Green Tea Forum

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 904 Location: Japan

I started aikido a few months ago, thought perhaps there could be others interested in Japanese martial arts.

Photiou · Posted: Sep 21, 2007 5:39 am Post subject:

My record so far:
I have been on a kendo basic course few years ago and then I started daitoryu (kind of father of aikido) 1.5 years ago. This year I have been very lazy at training - last time was in June (and it did not go well).

Maybe I try next monday if I still find it interesting - for the horror of other students/teachers - I am really bad at it Embarassed

Photiou · Posted: Sep 25, 2007 5:55 am Post subject:

It was actually fun to train after a long break Smile

, though my knees don't like idori techniques much. Admin, how is the knee-walking going - I guess you get your share of it too?

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 904 Location: Japan

Yeah, every week. Knee walking is not my favorite aspect of it, that's for sure.

Ed · Posted: Oct 14, 2007 9:15 am Post subject:

What percentage of the public in Japan are involved in martial arts, roughly? I know it's great exercise. I'll bet it's a lot easier to find good instructors there than it is here in the U.S.

Kevangogh · Forum God Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 904 Location: Japan

Well, I don't know the percentages but surprisingly more than I originally thought. Judo is taught in a lot of junior and high schools. There is a grade school behind my place which is famous for kendo. I take aikido and there is a class next door full of karate students - I was surprised at the number of people in there, who knew? I would guess it to be about the same as in the USA but not sure. There is definitely a fair amount of people here taking martial arts here however.

britt · 2nd Degree Black Belt Joined: 22 Oct 2007 Posts: 175

This reply is not directly related to the topic, but is of interest. If you haven't seen it and it is still available, I would recommend watching a video titled "Fighting Black Kings." It is a documentary of a tournament held in Japan during the 1970's? It was open to other countries and styles and I viewed it multiple times. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find it on DVD. I'm told that it was released in Japan as well, but I don't know under what title.

I once took it to a bar frequented by street fighters, barroom brawlers, martial artists and drunks and had the owner pop it in the VCR. It received positive reviews from everyone. It was quite entertaining, at least back then, and several moves required frame by frame playback on a high quality VCR to really see what happened.

Of course, the Japanese swept most of the top 10 positions. Remember, however, that this is pre-Ultimate Fighting and when someone hit the ground, the fight was stopped until they either got back up or were carried away on a stretcher.

Photiou · Posted: Oct 28, 2007 9:35 am Post subject:

Karen · Black Belt Joined: 13 Apr 2007 Posts: 123

jimpres · Uh, Can I Add Sugar? Joined: 15 Jul 2008 Posts: 1

I have always been interested in Martial Arts. I studied Karate (Shito Ryu) run by Sensi Hayashi who lives in Japan. I also studied Iaido, Sai and Bo under his tutalidge. I also studied Aikido as taught under O'Sensi's forms.
Both have served me well throughout the years. I also attained my Class 'B' judge ranking for Karate.