Are you a thief of martial arts?

[musashis5rings]

If you can't disquise a technique, and you dont want anyone else to use it,..........now this is a tough one, so listen carefully and don't be offended.

If you don't want someone else to use it, don't do it in front of them.
The Kata "Kusanku" is a form that my own wife has never seen me do, and none of my students will ever see me do it until they are ready.



your thoughts on this





steve

[lmgrahamdc]

I do have a question for you, why Kusanku?  I realize it is long and complex for an Okinawan form and that it utilizes many diverse techniques such as  kneeling, flying double straight forward kicks (rare for Okinawan arts), stomps, flying crescent kick, etc., etc. but this form can be found readily out in the public.  The reason I ask is there was one gentleman who insisted he would be a master if he learned the hrokishu (sp?).  That was the only form he wanted to learn.  Would it make him a master? Don't know, but there are other more impressive forms and techniques out there.  And he couldn't give me a reason.  As for keeping knowledge from a student, spouse, etc. I agree. There is a time for their learning and a time not for them to learn.  Sometimes when you give knowledge too soon and it is too difficult for them, it will frustrate and possibly inhibit further progress.  But when they are ready, they will learn it.  I see my role as a teacher to make them as good as they can get, not for me to hold them down and keep them beneath me.  I expect my students to surpass me in all things.  If I do not do this, then I have failed as a teacher.  Just my thoughts.  Leslie

[jvaran]

That's kind of what I was thinking. If your wife and students never see you do Kusanku (and if they are truly interested) I don't see what's to stop them from picking up a book or video about it. Or is the version you do significantly different from the publicly available versions?

[musashis5rings]

there are less than ten people that know this form in it's original state
kusanku has been mutated because people weren't shown it all, or they were shown with the most significant parts left out.

steve

[lmgrahamdc]

Less than 10 people know the entire form? I find that hard to believe seeing as how many people are publishing/working on it.  How can you be so sure?  If it were a form no one had ever heard of, then I would be sure, but to assume that no one else has this...I think that would be not be prudent.  I think, as Sun Tzu would put it, you are not knowing the "enemy".  Leslie

[cjperk]

I must say I find this a very interesting statement as well about Kusanku? I wonder what Taika Oyata would say to this? He trained with Uhugushuku and Shigeru Nakamura and that his Kusanku kata in his system is not Original and is Mutated. His family history in martial arts can be traced back to the 1600's. I think that deserves some respect. But thats just my opinion. Jim

[musashis5rings]

shorin ryu matsumura goes back to the mid 1700's when sakagawa taught sokan matsumura and seven others that are in his lineage.
the kusanku i speak of hasn't changed since then, and there are only a handfull that know it the way sokan matsumura taught.
that is my explanation.

take it or leave it