subject: Compiling The Different Martial Arts Styles Into One System [print this page] The odd thing is, when we create martial arts styles and systems, we are repeating, and even compounding the errors of those who went before us. This is sort of an inarguable fact that nobody sees or understands. It is this fact that is at the heart of most Martial Arts systems.
The people of yesterday had no technology to draw upon. They didn't have logical methods of thought, or, many times, even any formal education. Thus, their look at martial arts was based on mysticism, and the resulting arts are born of that mysticism.
When some fellow began his study of the martial arts it would be based upon the sword techniques his father learned in the army of (enter some historical name). His father would be old, maybe even a little addled, but he would give his son what he remembered. The result would be a family bonding, and a secret style of ninjitsu, or gung fu, or whatever, would be born.
As time went on, these systems would eventually become known to greater or lesser degree. Consider the plight of the fellow interested in martial arts, and he has a version of Shaolin Gung Fu to draw on, half a system of Emei Wudan, and the stuff the kids at the playground were playing with. Out of this gobbledegook, which is the result of previous gobbledegook, he tries to make a system.
The real miracle is that this stuff worked! And, miracle of miracles, it sometimes worked awesome! But this is a testament to the creativity and ingenuity and perspiration and perception of humankind.
I was stuck in that realm once. I had half a style of derived Parker Kenpo, and a system of one style of Kwon Bup, a system that had roots in Okinawa, Japan, and even Korea. I also had an Americanized Karate Style, a strange version of Chum Kiu (the second form) Ving Tsun, a few months of aikido, a version of Ton Toi (Springy Legs) Northern Shaolin, and a few other bits and pieces. Let me tell you, I had some kind of fun trying to make sense out of that mish mash.
I mean the concepts of some of these systems were in direct cobnflict! Even inside a specific national style of art, maybe ton toi and wing chun, there was vast difference, and a disjointment of function that made it impossible to put their concepts together, or even relate them. And, courtesy of the exploding learning methods of the last half century I was dealing with books, mags, videos, seminars, and dojos opening on every corner, and learning nothing about how it all fit together.
But it does fit together, and it fits together like a pretty picture. And, truth, it has been planned to fit together. Once you get sufficient information, and a method for joining martial arts styles into one comprehensive concept, you'll find that even opposites such as Gung Fu and Judo, krav maga and tai chi, or whatever, can be put together in a whole style that is easier and faster to learn.
