Animals & coloured jackets for grades? http://britishfudoshin.wordpress.com/profiles/ Anyone else find this peculiar?
Oh, Scott, you didn't delve far enough.... the animals and colours don't seem to be related specifically to rank, as the same rank held by different people have different colours and animals assigned to them, so I'm feeling that it's more just an individual distinguishing aspect (for whatever reason....) But check out the syllabus pages, they're fantastic! The first video for the Jujitsu (sic) syllabus (Mauve belt, 7th Kyu-Mon... hang on, "Kyu-Mon"? What on earth is that?), I expected some music to start with the dancing he was doing for the Reiho (if I can call it that...), then there's the elaborate wrist twirling after every action/breakfall/roll (and there were some pretty major issues with some of those, it must be said)... wow, really. But what's best is the Kenjutsu syllabus. Read through some of the "kata" they have (ignoring the bad terminology to begin with), they have things such as ending with both partners with their swords crossed, then they "Chiburii"?!? Oh, and every action is a block to the attack, no evasive movements there at all. Just like real swordsmanship, then. I've come across this group in Australia, through one of the big magazines here (the Aussie instructor, Darren Ball, was a contributor for a while, from memory), and always thought that there was something rather odd about the way they did things, but hadn't seen any real video other than some demos designed to look flashy over anything else (while talking about "reality"), so I took them as flashy, rather than accurate... pity, they were actually far better than what's on the UK site....
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0KOfTV1dbc"]YouTube - Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Theme Song‏[/ame]
Actually, I have been speaking with a chap from British Fudoshin (he looked me up after seeing the thread), and he explained the dogi colours as such: "Although our art has a Japanese foundation, you will see from the late head of the BFA (profile on the website) that he travelled all over the world and the Fudoshin system is an amalgamation of different arts. I am not entirely clear on the exact origins of the 'coat-of-arms' tradition but you will remember that I said it is only awarded at shodan level. Up until then we follow the traditional belted system of mon/kyu. I do not see the colours/animals are in any way disrespectful to the authentic traditions of Jujitsu and it is intended purely to reflect the spirit and capability of the recipient. You would be surprised how many people (even non-trained observers) are able to make a direct comparison of the person and livery." Odd, and not very Japanese - but if you take the 'travelled' comment into account, perhaps a little more acceptable. Still, the name is Japanese, the techniques are Japanese, and even the (claimed) sword ryuha they practice is Japanese (Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu). Maybe it is a little marketing thing to set themselves apart from the others? On an aside, I wonder if they would benefit from clarification of their teachers' practice? It wouldn't be difficult to look into how much Katori Bob Lawrence has done in Japan...
Everyone knows that obscure and flowery hand gestures are the secret to being a lethal street fighter.
You were contacted as well, Scott? My Chief Instructor got an email or two regarding my comments about them here... unsigned, I might add. It is believed the hope was that I'd get reprimanded. Uh, no. Oh, and going through everything I can find on these guys (the kenjutsu syllabus, the occasional photo on the Australian site - Steve, you gotta see them, the sneakers with hakama is a great look!), there is no evidence of anything to do with Katori whatsoever. The grips are wrong, the cuts don't suit, the postures aren't correct, and frankly, that's the least of it!
I sort of gave up at 'mauve' belt. I wonder what the testing is to get the rank of "Paisley" belt with a lovely gold trim?
