Martial Arts Community Thread

Do you know your martial arts lineage? Explain in a post.

Yep	66.7%	[ 12 ]
Nup	22.2%	[ 4 ]
line-what?	11.1%	[ 2 ]
Total Votes:			[ 18 ]

[Shaggy Rogers_mystery inc]

Wish we would have that here in MN.

[goingd]

Hecks, I'm surprised California doesn't have more like that. However, there has been a bit of a huge martial arts movement here in the last five years or so, but it really started more than ten years ago. There used to be very few schools in southern California. But the few masters that were here trained a lot of people up to the instructor level, and bit by bit a lot of them realized what a money maker the martial arts industry can be. It's also unfortunately created a lot of bullshido-lisciousness.

[Leaf Condition]

well we got all kinds of martial arts here in hawaii
brazilian ji jitsu,kenpo,karate,judo,kendo,aikido,etc

thats the only thing we island folks can do beside surfing and other water sports

[goingd]

I envy that. As many people as there are in so cal learning martial arts these days, a lot of them just don't seem to be in it for the right reasons. Too many kids see Kung Fu Panda or whatever (not that it was a bad movie, lol) and think that they're gonna look all cool like that without really working hard at it. I've only seen a few adults train for the wrong reasons, and usually it's just political in that case.

I know Kenpo has a huge history in Hawaii.
History time! Modern Kenpo!
In the early 1900's a boy named James Mitose was born in Hawaii as a 1st generation Japanese. Early on his parents sent him to live with family in Japan to be educated. While going to school he starting learning traditional Japanese Kempo. Kempo was derived from a very old style of Kung Fu called Chuan Fa. Chuan Fa is the base for a lot of the concepts of Kenpo/Kempo. While in Japan James Mitose also studied other arts like Jujutsu. When he became an adult he moved back to Hawaii with his parents. He began teaching his own system of Kenpo. One of his students was a man named William Chow. William trained with James and obtained his 1st degree black belt with him. However, it should be noted that he was not certified as an instructor under James Mitose. Nonetheless, William started his own martial arts program through a local YMCA. He formed his own system, which was very identical the the system taught by Mitose, but excluding any forms. Since Mitose would not recognize him as an instructor, he gave himelf the title of Proffessor. Also not that although he would not be seen as an instructor by his orignial teacher, William Chow is said to have had very formidalbe skill and painfull technique in the martial arts. William taught two very notable students - Edward Parker and Nick Cerio (sp?). Ed Parker recieved his first degree black belt with Chow, and moved to the continental United States. There he opened his first school under his own system called Chinese Kenpo, for the sake of noting Kenpos oldest roots (Kenpo also takes stylistic roots in Japanese arts as well since James Mitose incorporated aspects of the arts he learned while living in Japan). Ed Parker added a lot of his own concepts to his system, and chaned a few, but his Kenpo is of the same ideals as his predasesors (sp...). A lot of what Ed Parker did is make a lot of the self defense techniques more extensive. His system changed later to be called Ed Parker Kenpo, and changed again to be called it's current title of American Kenpo. Most of the modern day Kenpo systems support themselves around the ideals Ed Parker brought to the system.

Now, I did write this, but I have to say a few things about it. To me, a martial art is a martial art. Kenpo is just Kenpo, just like Jujutsu is just Jujutsu. The curriculum may be different and there may be some different ideas, but it all comes back to the same concept. To me, like to most people, Ed Parker was a very intellegent man in the martial arts (or martial science as he would call it). However, I do not think Ed Parker was as original as most of us would like to think. We should recognize that there is no such thing as original thought. So many people today talk about how Bruce Lee and Ed Parker were such revolutionaries because they revolved their teachings around the idea of making your martial art apply to you. Everyone is different, so different things work better for them. But for centuries Kung Fuists have been saying that when you learn Kung Fu, you make it your own. It is the same concept, explained differently. I think we have to be careful as to how we interpret the words of our teachers. Ed Parker was teaching what he knew to be true; that doesn't mean he came up with it.

[Leaf Condition]

my friend does kenpo

hes really good. i think he got second in this tournament. he would have gotten first place but my friend by mistake pointed the guy in his eye.

[goingd]

I did Kenpo for about a year. I liked it, but if I had to choose (which I kinda did) I would stay with Taekwondo. Kenpo is very nice though because it is a very natural style. To me, it doesn't really teach you anything new, it just reminds your instincts what they forgot about combat.

[BrianMyyster]

Felixaran

I do Tae-Kwon-Do, Nin-jutsu, Karate, and Ju-jutsu.

u ASAIN? rofl

[goingd]

BrianMyyster

Felixaran

I do Tae-Kwon-Do, Nin-jutsu, Karate, and Ju-jutsu.

u ASAIN? rofl

What the hell? Don't be stupid.

[Shaggy Rogers_mystery inc]

goingd

BrianMyyster

Felixaran

I do Tae-Kwon-Do, Nin-jutsu, Karate, and Ju-jutsu.

u ASAIN? rofl

What the hell? Don't be stupid.

No kidding.

[Leaf Condition]

do you guys have any weight classes in your martial arts?

[goingd]

Competition Taekwondo has weight and age classes. I don't know all the specifics of them though (real good for a certified referee huh? xd ).

[Leaf Condition]

well in high school judo over here theres weight classes but no level classes.

so you could be a white belt going up against and black belt for the first time which sucks

you guys train in BJJ?

[goingd]

All I've done for BJJ is attended a seminar for it and I learned a few basics of it. I understand that people say BJJ is supposed to be more innovative than traditional Jujutsu, but I don't really understand why...

[Leaf Condition]

i always wanted to BJJ

[goingd]

It is a really good style. But just like anything else it has it's disadvantages.

Btw, anyone with a good view or opinion or awesome bit of knowledge on martial arts, feel more than epicly free to make a post about it. I'llza comment! ^_^