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Thread: The Scarcity of Real Combative Training: Miyamoto Musashi and Misty the Cat

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    Default The Scarcity of Real Combative Training: Miyamoto Musashi and Misty the Cat

    The Scarcity of Real Combative Training: Miyamoto Musashi and Misty the Cat
    Steven J. Pearlman, Ph.D.
    www.PraxisMartialArts.com

    “To cut and to slash are two different things. Cutting, whatever form of cutting it is, is decisive, with a resolute spirit. Slashing is nothing more than touching the enemy. Even if you slash strongly, and even if the enemy dies instantly, it is slashing. When you cut, your spirit is resolved.”
    Miyamoto Musashi, Book of Five Rings

    If there’s a hole in many modern martial arts’ approach to combative realism, and I assert there is one, it might take the form of Musashi’s point above. Musashi, in his enduring wisdom, illuminates what we could identify as the crux of combative training, and that crux does not necessarily hold any relationship to fighting full contact, training for the “street,” or training in modern vs. traditional ways.

    Continue reading HERE



    Steve Pearlman
    www.praxismartialarts.com
    Author, The Book of Martial Power

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    Welcome to e-budo. Nice plug for your business/book. What is it you actually train? How do you train?
    Neil Gendzwill
    Saskatoon Kendo Club

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    Hi, sir. Thank you for the welcome.

    I had hoped only to raise a genuinely thoughtful point of discussion about the arts. I've been training in the arts for over thirty years; I don't follow a recognized style but only hold the utmost respect for those who do.

    Steve

    P.S. (Did I mention my book in the post? I didn't think I did.)


    Quote Originally Posted by gendzwil View Post
    Welcome to e-budo. Nice plug for your business/book. What is it you actually train? How do you train?



    Steve Pearlman
    www.praxismartialarts.com
    Author, The Book of Martial Power

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    Quote Originally Posted by StevePearlman View Post
    ...(Did I mention my book in the post? I didn't think I did.)
    "www.praxismartialarts.com
    Author, The Book of Martial Power"

    Yeah, you did; not in the body of the post, but in your signature block.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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    The article isn't from the book.



    Steve Pearlman
    www.praxismartialarts.com
    Author, The Book of Martial Power

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    Quote Originally Posted by StevePearlman View Post
    I had hoped only to raise a genuinely thoughtful point of discussion about the arts.
    Well, the article was pretty vague. That's why I asked for specifics of your training.
    Neil Gendzwill
    Saskatoon Kendo Club

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    Quote Originally Posted by StevePearlman View Post
    The article isn't from the book.
    No one said it was.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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    So what do you want to discuss?

    Cats or Musashi?
    Chris Thomas

    "While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others."

    "Team Cynicism" MVP 2005-2006
    Currently on "Injured/Reserve" list due to a scathing Sarcasm pile-up.

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    Hello Mr Pearlman,

    Welcome to E-Budo.

    As you have probably gathered, the active members of this forum are serious martial artists with very varied technical backgrounds. I think that together the membership constitutes a serious group, some experts, others less expert, but committed nonetheless, who are not afraid to question and debate the form, content, history, and aims of the arts they practice. Some members can also speak and read Japanese to a high level of fluency. The debates can become quite heated at times, but the moderators and admin are also serious martial artists who are, in addition, committed to ensuring that the discussions are robust, fair and reasonable -- and also respectful of the bona fides of all the participants.

    So, as I stated above, welcome to E-Budo and we look forward to your continued participation. It takes some courage to write a book on Japanese martial culture, but in a way, you also stick your neck out and make statements that are subject to intense scrutiny. So please do not be put off too much by the questions.


    Best wishes,
    P Goldsbury
    Peter Goldsbury,
    Forum Administrator,
    Hiroshima, Japan

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    It begs some questions, the first being what exactly are we talking about?

    If it is a lack in the "modern martial arts approach to combative realism," I would agree. The same holds true for traditional and classical arts practiced in modern times (perhaps even moreso to those arts) - but then again it was true "back then" as well, or Musashi would have not have penned what he did in critiquing the slash vs. cut approach - or other things he wrote such as commercial martial arts, strategy being improperly taught, etc.

    So then it really comes down to what the writer - in this case Steven - is bringing to the table in opening the discussion.

    This is an area of particular interest to me, as everybody here should know just by reading the combatives forums. As a practitioner of modern and modern-traditional arts (BJJ and Judo), as well as certified in several modern combatives systems, and with some direct personal experience, I have similar views on modern practices of martial arts, regardless of their provenance.

    Indeed in most cases the more one practices "martial arts" the further one moves away from combative realism. It has over the years become increasingly obvious to me that many of those most attached to ideas of combative realism in martial arts are full of unproven theories, idealized technique, and are much to devoted to "what teacher says..." than I am comfortable with.

    I don't subscribe to those ideas, which is I think why I have had trouble fully accepting, and thus being accepted within, the classical form of pedagogy where "teacher" is the model of all that is the tradition, and all that is the tradition's approach to combat.

    That being said I am deeply convinced that a confluence of classical teachings such as "resolute spirit," and true combative realism would be a more effective approach to teaching mindset and psychological and physical organization in modern combatives. There is a great lack of this in the teaching current in modern armed professions, to be sure.

    Unfortunately, I find myself in the same boat with Neil: articles from martial artists - even lauded teachers - on such things tend to be very vague, full of notional concepts that have obviously not been subjected to repeated testing, especially not tested in harm's way on a regular basis. Some of it is certainly a translation issue, but some of it is just people not knowing what they don't know and passing that on to their students.

    So yeah, I too would like to hear what the background of our poster is, and hear more about what he thinks, and what he means, on the subject here.

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    I think he didn't get the reaction he was hoping for and has left us.
    Neil Gendzwill
    Saskatoon Kendo Club

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    Too bad. The OP would probably enjoy conversing the subject (whatever it is ) with Hyakutake Sensei.
    Ed Boyd

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    Since this post directly addresses combatives, I wonder if we might put it in the Personal Protection forum?

    I think it does present an interesting question:

    What do we mean when we think "combative realism?"

    Self defense? Military combat? "Street fighting?"

    When we speak of "resolute spirit," what comes to mind?

    Can we make room for the idea that often times, combative realism has nothing to do with physical techniques?

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    Good questions.

    I consider the teachings generally within most of the koryu to be as real as it gets. Depending on how one defines "real" of course.

    That being said I'm not likely to be facing someone in a sword vs spear dual anytime soon. So for that reason I think when most people use the world "realism" they mean "whatever situation I'm most likely to face."

    Yes, IMO I would say that combative realism sometimes has nothing to do with physical technique. As the question was once poised "who would you rather fight a 200 lbs guy that has been paid to beat you up or a 100 lbs. women that is 100% convinced that killing you is the only way to save her child?"

    Technique is critically important, but commitment plays a crucial role as well.

    As does ability to take a beating and still keep fighting---which I suppose is another way of saying "commitment."
    Chris Thomas

    "While people are entitled to their illusions, they are not entitled to a limitless enjoyment of them and they are not entitled to impose them upon others."

    "Team Cynicism" MVP 2005-2006
    Currently on "Injured/Reserve" list due to a scathing Sarcasm pile-up.

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    Thanks for chiming in, Chris - in my limited experience with koryu, I would agree that done correctly, it can be very "real," in fact it is very similar in design to modern force on force and scenario based training.

    Unfortunately without a bridging mechanism for modern contexts and environments, it isn't very real at all.

    How do you personally define it to be "as real as it gets?"

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