This entry is heavy in Martial Arts -- philosophy and comparison. If this doesn't interest you and you say "tl;dr", just read the first two lines past this point. That's about all that's going on in Ed's Japan. I'm healthy, happy, and doing as best as I can at school. I'll post some pictures up later this week.
Since my return to normalcy, it's been quite boring... except for one thing. I am now taking Karate. Specifically Chitou-Ryuu Karate here at Sophia University's Karate-bu, or Karate Club. It contrasts vastly with Jeet Kune Do and Muay Thai, the two "stand-up" styles I have become accustomed to. However, the similarities are also vast. Several pieces of footwork and punches are one in the same. The principles behind the moves are different, as well. In my short experience of the art, we focus on hard techniques for tournaments and kata. The practice is two-hours long and on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturdays. We stretch for the first 15 minutes or so, then we warm-up with kicks. My first contention with Karate is the positioning of the hands -- if this were a kickboxing fight, I'd be knocked out cold. But, it's not. It's point-karate. That's what you have to take into account when you train various Martial Arts is their context.
Jeet Kune Do, Bruce Lee's creation, is a self-defense martial art focusing on countering with direct moves that either intercepts an opponent's attack or negates the opponent altogether. Jeet Kune Do evolved from Bruce's personal research and originated in Wing Chun, a Chinese Martial Art. Adding in elements from other arts and removing from others, Bruce created the most complete martial art for his time. The idea of the art is to protect oneself -- unconditionally; and, thus, it can be brutal. Eye gouges, joint-manipulation, and groin shots are the recipie of Jeet Kune Do. Of course I'm over simplifying things. Bruce created Jeet Kune Do to be the Anti-Karate. More so, the Anti-Dogmatic Martial Art of Martial Arts. A "process" he called it, making it capable of evolving and adapting to change and the times. Differing from the stagnation of other arts, JKD could adapt and change -- and so should the Martial Artist. Lee called Karate tournaments "organized despair" for the lack of realism that the arts were espousing at the time. In my opinion, Jeet Kune Do was designed specifically to be counter-intuitive to Karate's Tao (Karatedo in Japanese).
A rather strong statement coming from a guy who's taken Karate for three-weeks. But, here's the kicker: I love it. It differs greatly from the dogma I've heard of in the States. Perhaps it is the style, or maybe my fellow Karateka (practitioner), that make it different. Instead of pulling punches, these guys really hit each other. My first night, I was privy to a practice Tournament spar. The Senpai's (senior's) competed against each other in a psuedo-tournament scenario. One guy got a bloody nose -- the bloodiest I've seen. A black belt competed in and dominated in the sparring matches, his footwork was far superior to the others and allowed to make angles and score a point.
Point Karate is very different from Kickboxing. Every time a point is scored, you reset and start from the center. The first to accumulate the most points wins. Quite simple, but completely alien to me. In Muay Thai, there is a time limit and when you hit, you hit some more. There are no breaks. You fight till time runs out or the other person quits -- either by choice or consciousness. So, frankly, Point Karate is not what I'm used to and it will take awhile. My hands automatically come to the kickboxing rest position and not where they're supposed to be. My body-shots look more like a boxer's than a Karateka's. It'll take some getting used to.
That being all said and done. I'm looking to train MMA here. I've heard from the grapevine that the Judo club focuses more on Sport Judo and I'm not really interested in that. A believe I have found an MMA gym that offers a competitive student discount and classes everyday and at good times. It is in Nakao, Tokyo which is a few stops up the line for me; so I won't have to pay any extra for transportation. The only problem is cost. I don't have a lot of money, so I'm going to have to wait till January to start. I'll continue to do Karate while I'm here in Japan, but I need more than 9 hours a week of training, I need around 40 to stay happy. I can't wait.
My next post will be more about Japan and how I relate to it, I promise. But, I've waiting to talk about me doing Karate since I started. I'm at a crossroads with my future. I don't really know what I want to do with my life, I have so many options and can't decide the path best suited for me. It's problematic for sure. That'll be the bread-and-butter of my next post coming by the end of the week -- I hope.
Until next time!
-Gregor
thumbs up.... glad you're training there ed....
ReplyDeleteJeet Kune Do is a philosophy. Not a style. You know this, Ed.
ReplyDeleteThank you anonymous. I am aware that Jeet Kune Do is not a style -- I did state it was a style in the third sentence in the paragraph after the indented "quote" paragraph, but that was simply to convey in layman's terms what two "arts" I was familiar with.
ReplyDeleteBut, I must ask you out of curiosity, why even put such a statement if you know I know this? Haha...