How long does it take to learn how to realistically defend oneself in your art? If a person had a need to learn self defense for whatever reason, how long would it take for that person to learn enough concepts, techniques and practice them so that they can access them in a fight? Lets say that the person's need to learn self defense is urgent. Would your art be a good choice?
Hi maunakumu,
Well, I'll bring a little historical appreciation to the discussion.
In times of war (and this is seen in any system that originates in such conditions, or develops in such circumstances) tend to have very small syllabus', and very "simple" techniques. Arts such as Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu actually has a very small technical syllabus, with the iconic two sword section only having 5 kata to instill it's entire range of wisdom. So all it's most important tactics and technical traits are condenced into 5 relatively easy patterns, or techniques (of course, the kata themselves can stay very simple, but have a great deal of depth to them as well). But the point is that the art was written down to instill in Musashi's disciples only the most important aspects of how to survive sword encounters.
In peacetime, the arts grew. There was more time for introspection, and the intellectual aspects could flourish, leading to a wider variety of technical aspects and kata, as the art was allowed to expand. But if it found itself facing a time of constant violence, the art would "slim down" again, becoming leaner, and stripping the technical curriculum back to a more bare bones approach, as that would be what was required. This has been seen as arts teachings change with different heads, each trying to do what they feel is best to ensure the essence of the art survives to the next generation (the last three or four generations of the Kashima Shinryu has had changes to it's structure, with the jujutsu portion changing the number of kata between 70-odd to over 200, and the grouping of the kata going from 6 groups back to 4 or 5, and then later spread back out to 6).
Another good example of this change, even when depth is kept, is how long it has taken to get Menkyo Kaiden in an art such as Araki Ryu. In times of peace, the average was between 15 and 20 years, but in times of war, it was awarded in 5 and 7 years in a few cases.
So you can see that this issue has been present in martial arts for centuries. Currently, we are in a period of peace (relatively, unless you are in active military duty), so the arts have been allowed to flourish, adding new techniques, growing in depth. But each art can be stripped back to it's bare essence, and trained in a way that will get a student very effective very quickly, as that is needed at times. For example, the Kukishinden Ryu Sojutsu scroll has three sections and about 30 kata for spear, and if a student is interested I will take them through the depth of the art of the spear. However, I can strip the art of the spear down to about 6 movements, and go through a series of solid drills developed directly from Kukishinden Ryu, getting the student very effective with a spear very quickly. I can also do the same for any other aspect of our system, whether armed or unarmed.
In order to get someone "street effective", I could do it in about two months, it will be quite hard training, and not everyone would go through it, the depth will not be there as it would be if more time was spent. But it can be done. Just don't think that that is the same as studying the art, that takes a great deal more time.
I think that about covers it.
