Need help > Challenge me with Martial Arts Myths

You had me clapping my hands at that quote.

Isn't it amazing how people so often are "begullibled" (new word for your vocabulary ) by all sorts of supernatural feats?
And then someone with their eyes open, and an uncluttered mind comes along and overthrows the whole theory with just one very pointed and totally logical remark.
Even simple people like me can comprehend that.

Well, Matt, many questions have been posed on this thread so I shan't duplicate them. But I look forward to any of your research results with extreme interest
You have certainly set yourself a daunting task. But one thing is absolutely assured - "You will NEVER experience boredom"

Oh ........ earlier in the thread someone alluded to no MA's in the Western cultures? .............. Well I would suggest that any system of making war is a martial art. So every and any trained soldier is a martial artist.

 

my sigung wong shun leung said the only people he knew with chi were traffic cops, they can hold up a line of cars with one finger and as for dim mak after despaching one opponent in a beimo as he walked away the guy said from the floor "hey little guy ive hit you with dim mak you need medical help" he laughed telling this story 20 years later saying i guess he missed!

 

Hey matt, just wondering how the research and writing for your artilcle was going? Looking forward to reading what you find.

 

I have a question.

Can you actually chi blast?

 

Only after eating a lot of chili.

 

Id like to know the answer to this aswell. I was always told the belts were to signify purity. e.g. White Belt - Pure, Less Dangerours | Black Belt - Trained, Dangerous

 

Did Bruce Lee ever compete in a tournament?

Which Tae Kwon Do organization is officially sanctioned by the Olympic Committee for Tae Kwon Do?

What is the highest belt in Capoeira?

What was the first martial art to be included as a demonstration sport at the Olympic games?

Who was the first person to teach Uechi-Ryu Karate in the US?

You can also challenge yourself by searching Martial Arts Trivia or Martial Art Quizzes or Facts on yahoo or whatever to gain a little more knowledge, not really about myths but more on history and factoids, I would think.

Keep it up with the searching Matt *thumbs up*

 

hmmm, Matt,

A side of me is thinking "why on earth explore myths, or martial arts' urban legends (if you will) they are often complete fiction. Another side says "the myths are a huge part of the culture, the history that is Martial arts, so why try to prove or disprove them either way.
BUT...on this occasion, i say lets have some fun with it!

how about the myth that a karate masters Kiai could knock a bird out of a tree killing it" (that one always provoked a smile bordering on a chuckle)

P.S i'm wondering why nobodys mention Bodiharma (durhama) god how do u spell it again??) and his 9 years of continuous meditation in the cave over shaolin in honan.

N-JOY! paradoks

 

Ok Matt, try this one. Supposedly, Hwang Kee created Tang Soo Do by blending his knowledge of ancient Soo Bahk with Tae Kyun and some kind of Kung Fu he learned while working in China. Yet the basic TSD Hyungs are essentially the Pinan Katas of Okinawan Karate. I made several attempts to explain the history within the historical context of the time frame, but I could be wrong as several people were quick to point out. After reading several (ahem) interesting explainations that reflected a combination of blind devotion and outright ignorance in the TSD section of MAP, I thought I'd bring this conundrum to you. So where did Hwang Kee get the basis for TSD?

 

Hmmm... Similarly, Okinaowin Go jo ryu karate appears closely modeled after Shaolin "Kung Fu" styles. My 13 yr old son takes this style (and Aikido and western wrestling, all in different schools). I was surprised how closely many of the Karate katas resembled what i had learned, in "Kung Fu" presented as Northern Shaolin forms.

 

Oh and my favorite myth.

From my last school, so, a student begged to be trained by the master, no, no,no for a long time, then finally yes, everyone in the village was thrilled. Finally he could go learn martial arts from a real master. So he goes and the master has him fill up buckets of water and pour them into a big cauldron, then make splashing motions, hitting the water, palms down for hours every day, rain or shine, heat or cold. Nothing else.

After a year, the student gets frusterated and begs the teacher to let him go home to visit his family. Finally the student leaves and goes home to his village.

All the villagers are so happy to see the student, they hold a feast in his honor. Everyone keeps asking him what kind of techniques he learned, and the student doesn't want to talk about it. They keep pestering him and he tries to ignore them. They keep badgering him, while he's at the feast, seated at a huge table eating. They ask him again, what did you learn? Finally he gets angry and says, "NOTHING!" and he slams his palm down on the table and breaks it.

Surprised he looks at his hand, and looks at the broken table, and goes back to his teacher and begs to be taught some more.

This was presented as a true story in my Wing Chun school.

 

On the "too deadly to sparr" thing: martial arts like aikido, Taijiquan and Baguazhang dont sparr, not because of the "too deadly" thing but because they dont attack. You cant enter a persons movement - entering being a central principle to these arts - until they have begun to move. Once the person has initiated movement you can enter/attack (in the art I pratice the "enter" usually involves a palm strike to the throat). Put another way, you cant use the persons energy against them if they havent done anything.

So, you can train very hard without sparring. You can have someone put gloves on and try and knock our block off, and not "sparr." Sparring is not the ultimate reality training. In fact, I think in a lot of cases sparring gives people a really bad sense of timing. "Sparrers" expect you to defend and reattack, and are completely caught off guard when their attack is disrupted.

 

sounds like someone has no sparring experience

 

I've been slowly working on this project. Unfortunately (or actually fortunately) work has gotten in the way. So my basic schedule for things is

1. Get my teaching packets and Syllabi together over the next two weeks
2. Finish the Kung Fu FAQ draft
3. Tackle the first article.

In the meantime:

There is no question that Shotokan had a huge affect on the early levels requirements of TSD. The question asked is whether HK learned it in his youth, or added it to TSD to bring it more in line with the other Kwans. I'll do some research on that.

- Matt

 

There's quite a few debunkings available on the newly reinstated 24fightingchickens website - including the one about grubby belts.

 

Hi Skrom,
Before doing what I do now I did Taekwondo and a system of Kung-Fu, so have heaps of sparring experience, did competitions and all that.

I then moved to Aikido, no sparring ... in the sense that you dont attack ... you have an attacker and defender. I "played" with one of the black belts out of class, and he kicked my ****, in a sense. Everything I threw at him got turned against me. If you are a Taekwondo, Karate or Kung-fu practitioner, I highly recommend finding a good aikido club and joining in. Do this so you know what it means to "not sparr."

The total lack of striking in Aikido worried me a bit. I then came upon a Taijiquan and Baguazhang school that had all the basic principles of Aikido ... blending, entering, though was all striking rather than grappling [a little grappling]. One of the other students was also from another Aikido school. I have been with this school for the past 14yrs.

"Not sparring" does not mean that you dont practicing fighting. It just means that you dont attack the person while they are in a defensive posture. You wait for them to begin their attack and interrupt their movement ... making use of there action.

 

Oh ... the kung-fu is did was mantis kung-fu ... and the idea there was to force the other person into a defensive posture by continually attacking ... not "sparring" either. Still, the aikido person would enter ... would not go into a defensive posture. Only sparred in TKD ... did a small amount of boxing.

excuse the typo on last post ... should be "their" not "there"

 

I have a question concerning the "Too deadly to spar with" myth. Where did this originate from? This could be a clue to figuring out the truth about this.

 

In my old home town, a group of the local martial arts clubs banded together to present a demonstration at the local leisure centre.

There was kumite, katas/forms etc

Practically every club in the area joined in no matter what their affiliation.
There was Ju Jitsu, Judo, Aikodo, Kendo, various Karate styles etc
all except one kung fu club, who refused to allow any of their members to attend as what they taught was "too deadly to spar" as they broke bones every time they had tried to spar with other clubs.

shame, it was a fantastic day with no egos on display at all

Highlight was the Judo and Ju Jitsu intstructors having a fight.

 

I don't think there will ever be a satisfactory answer to this question. I do believe that, in Japan, the mainstreaming of Karate as physical fitness tool in the Japanese School system had something to do with it. Likewise the Judo/JuJitsu wars may have also had a factor.

In China the post Qing attemps to control the Martial Community (yes, this began before the Communists) also might have had an effect.

Someday I have time to do the research on this one. (Actually on all of these... damn academic schedule).

- Matt