We all know the stories about the Samurai. They were incredibly honorable, brave, and extremely skilled with the sword. However, what happened when they lost their swords. Did they just quit? Commit seppuku? (which was common in many cultures when a warrior faced defeat) or did they learn another way to fight?
During the Meiji restoration Samurai were prevented from carrying swords but that did not stop their quest for the ability to fight for those to whom they were loyal. To prevent death in battle they developed a martial arts that eventually became Judo, Karate, and Jujitsu.
Jujitsu translated means the gentle art. It is a martial arts more suited to women in my opinion because it teaches one how to defend themselves and cripple an opponent with minimal force. The movements are graceful and the combat is brutally direct. Students of Jujitsu Are subjected to these holds, throws, and restrained versions of attack techniques. The holds help increase flexibility in the wrist which can be useful in a life or death situation.
Why am I fixating on Jujitsu? I joined the BYU club and, by extension, the American Jujitsu Association. You only have to get followed seven blocks by a creepy guy at night once before you are afraid of your own shadow. A few weeks ago I was watching a Jujitsu practice and now I am practicing how to roll when thrown by an opponent and get up and face them all in one motion. Now I am learning how to block a punch and get out of danger when someone grabs my wrists.
My sensei is very patient in helping me learn my rolls, blocks, strikes, and throws. I would recommend Jujitsu to anybody but especially women because it just makes me feel safer and more confident. That would be reason enough but I am learning to protect myself. I am learning to use someone's superior strength and force against them and learning to hold my own. It is amazing. I am entry level now (not even a white belt) but I plan on working my way up to a black belt.
Now, a little known fact about many martial arts. They teach pressure points for healing as well as attack. To earn higher belt levels we are required to know how to heal various pain using massage and pressure points. Who knows, next time you all see me I'll test out my new skills :p. Anyway, for all the ladies in the family and the boys, look into jujitsu.
8 comments:
Michael knows some pretty good submission moves...I need to practice them with him a little more. I too think Jujitsu is the way to go. Not only because it works well with wrestling but because it's what wins all the ultimate fighting championships.
I would also say its the way to go. I am thinking of getting my boys straight into it and maybe bypass wrestling. But wrestling really helps you in a fight as well. Most of the MMA champs are wrestlers gone jujitsu. So wrestling really does help. Al far as the purest of sports I would say its catch or submission wrestling. One guy wins when the other one taps out but no striking involved. Back exposure doesn't matter like it does in wrestling which is good because many attack moves originate from your back.
That would be awesome if you were to get your black belt. It would be a fun skill to have. The only problem with jujitsu being the superior martial art (Brazilian or Japanese) is that everybody knows it to be true and therefore train it. Now if I had to fight a guy like I did that one Christmas he would probably know it as well. But as far as self defense against slime balls I don't think it can be beat. I've taught Heidi some stuff but I'm sure she's forgotten it. Not her fault really, you need to go over and over this stuff. We just need to buy a wrestling mat (and have the space to put it).
Speaking of the samurai. Check out the Nova special on their swords. Very cool, I wish I had 10 grand to buy one. Anyway as far as MMA I thought that was the new official designation for the actual martial art. I know they have their original disciplines, but it seems that the rise to the top you really have to branch out into a true MMA (mixed martial arts) style.
MMA stands for the fact that the fights are between different styles. Karate vs. Judo vs. Jujitsu vs. wrestling... But once the Gracie’s came out and dominated everyone people realized they needed to at least be able to defend themselves against being taken down and submitted. So your karate and boxing guys cross trained with wrestling and jujitsu for that reason. Most if not all of the fighter train one striking form of martial art (Karate, Boxing, Mui Tai) and one form of grabbling martial art (Wrestling, Judo, Jujitsu). But I think "MMA" originally meant that each discipline would fight the other.
I concur on the samurai sword NOVA. Makes me wish gun's had never been invented.
I mean grappling, not grabbling.
By joining the BYU jujitsu club I was automatically enrolled in Shotokan Karate as well. So for eight hours a week I am working on strikes and throws. The hardest part is learning to roll. Not as easy as it looks.
Well, whereas the samurai sword is a "beautiful" weapon, check this one out. Wow!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4ebtj1jR7c&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fkotaku.com%2F5323987%2Ffirst-modern-warfare-2-multiplayer-video-shows-killer-killstreaks&feature=player_embedded
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