liquidfear on 25/9/2005 at 02:56

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I have been trying for the longest time to find an applicable martial art that agrees with me. I had one family friend offer to teach me Wing Chun Kung Fu, for free. I just had to show up for the lessons. Considering that he lives 45 minutes away, and I didn't have a car at the time (I was 13 or 14), and my parents couldn't drive me in each lesson, I didn't take the offer. Perhaps it still stands, perhaps not.

I wish to become proficient at using a 6 foot staff, a katana, and an unarmed combat that is applicable.

Basically, I'm looking for people who have tried martial arts, or know what they are talking about, and can shed some light on a good one. I find that I am attracted to oriental martial arts, but I'm open to any idea's.

ignatios on 25/9/2005 at 03:30

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The most important thing is to try them yourself and choose one that suits you. About the only other piece of advice I could give is that often it is not the art that matters, but the teacher you find.

Lioness Rampant on 25/9/2005 at 04:26

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Wing Chun can be a decent art to train in. The only catch is that you have to find a sane, reliable, humble teacher. Wing Chun has a lot of politics attached to it.

There are several disputes in the martial arts world over who is teaching the true Wing Chun; most schools can't even agree on how to pronouce it (I've seen Wing Chun, Ving Chun, Wing Tsun, and Ving Tsun so far). This leads to teachers telling their students that "they teach the one and only true _ing __un and it's the full and complete system. Learn from me and you will never be defeated."

People who are taught that mentality usually wind up dead in an alley somewhere. There is no such thing as a flawless system and there is always someone out there who is better than you. Your teacher must be aware of that fact.

You need to find a teacher who will teach you how to spar and grapple. I'm not talking chi-saou sticky hands, which Wing Chun is famous for, I mean actual sparring. Not point sparring, either. That is glorified tag and only teaches you how to win in tournaments. Actual sparring means you and your fellow students regularly pound on each other (with padding, for safety and insurance reason) and actually learn how to apply what you've learned. If you never experience pain, getting hit in the face hard enough to make your eyes water, or getting the breath knocked out of you, what good are you going to be in a fight when that actually happens?

Grappling is a neccessity as well. A lot of fights will end up on the ground, and you need to be able to fight off your feet as well as on. Many schools will scoff and claim that their students are too good to be taken to the ground and thus they don't teach grappling. Bullshit. You will end up on your ass at some point and you will need to know how to fight when you do.

If the school you train at doesn't offer grappling, I suggest looking elsewhere or training at a brazilian-jujitsu/muay thai school. Those two styles are very focused on the ground game rather than the standing game. Don't be afraid to cross-train to fill the gaps in your training.

I train in Northern Black Dragon Kung Fu, a style passed down by the Chau family from China. The few teachers of it live in London, Ontario, so if you're anywhere near here, I can hook you up. It has a grappling portion to it, but it isn't as extensive as BJJ or MT. I myself have a very hard time grappling because of certain medical conditions, so I have a big, self-imposed hole in my training. I can only do the basic manouvers and even they cause me an extreme amount of pain.

I suggest fishing around in your phonebook for various styles and see what your city has to offer. As long as the training is realistic (you actually hit each other) and there is a grappling portion, you're set. Again, beware of people saying "I have the ultimate style! RAR!". They're idiots. Every style has a flaw. That's what cross-training is for.



Almost every Chinese or Japanese art out there will teach you the bo staff. It's a typical weapon that's found in many styles and systems. For the katana, I would suggest kenpo. It's the main system for katana usage. You won't learn katana from any Chinese or Korean arts because the katana is a Japanese weapon. If you learn a Chinese art, you'll most likely learn the straight sword and broadsword. There are also other weapons that you can pick up from both japanese and chinese arts like the spear, kwan-do (spear-like weapon with a foot-long blade on one end and a spike on the other), sais and kana. Some schools won't teach weapons at all.

Remeber, it all depends on the teacher. Make sure you find someone who has his or her feet firmly rooted in the earth and a head at least smaller than a watermelon.

And if you meet a teacher who claims he can knock you out/kill you with his chi/aura/dim mak/pressure points, run. Run very far away, and never look back. There is no such thing as the Five-Step-Exploding-Heart Technique and those who believe there are really are a bunch of nimrods. :p

liquidfear on 25/9/2005 at 22:59

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I think my trainer (his name is Vic, for clarity) fits the bill. He once told me that it is a good idea to conserve power in Wing Chun, to not waste energy. An extreme example he had seen, was a fight in his youth, where one guy attacked his friend (someone very competent in Wing Chun). He swung his fist, Vic's friend ducked, and the guy spun two turns from the force of the punch.
After telling me that, he then told me this: "Keep this in mind, though. My own trainer once told me that he understands a really good streetfighter could take him down, and he has been studying longer than I have."



Good point. I never thought about it like that, but now that you mention it, I see the wisdom in it. Thank you.

Kenpo? I'll look into that one. I knew that I would likely have picked something like ken-jutsu over kendo, because I don't want to learn the sport version of using a katana, I would like to learn the gritty way that it was taught way back when (yes, I still realize that it isn't necessary to learn to use a katana in today's society :p) But I'll look into kenpo as well, and choose carefully.



Sorry, I live about half the country away. Nonetheless, I'm still going to research it. It sounds interesting. :)



Very encouraging. ;)

One more question, can anyone tell me about ninjitsu? I've done more research on it then most martial arts, but some stories from people that have trained in it, or stories that follow the "my friend was in it" type theme, would be welcome.

Keep the opinions and replies coming, regardless the choice of martial art; the more stories I hear, the better a descision I can make.

Lioness Rampant on 26/9/2005 at 00:48

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Yeah, like theBlackman said, ninjitsu is really dodgy. Too many teachers get caught up in the whole 'way of the ninja' mythos and start believeing that they're teaching you to be t3h d34dly sh4d0w w4rr10r. A lot of ninjitsu is fake teachers looking to make a quick buck. It's the whipping boy style over on (http://www.bullshido.net) Bullshido .