When we learn about the Martial Arts it should be remembered that what we are studying are techniques that were designed by and have their origins in the military of the day, to be used in combat which was predominately conducted at close quarters. The fact that what ever style you happen to be studying has been modified or even completely changed to include unarmed combat as well as civilian self defence, should not detract in any way from their effectiveness. If it does then it's a step backwards and you should seriously question wether you should commit years of training to it. It must be pointed out that close quarters combat both armed and unarmed was and is taught by the military of the time in a much shorter time frame than this. The practice how ever is also continuous as it must be for it to remain as a reflex and committed to muscle memory. So what we should be doing in effect, should be simple, effective and be able to be used from day one not just after years of training. After all what we are studying is not rocket science, but is the science of hand to hand combat, everything else is just an exercise to increase our combat effectiveness.
Now all that was a pretty long preamble to what I'm going to discuss in this article but I feel that too many have lost the plot and forgotten the point to all our training, and that is to be effective fighters pure and simple. Not in a ring, but on our battleground which is present day suburbia. This is Bujutsu (martial art), the reality of our training. All the other side effects like fitness, health, character building and even spiritual development for some is Budo (martial way). Bushido (warrior way) was more than just a set of rules that the Samurai adhered to, it was a way of life and governed every aspect of his existence from what he wore to who he could marry and even in some instances to how he died. His life was about service to whatever ruling family he was part of and his loyalty was absolute. There was much emphasis on death and I think it was Musashi (a famous Samurai), who said if it came to a choice between life and death, – choose death. They knew that the destiny of a soldier was death and accepted this as part of their lives. The modern application of Bushido still governs a lot of your life but with out the preoccupation with death but rather with living to and standing up for your principles and is a personal thing rather than a general code of conduct.
Kempo Karate (fist way empty hand), has its roots back in prehistory and as an exercise we can trace most Eastern martial arts including Kempo, back through the Middle East to Europe and the Mediterranean. If we really want we could probably go right back to the dawn of time when man first came on the scene and started to fight amongst their own tribal groups as well as competing tribes. But the history of the development of warfare is beyond the scope of this article and is better left to more informed historians, suffice it to say that any martial art (military practice) has been modified through countless conflicts down through the ages to stay effective for the very practical reason of survival. This leads us to the practice of martial arts today here in New Zealand and as an instructor I've heard many and varied explanations from my friends and students as to why they train. All of which are relevant to them and whatever their reasons are for starting they seldom remain the reasons for continuing in their training. My reasons for instructing have remained the same how ever and one of those reasons is to take those who are interested and who I deem of suitable character, and train them to be able to defend themselves in today's environment in an effective manner. So our emphasis is on the practical application of the best strategies, tactics and techniques that I can find and modify to better suit us. We still use sparring in the Dojo as a dynamic demonstration of technique and to toughen people up. I think of it as an exercise rather than a competition and for safety purposes it is done to rules. The ladies in our club don't have to cut their nails. Why would I take away one of their better weapons? We train in shoes as often as in bare feet, as that is what we would probably be wearing on the street and is another effective weapon you have on you. This is all stuff that is relevant to our times. But actual confrontations still remain predominately a hand to hand close quarter affair and have changed little down the ages. We are indeed suffering under similar constraints to the Okinawans when they were subjugated by the Japanese in that we aren't allowed to carry weaponry around with us even for self defence and must be creative with what we have legitimate reason to carry. This is why though the majority of our training is empty hand utilising the weapons we were born with (hands, feet, etc), against the variety of scenarios that we may be forced to deal with on the street or even in our own homes. This then is the Kempo I teach today with its primary function to turn my students into fighters capable of defending themselves in the fastest and most effective manner possible, in short to be deadly. I do this by staying as current and as up to date with our times as the past masters did in their times. After all they did not just look to their past but learnt from it and moved on.
I look in disbelief at the displays of overly complicated and often flowery techniques that are being foisted on an unknowing public and being called a martial art, but which in fact have degenerated to just a display art. They may look good visually but have little if any practical application for self-defence. An example of this for those who saw it was Sky's screening of Extreme Martial Arts where initially I was quite impressed with their athleticism but absolutely appalled at the free fighting at the end. I won't elaborate further other than to say the old Chinese expression of 'embroidery kicks and flowery fists' springs to mind and that I should have been warned when one of the instructors said a form wasn't 'showy' enough. Real martial arts aren't about being showy and a lot of the techniques can appear quite simple and mundane but are quick and deadly when applied. The fact that training the body is the first step in your search for self improvement should not lessen its purpose of being effective in hand to hand combat, which for us civilians means in self defence.
Kempo – 'The way of the Fist'.
Osu.
Bryan Goldthorpe.
Fudoshin Ryu Bujutsu Inc.
