Ranks, Titles, Bushido and Bullshit ( A Rant)

Recently, I have been getting more and more annoyed with the pompous self serving unrealistic bullshit going on in the martial arts world, you know what I am talking about. The "I'm an authority because" or "my kungfu is better than your kungfu" or worse still is " I can throw my chi but it only works on some people" so on and so fourth. People talking more about philosphy ( there is nothing wrong with philosophy I am a student myself) then martial art and explaining overly complicated and unsubstantiated theory and technique that has never even been pressure tested at 50%. People focus more on selling the sizzle, on the "way" or "path". It also occurs to me that people forget that the "Do" suffix was added during peace times when martial skills were becoming martial sport. There is nothing wrong with sport but tell your students and observers that it is such, I am reminded on something my grandfather said "don't piss on my head and tell me it's raining". Lets remember what martial art is, it is hurting the guy who is trying to hurt you or your loved one breaking it down into an even  simpler idea it's hurting the bad guy everything else is just fluff.

My big issue is that as time passed the traditional arts became more and more stylized, straying further and further from their original purpose, and people believe that this is "the traditional", "the source", when really it is quite the opposite. A good example of this was a quote from Kelly McCann "during World War 2 which was at the height of the whole Budo/ Bushido frenzy, a lot of hand to hand engagements were won by a 19 year old G.I. swinging an M1 Garand like a baseball bat"! People forget this instructors forget this! They forget that a real fight is dirty and nasty, it is fury and chaos in other words it's a cluster Fuck. So why are we saying one thing and doing another why are we concerned with how many stripes are on our belts and if a guys wrist is slightly out of position while performing a kendo kata, what should concern us is can you fight?

Can you really fight, or do you just talk about fighting like children talk about war, Bang Bang your dead I got you! I don't mean can you spar, I mean can you fight! Are you prepared to fight with no pads, no rules and no referee with no one to save you! Now I am not saying go out and pick a fight, or saying I am some tough guy killing machine. What I am saying is are you prepared to maim or kill to bleed and be covered with blood, is that what you train for? Are you ready for the worst? Or are you a dojo warrior? I have met far to many black belts that can tell me the rules or the philosophy but can't defend themselves or do a technique unless the attack is just so and the attacker doesn't react in any way to what they are doing. WHAT IS THAT? Wake up no one is going to just stand there while you beat on them. And you call yourself an "artist"! I am done with it, done with the labels. Done with people labeling themselves a martial artist, saying I am this style or that style martial artist. After almost 18 years and dedicating my whole life my entire being to the study of martial arts I am relinquishing the label of "Martial Artist" unfortunately it has been cheapened and no longer means what it used to. I am hence forth a "Defensive Combatant"! There is no need for a "Do" or "Way" if you study the warrior arts, if you study combat and combative techniques then that is the way! If you really want to follow the path of the warrior and live the warrior life style then all you need are these:

• Have a good moral compass.
• Be ready, willing and able to defend yourself, your loved ones or those weaker then you.
• Understand that if you fight you may have to maim or kill and that when violence is the answer it is the only answer.
• Be realistic in your training and study.
• Be true to and with yourself and your students.
• Don't focus on the minutia.
• Field test/pressure test your techniques and make them fail!
• Be a good training partner and fight back!
• Always train like your life depends on it because it DOES.
• Never train a technique at less then 60% power and speed.

That is it, that's the way. I often get questions from students and training partners about why I am so intense, and the answer is simple. I know what real violence looks like, I know what it is like to be a victim, to be beaten, bloodied, have bones broken be cut and stabbed, to have your skull cracked and jaw broken. I know what a broken nose, and broken eye sockets feel like, I know what it feels like to have your wrist broken and to be almost blinded (These are for the most part different occasions). When I tell them I know and want them to train so they never will then they understand. I would like to end this RANT with a quote from Dan Innosanto "take what is useful and throw the rest away". Remember if you want to stay clean you got to fight Dirty!

Real Violence Needs Real Solutions

M.U.C.T