Yogimus wrote:Jericho941 wrote:308Mike wrote:
That's why MMA, KickBoxing, and other contact sports actually MEAN something.
They're effectively the same thing. Are you trying to kill your opponent when you step into a ring? No? Congratulations, you're dancing.
most (90%) figths end up on the ground. Most (90%) fighetrs lack the stamina to keep at it for more than 2 or 3 minutes. Most (99%) severe injuries occur less than a minute in.
Here is what this means to you.
1. Know how to wrestle.
2. Don't blow your energy.
3. Longer you fight, the more of a chance for permanent injury.
Moral of this story? Quit fighting.
Yep!
Anyway, more to the subject: Yes, Japanese swords are overrated, and the folding technique is designed to compensate for crappy iron ore more than anything else. That doesn't mean the swords are crap, they're just not magic. Personally, I blame the 1980s fascination with ninja.
There's a big difference between "overrated" and "useless." Bushido was comparable to other medieval warrior philosophies, no better or worse. The code of chivalry is comparable: It was the way the warrior nobility were expected to live. Chivalry was also full of utter bullshit and codes of honor. The only reason why we roll our eyes and sigh when we say "chivalry is dead" is because it died completely, as opposed to bushido, which was revived in a hijacked form in the early 20th century and made out to be something it wasn't. It'd be like pointing at a zombie and saying "That guy's a total asshole." Well, yeah, but he didn't have any choice in the matter. He'd been dead for awhile before that happened.
As for martial arts: Coincidentally, have you heard of "
Bullshido"? It's a website dedicated to pointing out hokey martial arts and "McDojos," that is, martial arts schools that are little more than con jobs. But in any case, Taekwondo is a Korean martial art, and one designed more around show and competition than anything else. Few consider it suitable for combat, and it has only a passing relationship to Japanese martial arts. Both it and Hapkido are really too kick-oriented to be considered suitable for anything other than "fit, motivated individuals who still can't fight" that Highspeed mentioned.
To clarify what I was getting at with the "dancing" comment: Frankly, it is laughable to compare
any structured environment to a life-or-death fight. Every form of fight training you can take on can be boiled down to a dance: Katas, combinations, hell, the proper way to throw a straight jab, it's
all just a set of steps to memorize. It can be dirt simple with a purpose, like Uechi-Ryu karate, or it can be complicated and showy like TKD, but in the end, it's a set of dance moves. A sport might be full-contact, but at the end of the day, it is a full contact
sport.
Really, the value of a martial art in real-world combat can be boiled down to: When I am forced to revert to my basic instincts, the ones I've programmed to the best of my ability, am I going to react effectively, or am I going to respond with FLYING SUPER SECRET NINJA LEG FACE SWEEP KICK TECHNIQUE NO. 7 KA ME HA ME HAAAAAA!?
And, well, there actually are a lot of martial arts that will help you in self-defense scenarios. Striking-oriented martial arts help you with "hurt him bad enough that he's so busy clutching himself in agony, he'll never notice me running away." Wrestling-ish ones like Judo fit into the stats Yogi posted; control the situation immediately, establish dominance on the ground.
Most people's concept of martial arts, even from people who should know better, generally stems from Hollywood: Someone just shows up and roundhouse kicks/haymakers everyone to death and saves the day.
I'm amazed by the amount of people who fall for that bullshit blend of mysticism and spend hours upon hours walking up and down repeating strikes at unresponsive targets and call it training for war.
I fired an M16A2 fifty times at a set of scaled targets printed on a piece of paper, that could never shoot back, at 25 yards. I hit the targets 43 times and the authorities declared me an "expert" with the rifle. Do YOU want to get within 300 meters of me when I'm pissed off?
I don't care if the dummies didn't fight back, I don't want to get within striking distance of someone who spends his free
and working time hitting things with a blade.
You know why European fencers generally beat, say, Kendo artists in a style-v-style drill? It's because in fencing, it's all about the "touch," when you stab the opponent with the tip of your blade. In Kendo, you strike the opponent with a slash. 99% of the time, the guy lunging in and hitting with the pointy end is going to win, since it's a far faster and simpler attack. While this is all very fun to watch, in a real fight, it'd be interesting to see what happens. Whether an opponent, when "run through" with a rapier, disembowels his opponent with a slash or collapses in acceptance of his defeat.
I don't know what is driving me to go to bat for the medieval Japanese beyond general disgust with Spartan and Viking worship, but what the hell.