can you talk your way out of a fight

[musashis5rings]

what i'm going to explain here is, simply, you can read all you want about martial arts history, who trained who, and technical gargen til your blue in the face, but until you can physically do just a little of it, your knowledge makes you nothing more than a GAMER.

I write this to inform you of the people who publish some well known books who did little more than train on fantacy island.
Okinawan karate.....Secret techniques,....wriiten by marc bishop,  was about as accurate as a political poll.

as a matter of fact after talking to the first person from america to recieve a black belt in shorin ryu under Hohan Sokan, i realized that the book was more sci fi than anything.




be careful about being a book warrior, before experiencing the reality,....books are easier, and i suppose if you had enough of them, you could throw them at an attacker or build a wall around yourself and hide, but i wouldn't endorse it.

steve

[highlander]

I agree that those who usually write do not know a lot (however, there are exceptions).  Usually writers tend to travel around and "experience" martial arts through others, usually by hanging onto their coattails.  Personally, I found some of Marc's stuff to be on target, some way off.  On the other hand Pat McCarthy's stuff is what I consider sci fi - finding the grandson of ryu ryu ko!  What rubbish!   Another is George Dillman - what rot! - but again, just my opinion. Tah!

[jvaran]

McCarthy actually claimed to have found the grandson of Ryu Ru Ko?!   That's a good one that I hadn't heard before.   Was this is in one of his books where claimed to have found this person?

[Anthony Clark]

Good afternoon,

This is neither an agreement nor a disagreement.  It's more a tangential thought.  There are a number of exceptional texts out there, written by both martial artists and excellent researchers.  In the same sense, there are a number of poorly written, poorly researched texts as well.  It's a minefield out there from a martial literary sense.

I believe in reading to augment the knowledge taught and practiced.  Books like Sun Tzu's, Musashi's and a few others are exceptional texts that I would recommend for anyone studying.  Some books I would recommend waiting until you've learned enough to understand the difference in . . . well truth and rubbish.

A good rule of thumb is to ask your teacher what he or she thinks are good texts to begin with.  You should practice though.  Always.  As Socrates indicated a few years back, "Exercise your muscles as well as your mind." Indicates to me they go hand in hand.

I am amused at the Ryu Ryu Ko grandson thing.  I thought it was a place.

Have an exceptional and safe Fourth of July.

Anthony

[highlander]

In his text "The Bible of Karate" Bubishi on page37, and I quote "Xie Wenlian (b.1959),the great-grandson of Ryuru Ko, characterized Kanryo as an enthusiastic youth...."Photo on page 32 of said great-grandson.  Tah!  

[musashis5rings]

i wouldn't believe anything george dilman said or wrote. as a matter of fact.
 dilman claimed to be a black belt when he aproached James H. Coffman for lessons, and after Coffman found out dilman lied, he was kicked out of his school.

one book i found to be accurate is Weaponless Warrior.

it has accounts of actual fights that occurred on okinawa.

dilmans nothing more than a court jester and good comic relief.

steve