| KUGAI’S VIEW OF MARTIAL ARTS Wisdom of the martial arts should be the best tool for you in any self-defense situation. In terms of self-defense, you must not be defeated. Your only choice is to win, nothing more and nothing less. The goal of the martial arts should also be that simple, so they can be the most efficient for fighting. However, most people, and even so-called martial artists misunderstand the true way of the martial arts. In their view, the goal of the martial arts is not winning in actual fighting, which leads the martial arts to be inefficient in real battles. This problem has existed all the time since the martial arts were created. Around four hundred years ago, there was one swordsman called “Musashi Miyamoto” who is known as one of the greatest martial artists in Japan. His goal for martial arts is to fight and win. His first match was at the age of thirteen against a swordsman of the Shinto Style, Arima Kihei. Musashi killed him with a blow of his wooden sword after the opponent pulled his real sword. He fought sixty matches in his life and never lost. The martial arts were a very important aspect in that era because of the many domestic wars in Japan. In martial arts schools, people practiced to be good warriors on the battlefield. Although Musashi had never had a teacher when he studied the way of the martial arts, he defeated several famous school instructors, including some who held the position of martial arts instructor to the shogun’s family. In my opinion, unlike school instructors who care more about how their martial arts look and sound good to others in a dojo, Musashi saw the way of the martial arts in a simple way. The true way of the martial arts is to win in actual fighting. Musashi thoroughly investigated many possible aspects of real battles. He used the environment to take every advantage in a situation. He often tried to disturb his opponents psychologically. He knew that the true wisdom of the martial arts could be acquired only from pragmatic and realistic fighting. That is what we need to learn to defend ourselves. Instructors who look good and sound impressive in front of others in a dojo do not necessarily understand the reality of fighting. Those people usually have an inefficient, rigid style. They just believe in techniques that older instructors taught and handed down without knowing how to use them. Many people have asked me about my style. When people see me practicing kicking and punching, they ask me what style of kicking I am using. Although I possess black belts in some styles, I simply answer, “It has nothing to do with a style.” I will try to kick and punch in the most efficient way depending on a fighting situation. Why do you need a style? When I practice grappling and choke my opponent, people ask, “Is that Jiu-jitsu or Judo?” I just try to choke efficiently. My goal is just to beat my opponent. No style should prevent me from pursuing the best way to fight. If you try to pursue the best way, do not try to find the best style. Instead, find the way, which works simply best for you and a particular situation. I have to criticize many martial arts schools for teaching self-defense because what they teach in their dojo is far from what may happen in real world. I met many black belts in various styles who confessed to me that they are not confident to fight outside of sports competition. When an assailant grabs you and takes you down to the ground, how do you fight? If you never wrestle on the ground in your school, your chance of survival is close to zero. I cannot believe in people who teach self-defense without significant training for grappling on the ground. However, I have seen instructors in self-defense seminars, usually non-grappling style practitioners, who try to find solutions for that within their fighting systems. Therefore, their applications of techniques often look unrealistic to me. It is much better if you can chose any techniques, whether grappling or strikes, which most effectively solve a problem in a particular self-defense situation. Musashi criticized other styles like this, “I have found that they were either speaking with clever pretexts or demonstrating detailed hand maneuvers; while they looked good to the eye, none of them had the heart of truth. They are all injurious to the true way of the martial arts.”(translated by William Wilson) He taught, “The true way of the martial arts is to fight with your opponent and win, and this should not be changed in the slightest. If you grasp the strength of wisdom of the martial arts and put it directly into practice, there should be no doubt of victory.”(translated by William Wilson) Bruce Lee also criticized traditional styles. “ One ought to throw away all ideals, patterns, styles; in fact, he should throw away even the concepts of what is or isn’t ideal.” Even that era when people were often exposed to death or life situations, the most important goal of the martial arts schools was not victory in actual combat. Instead of that, whether they notice or not, they sought to be seen as better fighters by establishing rigid styles. The martial arts today are obviously in a worse situation. Most schools are not teaching techniques for realistic fighting. Their teaching is just for sports and fitness. They may also try to sound politically correct due to social pressure against violence. Because of this, the wisdom of the martial arts is not understood anymore. In my opinion, the martial arts are like a science. Only if they are understood this way, can they be used in their most powerful form. With science, we could destroy people’s lives. With science, we could also save people’s life. The martial arts could be understood in the same way. Some schools are saying, “If you are a bad person, you are not a good martial artist.” However, a morally bad person could still be a good martial artist. He or she could use the wisdom of martial arts in an evil way, whereas a morally good person could use it in the opposite way. Society sees friendly martial arts as more beneficial to society. In my opinion, it ruins what the martial arts can contribute to society. When we have many things to fight back against, like burglary, rape, kidnapping and even terrorism, we cannot afford to be unrealistic about self-defense. The martial arts should teach pragmatic methods to protect us from violent crimes. I was upset when I heard about some practitioners of martial arts could not fight at all when they were assaulted. It is understandable that they cannot fight back if they have not learned realistic ways of fighting. They are not only the victims of violence but also the victims of dishonest martial arts. In general, when martial arts, which were originally effective for self-defense, were handed down from generation to generation, their effectiveness faded away because their style became rigid for instructive purpose rather than useful for fighting. Many people are now noticing the inability of many martial arts schools to teach fighting arts that are applicable in the real world. That is why there are many self-defense seminars everywhere. Those self-defense instructors are much more realistic and teaching effective ways to escape from dangerous situations. However, they can teach only simple techniques because time is limited in seminars and the knowledge of those instructors is also limited. It is not sufficient to fight realistically with what you can learn in those seminars alone. Recognizing the problems of today’s martial arts, I am trying to provide best possible solutions to various self-defense situations. My art, KUGAI, is not a style but a way to fight most efficiently with the strength of the wisdom of the martial arts. If you are liberated by KUGAI to pursue the true martial art, you are more likely to find a better way to fight back than with any style. |