The Way of Least Resistance

Derailing the core purpose of forms – let me count the ways... In my previous article I discussed the core purpose of forms; how in order to be effective training tools, forms must place techniques in a dynamic context . And that dynamic context must be both relevant and useful . Understanding these components, and having these concepts at the back of your mind while you train, is essential for making traditional forms work for you. After all, a form is nigh on worthless if you simply flap your way through it without a care or a single bead of sweat. The best designed form in the world won't help you one iota if you butcher it with a poor performance. And poor performance is just one issue. Yes, many students have, and many will continue, to be lazy in their kata practice. That is human nature. But others will err not through caring too little but by caring too much . What do I mean? Some students will conscientiously perform kata in a way that robs the dynamic context of...

Introduction My friend Sanko has written a number of excellent articles in recent times about the nature and importance of forms (what taekwondo call "patterns"). It is a testament to Sanko's considered, well-reasoned and researched arguments that I am revisiting this subject, not to flog the proverbial dead horse but because I feel that he raises important points – points that go to the nub of what we traditional martial artists do and, more importantly, how we go about doing it. I'm talking of course about the practice of forms - what makes them so special and what we need to do to make sure they stay that way. Forms (形) – known in Japanese as "kata", in Chinese as "xing" and in Korean as "hyung" (although modern Korean arts like taekwondo often use terms like "poomse" and "teul") are a feature of practically every traditional Far Eastern martial system. But what are they actually used for? And do these uses ...

Somewhat synchronously , I have recently had a number of different reminders of something that is fairly fundamental to martial arts study. First, I have only just discussed the importance of basic or fundamental skills, such as stepping in stances. Second, this excellent essay by Scott Sonnon reminded me of something I've said to my students for many years: "There's magic in the small things." By that I mean that the true essence of martial arts does not lie in being loosely familiar with hundreds of techniques, but in truly understanding all the subtleties of a few. And last, earlier today a beginner in the martial arts sent me a query directly relevant to these issues. Essentially his question was this: when, if at all, would it be appropriate for him to start cross-training in different disciplines? My answer to him was as follows: My first teacher, Bob Davies , told me that it was inadvisable to dabble until at least nidan - which in our case corresponded to...

Introduction My preceding discussion about the pitfalls of "natural stepping" 1 has prompted me to address the issue of why so many karate schools put great emphasis on stepping in basic stances. Certainly, historical factors play a role: just before and after World War II, karate was popularized in Japan as a kind of exercise for school children. Karate masters like Gichin Funakoshi (who was a school teacher and who is credited as being one of the first to introduce karate to mainland Japan) are said to have quite deliberately tailored their classes to mass teaching, emphasizing basic training in large groups, often at the expense of bunkai (applications) and more in-depth understanding. When Westerners came to Japan in the post-War years, this "basic" karate was generally what they encountered - and naturally it was this karate they brought back. To some extent, this "basic" karate remains a fixture in classes right around the world to this day. Onl...

Introduction In my article " How the internal arts work: Part 1 " I discussed the issue of "dead time" as it occurs in natural stepping. I also alluded to it in my recent article: " Reversing momentum: "dead time" or useful tactic? ". The topic of "dead time" is so central to my own martial theories, particularly those of the internal arts of China, that I thought it best to make this the subject of a dedicated article. After all, as I will explain in future articles, the internal arts go to great lengths to deal with "dead time" and other issues arising from natural stepping. Meanwhile practically every other traditional far eastern art also avoids natural stepping as much as possible, preferring what is known in Japanese as "yori ashi" ("okuri ashi" in kendo) and "suri ashi" - ie. shuffling steps where the front foot advances first, followed by the rear foot. Nor is this avoidance ...

Introduction In my recent article " How the internal arts work: Part 1 " I discussed the issue of " dead time " - ie. time which is not productive or efficient in relation to achieving your desired outcome. Some of the comments made in relation to that article raised the issue of whether "reversal of momentum" is a subset of " dead time ". I believe that there are many instances where reversal of momentum is far from " dead time ". This is true of both unarmed and armed fighting. In fact, as I will detail in a forthcoming article, taijiquan makes extensive use of this tactic. However my recent immersion in the study of traditional Chinese swordplay, including the long military saber most recently known as the miao dao 苗刀 (used by the Chinese military in the Second Sino-Japanese War ), has provided at least one other concrete example of why it is sometimes necessary (and useful) to reverse your momentum. Reasons for reversing ...