SwordSoulSteve said:
In teaching oneself, one creates a style that is a perfect match for their strength, their size, their speed, their build,etc. The style you create for yourself is going to be, at its pinnacle, more effectively put to use by you than any style you were taught by another. You will have complete and absolute understanding of it, and thus everything about it will come to you effotlessly, thoughtlessly, and tirelessly.
Maybe in an ideal situation, where everything just happens to fall into place, and the "soke" of this new style is incredibly lucky, perhaps the new style could have its own merits. However, without experienced guidance, how would the "soke" know if things are OK?
There can be mechanical flaws in the techniques of this new "style," and that these flaws can, over the period of years, create some very bad habits, and cause injuries to the practitioner, and I'm not referring to blade-based injuries! These flawed mechanics could have easily been seen and corrected, had an experienced teacher given some instruction. How many untrained people take undisciplined swings, and end up putting undue stress on the ligaments?
The major advantage of being taught is speed. The speed at which one can learn a style as compared to creating one of their own is nearly incomparable.
But what does the new style end up becoming? To put things in perspective, sure, any character with no experience in construction can build a hut out of straw and mud, and have his own "home," but an experienced house builder will need to take months to build his brick and mortar home.
If the inexperienced builder asks the experienced builder to help him, the experienced builder will tell him that he should learn how to build a brick and mortar home instead of relying on straw and mud. Even if the inexperienced builder tells the experienced builder that he doesn't want to build a brick and mortar home, at least the experienced builder can still offer a few pointers that can make the straw and mud hut a bit more... liveable, so that the roof won't come crashing down during that first storm.
Reasonably speaking, one can achieve nearly complete mastery of a given martial art in perhaps ten years.
I disagree with you on this matter. I've been training in martial arts for almost 20 years, and would never consider myself a master in any of the styles I've studied. Proficient? Yes, but I probably have several more decades of training and study before I can consider myself to be even in the vicinity of the same bubble (and a BIG bubble it truly is) as a "master" would be.
As far as the safety issue is concerned, if you're not willing to deal with the possible consequences, don't play with swords.
The dangers can be minimized if proper, safe instruction is given. There's no sense in telling someone not to engage in sword training, when such people can be gradually brought up to the point where they can practice safe handling and training. I would never give an inexperienced person a live sword for training purposes. Even if someone were willing to deal with the consequences right off the bat, they are not ready. This is why training is done with wooden (or even bamboo or ratan) weapons instead of steel.
It's the same thing when I teach people how to shoot firearms. I'm not about to let a newbie handle my S&W 629 without significant training. To let a newbie fire a full power .44 magnum right away would accomplish nothing, and would possibly even drive them away from the world of shooting.
If they haven't had any experience with firearms, and are afraid to handle things, then I'll bring them in gradually, teaching them to handle non-firing replicas in a safe manner. This helps overcome the fear, and also instills the principles of safety and responsibility.
Once they have demonstrated the above, I'll start people on my Ruger 22/45, and let them enjoy some plinking with some light, subsonic .22 LR loads, and when they have demonstrated the ability to shoot, and showing proper mechanics, I'll gently bump them up to some powderpuff .38 Special or 9 mm loads. After they've become comfortable with these loads, then I'll let them fire full power 9 mm loads, and eventually work their way up. If I notice that they start developing bad habits (trigger control, flinching, etc), I'll help them correct their mechanical flaws.
Even though some of these folks could probably have figured out everything on their own, I know that I helped cut down the chances of something bad happening, and they're better off because of it.
Anyways, I've stated my opinions, and hope that this can bring a new perspective to you. One way or the other, I wish you the best of success with your training, and hope that you will take the initiative, and at least seek out some experienced training partners.
Regards,
Ron
wink1: ). Even then one won't really know until they pit themselves against another sword master. Now-a-days it doesn't happen.
