Martial Arts, a Journey.

Long ago in a, Galaxy Far Far Away, I trained with the, then, newly opened
Nørrebro Copenhagen Taekwondo club.
We trained under the club owner, who was also the national trainer for the,
Danish Taekwondo Team
He was everything I had seen, in all those late night Bruce Lee Martial Arts movies.
Quite, very humble, very quick and very deadly.
An all around great guy.

I could see even then, that what he did and what we were doing was two very different things.
His moves were as smooth as silk and quicker that the eye could follow.
Even the best of us, were very pedestrian in comparison.
I enjoyed it, but it had/has serious limitations as a Martial Art.
It has been referred to as a lot of high energy Gymnastics.
I'm sure our trainer knew a lot about Hapkido and Hwa Rand Do than he ever told us.
There was also the Korean version of Ninjutsu, called Sulsa.
He did have the whiff of, "The Sulsa" about him.
Chuck Norris trained in Tang Soo Do when he was stationed in Korea.
Which was melded into Taekwando. During the great Martial reform in South Korea.
In the US this was always called Karate.
So all that kicking and breaking blocks, you saw on TV was all Korean Tang Soo Do.
I would have trained Ninjutsu back then, if there was a Dojo.
It was all the rage I remember back in the day.
And it looked really cool.
Stephan K Hayes was the man on the move.
As he had trained with Masaaki Hatsumi, the Togakure-ryū Soke (Grandmaster)
It was in every Black Belt Magazine I bought.

I trained Karate, when I moved away from Copenhagen, for a bit.
But I found it was a very rigid, very old fashioned system back then.
Compared to the free flowing Taekwando, I was used to.
I can see they have now, incorporated a lot of Taekwando into it, (Karate.)
But I never liked it, and would never recommend it to anybody.
That is just my own personal opinion.

Then I found JuJutsu and this had all the moves I was looking for.
This was around the time the Gracie family, started kicking ass in the US and Japan.
With their lethal brand of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu.
I remember a friend, that I trained Taekwondo with, had moved to the US and was heavy into Karate.
His 7th Dan Karate trainer took on Gracie, in a competition fight, and was choked out in a few secs.
I said to him, that is Jujitsu in a nutshell.
Never mind the dancing, take the guy out as quickly as possible.

Choke: Rickson Gracie Full Documentary:

The JuJutsu I trained was - Part Judo/ Part Akido / Part Karate.
We also trained Knife Fighting/ Stick Fighting
I loved training it and got my sons into it as well.
I though Akido, was possibly and still is, the most beautiful of all the Martial Art's.

They have a competition called Jujutsu Duo, which comprises 2 fighters going through a stylistic fight.
In which they use all the moves available to them.
They are not competing against each other.
But rather, they are a team competing against other Duo teams.
It is, a rather beautiful way to display some very effective martial art moves.

When I moved to the UK got my youngest son enrolled into Aiki Jiu Jitsu Kyusho.
I was also impressed with this and the trainer.

But as all the great trainers have said:
"It's your training and how you use it that gets you out of trouble."
"No amount of training will help, if you are shitfaced when the trouble starts."

I don't train anymore. But I have never forgotten the moves.
I sometimes practice some of my Jujutsu moves.
And I have shown women I've worked with how to get out of a Choke.

One of the lessons I learned from training JuJutsu was this.

When someone grabs you, without your permission.
That is an assault on your person.
If he, (it's always a he;D) is using both his hand to hold you, and both your hands and legs are free.
You're actually in control of him and the situation.
And in a position to do serious some damage.
But, only as long as you know what to do.
And that my friends, is where a trip to a decent Martial Arts Dojo is needed.

Images care of aikidosoul & Tumblr