The Lone Ninja

[Cryozombie]

Here you go: Music, video & other forms of piracy

Im gonna be offline for a couple days, I'll write my points up and post them when I get back. It will be interesting, I've never presented them as an "essay" but rather asked questions, then posed counterpoint to the answers so hopefully I can still get the ideas across. I'm looking forward to hearing responses!

 

[DuskB4Dawn]

To analogise, if you have 5 spanners in one hand, 4 in the other, and are suddenly given a few seconds (if you are lucky) to undo a nut of unkwown dimensions, you will struggle to select the correct spanner in time, and even if you do select the correct spanner you will also struggle to use it whilst keeping hold of the others. But if you have an adjustable spanner you will be able to use it more than adequately for almost any nut. Appreciate the specific spanners for their purity and later on you can train with them as much as you do with your generic adjustable spanner at present, but for now just make sure you are okay with a monkey wrench.

but sometimes an adjustable spanner does'nt work. it may be too loose and strip the bolt or does'nt fit in a tight spot. Im a mechanic by trade and never use adjustable spanners lol. adjustable spanners are for noobs
but I get your point. its good to be well rounded and versetile. but if you have a really tough nut you may need a stronger spanner lol

 

[Steve]

I don't want to sidetrack this thread, While I agree that I wouldn't BUY anything pirtaed (because that does tend to be wrong) but I have argued the Piracy issue on numerous occasions with people who are totally anti-piracy and the best answer to the counterpoints I make is that "Well, um, thats just the way the law is so its illegal" but they cannot argue specifically why it's wrong or how it's theft to my counterpoint. I'd be happy to dialog with you on this if you'd like, out of the thread of course so we don't hijack it.

Okay. I'd be happy to get into a philosophical discussion with you about intellectual property and such. But realize that this would be completely beside the point that it is, at least in the USA, illegal. I don't smoke weed because it's illegal, but heartily endorse any campaign to legalize it.

 

[ElfTengu]

The only issue with that is that I'm not teaching him Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu....

I should just clarify that I feel that what I said applies to any Takamatsuden organisation which teaches some or all of the nine 'named' ryuha,

The breakup of the class at present includes Classical and Modern Unarmed Combat. The Classical is being taken one Ryu at a time, looking at only that Ryu. At the moment, it's Gyokko Ryu, with the others following. The Modern section is more the generic methods turned to fit the situation you find yourself in, but I teach the individual Ryu, not for self defence (as I don't think they should be thought of as being such) but as technically correct as possible. Hopefully after a few years DuskB4Dawn (and the other students) will be able to differentiate between the movements, methods, tactics, expressions, and technical makeup of each of the different Ryuha. Of course, at this point, he only has some experience in Gyokko Ryu, so such distinctions are a little way off for him (he will need the experience in the others first, at a minimum).

Would you go so far as to call the Modern Unarmed Combat (dare I say it 'practical'?) 'Goshinjutsu'?

I really like this approach though, and have for some time planned to do something similar if I can sort out a training group at some point in the not too distant future.

What proportion of a typical class do you spend on each aspect?

At the end (or more pertinently the beginning) of the day, I would feel some obligation to equip students with some basic defensive skills in case they need the in the short term, and then as time goes by these rudimentary skills would improve as they improved their knowledge and ability of the original waza from the ryuha.

 

[ElfTengu]

but sometimes an adjustable spanner does'nt work. it may be too loose and strip the bolt or does'nt fit in a tight spot. Im a mechanic by trade and never use adjustable spanners lol. adjustable spanners are for noobs
but I get your point. its good to be well rounded and versetile. but if you have a really tough nut you may need a stronger spanner lol

But an adjustable spanner has a much better chance than a completely wrong spanner.

And some adjustable spanners are much better than others, we should make sure we have the best quality tool we can.

And the nature of real situations is that yes the bolt or nut can get damaged but we have to do our best with what we've got in the time we are given to find a solution. The sudden real life need to loosen a nut will not offer the luxury of carefully selecting the 'perfect' tool, and this is really my point.

We should all consider ourselves noobs, even if we are decades into our training, but you could say that the better knowledge of specific spanners, the better chance of success with an adjustable one.

 

[Chris Parker]

Hey ElfTengu,

Actually, Goshinjutsu is exactly the term I use (keeps the Japanese "flavour"). Each class is broken into three main sections, Traditional (Taijutsu, taken from the Densho. Since July I've been presenting each of the Ryu completely and without omission, and without influence from the other ones, starting with Gyokko Ryu, for 6 months at a time. Koto Ryu is next, then Togakure Ryu, then Kukishinden Ryu...), Buki (Weaponry, with Sword every three months, Hanbo every three months, and the other months filled in with Instructor's Choice. These can be Traditional [such as Kusari Fundo, Jo, Bo, Kodachi, Kunai etc], or more Modern [knife, baton, pistol defence etc]), and Goshinjutsu (Modern Self Defence - gross motor response, pressure tested and trained with adrenaline, with major topics including knife defence, groups, pre-emptive striking, verbal defusion, ground escape and defence, and topics we refer to as Fight Science, as well as many others). There is also, obviously, warm up and stretching, meditations, Sensory Training, and many other topics that get explored on occasion. Each class then ends with a Question/Answer and Feedback period.

In terms of how long is spent on each, honestly not enough! It's an hour and a half class, so typically between 20 and 30 minutes, depending on how the class is running. We then also have Special Workshops, in which we can take a deeper look at a topic, which realistically is the "other half" of the training.

Oh, and completely agreed on the spanner analogy, by the way.

 

[DuskB4Dawn]

I love the structure of the classes. although time is very short he fits alot into each class. I wish the classes were longer. I guess its up to us students to remember what was taught and practice at home to get the most out of it.

sensei parker. is it correct to say that the modern self defence teach armed as well as unarmed combat? I think you had a workshop on using your inviroment and improvised weapons for self defence when I first started in the telstra building but I didn't attend that one.

I think that whilst the traditional weapons and taijutsu is more a novelty, does'nt this kind of blend with the modern self defence? I mean to say can some of the traditional cross over and influence your movement and strategy in modern self defence?

 

[Supra Vijai]

Just jumping into this now to add that while classes run for an hour and a half, a couple of us seem to have a tendancy to hold Sensei Parker back for an extended history lesson each week.... He always indulges us though so we mustn't be doing too badly

DuskB4Dawn, as a fellow student (one who's been training for a tad longer than you have), trust me there is a LOT to learn. Take every assumption you have about everything you know about Ninjutsu and delete them from your memory. Stick only to concentrating on the topics/ryuha you are studying at present or have covered in the past and familiarise yourself with as much of it as you can. That's the only real way you're going to be able to make educated posts which are accurate and useful in context of the discussion. Also keep in mind that just because Sensei Parker goes through a particular ryuha for 6 months, doesn't mean you know the school. You barely scratch the surface. Every time you revisit the school in future, you will get something new out of it (hopefully!)

 

[Supra Vijai]

I think that whilst the traditional weapons and taijutsu is more a novelty, does'nt this kind of blend with the modern self defence? I mean to say can some of the traditional cross over and influence your movement and strategy in modern self defence?

That "novelty" forms the basis of the entire Goshinjutsu program. You will discover this as you keep training and learn to read the similarities between techniques etc, you will see a lot of our traditional elements in the modern. Basically a case of we are shaped by our history. We experience things, learn from them and adapt them to suit as times change. Our fight science strategy is the ultimate Ninja strategy to put it very simply. You take your opponent out of their area of strength, you find weaknesses and exploit them. You move off the primal line. Your street non postures are modern, non martial arty versions of the traditional kamae. Tanbo techniques translate to a mag light, a rolled up magazine or similar. Jo to a broom handle in emergencies etc

 

[Chris Parker]

Yes, we've taught weaponry as Modern Self Defence, but the classes are more geared up for unarmed... as that is the more likely situation for you (you won't necessarily be carrying a knife, for instance). In fact, modern weaponry is more likely to be a weapons period rather than Goshinjutsu.

In terms of cross-over, the Traditional gives the strategies, tactics, and mechanics of the art. It teaches you how to generate force, how to angle etc. But those concepts have to be adjusted for a modern environment. For a simple example, a traditional grab-and-punch has the opponent stepping forward with the punch, leaving the same hand and foot forward. In a modern context, it is more likely that the punch will come from the rear hand, which leaves the punching foot back. This gives different targets, angling, reach, options, possible attacks, and so on. So to simply transfer the actions from traditional to a modern setting doesn't actually work.

There's obviously more, but that's a good start.

 

[DuskB4Dawn]

That "novelty" forms the basis of the entire Goshinjutsu program. You will discover this as you keep training and learn to read the similarities between techniques etc, you will see a lot of our traditional elements in the modern. Basically a case of we are shaped by our history. We experience things, learn from them and adapt them to suit as times change. Our fight science strategy is the ultimate Ninja strategy to put it very simply. You take your opponent out of their area of strength, you find weaknesses and exploit them. You move off the primal line. Your street non postures are modern, non martial arty versions of the traditional kamae. Tanbo techniques translate to a mag light, a rolled up magazine or similar. Jo to a broom handle in emergencies etc

kudos to you Supra Vijai.
I like this post. it inspires me to learn more about ninjutsu

 

[Supra Vijai]

DuskB4Dawn I pretty much just gave you the same answer that Sensei Parker did, it was just a coincidence that we happened to by typing our replies at the same time. If anything is inspiring you to study Ninjutsu and apply yourself to the art, it should be Sensei and the actual classes themselves not a post by a student on MT... cheers anyway though. Good luck with your training