our techniques will work in realistic circumstances because we don't train them in realistic circumstances.  We can see how they would work, but never IF they would work.  That's a pretty big flaw in most training sessions.

"Traditional/Modern"

    I put these two together, because they seem to argue directly against each other, and can be dealt with using the same logic.  From what I can understand, Traditional is supposed to mean that there is a lineage, and that the art is taught as it was for the last several hundred years.  It is usually steeped in the cultural aspect of the martial arts as well.  Modern means, they have gotten rid of all the cultural trappings of the martial art, and have cut away all that "useless" stuff.  They are most likely a hodgepodge martial arts system which takes "the best techniques of judo, karate, and kali, and blends them together" or something of that sort.  Sound familiar?  Both advertising motivations are great if that's what you're looking for.  Some people want a cultural aspect.  They want to use the martial arts as a doorway into the mysterious orient.  Some people don't care about the cultural part, and just want the highlights.  The modern tends to have the same motivational factor as "Effective."  Just because it blends different styles together doesn't mean it is in any way superior to the original system.  On the same note, just because it has been passed down for over 5 generations doesn't mean it is any more realistic or authentic.  Everyone who does a martial art changes the art for themselves.  Aikido is less than a century old, with many of the original students of O-Sensei still alive, and yet there are so many fractions that it is impossible to keep track of them.  Why?  Did the students break from tradition to form a modern version of aikido?  No, they just taught what they saw aikido is/was.

"Warrior"

    Perhaps no word has been co-opted more than the term warrior.  There are two ways to look at this term.  One is in the strictest definition of someone who has gone to war for the purpose of eliminating another institution's soldiers and possibly civilians.  It is a a very grey area of the human psyche.  My father was in Vietnam, and I know people who have been in our modern middle eastern conflicts (Iraq and Afghanistan).  They are warriors in that definition.  Someone who trains hard in martial arts back here in the states is not.
    I think the reason warrior is used in martial arts marketing so much is because of the romantic view of warriors.  Soldiers returning from the war, the conquering heroes, and such.  We even, as a society, respect the side effect traits of being a warrior, the discipline, the assertiveness, et. al.  Its just the actual traits of warriorship we don't like.
    In a broader sense, just as Japanese arts have a -jutsu and a -do version of martial arts for the purposes of developing warrior characteristics, we want the side effect traits of being a warrior, or the benefits of going through warrior training.  We want to have a "warrior mindset."  I understand what that is supposed to mean, but everyone I've talked to who's been in war situation doesn't want to be in a war mindset.  We hear the stories of people who are able to overcome unimaginable obstacles in times of war, and we want some of that.  And I do think we should encourage that ideal today, but there should be a different term than warrior, and I don't know what that should be.

    In conclusion, I understand their use in advertisement.  If you were a newbie looking for martial arts schools, how would you respond to an honest assessment of the arts?  "Are you looking for hard work, years of frustration, and little chance of financial reward?  Come sign up for aikido!"  I understand the use of these buzz words, but I think they get overused, and as such loose their meaning.  My wife in an English teacher and she keeps preaching to me about word economy.  If you describe this sandwich as being awesome, what words do you use to describe the birth of your first child?  I think that's what's happening in our martial arts advertising world.  So maybe we, as martial artists should practice some humility and economy when describing our beloved arts.

Episode XVII-Raiders of the Lost Podcast Shownotes

Episode XVII-Raiders of the Lost Podcast

Download the Podcast HERE

Recorded: Thursday October 9th, 2014

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Intro:  Theme from "Enter the Dragon" by Lalo Schifri

Introduction:
  Indiana Jones

  Moses Powell Memorial Seminar
  Piranha Gear T-Shirt Contest Winner: Lando Moes

  Jackie Chan
  Drunken Master
  

Interlude Music: Barracuda by Heart

Interview with: Andrea Harkins of www.themartialartswoman.com

  Warrior Radio
  Tang Soo Do
  Jujutsu
  Aikido
  Ronda Rousey
  Woman's Self-Defense vs. Self-Defense
  Sensei Ando (www.senseiando.com)

Interlude Music: Bad Reputation by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

This Week in Martial Arts: October 9th, 1932

  "Judo" Gene Lebell

    Roast of Gene LeBell by Chuck Norris and Bob Wahl
  Elvis (Presely)
  The Green Hornet
    Talks about Bruce Lee
  Rush Hour
    Jackie Chan
    Chris Tucker

Contact Information
Twitter Account: @martialthoughts
Email: martialthoughts@gmail.com
Atemicast Youtube Channel
www.thinkingmartial.blogspot.com

Outro Music: Voodoo Chile-Jimi Hendrix / Gayageum ver. by Luna