Martial Arts

[Claymore]

We all write about fighting. Our characters brawl, shoot and duel, but how many of you actually practice Martial Arts themselves? Which Martial Arts do you practice, why do you practice it and, since we are after all on a roleplay forum, how does it influence your writing?

I started practicing Martial Arts when I was thirteen, though the desire to do so was sparked much earlier when I saw a karate black belt perform a kata when I was eight. I had been dancing for already four years then and the control, beauty and power of the kata, so similar to a dance, entranced me immediately. As said earlier I only got the chance to actually practice karate five years later however. For a while I was contend with that and I continued dancing until I entirely forsook dancing and also started practicing Modern Wushu at the age of seventeen. From then it from bad to worse and I started practicing Taido a year later, last fall I started Judo and after my karate-sensei stopped teaching I also started jiu-jutsu. In total I practice about six to seven hours a week. Oh yeah call me crazy

I guess the reason why all my characters are fighters is also partly due to the fact I'm a Martial Artist myself and it has helped me greatly in describing their fighting styles; do they fight as a karateka or like a taidoka or do they in fact favor one of the many Wushu styles instead? Describing actual fighting moves remains difficult despite a better knowledge of them and so far the only time I actually describedone it was a simple knife-disarm.

[Gadreille]

My father taught me some basic Judo as well as practical self defense if I am ever in a jam, but that is all I know. I've also played around with some knives and bamboo sticks but nothing serious.

I have never taken martial arts classes, but I hope that when my son is older we can do some sort of self defense class as a family. I don't know how well I will do, considering I have really bad joints and possibly a bone deforming disease, which makes heavy excercise painful and difficult to do. I haven't let it stop me so far, and hopefully it won't stop me then I don't take classes now because frankly, I can't afford it and don't have the time for it. I have school and my son to care for. When school is over and Taeo is old enough to accompany me, it will be much easier to make time for.

[Claymore]

Martial arts in a family is fun. In my family it was also my Da who started the tradition. Though he can't practice anymore because of his bad knee, he used to be a judo brown belt. My little brother is also a Judo brown belt and recently started jiu-justu. The only in the family who doesn't practice martial arts is my Mom but she entertaining the thought of starting on Tai Chi . It sometimes results in funny conversations at the dinner table.
Me: "You hold onto his gi, you place your right leg on his left thigh and then you launch your left leg around his neck while trapping his left arm between you legs and you let yoursel fall ...."
Mom: "Sweethearts can't we have a normal converation for once?"
Us: "No Mom!"


I admire the fact that you don't intend on letting your joints keep you back. As far as I know the Martial Art that's least bad for your joints is Tai Chi but you usually risk being stuck with old ladies unless you find a school who's associated with a wushu school. Those tend to actually do a bit more of the practical stuff like pushing hands. Jiu-jutsu is of all the martial arts I've practiced the one who places the heaviest burden on joints. Being hypermobile my joints can take a lot of punishment before they start hurting but even I've walked away from the lesson with a painful elbow or wrist a couple of times.

If you like messing around with knives or short bamboo sticks you might want to try out Eskrima. They actually work with those weapons. Bamboo is however the worst choice for staffs.

[Silvan Arrow]

Ooh! Ooh! I'm so glad you started this thread, Claymore!

I started practicing martial arts when I was fourteen or fifteen (I think... It's hard to remember exactly.). Two of the kids in my neighborhood that I carpooled to school with were taking Tae Kwon Do lessons for free at a local church in our neighborhood, and my mom and I got interested and decided to give it a try. We ended up sticking with it and got our blackbelts in about 3-4 years. I had to wait longer since I wasn't 18 yet, so my mom beat me to it (Grrr...lol). I got my blackbelt during the summer after my freshman year of college. While I couldn't practice much because I was gone for college so much, my mom kept going and eventually got her second degree blackbelt. During the same summer that I got my blackbelt, I started going more regularly to a martial arts school run by my adoptive godfather. The school taught pretty much every kind of martial art style imaginable, including Kung Fu, Aikido, Tai Chi, and Judo. In addition to dabbling briefly in Kung Fu, I started kendo and got my yellow belt while my mom got a ranking patch in bo staff. I keep my shinai (bamboo sword) in my apartment room here at college, but I haven't been able to practice in a long time. I want to get back into it when I go home for the summer, though.

Martial arts has definitely influenced my writing. I like to make my characters fighters of some sort, and being able to draw from that experience really helps, especially if I'm writing about a character doing a Tae Kwon Do form as training or describing a sword fight.

[Silvan Arrow]

I also enjoyed kendo for the short time that I did it than my years of Tae Kwon Do. The drills we did in Tae Kwon Do got kind of old after a while, but every kendo lesson was different because you never knew what your sparring partner would do next. Plus there were lots of different drills that I did to work on balance, strike points, and accuracy, so it never got boring.

[Claymore]

Hmm kendo is also something I would like to try. If I ever get the time for it that is .
We do work with weapons in wushu but it's reduced to kata's. So far I know the kata for the jian (chinese straight sword) and the gun ( staff). I really love jian for it's fleet-footedness and elegance but the staff is fast becoming my favourite if only because even a small person like me can still do a lot of damage with the thing . When I slam it flat on the ground I manage to produce a sound that's not unlike a gunshot. I managed to scare a couple of kids stiff during my last demonstration.

It's rather interesting that martial arts were taught at a church. You gotta tell me more about that.

So far I've managed to keep practicing despite studying though it's mainly beacuse most of the martial arts I practice are taught the uni's sport-centre. In fact the Taido dojo there is the only one in the whole Netherlands.

[Cypher]

I wanna learn Wing Chun. The guys who have learned the Wing Chun punch? You can't even see their hands clearly, they punch so fast. You're basically just punching your opponent so hard and so fast in their center mass that you're liquefying their organs.

It's awesome.

[Claymore]

Yep You're right, Whing CHun punching is very impressive though I always think it's a bit of a pity WIng Chun disregards indirect punches like backhands. Wing Chun believes in breaking a defense, while I think sometimes it's just faster to go around. Which is why I like Taido so much since it's all about slipping past a defense, instead of breaking it. We've got a few very powerful kicks but before that we usually add a move to slip past the defense.

[Silvan Arrow]

I'm not entirely clear about the story of teaching Tae Kwon Do at the church. The man who started it is a 5th Dan black belt and was the pastor at that church, so that's probably how he was able to get the space to practice in the big room at the entrance (it had a tile floor and a closet for all the sparring gear). I don't know how he got it started, but when I first went it already had quite a few people. I guess he just asked around the church crowd and some locals who were interested and got enough people to justify starting the class. The best part was that the lessons were free. We only had to pay for our uniforms and when we underwent promotion tests. Overall, it was a really sweet deal. Sadly, we had to shut down the class last year. All the original people either got their black belts and stopped coming or got busy with other stuff and couldn't come anymore. Our class had shrunk to a 3rd Dan black belt who taught because the first guy quit, my mom, two 11-year old twin girls (they were so adorable and loved me and my mom), and then myself whenever I was home for college.

[Claymore]

Oh I know what you mean. That's what happened with my karate class. My sensei decided to stop because only a few people were coming and the lesson was on a very inconvenient time for him. I thought it was a bit of pity especially since I was getting ready for my first dan. I hope I can pick it back up someday but I've already forgotten all the katas except bits of the first. I have to say I'm very bad with kata's to begin with, I still have a lot of trouble doing Sentai no Hokkei, the first Taido kata, even though I'm a green betl . I started martial arts for the katas but it figures I'm actually better at sparring because of my bad memory.

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