Interesting little article here that suggests much broader implications vis-a-vis martial disciplines in self defense.

http://www.webmd.com/pain-management...ease-your-pain

I consider this a critical topic, in terms of the responsibility I believe that ANY instructor of martial arts, self defense, or defensive tactics has to his or her students if personal protection is in any way a consideration of the training.

Why is it critical? Because many instructors are passing on/inadvertently training a point of view that is counter productive and could in fact be fatal should their students face a serious violent encounter.

Pardon the blatant self-aggrandizement of quoting myself here, but I have addressed the topic at my blog here as well.

I believe to some extent this kind of "slightest touch is death" idea comes primarily from methods/people who do no pressure testing involving opposing wills: it is not simply that one works hard at training in a physically demanding way - it is that one engages at least some of the time in training against another/others that properly mixes the "combative preparation cocktail."

This is not to say that being in an encounter with someone of malevolent intent trying to harm you (which is impossible to completely reproduce in training) is not dangerous, simply that if you go in with some of the commonly offered "conventional wisdom" of martial artists that the slightest mistake, the fraction of an inch could mean death or disablement, coupled with similarly proffered commentary that "in a knife fight you will be cut" is a recipe for self created disaster.

Martial artists should be training their students in the exact opposite mindset: that even if your head is separated from your body you will continue to fight your attacker - you will with those last few seconds we supposedly have of consciousness until our brains drain of blood be spitting at the person that did that to you in the hopes that he might at least get some kind of virus from your spittle.....

...and you should never assume that any attacker you face might not have this attitude themselves.

There is more to it. There is nuance in the matter of facing death, embracing death, while tenaciously grasping at life at the same time. They have been writing of this since ancient times as well. Fatalism is always there and one must always accept that the potential consequences of engaging in serious violence are very real, and should be guarded against.

But these consequences should not be foregone conclusions.

That's what I believe is the attitude of hissho!