judo

Judo which stands (JU = Gentle) + (DO = Way) was originated from Japan in the 19th century. The reason why it is called the gentle way is because of its feature such as throwing, grappling, locks or executing a choke, not like other martial arts where the focuses on hitting it’s opponent. In Judo it does have Thrusts, Strikes and Weapons and used for Katas but it is not allowed to be used in competition or practices and also Judo uses the opponent's strength, weight and momentum against the opponent itself. As most of the “Non-Judo” practitioner might think that it this art is quite similar to Sambo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu but in fact, Judo is like the grandfather to these arts as these martial arts are developed due to the spread of Judo to worldwide.

The founder Kano Jigoro was a son to a Shinto Priest and government Official, Kano was a student of Jujutsu back in the late 1870s and after mastering the art of Jujutsu Kano start to develop techniques like kata-guruma and uki goshi back in 1880s, and with new ideas on developing the art of self defense Kano went to study his art of evolved jujutsu with a few students in a Buddhist temple which the place is later known as Kodokan. The art at that time was known as Kano Jiu-Do which later changed to Kodokan Jiu-Do and finally known as Judo at this age.

If we were to talk about Judo, besides the founder Kano Jigoro, all of us in Martial Arts Asia gives the highest respect to Keiko Fukada, 9th Dan and it made her the highest ranking women in the Judo World, born in 1913 who is the direct student of Kano Jigoro, the Keiko is still teaching Judo up to date. Yes, there is no typo error here, she should be 96 this year and the coming Judo camp will be on July 24-26, 2009 in San Jose and yet she still still actively teaching Judo.

Judo Primary focus is on nage-waza (throwing) and ne-waza (groundwork), I have listed a simple break down on the list of techniques to help us to understand more on the techniques.

nage-waza (throwing) is divided into 2 categories which is tachi-waza (standing techniques) and sutemi-waza (sacrifice techniques)

1. tachi-waza (standing techniques)
- te-waza (hand techniques)
- koshi-waza (hip techniques)
- ashi-waza (leg techniques)

2. sutemi-waza (sacrifice techniques)
- ma-sutemi-waza (thrower fall backwards)
- yoko-sutemi-waza (thrower fall sideways)

ne-waza (groundwork) is divided into 3 categories

1.kansetsu-waza (attacks against joint locks)
2.shime-waza (strangleholds)
3.osaekomi-waza (pinning techniques)

There are seven official forms of kata that are recognised by the Kodokan:

1. Randori (Free practice)includes of 2 two different kata:
1a. Nage no Kata (Throwing forms)
1b. Katame no Kata (Grappling forms)
2. Kime no Kata (Old style self-defence forms)
3. Kodokan Goshin Jutsu (Modern self-defence forms)
4. Ju no Kata (Forms of "gentleness")
5. Itsutsu no Kata (The five forms)
6. Koshiki no Kata (Ancient forms)
7. Seiryoku Zen'yō Kokumin Taiiku no Kata (National Physical Education kata)

However there are also other katas that is not recognized by Kodokan with other focuses.

Weight Divisions, are to separate both the parties to have a equal advantages over each other, the divisions are as below

Men
Under 60kg
60-66 kg
66-73kg
73-81kg
81-90kg
90-100kg
Over 100kg

Women
Under 48kg
48-52kg
52-57kg
57-63kg
63-70kg
70-78kg
Over 78kg

Judo is firstly seen in the LA Olympics in 1932 where the founder Kano Jigoro and about 200 students gave a demonstration, and Kano passed away before seeing Judo being officially taken in as an Olympic sport in Tokyo Olympics in 1964 for men and in 1988 for women.

For this posting, we would not talk about it’s belt and grading as it varies for different countries, we’ll leave it for another time and we hope you have enjoyed reading so far.

Ninjutsu

Ninjutsu is known as the art of endurance / perseverance/ patience, the Chinese and Japanese characters for Nin (忍) in Ninjutsu is a combination of 2 other word which is sword (刃) on top of the heart (心). There are a lot of movies or animation out there that brought the art of Ninjutsu to the public like American Ninja, 3 Ninjas, Shinobi, Ninja Turtle and Naruto.

Ninjutsu was traced back all the way to the 14th century feudal Japan with the war during Iga Province and Kōga of Japan, Samurais warriors that fought in the “actual” battle while shinobi are used as Spies, Assassin, and Thief. Ninjutsu is an art that should be taught to a shinobi in the ancient days but in this modern age it is taught to the public. During the ancient times, the male ninjas are known as Shinobi or Ninja where the female ninjas are known as Kunoichi. Although both practice the art of Ninjutsu but the focus is different.

Ancient Shinobi’s training can include techniques of gathering information, techniques of not being detected, avoidance, misdirection, disguise, escape, concealment, archery, medicine, explosives, and poisons.

There is a total if 18 different skills/disciplines that will be taught to a shinobi and it depend on them to choose the skill that they prefer to master.

The 18 Discipline:

1. Seishin-teki kyōkō – A Technique where one refine their mind and soul, Where a practitioner form a mindset to push the body to the limit allowing them to accept pain during training and actual battle.

2. Taijutsu – Unarmed body combat that teaches the practitioner to break / snap bones, striking on weak points of a human body, understanding the posture and how to fall without injuring one’s body, Striking patterns, Throws and Locks.

3. Kenjutsu – The art of sword fighting which is the same technique that Samurai uses. Kenjutsu is also considered as the mother of Kendo.

4. Bojutsu – The art of staff fighting, techniques involve are slashing, swinging, and stabbing with the staff. On Modern day Bojutsu is associated either with kobudō or koryū budō.

5. Shurikenjutsu – The art of throwing shuriken, in traditional Japanese martial arts of throwing shuriken. Shuriken comes in 2 forms, Bo-shuriken which is a straight metal spike which looks like a small iron chopstick but sharp the one that was used by Naruto is a Bo-Shuriken. The other one is a Hira-shuriken, which looks like a flat star with approx of 3mm in thickness and 10 - 12 cm wide.

6. Sōjutsu – Or known as the art of spear, The first design which was brought in from mainland China and was later modified to what it is now.

7. Naginatajutsu – The art of naginata, Naganita looks like a sword attached to a pole / wood staff. This are most seen in battlefield in the Ancient times where mostly used by soldiers and warriors.

8. Kusarigamajutsu – This style of fighting uses weapon is quite unique and it is normally used by Shinobi only The Kusarigama is made up of the Kama, a wooden handle with a curved blade on one end that look like a sickle. The Kusari, a chain attached to the Kama and a small Iron weight on the other end that allows the user to swing the weapon.

9. Kayakujutsu – The art of handling explosion, Sorry as I cant manage to write in more details regarding this as there was not much information.

10. Hensōjutsu – The art of impersonation and it is not like what you see in Ninja Cartoons. Hensōjutsu is an Art of disguise / impersonation where the shinobi will be doing a role-play to avoid being spotted and blend in well with the crowd by appearing as a farmer or priest and ect. Hensōjutsu is a specialized art for kunoichi as the chances of being suspected is lower. And for those who are well trained in this art, it is believed that they can even impersonate others in terms of appearance.

11. Shinobi-iri – The are for stealing and silent movement, this allows the shinobi to enter enemy’s terittory without being spotted

12. Bajutsu – The art of horse back riding and battle on horses.

13. Sui-ren – The are of water, water can be used in many ways, examples are like making boats or rafts and how to control the raft without being spotted, weakening bridges, poisoning water source, hiding in water and finding water in unlikely places.

14. Bōryaku – Tactics / Strategy to assist influence to the opponent.

15. Chōhō – secret information and it was one of the duty of the ninja were spying, it is like the ancient CIA

16. Intonjutsu – The art of escaping, basically Shinobi will be tied up during the training and was expected to escape from it.

17. Tenmon – The art of understanding and using the weather towards the advantage of the Shinobi.

18. Chi-mon – Known as modern day geography to assist the Shinobi’s escape or Sabotage.

I’m not sure on current subjects that the current Ninjutsu schools are teaching at the moment but according to sources, the dojo’s focus towards the practitioner are more towards Taijutsu, Kenjutsu and other armed discipline.

Jeet Kune Do

JDK or more known as Jeet Kune Do if a philosophy developed by my Idol Mr. Bruce Lee, it was named in year 1967 after Master Lee merged in all his training from different schools to form Jeet Kune Do and he taught all his student the philosophy in developing this Martial Art which focus on simplicity, directness and adaptation to free the fighting style from limitations due to different styles of martial art.

Basically Jeet Kune Do is a school that focus on “The Style of No Style” Jeet Kune Do also focus on the centerline of both the opponent and the practitioner which was adopted from Wing Chun. This basically allow the practitioner to Attack and Counter at the fastest speed possible additional to Wing Chun The footwork of French Fencing plays as one of the main pillar for JKD as it is all about speed additional to it the exercise and punches taken from American Boxing. All this 3 is the “Core Pillar” to JKD with additional of mixtures from other styles of Martial Art.

Unfortunately to say the actual Martial Art that was opened by Master Lee was closed approx 2 years before his tragic death. All the rest of the Jeet Kune Do schools now are opened by Master Lee’s apprentices. JKD which was split into 2 Groups are Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do and Jeet Kune Do Concept Schools Jun Fan Jeet Kune Do are opened by Masters like Taky Kimura, Jerry Poteet, and Ted Wong where these Dojos claimed to teach only what was taught by Master Lee himself and encourages it’s practitioner to develop their styles from there through their abilities.

Where else the Jeet Kune Do Concept Schools has another approach where Masters like Larry Hartsell and Dan Inosanto strive to continue Master Lee’s philosophy of individual self-expression. Where the style that was taught continued to evolve up to today and the students evolve and grew with the school.

No matter which school you choose to join, JKD’s practitioner has 4 combat ranges which was evolved from different schools, the ranges are kicking, punching, trapping, grappling and all have to be practiced equally. Because all of the school focus on one same philosophy which is the “Style of No Style”

pencak silat

Silat began spreading in the seventh century AD but there are no records on its origin. However, it was acknowledged as a Malay Martial Art although there are influences by the Chinese and Indian cultures as well as other ethnic groups. Silat was used as a combat art as well as a folk dance when the Muslim spread through the Malay archipelago in the fourteenth century. It was developed in Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia as an art to liberate themselves from the Colonials such as the Dutch and the British.

In the West Sumatra silat was known as silek and was the oldest men's tradition to perform the Minangkabau folk dance of randai. In Malaysia and Brunei, one form of silat known of silat pulut and silat cakak.

There are many forms of silat such as Pencak, Cekak, Sendeng, Keris Lok and Gayong Fatani and Gayong. It would be quite difficult to list out the official type of silat, as there are at least 150 types of silat but out of these types of silat, Silat Melayu is consider one of the few oldest forms of silat.

Most of the silat schools have few objectives and the most common one is “The art of knowing one self’. Silat consists of 2 forms, the soft and the hard which is also known as Flower (Bunga) and Fruit (Buah). Flower is normally used to confuse the opponent where Fruit is the strike and each schools will have both form applied in their martial arts but it really depends on the amount of the focus.

welcome to martial art indonesia

this blog is about the martial art that grow in indonesia, its original from indonesia like pencak silat or from another country like karate, judo, kung fu/whusu, jiu jit su, aikido, jeet kune do, grapling, fencing, boxing, thae boxing, ect...