Research and Discussion Forums

The way I understand it, this forum is mainly dedicated to the study of the European medieval and renaissance combat skills, not to studying religious practice in monastic orders, eastern mystic lore or dark age medicine. If you wish to find out about such things, I would encourage you to pick up s...

Margret, I was a little disappointed with your response...we have many forms of drills and exercises, non of which we call katas. ? Aaron, I believe you misunderstand my motivation and interpret my point too widely. This thread introduced the word "kata" and called it a "sequence&quo...

Hello Margret, thanks for your opinions, we appreciate your view-point. I must say though that in ARMA the great majority of us do not beleive that Kata's develop any real fighting skills. The problem with kata's etc in terms of them translating into any fighting ability is context. I will grant yo...

Sorry, the Knights Templar were certainly not "priests." Also, grouping every such WMA under the banner of "Knights Templar" is like grouping every EMA under the banner of "Shaolin Monks." Also, this post is getting off-topic. No discussions of chi, ki or other such no...

Exactly. "Kata" literally translates as "pattern". Katas are used in chado (tea ceremony) as well as martial arts, it's really a generic term. As a generic term to be applied to Eastern Arts, it's fine I suppose although I think one technique performed alone hardly equals a &quo...

Religion and magic are not Martial Arts. While they may be part of some schools curriculum, they are not Fighting Skills. The larger "world of Martial Arts "has expanded the definition of Martial Arts. The original meaning of Martial Arts is literally Fighting/Military Skills aquired by e...

Would a JSA pratitioner of the past turn down an honest sparring match? Would he be seen as a snob or a coward for refusing in the past? What discipline are you refering to? This would exhibit his Martial Discipline since Martial Arts are about fighting. I don't understand this concept of not sparr...

Um, there are sword katas consisting of one cut or thrust!! Kata equals drill, drill equals kata. So if you have 10 separate cuts with each practiced repetitively, that is considered 10 kata. Kata seems like a pretty broad concept then. All martial arts have moves (with or without weapons) that req...

I disagree that drilling and katas, as I understand them, are that dissimilar. Not that I think we need to compare our training methods with that of AMA but, take the 16-cut drill. It is a specified sequence of 16 cuts to be made (more or less) in a specific order. We do it to practice the meisterh...

If you practice one thing more than once, you have kata. All it means is pattern. In toyama ryu iaido, the first kata is, step forward left foot, as you take a second step, draw and cut up diagonally, point sword a opponent and dai shomen giri (cut down vertically) shake off blade and resheath. Wiki...

I understand that JSA practitioners of Koryu styles do have somewhat of a snobbish reputation, and I certainly would not wish to add to this. But let me outline some of the difficulties I foresee. First, Japanese classical sword traditions, or Koryu, are not about practical use of the sword. Period...

If time allows, there's no reason not to be as fit as possible. A boxer's routine is an excellent course for a fighter: Hour 1, 3 min each/30 sec. rest Foot speed: Jump rope, jumping jacks, side to side hops. Knee/hips: squats, lunges, kick drills Stomach/back: crunches, lifts, planks, medicine ball...

Since a lot of members are here, I thought I'd say hello. I'm in Princeton, NJ, a real estate attorney by trade. My background: shotokan karate 19 years, goju ryu karate 3 months, hontai yoshin ryu (classical staff, jujutsu, sword) 1.5 years. Addiction to all forms of martial arts 45 years. :lol: