Natural Selection

A classical story about the birth of a Traditional Martial Art goes this way :

A young lad's father or family are killed by people from another clan. The young lad wants revenge, but he is not strong enough. So he gets into a sort of mystical training quest - in Japanese "Shugyo". Gets alone in the mountains, trains hard during the day. Prays or meditates at night. Finally one day, a supernatural creature (God, Demon, Tesshu...) appears to him and grants him his wish : he teaches him a wonderful technique, or a set of them, that will allow him to overcome all his opponents.

We have multiple examples of these  : Hayashizuki Jinsuke, Founder of Hayashizaki Ryu and Eishin Ryu Iaijutsu, secluded himself in a Shito shrine to train and pray.

Ittosai Kagehisa. Founder of Ono Ha Itto Ryu. secluded himself in a temple to train.

Closer to us, Katsuoh Yamamoto, Founder of Yoshukai Karate, travelled to some mountains and woods to practice by himself...

We could go on for a long time. It is a common story , many people founded their own victorious way by secluding themselves, getting a fantastic idea, coming back to the world and winning everything.

But... We do not hear about the other ones, those who also secluded themselves, had (what they thought was) a fantastic idea, came back to the world, and died when they tried their (not so fantastic) idea. 

This is Natural Selection. Bad techniques, and those who invented them, do not survive the battlefields.

It does not matter what kind of great idea you have. You need to test it, against an opponent. If you win, good, find a mightier opponent to test it further. If you lose, well, it was not such a good idea. 

You can also train with a master, someone much more advanced than you, who will tell you how he feels about your ideas, in a non-lethal way. This is why we get teachers and masters. To help us on the road. I recommend this way...

And THIS is true for everything. It is true for Martial Arts, for Cuisine, for Ballroom Dancing and for Zen. The other day, this brilliant guy was explaining on Facebook how just Buddha had found enlightenment by himself so would he do the same and not rely on any master. Just that ! Arrogant prick ! Even Buddha trained under several Yogis before he went on his own.

Today, there is no shortage of Self appointed Martial Arts Masters, 9th degree black belt in numerous styles - some of these styles do not even grant Dan levels... There are also quite a few Roshi's - Zen Masters, with very questionable lineage... And this is regrettable.

Whatever you want to learn, find a good master, someone with credentials from an established, reputable lineage. Short of this, you might get hurt... 

The Secret of Kendo

Once upon a time, a very proud young samurai visited a famous Kendo Master and asked him : 

"What is the secret of your Art?"

The Master quietly grabbed his shinai, twirled it above his head and strongly whacked the young man on the top of his head. 

Surely he received satori!

 In "Zen and Martial Arts" by Taisen Desshimaru

Don't you love these old Masters...

Christmas dinner.

As I was reading a post about Choki Motobu in the excellent Blog Karate by Jesse, it reminded me of a story I heard from my Ju Jitsu Master Roland Hernaez.

It happened I think in the early 80′s. A group of French Martial Art Masters (Ju Jitsu, Karate, Aikijitsu, Kobudo…) were gathered in a small bar-restaurant in a small town of the suburbs of Paris for a traditional Christmas dinner.

The dining area of the restaurant was a separate room in the back where people could eat away from the crowd and noise of the bar. This is a pretty standard sort of arrangement in that sort of establishment.  

So there were probably 8 or 10 masters there having a good time together, sharing some good food and drinking good wine.  Some of these people, such as M. Hernaez were nice and peaceful persons.  Some of them were not. Some of them were experienced in street or combat fighting and/or had served during the terrible independence wars of Indochine (Vietnam) or Algeria, and had little opportunities to practice their self defense abilities. Also remember, they were not drinking iced tea. 

All of these men were in their 50′s or 60′s, and looked like regular guys. They could have been a group of employees working in the same office, gathered there to enjoy a traditional Christmas Dinner, as the French love to do. 

A group of bikers had entered the bar and ordered  their drinks. They realized there was a group of old men eating in the back, and decided to have a little fun at their expense and to scare them a little.

It was not a brilliant idea, but of course, who said you needed a 120 IQ to join the Holly Fraternity of the Rueil Malmaison Bikers ???

They entered the back room. 

Very shortly, most of them were on the ground , with various injuries. The cops - called by the bar owner - arrived too late to prevent the incident. They handcuffed some bikers to take them to the local jail, while they let the other ones  leave for the hospital on stretchers. They took the deposition of the old men, and left.

The masters ordered their coffee...