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MA articles in Metro Eireann
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07-08-2007 7:40pm#1
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Haven’t had a chance to read them all but seem cool.
I think some of the things he said about Tae Kwon Do was a little.. well Stupid.
TKD needs to get rid of the ‘wired myths’? board breaking and leave patterns behind?? :eek:
Suppose a WFT class would have suited his personality better..
Had to laugh about his description of John Ng..
Good aul John, he’s an excellent instructor and sound bloke.. but does tend to waffle a bit sometimes..
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Scramble wrote:Anyone been reading Robert Carry's series of articles in Metro Eireann, titled 'Martial Arts... For the uninitiated'? I've stumbled across the online versions and I gather that the idea is that every week he visits a martial art from a different country (in keeping with the paper's multicultural ethos) and then reports on it.
Carry goes in with his sceptical faculties turned on and manages to capture some of the more ludicrous aspects of some martial arts classes.
The articles on-line:-
Aikido
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=420&Itemid=26
Taekwondo
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=360&Itemid=26
Capoeira
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=328&Itemid=26
Pro-wrestling
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=296&Itemid=26
Gakta
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=273&Itemid=26
Krav Maga
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=264&Itemid=26
Brazillian Jiu Jitsu & MMA
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=221&Itemid=26
Kung Fu
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=198&Itemid=26
Muay Thai
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=140&Itemid=26
Boxing
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=147&Itemid=26
Hapkido
http://www.metroeireann.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=110&Itemid=26
I've been wondering why my ears have been burning all week! Thanks for taking the time to post up this thread about my lowly column. I've been writing the thing for months without any feedback whatsoever and I was starting to think my Ma was the only one reading it.
What I was trying to get at in the TKD column, and it's a common theme in most of the columns, is that I'm really not fond of the practices in martial arts that don't make the best use of your time in a practitioner's bid to improve as a fighter (and that's just my own opinion). For me, Kata falls into that category. The 'weird' myths (sorry, that was actually a typo
) I was on about where the likes of instructors telling you that you'll break a fighters leg with a flick of the wrist if you concentrate hard enough. Now I know not all TKD instructors will say that sort of stuff but I was basically telling the story of my own experience and the conclusions I drew from it.
On the Muay Thai, apologies for the error on when it came to Ireland. I'd no idea there's been a club in Belfast for that long. And I know there's a debate about whether or not the glass fists thing happened but although it may not have taken place in living memory, the stories have been flying around for quite a while so there's a possibility a couple of fights were settled that way. That's the beauty of a column - they give writers a chance to be more flexible in the things they say!
Anyway, delighted that people are reading the column and there's a load more that have appeared in the paper but which are yet to be uploaded onto the website. There should be stuff on Escrima, kickboxing (tiring), ninjitsu (weird) Iaido (ughh), Bujinkan Tai Jutsu (enjoyable), and Kendo (couldn't find the place) up over the next week or two. I'm actually running low on ideas for where to go next so if you know of a style that I haven't covered, which are now all listed, and the classes in the Dublin area then give me a shout. Also, if you email editor@metroeireann.com with any comments, corrections, criticisms or praise your letter will be published.
And vash_ro, are you the big bloke from the Loughlinstown BJJ/MMA class against whom I had absolutely zero joy when were doing the submittion stuff??0 -
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Trevor Coulahan wrote:Haven’t had a chance to read them all but seem cool.
I think some of the things he said about Tae Kwon Do was a little.. well Stupid.
TKD needs to get rid of the ‘wired myths’? board breaking and leave patterns behind?? :eek:
Suppose a WFT class would have suited his personality better..
Had to laugh about his description of John Ng..
Good aul John, he’s an excellent instructor and sound bloke.. but does tend to waffle a bit sometimes..
A good, honest account by the journo. I used to train in Exchequer St. TKD. I do agree with the statement " groundless myths around concentrating body strength and suchlike that are associated with Taekwon-Do and some other Asian forms. That stuff just gives martial arts a bad name. You cannot imbue parts of your body with mystical, physics-defying qualities. no matter what people say, Trad MA is not as bad as some make out, Karate, TKD, Kung Fu etc aren't as completely useless as some preceive. Pity he didn't train with Brendan O'Toole, he's a gas man, but boy, can he do the business, and I'm not talking about kata either.
He rightfully contends that Muay Thai and BJJ are probably the most effective he has encountered.
As for his (fair) contention that BJJ " In a one-on-one fight, BJJ – as trained for MMA – is basically unbeatable. Even a Thai boxer will only get in a couple of shots before generally succumbing to a takedown and submission. Unfortunately, as a form of defence, this is where it falls down. As anyone who has braved O’Connell Street at closing time will tell you, one-on-one fights are rare. This means that the last place you want to end up if set upon is on the ground with your attacker, because as sure as night follows day a third party will start raining down boots until you let go of his buddy. And then all you can do is curl into a ball and wait for John the garda to come help you. " Well if you get into a scrap on O'Connell St or any street for that matter at closing time, your usually half if not fully scuttered and apart from been James Bond or Fatty Seagull ( Steven Segal) - your well and truly bolloxed .
As for defending your self against multiple attackers, if you got into a street brawl with another guy, and a 3rd fella comes behind him also raining in punches, kicks, grabs you by the neck etc while the other guy is also pummeling you, in the sheer pannick and few seconds you'll have to 'dispose ' of your attackers...... you'll be waking up in the A + E department. If you ever do get into a situation with multiple attackers - RUN.0 -
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People buy way too much into the spiritual aspect of the Japanese martial arts, the "Do" - the way of life concept. The people who buy into it the most seem to be non-Japanese.
I lived in Japan for a few years and had some exposure to martial arts. I never seen anyone take the "Do" concept very seriously, take Judo for example, the guys who do Judo do it to kick ass and win competitions not to find some deep spiritual enlightenment. Arts like Iaido aren't really seen as a spiritual way of life, they're seem to be a way to keep a tradition, an out of date skill set alive. I actually had a friend who did Iaido there, he was probably the only person in the group under the age of 60 and he was a foreigner.
Saying that Rob was "making insulting comments on a foreign culture without understanding" is not really fair, I have a feeling that most Japanese people would have found the article funny and would have agreed with it.
A group of lads trying to be Samurai or ninjas in the name of spiritual enlightenment..... come on, it is a bit funny 0 -
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Gorman wrote:A group of lads trying to be Samurai or ninjas in the name of spiritual enlightenment..... come on, it is a bit funny
Hi Gorman,
It is actually not funny but it is easy to make fun of people. Labelling Iaido practitioners, as both you and Rob did, as wanna-be Samurai/Ninjas is as insulting to them as labelling Thai Boxers wanna-be Bruce Lees. People have various reasons for practising martial arts, one of which may be for spiritual discipline, another may be because it is fun.
When I state that Iaido is a spiritual discipline I am not saying that those who practise it do so specifically for that reason. The reason that I do make the point that it is meant as a spiritual discipline is to the put the practise of it in context. There is a maxim in architecture that states, “form follows function”. As the function/goal of Iaido is different from Muay Thai/BJJ which the author favours, this means the form/method of training will be different also.
If the people who teach Iaido stated that the practise of it would enable you to defend yourself on the street then you could rightly say that their training methods do not support this but this is not the case.
Rob Carry stated that he was “disgusted” when they took down the punch bags. Was he disgusted with the absence of punch bags when he did the BJJ class or is BJJ less of an easy target?
Regards,
Michael
www.iewto.org0 -
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Was he disgusted with the absence of punch bags when he did the BJJ class or is BJJ less of an easy target?
Actually we have punchbags a lot of them, we use them during fight class on thursdays. No swords though, so jealous! 0 -
Michael O Leary wrote:Hi Gorman,
It is actually not funny but it is easy to make fun of people. Labelling Iaido practitioners, as both you and Rob did, as wanna-be Samurai/Ninjas is as insulting to them as labelling Thai Boxers wanna-be Bruce Lees. People have various reasons for practising martial arts, one of which may be for spiritual discipline, another may be because it is fun.
When I state that Iaido is a spiritual discipline I am not saying that those who practise it do so specifically for that reason. The reason that I do make the point that it is meant as a spiritual discipline is to the put the practise of it in context. There is a maxim in architecture that states, “form follows function”. As the function/goal of Iaido is different from Muay Thai/BJJ which the author favours, this means the form/method of training will be different also.
If the people who teach Iaido stated that the practise of it would enable you to defend yourself on the street then you could rightly say that their training methods do not support this but this is not the case.
Rob Carry stated that he was “disgusted” when they took down the punch bags. Was he disgusted with the absence of punch bags when he did the BJJ class or is BJJ less of an easy target?
Regards,
Michael
www.iewto.org
Michael, I think our sense of humours might be quite different, I actually found the descriptions in the Iaido & ninjitsu articles very funny. Anyway that's not really the point, not everyone finds Tommy Teirnan or Biily Connelly funny - it's very subjective.
As far as making fun of them, it's fair game to me, I won't be insulted if they made fun of me. I don't see how I insulted anyone with my labelling:
People who study ninjitsu in the article = wannabe Ninja (goes without saying, right?)
People who study iaido in the article = wannabe Samurai. Now I'm not saying that all Iaido practitioners are wannabe Samurai but these guys sure sounded like it, bowing to the swords and dressing in the casual samurai outfit. If a person wants to learn how to draw a sword is all this extra baggage necessary ? especially all this Senpai & kohai BS ? If these guys where honest with themselves they'd admit that all the uniforms and ceremony are still used because it's fun to pretend you're a Samurai for an hour once a week. There's nothing wrong in playing pretend, as long as your honest about it, hell I'm going paintballing at the weekend and I'll pretend that im a soldier. I'll be a wannabe soldier...there's nothing insulting about that.
Anyway, I don't agree about the "spiritual discipline" aspect of any martial art, the thought is absurd to me. I don't think I really know what "spiritual discipline" even means!
Take care0 -
cowzerp wrote:if its about martial arts that are beneficial to self defense, like most people want-then he was right to be disgusted
Hi Cowzerp,
The point I am making is that Iaido is not a martial art that is beneficial to self-defence. Even some Aikido people who describe their art as a spiritual discipline state their art is great for self-defence. The Iaido people do not state this. Check out www.iaido.ie. It does not mention self-defence anywhere. Like Kyudo, the Japanese “martial art” of archery, it is more a practise of Zen meditation. Check out Eugen Herrigel’s book, “Zen in the art of Archery”.
If the Iaido practitioners invented rituals such as bowing to their sword then it is a bit silly. If that is the etiquette used in traditional Iaido based on Japanese culture then their “ritual” is perfectly legitimate and should be respected.
Regards,
Michael
www.iewto.org0 -
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Rob Carry wrote:, or the climbing that hill down the country in your bare feet.
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Croagh Patrick in Mayo
bare foot and in middle of night for the truly devoted! 0 -
TKD SC wrote:Croagh Patrick in Mayo
bare foot and in middle of night for the truly devoted!
That's the one. And it always seems to be elderly people hobbling up the that poxy mountian in the drizzle. They should have to pay a sub to mountain rescue before they head off. Can't understand it meself.0 -
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yeh, always drizzle! Don't know how they do it.
I did it once on a sunny day and nearly slipped the whole way down at the very top part! Damn runners instead of proper hiking boots!
They do it for St Patrick and the snakes!
Why when there's so many pubs that serve great Guinness down there would you want to?!
Still, impressive enough seeing those old ones do it. Although they do cheat with the big walking sticks!!0 -
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