Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
This is such an important statement I think it merits highlighting. A collection of techniques does not make for a system. I think a whole lot of people do not understand that.
Awesome video of 5th Dan Ju-Jitsu grading
- Thread starter Grasshopper22
- Start date
This is such an important statement I think it merits highlighting. A collection of techniques does not make for a system. I think a whole lot of people do not understand that.
II was mad at myself for watching it all the way through. But going back a second time to see what a purple nurple was made me smile.
What does make a system?
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
a method built upon a set of principles that drive how everything is done. There must be consistency in the method, those principles must be identifiable throughout the curriculum. A collection of techniques could represent a system if they are consistently built upon those principles. But throwing together any group of techniques, especially if they are adopted from many different sources, is no guarantee that it will be a system.
Black Belt Jedi
Blue Belt
I find some of the moves a little bit flashy, so I question if those techniques can really work in a real life confrontation. To me it feels more like Kenpo system instead of ju-jitsu, since jujutsu is strictly grappling with no strikes.
chrispillertkd
Senior Master
How on earth did I miss that? Wrong, wrong, WRONG!
frank raud
Master of Arts
The atemi taught in judo kata comes from classical jiu jutsu, so even a famous system that does not use striking in its competition or sport side has atemi. Kawaishi sensei states in his book My Method of Self Defense that for self defense blow-throw-blow is the way to go. I'll dig up the exact quote later.
Cyriacus
Senior Master
Dunno. But I can 'open' one with My Fist.
lklawson
Grandmaster
There was a lot of "flash" to it. A little "flash" isn't necessarily bad, per se, particularly when you get to 5th Dan when you should have mastered the basics, intermediates, and... well anything not 5th Dan. The problem is it was pretty much all flash. It honestly had the feel of a Demo. I kept expecting to see the camera man pan back so we could see the stage and the mall spectators gathering as they left The Gap.
But worse than that was that it was flash for the sake of flash at the expense of actual technique. For example, the juji there at 30 seconds, shows a rudimentary understanding of the technique. I can tell that from the position of uke's palm. It is horizontal and facing the ceiling. That's not "wrong" per se, but it's missing the tweaks I would expect to see from a 5th Dan. This is an example of some of the tweaks I'm thinking of: Juji article on Judoinfo. Then there is the whole eye-searing "purple nurple" sequence starting at 1:49, culminating with the weakest o soto gari I've ever seen anywhere (did I mention "ever"?). Tori just barely grazed the outside of uke's ankle and uke obligingly takes a fall. It's the sort of thing I would expect to be forgiven of a Brown belt or even a Shodan test if the rest of the test looks good. I mean, heck, no one is perfect and everyone is human, right? But a Godan exam should be perfect. That's why there's a difference between a Godan and a Shodan.
But it was fun to watch. If it were a mall demo I'd stand around and watch it. I wouldn't even pick it apart there in public because that's rude and, after all, it's just a demo. But I might "converse" about it with friends afterwards, somewhere where the demo team and their potential students who they're trying to entice can't hear.
While this one has been hit pretty hard already (pun!), I will caveat that some JJ systems don't seem to teach much in the way of striking even if they're technically in the curriculum.
Peace favor your sword,
Kirk
Chris Parker
Grandmaster
Okay, yeah, it's been said by a number of others before me, but it just wouldn't be right if I didn't join Frank, Kirk, and others in commenting on this....
I know it's not right.
How on earth did I miss that? Wrong, wrong, WRONG!
Yep, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong....
Ah, Kirk, you always have to be sensible, don't you? Yep, very true, some systems are almost devoid of strikes, others are primarily made up of striking, some with a 50-50 mix, and so on. Some have no weapons, others have a large weaponry contingent, some are very wide in their syllabus, others stick to strict parameters and so on....
The point is that you really can't generalize when it comes to Jujutsu systems. Grappling is a dominant aspect, but that doesn't mean that other things aren't there....
frank raud
Master of Arts
From M.Kawaishi's My Method of Self Defense pg 12-13 "The essential principle of this Self-defense may be summed up as follows: 1 Atemi. 2 Parry and counter-attack. 3 Atemi.
The first atemi is a preliminary counter which affords an opening for succesfully applying the counter, e.g. a lock,strangulation or throw. The second atemi permits the defender to finish off his opponent, if necessary."
The first atemi is a preliminary counter which affords an opening for succesfully applying the counter, e.g. a lock,strangulation or throw. The second atemi permits the defender to finish off his opponent, if necessary."
