Training Traditional Martial Arts

By Peter Vermeeren

All to often traditional martial arts and those who practicethese ancient arts are considered dreamers, fools or historicalmummies because we are training arts that flourished 400 or moreyears ago. These people can not understand the reasons why westudy archaic weapons like sword, bow, spear, halberd, etc…Their nº1 line is " you can never walk on the street with theseweapons" But that is not all. Traditional kata training isconsidered foolish , a waste of time not realistic…….. Howlittle do these people understand of the traditional trainingand the underlying concepts.... Unlike the rest of the worldJapan has been isolated from external influences for the biggestpart of it's existence as a nation. For over 1500 years theJapanese have been involved in internal struggles, battles andfull scale wars. They had to defend themselves against theMongol invasions, conspiracies amongst themselves andassassinations.

Because of their isolation from the rest of the world, newinventions like gunpowder came to them very late. The rest ofthe world was tasking giant steps in modern armament developmentwhilst the Japanese on the contrary did not depend on weapondevelopment to fight their battles.

After having perfected the weapons the had and having exploredall the different ways a bow can fire, a sword can cut andthrust, a punch and kick can be given and a Naginata can slicethey came to the conclusion that the deepest secret of martialarts was not to be found in the type of weapon, the thickness ofthe yoroi, the strength of the unarmed techniques but insomething else.

They started to look inward , into the deepest part of theirbeing and they came up with the answer that have made them theexperts of martial arts in the world.

They knew that by knowing oneself and the opponent they wouldalways be able to overcome him. From that moment a new martialscience was born. The art of strategy. Strategy has beendeveloped by the Japanese and taken to the point were it becamean art form. The Japanese strategy is far superior to othercountries. The Go Rin No Sho (book of 5 rings) of MiyamotoMusashi is considered in the western world



as one of the topbooks concerning strategies for battle. There are even bookswritten applying Musashi's principles to the modern day businessworld. But to the Japanese the go Rin No Sho is a book forbeginners. That makes you wonder doesn't it?

Today in this rapid changing world the learning of traditionalmartial arts is still learning these practical martialstrategies through physical exercises.

Let's compare:

When you enter a traditional Ryu you start learning a bunch oftechniques called waza. This is like learning how to lay bricks,plumbing, making doors and windows , etc….

The next step called Kata training takes you to the next level.You start building a house. Your first house will be verytraditional, square with no fancy extra's. This is when youstart seeing the principles of building a house. The experienceyou acquire teaches you that there are certain ways to dothings. You can not make a 2 by 2 m hole and place in this holea much smaller window or door. You also learn that you muststart at the bottom when constructing a house, not at the roof.After making many, many houses you start designing your ownhouse. You put in some extra's, some improvements and so on.This is the moment when you can use the principles or strategiesof making houses to construct different types of buildings. Youunderstand the underlying concepts. You know inside yourselfwhat it is that makes a building being such and you understandthat although their shape may be different at the end they areall houses….. But only he who masters the highest level will beable to turn any house into a home.

This is what modern day practitioners fail to see. They thinkthat more muscle strength, faster movements, more deadlytechniques and such will make them invincible. How wrong theyare. They are still living in a dream. As long as man has 2legs, 2 arms, 2 eyes, etc… battle will never change. The outerform may change but he who understands the underlying conceptswill always win the battle. Man's actions are ruled by basicinstincts and the art of strategy as learned in the traditionalmartial arts builds upon these instincts to secure victory.Through training we learn to see our inner fears, understand thereasons of our behaviour and actions. We learn to correct andperfect these in order to obtain control over ourselves. Byunderstanding this we will also be able to know the enemy andcontrol his actions.

Finally, modern day practitioners tell us " let's fight , norules". No rules….. ok , so we are allowed to bite? To stick ourfingers in your eyes? To catch and twist your groin until it isseparated from your body? To use the most extreme techniquesuntil you die? This is true combat, anything goes and until theend. Until one or both will never get up again to see the risingof the sun.

This is the reason why traditional martial artists never getinvolved in modern day martial arts championships. They realizethat by participating they already have lost. And in the rarecase that some traditional martial artist would step in a ringwith rules he will loose the battle. He is trained for truecombat not sports.

About the author:Peter Vermeeren is a traditional martial arts teacher for over30 year. His websites can be found here: http://www.takaharudojo.organd http.//http://www.kamikaze-portal.com