The Martial Arts And Violence A good explanation of the Kanji for the Japanese word ‘Budo’, which is ‘Wu Shu’ in Chinese…. “The character bu is constructed from the characters meaning “arms of war” or “violence,” and “to stop, prohibit, or bring to an end.”  Therefore, bu is more accurately translated as “to stop violence,” or perhaps “to bring about peace.”  Thus  budo,  bujutsu and  bugei might more appropriately be  known as the “arts of the peacemaker.”  The warriors of China and Japan saw their skills as tools for maintaining the peace rather than indulgences in a love of war.  … Continue reading The Martial Arts And Violence

Sensitivity In The Martial Arts “Sifu, in my mate’s class they learn to harden and desensitise their arms by bashing them together with the blocking movements, why don’t we do that?”  Rod had lots of martial arts ‘mates’ who trained at different clubs and they would get together on a regular basis to ‘share’ their knowledge. “What purpose do you think our arms, hands and fingers serve Rod, why do you think we have them?”  Sifu answered the question with a question in his usual ‘Chan Buddhist’ way… “To hammer the crap out of our opponents?”  Rod was being mischievous, … Continue reading Sensitivity In The Martial Arts

Philosophy Is Important In Training A few of the guys had come in early because they didn’t want to go home from school/college/ work and come out again for training, some were doing their own training, some their homework and some just reading or playing portable computer games. Jake and his friends were working out on the punch bags and then trying out the techniques on each other, they were working up an enthusiastic sweat and had eventually bought a bag to the floor and were working on their best ‘ground and pound’ techniques rolling with the bag and then … Continue reading Philosophy Is Important In Training