Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Chanbara
Chanbara is a Japanese martial art. In translation it means sword fighter. This style of fighting was founded thirty years ago by Tanabe Tetsundo. Tetsundo originally called it Goshindo and later called it Chanbara. It is a fast moving martial art that uses padded weapons for safety to instruct expert sword training. It includes, knives, spears, clubs, and other various weapons. Some practices include usage of a wooden sword while wearing a cotton top uniform and pleated pants. Belts, knee pads, and badges are also used in the attire.
Capoeira
Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian martial art, game, and culture created by enslaved Africans in Brazil during the 16th Century. Participants form a circle and then take turns sparring in pairs in the middle of the circle. It's more acrobatic technique has extensive use of groundwork, like sweeps, kicks, and head butts. Throughout the match, the person must avoid a sweep, trip, kick, or head butt that can knock them down to the floor. Other techniques include elbow strikes, slaps, punches, and body-throws.
Krav Maga
About Krav Maga
Krav Maga is an Israeli army method of unarmed combat now gaining popularity all over the world. It is considered a “no-nonsense” method of self-defence for a variety of situations. Originally developed during the liberation fighting of Israel, Krav Maga is now practiced by the entire Israeli military - especially its elite forces.
Krav Maga combines elements of boxing, Judo, and Jujitsu as well as the use of weapons such as knives and sticks. This weapon technique is taught to deal with modern day street situations where guns and knives are often involved. There are no kata or other traditional martial arts training exercises.
The techniques of Krav Maga are highly practical and effective for the street. Individuals can attain a high level of profiency within a relatively short period of instruction.
Sumo
About Sumo
Sumo is a competitive contact sport where two wrestlers attempt to force one another out of a circular ring or to touch the ground with anything other than their feet. It originated in Japan and is still popular there now. The Japanese consider sumo a modern Japanese martial art, even though the sport has a history spanning many centuries. The sumo tradition is very ancient, and even today the sport includes a lot of ritual elements, like salt for purification, since sumo was used in the Shinto religion. Professional sumo wrestlers are required to live in communal sumo training stables known in Japanese as heya where their daily lives are dictated by strict tradition including meals and how they dress.
The winner of a sumo bout is either, the first person to force his opponent to touch the ground with any part of his body or the first person to force his opponent to step out of the ring. Occasionally the referee awards the win to the wrestler who touched the ground first. It happens when both of the wrestlers touch the ground at once and it's decided that the wrestler who touched the ground second had no chance of winning. The losing wrestler is referred to as being shini-tai or dead body in this case.
Judo
About Judo
Judo, which means "The Gentle Way", is a Japanese martial art based upon the ancient techniques of jujutsu. it's known more for throwing techniques and alot of other techniques for controlling an opponent while on the ground. Judo has alot of dangerous self-defense moves. When practicing Judo, timing and leverage is important to bring your opponent off balance and execute a throw. After throwing the opponent to the ground a hold-down technique can be used such as, chokes, strangleholds, and arm locks. If the opponent doesn't surrender, he will either have his elbow joint dislocated due to an armlock or could become unconscious from a choke hold.
In 1964 Judo was the first martial art to become sport in the Olympics. Judo competitions are held all around the world. Points are awarded for throwing an opponent, holding an opponent on his back while on the mat for a certain amount of time, or forcing an opponent to tap out. to an armlock or choke or rendering the opponent unconscious with a choke.
People practice Judo for self defense and exercise. It's good exercise for flexibility, speed, strength of the heart and muscle development.
Aikido
Aikido evolved in the historic tradition of Japanese warrior arts. It's more than tactics and self-defense. It's discipline for perfecting the spirit. Aikido technique is the use of body movements to create circular motion around a stable center. Some techniques are so good that they send the opponent flying through the air. There are small movements that immobilize an opponent. It's mainly the energy of the attack itself that brings down the opponent. Most practice is done with a partner. Each works at his or her own level of ability, taking turns as an attacker.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Eskrima
The history of Eskrima is surrounded by a legend which makes it difficult to pin down facts. Being a martial art for the common folk, they lack the education to create a written history. This is especially hard to do because there are many different fighting systems with different histories that are called Eskrima. One explanation for the origin of Eskrima is that they were originally the fighting systems possessed by every tribe in the Philippines and used by them to fight and defend against each other. Eskrima or Escrima refers to a class of Filipino Martial Arts that emphasize stick and sword fighting. Practitioners of these arts are noted for their ability to fight with weapons or empty hands interchangeably. Most Eskrima systems include fighting with a variety of weapons, striking with hands, grappling and throwing, and whatever skills needed to complete the task.
Shuai Chiao
Shuai Chiao also know as Chinese fast Wrestling is one of the oldest Chinese martial arts with a history of over 4,000 years. The first military recorded of its use was when the Yellow Emperor of China fought against the rebels, 2,697BC. They used horned helmets and gored their opponents while using a primitive form of grappling. This early style of recorded combat was first called Chiao Ti which means butting with horns. This military fighting style was the first set of fighting techniques that was used by the Imperial Army, which consisted of throws, hand and foot strikes, seizing joints, attacking vital parts and breaking joints in context of throwing. All of these elements of fighting skills were practiced in training during the winter months and used in hundreds of battles in ancient China. It is the root and the foundation of Chinese martial arts. Over the years Shuai chiao gradually became a sport in the Qin Dynasty.