Bad Ninjutsu Videos and Critiques w/o Off Topic Videos

Not sure if there are any bad Ninjutsu videos that've escaped the crowd but if there are, here's a new thread for them. Apologies for the silliness in the other thread. I believe the rules are no off topic videos/silliness videos and you have to state why you feel the material shown in the video is bad. If there are any additional rules to follow, perhaps the Mods could re-post them in this thread so people who haven't read the other thread see them from the start.

 

Well, it says Bujinkan, so....

http://youtu.be/lJ0Nee0NoS8


- no demonstrable rei
- no demonstrable kamae
- no demonstrable zanshin
- no demonstrable waza from specific ryu-ha


By contrast, here is a clip wherein the majority of the above is demonstrable:

http://youtu.be/_WOnXct68Fg


When I would rather learn sword from a pre-pubescent girl, there's something very wrong there.


MODS - If the second video violates the rules of this particular thread in any way, please feel free to delete it; please acknowledge that it was proffered purely in the interest of emphasizing contrast. Thank you.


- Mark Spada

 

Hory Shiz that's dangerous drawing sharp swords like that, I can just see severed thumbs in my minds eye.

I got goosebumps watching that vid, bad sword with a wanton disregard for safe conduct does not make comfortable viewing.

 

Pretty sick contrast between the 2 vids. Nice cut for the little girl.

 

What does that mean?

 

Gordon Ramsay himself could probably do a better job. That was painful to watch. No clean cuts, nothing. Just bits and pieces breaking up and flying all over the place (mods I hope I'm not breaking the rules) :fight4:.

 

Chris Carbonaro's sanshin no kata:

http://youtu.be/lIxxjIg7A4A


To be fair, Chris Carbonaro’s interpretation of what is commonly referred to as the sanshin no kata isn’t among the worst I’ve ever seen ( grab yourself an extra helping of corn pone, Mountainous! ). But there are still major problems with it. Most of the problems are evident in all five kata, but I will highlight certain points in each.

1). Chi no kata

- Shizen no kamae is too “open”; hips spread wide leaves groin and arteries vulnerable.
- Bouncing and settling into kamae destroys functionality of kamae; revealing intention to all and sundry is for acting, not fighting.
- Pendulum swing motion is ridiculous Bujinkan myth; the purpose is to condition the body to strike, not to bowl or toss horse shoes.
- During the execution of said pendulum swing, Carbonaro demonstrates a huge problem shared by many Bujinkan shidoshi: planting the feet and twisting the hips. This misalignment of the skeleton is quite fashionable in sports, but for conditioning an individual for surviving the ultra-violence it’s stupid; during a confrontation it leaves the body completely vulnerable at arguably the worst possible moment. Not to mention the fact that it is suboptimal in terms of generating power.
- So if he is not throwing lawn darts into the ionosphere, where exactly is Carbonaro intending his pendulum power strike’s final destination to be? I hope for his sake it’s not the jaw bone. The scooping motion he is making with the extended arm will ensure that his sanshitanken has a good chance of running into plenty of bone structure on the way there.

2). Sui no kata

- Wide-load kamae looks good, but is dysfunctional; Carbonaro has to constantly shift his weight forward in order to move or change his kamae, something that he wouldn’t have time to do in front of someone intent on hurting, injuring, and/or killing him.
- When executing jodan uke the wrist should be slightly bent; watch the Takamatsu sensei QUEST dvd religiously, kids.

3). Ka no kata

- Jodan uke is weaker than the latest reason Republicans have for hating Obama: it looks as though Carbonaro is swatting at an imaginary fly.
- As with sui no kata, the arms are sent striking well after the body has settled into position, which defeats the purpose of calling this stuff taijutsu.

4). Fu no kata

- Giant swinging gedan uke leaves body even more vulnerable.
- As Carbonaro moves forward to deliver his boshiken, he severely displaces his height to the extent of nearly lifting off the balls of his feet. Loss of balance, loss of striking power, and quite possibly loss of bladder control when facing someone who likes to kick when they fight.

5). Ku no kata

- Leaning forward is not the same thing as shifting forward; Carbonaro is demonstrating the former.
- Although his kick might be acceptable for certain Takagi Yoshin ryu kata, it is not for Gyokko ryu; everybody say it loud and proud: “You must bring your knee to your chest when you kick!”
- Lastly, I’d like to tackle the issue of the raised open palm: raising your hand in front of you in an attempt at distracting someone from your kick only works when you put the two together; they must occur simultaneously. In a confrontation, Carbonaro displaying his open palm distraction would be as effective as Dr. Indiana Jones’ oh-look-what’s-that-over-there-on-the-ground distraction during his confrontation with that huge German army officer.


- Mark Spada

 

Around 1 minute in: "These are the basic's of Bujinkan. Big circles, big steps. Everything should be long."

Discuss.


I agree with Mark's analysis. He "walks" through the tsuki, he doesn't stay low enough and bob's up and down.

Q. Is sanshin a combative exercise or a movement conditioning excercise? I say this because I've seen these done by Adam Mitchell and he seems to use this as a conditioning excercise (in the video I saw, at least).

 

This is a potentially complicated discussion, taking into account the fact that sanshin can be viewed as an umbrella term refering to various waza in various ryu-ha that exist for the purpose of indroctrinating the practitioner.

I discussed this topic briefly with Adam Mitchell, but he didn't say much other than to confirm that what is openly taught in Jinenkan is gogyo no kata and it basically looks like a correct version of what Carbonaro is demonstrating, for lack of a better description. I have also discussed this at length with Dr. Zoughari and various other shidoshi.

I'll put my neck on the chopping block by suggesting that the purpose of sanshin is to condition the practitioner for surviving combative encounters. I practice it this way, as that is how I was shown to do it by a good half-dozen practitioners whom I highly respect. I personally have never understood a reason to spend time conditioning myself in a way that was somehow removed from a combative mindset.

My two cents.


- Mark Spada

 

Hi Mark

Maybe want to edit your post to say Chi, Sui, Ka, Fu, Ku no kata.

This is not a snipe at you, as we all make mistakes.

Just pointing it out

 

Maybe you want to change it to Tsuchi, Mizu, Hi, Kaze, Kara no kata :hat:

 

Hey Mark,

Could you go further into what you mean by surviving combative encounters? As in actual combat techniques or movement principals to be applied to combat techniques. Also if you have the time could you highlight with good clips, as you have done before.

Only if you have the time mark.

All the best.

John

 

Sorry, I realize that my original statement was very broad and quite possibly redundant. Basically, what I meant to do was differentiate the way I view the purpose of the sanshin no kata and the way in which Carbonaro seems to be viewing it.

If you could picture a much more refined and streamlined set of movements, with less arm swinging and much more emphasis placed on proper skeletal alignment, ambulation, balance, and an awareness of spacial relations specific to being under threat of injury and/or death, then you might see something that looks very close to the way I practice these movements.

By contrast, Carbonaro seems to take the view that the sanshin are basically an elaborate set of push-ups; merely exercises for preparing to practice, as opposed to arguably the most important facet of the practice itself. Without using the tools that the sanshin provides, the learning can't be undertaken and no real comprehension of the art can be attained.

I'll keep looking for good videos to help elucidate the problems with the bad ones. I suggest Adam Mitchell's excellent demonstration and explanation of the gogyo no kata on his web site Budohall.com.

Hope that helped.


- Mark Spada

 

Thanks for your time Mark.

 

I think the value of sanshin no kata is when you are performing more complex waza or kata, and you suddenly realise "Hey, that's a chi no kata right there!".

It allows me to step back from the kata and concentrate on "what it is trying to teach me?" instead of it being "Hey, here's a cool technique. Did it hurt?"

To say that it is a building block is an understatement. It's almost like sanshin is the rule book - "This is how you move. Now go practice."

To me, the absolute exactness of how sanshin is performed is less important (to me) than what it is trying to teach me.

I constantly modify the style I use to concentrate on practicing a specific aspect of the waza (the stuff that Mark put in his earlier post: zanshin, footwork, balance, timing, co-ordination, effectiveness). When I get good at this (in around 10,000 hours time) then I might be able to incorporate all this in a single instance. When I do, I'll post it on YouTube and then retire!

 

edit *whoops thought this was good vids thread for some reason... post moved*

 

Hontai Saiga ryu

They claim to be ninjutsu, so I guess this is the place.

Problems start with the whole image they try to present. I can tell they are targeting teenage boys who have watched too much Naruto with this.

They are rarely on balance as they move.

Their movements are choppy and their bodies do not work as one.

And this has to be one of the worst cases of the "uke stand there while the teacher hits him multiple times" syndrome. I can imagine that for an instructional tape to allow movement to be shown, but this is obviously not anything meant to be learned from.

 

What's wrong with watching Naruto?