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About Creating a style...
By TigerClaw - 12-14-2008 03:11 PM
Originally Posted at: Deluxe Forums
====================
To all,
Just a word about Martial arts styles, and their origins and creating a style.
Lets put it this way. There are traditional styles that have been passed down, from men who just made up moves that worked for them in combat, and from what they developed as they practiced. Then they became somewhat known and taught their styles. This is the same principle from all martial arts training, even in Shaolin way back. No man just picked out of the air some sacred style that was written in the stars etc.
So again, lets say a man is living in a jungle and he watches the monkey's jump around and fight and defend their food and area etc. So he developes a fighting style by watching them do so. Then he is attacked by some other people in the forest and his monkey style is what saves him. He develops it further every time he has an encounter with the attackers and eventually he perfects it against all attackers. This man is now a master of his own monkey style. Now he meets a few young men who see him fight against some attackers in the jungle and they want him to teach them, so he does and then it grows and grows etc. Until it is a famous style and handed down by tradition.
This can be the same path for any person on the earth that wants to practice a fighting defense and attack. He can learn from any source and from nature or his own study. he can then truly be called a martial artist . But the difference from him to lets say a man who has studied a style that has been handed down from many centuries, is that the traditional style has gone through many changes and developments to make it even more effective. The new style has to be tested and proved. It may even work better than the traditional one, depending on the man and his genius with techniques. But only the man who uses it for his own combat will know that. Until it has been tried by many.
So if a man says he teaches a form of Kempo, or a kung fu style etc. And he calls it Body mechanics kung fu, or arm locking Kung Fu etc etc. It doesn't really matter. If he has the elements of defense from different techniques he has learned, or that he has developed himself, and has perfected the style to some degree, and has applied them in combat against others then it is viable for combat. Any man can develope any fighting style he wants for his own defense and it is still a fighting technique. How well it works or not, is dependant on many things. But there are some traditional Kung Fu styles that may work better than others and may work better for different people than others.
We cannot say such men would be frauds, or that they know nothing about martial arts. The fraud would be the man who does not know anything about lets say the Hung Style and says he does know. But as far as a man developing his own style, we can only say that they have not been tried over many years, and so their style may have weakness that they are not familiar with. But could not the same thing be said for any style, traditional or otherwise.
I have learned very traditional styles, such as Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, White Crane Seven Star Praying Mantis, etc etc. But I have also developed my own fighting style from a mixture of all the things I know. I even developed a Praying Mantis fighting style (other than the seven Star mantis) from many sources and from actually watching the Praying Mantis myself. The only weakness in that style to others would be the years of testing and trial in combat. I have tried it and tested it, I overcame most of my Kung Fu classmates with it and eventually overcame one of my instructors with it. So it has some testing and effectivenss.. But most people would be weary if they do not see the years of tradition. So I stick mostly with traditional forms etc. But for my own fighting I would trust in what I have developed also in combat as well as the traditional fighting I have learned.
I think that any master will eventually develope his own form of fighting, even if he is trained within a tradition. This form will have many of the elements of the tradition he learned, but you will always find innovations and new things. this is what all masters should do and the direction they should go. they must use the forms as an alphabet of sorts and then lean to make words and stories so to speak.
But we can never be trapped within a form alone, or a fighting system. To do so would limit us and not allow others with different body types to develope more from the style, or perhaps even another totally different style.
Here is a good exercise for any martial artist. Take a form you know, a traditional one and make another form up using just the moves from that form. Then try to make new moves that you develope for it.
Then try to make up your own short form for yourself, using techniques that you use mostly in sparring and that you trust in. tape the form , watch it and see what comes out. I think you would be surprised at how this helps you develope your own style.
Ok, later,
Read More...
------------------------------------
Defend.net Post Bot - CMA Feed
By TigerClaw - 12-14-2008 03:11 PM
Originally Posted at: Deluxe Forums
====================
To all,
Just a word about Martial arts styles, and their origins and creating a style.
Lets put it this way. There are traditional styles that have been passed down, from men who just made up moves that worked for them in combat, and from what they developed as they practiced. Then they became somewhat known and taught their styles. This is the same principle from all martial arts training, even in Shaolin way back. No man just picked out of the air some sacred style that was written in the stars etc.
So again, lets say a man is living in a jungle and he watches the monkey's jump around and fight and defend their food and area etc. So he developes a fighting style by watching them do so. Then he is attacked by some other people in the forest and his monkey style is what saves him. He develops it further every time he has an encounter with the attackers and eventually he perfects it against all attackers. This man is now a master of his own monkey style. Now he meets a few young men who see him fight against some attackers in the jungle and they want him to teach them, so he does and then it grows and grows etc. Until it is a famous style and handed down by tradition.
This can be the same path for any person on the earth that wants to practice a fighting defense and attack. He can learn from any source and from nature or his own study. he can then truly be called a martial artist . But the difference from him to lets say a man who has studied a style that has been handed down from many centuries, is that the traditional style has gone through many changes and developments to make it even more effective. The new style has to be tested and proved. It may even work better than the traditional one, depending on the man and his genius with techniques. But only the man who uses it for his own combat will know that. Until it has been tried by many.
So if a man says he teaches a form of Kempo, or a kung fu style etc. And he calls it Body mechanics kung fu, or arm locking Kung Fu etc etc. It doesn't really matter. If he has the elements of defense from different techniques he has learned, or that he has developed himself, and has perfected the style to some degree, and has applied them in combat against others then it is viable for combat. Any man can develope any fighting style he wants for his own defense and it is still a fighting technique. How well it works or not, is dependant on many things. But there are some traditional Kung Fu styles that may work better than others and may work better for different people than others.
We cannot say such men would be frauds, or that they know nothing about martial arts. The fraud would be the man who does not know anything about lets say the Hung Style and says he does know. But as far as a man developing his own style, we can only say that they have not been tried over many years, and so their style may have weakness that they are not familiar with. But could not the same thing be said for any style, traditional or otherwise.
I have learned very traditional styles, such as Hung Gar, Northern Shaolin, White Crane Seven Star Praying Mantis, etc etc. But I have also developed my own fighting style from a mixture of all the things I know. I even developed a Praying Mantis fighting style (other than the seven Star mantis) from many sources and from actually watching the Praying Mantis myself. The only weakness in that style to others would be the years of testing and trial in combat. I have tried it and tested it, I overcame most of my Kung Fu classmates with it and eventually overcame one of my instructors with it. So it has some testing and effectivenss.. But most people would be weary if they do not see the years of tradition. So I stick mostly with traditional forms etc. But for my own fighting I would trust in what I have developed also in combat as well as the traditional fighting I have learned.
I think that any master will eventually develope his own form of fighting, even if he is trained within a tradition. This form will have many of the elements of the tradition he learned, but you will always find innovations and new things. this is what all masters should do and the direction they should go. they must use the forms as an alphabet of sorts and then lean to make words and stories so to speak.
But we can never be trapped within a form alone, or a fighting system. To do so would limit us and not allow others with different body types to develope more from the style, or perhaps even another totally different style.
Here is a good exercise for any martial artist. Take a form you know, a traditional one and make another form up using just the moves from that form. Then try to make new moves that you develope for it.
Then try to make up your own short form for yourself, using techniques that you use mostly in sparring and that you trust in. tape the form , watch it and see what comes out. I think you would be surprised at how this helps you develope your own style.
Ok, later,
Read More...
------------------------------------
Defend.net Post Bot - CMA Feed
