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Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

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Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#71

Post by ry_ry »

hoodoof wrote: post #4

Related but at a tangent - after a lifetime of interest in karate I came to realise that most of the stuff taught at karate is not practical. Katas and karate punches and kicks - most of this better thought of more as dancing or ceremonial. A bit like Tai Chi - except that Tai Chi claims no real world martial value. The myth remains however of karate being great self defence training. Our local karate club is packed…

Shotokan?

I studied it for a few years as a kid, and came to a similar conclusion but had assumed it was that particular flavour of karate being an overly formalised, functionally ceremonious, branch emphasising discipline, flexibility and strength over fighting prowess.

A foundation, rather than an end-product if you will.

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#72

Post by awesomepantsm »

bbotond wrote: post #64
jbooth wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're talking about Japanese conduct during the war, I'd find the rampant war crimes a lot more notable than the fighting until death.

Can someone knowledgeable about Japanese culture explain why those war crimes were so common?

I'd guess it has more to do with fascism than the Japanese in particular. See: Nazis.

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#73

Post by kbart »

Every nation rewrites its history according to contemporary needs and cherry picks (or creates) sources to support it. A good example of today is Russia, where Stalin cult is resurgent and not so honorable history facts (pact with Hitler, Holodomor etc.) are being suppressed or played down[1].

1. http://www.economist.com/node/10102921

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#74

Post by gvurrdon »

cyberferret wrote: post #57
titanix2 wrote: post #29

I recently (3 months) started iaidô[1] in my Japanese university club, and one thing that struck me was how few "bullshit" talks we had about the discipline. In contrast, when browsing for clubs in my country, each website was filled with a last a few paragraphs saying how spiritual the art is, how it is all about discovering yourself and the truth of the universe. People of my club are more interested in it because…

I just starting Kendo training here at a local dojo. Our instructor is very adamant and clear at almost all training sessions that the skills we are learning with the bamboo and wooden swords are NOT usable in a self defence or martial capacity at all. Rather that our studies are for mental focus, fitness and spiritual calmness. These are the exact reasons I took up the study of this art. In my younger days, I studie…

Your instructor seems like a sensible fellow. Indeed, there are various focuses to the martial arts and what is taught in a particular school won't meet every requirement. I've found this article very useful for summarising this idea:

http://nononsenseselfdefense.com/four_focuses.html

Unsurprisingly, it puts what I teach (HEMA) almost entirely in category 2, though some parts might be very slightly relevant to some of the other areas from time to time.

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#76

Post by blahi »

hoodoof wrote: post #4

Related but at a tangent - after a lifetime of interest in karate I came to realise that most of the stuff taught at karate is not practical. Katas and karate punches and kicks - most of this better thought of more as dancing or ceremonial. A bit like Tai Chi - except that Tai Chi claims no real world martial value. The myth remains however of karate being great self defence training. Our local karate club is packed…

This is not true at all. Your life-long interest in karate apparently includes 0 practical knowledge. I doubt you have even watched a youtube video from a karate tournament.

The modus operandi in karate is "Immoblize your enemy as fast as possible". Immobilize in this context means kill or knock out and ASAP means instantly. There is nothing more vicious out there than Kyokushin.

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#77

Post by martin_a »

titanix2 wrote: post #69
cyberferret wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just starting Kendo training here at a local dojo. Our instructor is very adamant and clear at almost all training sessions that the skills we are learning with the bamboo and wooden swords are NOT usable in a self defence or martial capacity at all. Rather that our studies are for mental focus, fitness and spiritual calmness. These are the exact reasons I took up the study of this art. In my younger days, I studie…

I wonder how much the unusability is actually related to weapon carry right. I mean, of course sword skill is useless for defence if you cannot carry a sword with you. If it were otherwise, like in pre-Meiji Japan, I'm sure kendô skill would be better than nothing. But given that by the time warriors were taught real military fighting and not martial art in the modern meaning, the question is a non starter. So I agre…

People always think aikidô is fake, until they try it.

I couldn´t believe it for myself until a girl, two heads smaller than me and probably a third of my weight, brought me to the floor. There´s nothing fake in it. There is just pain if you resist, so you don´t.

And besides that, the goal of aikidô is to prove the enemy that attacking you will not help him with anything. It´s not meant to overcome him with force, by pain or injuries. It´s very spiritual and different to other dôs.

(I did aikidô for five years during university.)

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#78

Post by blahi »

mirimir wrote: post #18
hoodoof wrote: post #4

Related but at a tangent - after a lifetime of interest in karate I came to realise that most of the stuff taught at karate is not practical. Katas and karate punches and kicks - most of this better thought of more as dancing or ceremonial. A bit like Tai Chi - except that Tai Chi claims no real world martial value. The myth remains however of karate being great self defence training. Our local karate club is packed…

Aikido is far better in that regard. Edit: I mean that it's more usable in real life.

This couldn't be further from the truth. Sorry I'm not pointing to "evidence" but what you are saying is like laser tag guns are far better than AK-47.

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#79

Post by simonh »

iwontreddit wrote: post #17
danso wrote: post #2

If the concept of Bushido didn't become popular until Japan's modernization (at the end of the 19th century)...how much of Japan's conduct in WW2 (notably, the fighting until death) can be attributed/blamed to this misinterpretation of samurai history? Looking at the Wikipedia entry for Kamikaze [1], I was surprised to read that the concept of suicide attacks only became formalized late in the war (June 1944), rather…

> how much of Japan's conduct in WW2 (notably, the fighting until death) can be attributed/blamed to this misinterpretation of samurai history? Japanese soldiers' "fighting to the death" nonsense was myth invented many years after WW2 by allied "historians" to justify the mass murder of japanese soldiers by the allies. It's not that the japanese weren't willing to surrender. It was that the allies ( unfortunately out…

How do you explain the Ohka, a piloted flying bomb custom built for suicide attacks.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yokosuka_MXY7_Ohka

Re: Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit

#80

Post by ComodoHacker »

hoodoof wrote: post #30
Kostchei wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've done some form of boxing, grappling /judo or martial art for 30 years. I taught physical skills- use of force, to law enforcement for 6 years. For 5 years I worked in a violent custodial environment. Some young people entering that work-place had never faced an angry man, never been in a real fight. For them that "martial arts" environment is a reasonably safe and accessible place to start. I agree that it is no…

Boxing, judo, grappling and wrestling all are more practical than karate. The core issue with karate is that it is loaded with formal or ritualistic representations of fighting. Karate kicks, punches and blocks are all hopelessly unusable when fighting a boxer for example, who is trained to defend their head and hit their opponents head hard and fast. By contrast, few, if any, karate stances are explicitly defending…

If only the boxer can get at the distance of his hands without having something broken or crippled.

Primary head defense in most karate stances is distance.

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