50 shades of foolshido

I'm pretty sure that is actually from the book, so you're probably looking at the 50's at the earliest, but you are right, given how bad most of the info about martial arts were until the information age, it's hardly unforgivable.

 

Oh - the novel - sorry. That would make knowledge of any MA even more rare, I'd think - though I'm probably pushing my luck regarding claiming things here.

 

I suppose, but even still, there is ignorance and there is ignorance, i mean, the character oddjob was explicitly stated to be Korean at least once.

 

Re James Bond - "
In order to gain some measure of authenticity for the team of stuntmen who would double as Ninja in the climactic battle in the volcano, the producers enlisted the help of Japan's only practicing Ninja master, 34-year-old Masaaki Hatsumi who had inherited the tradition from his then retired teacher Toshitsugu Takamatsu. Both Takamatsu and Hatsumi had advised during the production of the first two of the Japanese "Shinobi No Mono" Ninja Assassins series of films produced in Japan between 1962 and 1966, and not only did the film provide an opportunity for Hatsumi to give more credibility to the Ninja characters, but also allowed him a few brief moments of screen time aboard Tiger Tanaka's private train, as he interrupts Bond and Tanakas Sake discussion to announce that the photographs are ready for viewing" "

 

Wait seriously? And no one thought to ask him?

Jesus.

 

I agree, but would say that the most important way to confirm is through your body. Whatever you do, you have to set up your own lab. Don't take anyone's word for it, experiment under pressure. The greatest gift a martial artist can have is a training partner willing to stove their head in.

Once you have that little bit of gold, it becomes much easier to use reason to assess technique. When you hold up fool's gold against it, the difference is obvious.

The thing that pressure gives you is the ability to extricate yourself from a failed plan. As no plan survives contact with the enemy, this becomes the mark of a successful fighter, no matter if for sport, fun or teh deadlies... That and learning how to carry on while being smacked about.

Having said all that, those who've done that, and have teaching skill, can give others a huge head-start even without going to such extremes.

 

The strange thing is, I still have many of those early magazines

Dang, you mean to tell me it isn't. :cry:

Reminds me Austin Powers spoof :"Judo Chop" :bang:

 

Woah there...not sure how I got put in such esteemed company?
Quite honestly I've mellowed over the years and so have also started to mellow towards training and what I think people should be doing.

For example I've recently started back at TKD with the organisation I got my BB with back in the day. A style and organisation I've been very critical of in the past. And I still stand by my criticisms for the most part.
Some of those criticisms would no doubt fall into things we might labal "bad" or mcdojo, etc.
But the club is local, the instructor is great, I just want to be active and do something I'm familiar with and it's got a good kids class that I want my daughter to go to.
So even though, intellectually I can argue the rights and wrongs of whole aspects of TKD training (the 2 step is still laughably bad!) at this time it suits me to train at this club because I can still get something out of it I find valuable.

 

Sadly I have not softened - somehow I have got even more curmudgeonly over the years......

 

brutal. so we've got james bond to blame for the ninja proliferation in western film, magazines, etc. the thing is that's probably one of the worst, if not the actual worst, early jb film.

sweet black uni's though.

 

I'd say that's valuable experience that benefits many posters and readers of MAP

A bit of perspective can do wonders!

 

i don't think there's anything wrong with being honest in training @davidharrison. i think most of us would agree, and it looks like pasmith is quite honest with himself and his training.

i think what i have problems with is when people start saying things like this "art" from 16th century japan is going to teach you how to fight, then i have to call shenanigans.

i used to love pretending i was a samurai during aikido bokken practice. even better when i could wear my hakama--one of the organizations i was with allowed evern 6th kyu to wear them. i was under no hallucination as to what i was practicing though.

want to pretend you're a ninja creeping through the woods so you can assassinate someone with a shuriken? or with those weird claw climbing thing-y's. great, have fun. i might even join you. but when it gets out of the realm of transmission of some techniques that have been around for centuries to "this is a street lethal art", then i have a problem.

 

Yup.

Or if you think you're actually as skilled as these dudes who used those skills for real to kill people back in the day.

Most of us live in a pretty soft culture, and to think that hasn't made us anything other than soft is plain daft.

At the end of the day, fun and fitness are the biggest benefits of MA. Most people I know have used their training to protect themselves or others to some degree, but that's still a tiny fraction in terms of time spent.

 

That's badass. Don't sell yourself short - that means you can tap-out the majority of people on the planet.

Also, you totally pwned the Batman vs. Superman thread

 

Before the matrix...

 

I'll do a training log update. Been meaning to for a while anyway.

 

Ninja? Is that what it was? I thought maybe the neighbour's gimp managed to wander off again.

Have to wonder if there is a segment of Japan's population with red - dyed hair who dress themselves in tartan fashions and wield Claymores... :thinking:

 

Although "wrong is wrong" (charlatan and the like), the main problem I see with anyone learning anything (subject) is not a matter of justifiable for one person and not for another person.

In other words, one person may desire something for a different reason than that of another person

However, that said, there has to be somewhat of a understanding, that research will go a long way.

The research may begin with a question.

That search for a answer to that question will open more "doors"

After the research, then if it seems right for that person, they can make the choice

Many teachers (not only in martial arts) do not like questions, especially those questions that somewhat challenge their own knowledge (teacher)

"The art and science of asking questions is the source of all knowledge."- Thomas Berger

“The important thing is not to stop questioning.”
"It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge."
-Albert Einstein

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think."-Socrates

"Don't Only Believe Me, Go Out and Find"-Master Lee

“Who questions much, shall learn much, and retain much.” – Francis Bacon

 

And before that...