Buying Dan rank over the Internet

Do you think buying martial arts dan rank over the Internet is a legitimate way to ea

  • Yes, it’s just as good or better than actually earning it the normal way by training in a dojo for

  • No, it’s crap and not worth the paper it’s written on.

Results are only viewable after voting.
When I was younger, I had a real problem with people that claimed to know enough that they had "created" a "new" style of martial arts...

Usually they were mid-20something, with black belts in a half dozen different arts (with ranks between 2nd dan and 5th dan, averaging out around 3.5 dan), and their arts were, to the last, nothing more than blatant hybrids of the things they had studied before.

I knew one guy (who was a really nice person, and despite the way things ended up for him I still have a lot of respect for what he tried to accomplish) who had created his own unified blend... The problem was that the blend was of RBWI and TKD, and it looked exactly like a poorly done blend of RBWI and TKD.

I am older now, and more tolerant of those who are trying to add to the whole of martial arts. But I am reminded of a phrase from Jurassic Park 2 when Jeff Goldblum, questioning the thinking behind cloning, said something along the lines of "just because we can doesn't mean we should." I feel the same about MA. Sure, some teachers suck. Their art is good, their skills are good, but they couldn't teach their way out of a box. Does that mean their art needs modifying? Nope. Just that people need to learn how to reach students better.

So when a martial art appears to have problems in its developing fighters and their skills, perhaps it isn't the art at all, just the fact that the teacher more than likely has no training on how to teach whatsoever.

I'm not trying to attack akja at all. In fact, I am motivating my posts toward him with a genuine desire to help him accomplish his goals. By seeing how others perceive what he is doing, he will have the input of the public and will be able to put the proper face on what he is trying to do.

Gambarimasu.
:asian:
 
I don’t mind learning something new or different from other arts.
It’s just guys that think they have reinvented the wheel or built a better mouse trap and claim that what they do is SO different and SO effective compared to “traditional” arts……….when it actuality it is not.
Especially when they have little or no training in “traditional” arts to base their opinions on.
 
Originally posted by RyuShiKan
I don’t mind learning something new or different from other arts.
It’s just guys that think they have reinvented the wheel or built a better mouse trap and claim that what they do is SO different and SO effective compared to “traditional” arts……….when it actuality it is not.
Especially when they have little or no training in “traditional” arts to base their opinions on.
Click to expand...

I use to spaz about this to, but not anymore. There are far too many of them, and there are more every day. With the exception of CMQ/D, I just ignore them unless specifically asked.

When one of them tries to show me something, it invariably doesn't work on me, I shrug and move on. Life's too short and I've got a mess of training to do in the brief time I've got. I'd rather do that than try to become the James Randi of the martial arts world.

:asian:

Cthulhu
 
Originally posted by Cthulhu
I use to spaz about this to, but not anymore. There are far too many of them, and there are more every day. With the exception of CMQ/D, I just ignore them unless specifically asked.

When one of them tries to show me something, it invariably doesn't work on me, I shrug and move on. Life's too short and I've got a mess of training to do in the brief time I've got. I'd rather do that than try to become the James Randi of the martial arts world.

:asian:

Cthulhu
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Good idea..........maybe I should follow that line of thinking.
 
Originally posted by chufeng
???



Oh, well in that case...

Do you think that excuse would work in the operating room?

"Yeah, I know I cut out your son's right testicle when I planned on doing a hernia repair, but my head was "CLOGGY" today...I'm sure you'll understand..."

C'mon...

Why should the public expect anything less from their martial arts instructor, than they do from their surgeon?

When you go public, YOU are contracting with anyone who walks through your door to be honest...and to represent your art as best you can, and to NOT inflate your credentials...

Unless, of course, you are a McDojo...

So, I hope that helps to clarify the concerns others' have expressed...

:asian:
chufeng
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You think they don't make operating room mistakes. I used the word clogged meaning my profile was not on my mind, I really was trying to figure out how my site ended up on google.

Like I said I don't teach traditional arts but I am certified in American Combat Kempo which is rooted in the Oakland JKD school as is mine.

Just how many years in "A" system does a person need? My art is not based on the traditional systems, its based on what I've learned but I've said all along that the techniques are JKD influenced. I've been in the arts off and on since 1973 and time and again I've put on a white belt. I wore a white belt for over 3 years in BJJ fixing my weak points. I've done more than a lot of people will ever get close to.

It just does not make sense to me. Why would someone need a certification in a traditional art in order to create a new art that is not traditional. One does not need the other, they are opposites.

My Sifu that trained me in the Macias Method of Jun Fan Gung-Fu does not certify nor has he ever. But that does not mean I am not qualified.

Most everybody downline from Bruce Lee have something in common. They create new systems. Thats a part of JKD. Some use the name JKD and some don't. I don't because mine isn't truly JKd. I don't believe in "discarding what works for me."
I don't buy the "concept" I was trained in the "Art!"

I NEVER SAID MINE IS BETTER OR I'M RE-INVENTING THE WHEEL.
MINE IS MINE. "

YOU ALL KNOW IF IT AINT BROKE DON'T FIX IT."

WELL IT SEEMS LIKE HALF THE WORLD IS TRYING TO FIX IT.

THE OTHER HALF IS CONTENT, THATS FINE BUT THAT DOSEN'T MAKE A BETTER FIGHTER AND THATS WHAT THIS IS ALL ABOUT!
HOW I TRAIN AND I TEACH THE WAY I TRAIN, I DON'T HOLD ANYTHING BACK!
 
akja,
From what you say, you and I started training around the same time? But what I can't understand is this. How come you know enough to start your own system, and I'm still digging deeper into karate and finding new stuff all the time?
How come [with all the training and travelling I've done around the world] I've still got a long way to go, but you have mastered all sorts of arts and have developed your own?
How big is your brain and how wide is your experience in the fighting arts? I'm just asking [not insulting you]. And I'm asking because in my experience those who profess to 'know' something are usually the least well informed.
Still, I'm willing to accept that you might be the first to prove that particular formula wrong. So any information you could give regarding your acquisition of understanding and ability would be very welcome.

Mike.
 
Originally posted by Mike Clarke
akja,
From what you say, you and I started training around the same time? But what I can't understand is this. How come you know enough to start your own system, and I'm still digging deeper into karate and finding new stuff all the time?
How come [with all the training and travelling I've done around the world] I've still got a long way to go, but you have mastered all sorts of arts and have developed your own?
How big is your brain and how wide is your experience in the fighting arts? I'm just asking [not insulting you]. And I'm asking because in my experience those who profess to 'know' something are usually the least well informed.
Still, I'm willing to accept that you might be the first to prove that particular formula wrong. So any information you could give regarding your acquisition of understanding and ability would be very welcome.

Mike.
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I haven't mastered anything and haven't said I have.
I've experienced alot I've had a lot of Karate dating back to my first Kajukenbo class in 1973. In my profile you see a lot of arts but 4 I am a student of right now. There are also other arts that I've been exposed to but I dropped out of because I was at the time not interested. I didn't add Judo, Aikido or Tae Kwon Do in there because I didn't feel right adding something that I only had a few months in. My profile is only was has had an influence on me or I am currently practicing.

Of course in any one martial art you should be able to learn forever, but thats not the way in turned out for me. My first Kajukenbo class shut down after a year or so, same thing with my Hapkido class which I too next. Then I went back to Kajukenbo and spent a few more years, all that between 1973 and 1980.

During the "80's I tried to train but I had a "monkey on my back" and I spent several years incarcerated. for a whaile the arts left my body but they never left my mind. As it turned out my sister married a (at the time) a 4th degree black belt in the late "80's and he brought me back into the arts. Thats where I was exposed to Bujutsu Taiho, Kobujutsu, Judo, and Aikido. All of my brother-in-laws training came from Mr. Tarow Hayashi of Hayashis martial arts of El Paso, Texas.

Things happen when your around your family to much, this time I left by my will as brown belt with a couple of apprentice instructor certificates. That I was not used to, all the paper, in the "70's, kyu ranks just didn't get them at least not in Hapkido or Kajukenbo.

For a couple of years out of respect to my brother in law I did not go to another school. When I was working out in Golds gym I met a guy and we talked about JKD. He took me to his Sifu, who became my Sifu that very first day when Sifu Felix Macias Jr. asked me to come back.

My "whole" thinking behind martial changed. At about the same time I started practicing Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and I realized "THAT FOR ME" I had discovered the best of both worlds. In BJJ its 10 years to black belt, the only people that have that kind of time are people who are 1 art students. My brother-in-law exposed me to multiple arts and classes in a single day, from then on I've been cross training and I always will. I've put my time in. No one is system is the best, nor is any one fighter the best. But most systems "SAY" they are complete which is not true. Some are, most aren't.

I am now and I will always look for more and I will not accept one Karate system as being complete, nor for me.
 
So basically your art is composed of a lot of basic and medium ranged techniques aimed at what you have dubbed effective through personal experience?
 
Originally posted by SRyuFighter
So basically your art is composed of a lot of basic and medium ranged techniques aimed at what you have dubbed effective through personal experience?
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What is medium ranged?

I train all ranges. Separately and together. Nobody can have the best art, but we can try and improve using our own experiences.
 
Well I am basically following Mike Clarke's line of thinking here. You havent been in one art since 1973. Just been in Martial Arts since 1973. So you don't have a whole world of depth or know moves that someone who holds a 5th, 6th, or 7th dan would know. You just know techniques up to a certain point in many arts. So when I say medium ranged I mean you're not a high ranking dan in any art so there fore you don't know the really powerful techniques. I'm not trying to offend you here at all. Sort of just thinking out loud.
 
Techniques are not the focus. Instinct reactions are what is important. That’s the Jun Fan way. Techniques are just drills to learn by. You can’t expect to be able to use techniques exactly like you learn them. That’s why you have to blend and use variations. I haven’t made up any new techniques, you guys don’t seem to realize that.

I’ve just applied what my Sifu has taught me in Jun Fan to my other arts, so it is mine.
 
Well thats good but I never said you mnade up techniques. That was the entire point of my post that you don't teach *advanced* techniques.
 
One art 10 arts. What does it matter? The techniques are not really traditional in the first place. Have you ever seen a JKD stance, or punch. What is mine is mine. A black belt in any traditional art would not put me any close to my end result. Its apples and oranges.

You guys really missed the boat.

Ita all advanced, you don't see it because your stuck in a traditional world.
 
Originally posted by akja


Ita all advanced, you don't see it because your stuck in a traditional world.
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If it aint broke dont fix it! And whats your point. Traditional and the new stuff is no differant besides the fact they've added a few bits here and there! What bout all the Amish who live without this and that, they have survived and they are traditional to the limit. Being stuck in a traditional world has nothing to do with him not seeing "it". If he chooses not to then its cool, but dont blame him cuz he belives in tradition.....:asian:
 
Yea I guess were all just a bunch of idiots using traditional time proven techniques that better us in many ways. We know that we'll be ok in a fight because were learning time honored arts from true sensei's. So who cares if we missed the boat. And well I hope what's yours works.
 
Originally posted by akja
One art 10 arts. What does it matter? The techniques are not really traditional in the first place. Have you ever seen a JKD stance, or punch. What is mine is mine. A black belt in any traditional art would not put me any close to my end result. Its apples and oranges.

You guys really missed the boat.

Ita all advanced, you don't see it because your stuck in a traditional world.
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Please let Mr. Jun Fan go. It's obvious he's too "advanced" for us here and I'm getting a headache trying to "get it."
 
Originally posted by Doc
Please let Mr. Jun Fan go. It's obvious he's too "advanced" for us here and I'm getting a headache trying to "get it."
Click to expand...

That came across rude and pretty stubborn...If your not interested dont bother reading anymore, no need for sarcasm.
 
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