Why "this" art

[Aiki Lee]

Question!

Of all the martial arts in the world, why is that each of you has picked the particular art (or arts) that you train in?

I orginially started in Isshin ryu karate because my dad was in it. It was fine for a while, but since we trainined at the local YMCA we weren't allowed to do much, and classes quickly became mostly solo kata training and point sparring.

After 12 years of karate I did not feel as strong as I believed I should have. I had no confidence in my fighting ability. I started attending a To Shin Do school to improve my self-defense skills and was amazed at what I was learning. After a while I decided I would like to make my style a blend of To Shin Do, Karate, and BJJ.

After two years of To Shin Do my new dojo switched organizations and became part of the Jizaikan. The instruction we recieved was the best martial arts training I have ever experienced. I experiemented with Judo and Sholain Kung Fu, but the Jizaikan's style of aiki ninjutsu gave me everything I ever wanted in a martial art including:

Ground fighting

self defense skills including grappling and striking

Traditional and modern weapons training

Difficult test requirements that make sure you can do what you are supposed to do

and strategies for mastery of the martial arts

Basically this style offered to me everything I though martial arts should be.

What about you?

 

[JadecloudAlchemist]

Baguazhang is the best art for me.

1. It has Taoist philosophy(I Ching)

2. Qigong with circle walking and stake forms(standing mediation)

3. Rarely uses fist(have not come across a style that does)Peaceful IMO

4. Deceptive

 

[Twin Fist]

TKD was the first school i found
Kenpo because a Kenpo stylist whipped my butt

Kaju because as I get older, i have more interest in fighting dirty, and when you look up "dirty fighting" in the dictionary, it says "see Kajukenbo"

 

[Ironcrane]

Well, at first I just went for the first thing I could get into, which was Goju-Ryu. Then Kung Fu. My Goju school ending up falling through, but my Kung Fu school contuines to this day.
I went out on a search for another school of Goju, so I could keep going with it, but couldn't find anything but Tae Kwon Do. So I figured I'd just give that a try.
Currently my goals are much more specific, trying to fill in some of the gaps. I got into a Judo school, but inspite of how cheap it is, I haven't been able to afford it so I haven't had much luck with that.
Sometimes it really gets on my nerves, that there's so much good stuff out there that I want to learn, but that $$$ attached to it, has always kept me out of it.

 

[JBrainard]

Ground fighting

self defense skills including grappling and striking

Traditional and modern weapons training

Difficult test requirements that make sure you can do what you are supposed to do

I chose Kombatan Arnis for pretty much all the reasons you listed above. You can find all these attributes in other MA's, but I gravitated towards an FMA because of the realistic weapons training (as opposed to just forms).

 

[just2kicku]

I chose Kajukenbo because it was chosen for me. I stay in it because of it's effectiveness in a street fight. I feel it's as complete as I wanna get with the ground and stand up.

 

[arnisador]

I fell into Modern Arnis because it was convenient. I was moving around a lot but could keep in contact with my arnis instructor. I grew to really like it!

 

[seasoned]

I started in Okinawan GoJu, when it was the only dojo in town. The school had a very good reputation in the tournament circles. Over many years, I grew to love the art, although the kata were difficult to decipher, but with time, dedication, and perseverance, I discovered a very well rounded art that fit into a wide spectrum of SD applications.

 

[Steve]

I chose BJJ because I really enjoy grappling. When I started in Martial Arts, I was at a school that was sort of a mish mash of many styles. While the instructor is a great martial artist, there were lots of things about the school that bothered me. After a few years, I decided that I needed to make a change and began looking around for a style/school that better fit my needs.

Many of the problems I had with the old school had to do with training philosophy, including mandatory testings, belt fees and almost obligatory promotions regardless of actual skill. I also didn't like the fact that we seldom sparred, except during the grappling classes. I was surprised to find that there was a style in which there is a lot of practical application, where you are promoted based upon merit and where there is a lot of grappling.

So, after working up the courage to do so, I took my fat, out of shape self into the BJJ school and haven't regretted it since.

 

[Deaf Smith]

Himura,

I picked what I picked cause it was the only game in town. It was not a bad pick to. But it's far more the teacher than the art that makes it rewarding.

Deaf

 

[Blindside]

Kajukenbo - It was the first place I looked at when I was getting back into martial arts, and I liked its practical nature.

Kenpo - because I moved and it was the closest thing to Kaju I could find. That I wound up with a great instructor was a happy accident.

Kali - Because cold steel has this damn sexy attraction, and the training methodology really appeals to me.

 

[tellner]

Why "this" art? Boy, that's a complicated one.

Some of the things I did - Uechi Ryu, Judo, Taiji - I did because they were what was available

Other things - Fencing, Arnis a touch of Kendo - I did because I like swords.

Kajukenbo was partly because there was an FMA class, partly because I'd been impressed by some of the Kajukenbo players I'd met.

The JKD/Kali/Muay Thai/Grappling was mostly because of my wife. When she was away at grad school she'd ended up with a one-in-a-million teacher, Rick Faye. When she came back to Portland and I'd left the Kajukenbo school because of badly supervised sparring and the teacher's tendency to recruit students into MLM schemes I decided to give it a try. I really enjoyed it, not only because it was practical but because it gave me a way to understand martial arts and incorporate new things.

Silat was for a combination of reasons. First, I'd heard of it and heard good things about it. Then a local Arnis teacher brought in my first Silat teacher. When my wife and I were working out with the local JKD people Guru Plinck moved to town. We started training with him and never looked back. He would be an excellent instructor no matter what he taught. It happened to be Silat.

That said, I've found that Silat provides an efficiency and a depth that I hadn't found in anything else. Part of it is the attitude. Part of it is the body mechanics. Part of it is the way that it uses simple things in sophisticated ways. Those are only parts. I'm writing a piece called "Martial Aphasia" which will explain a bit more about why it's hard to talk about it.

 

[terryl965]

Well lets see if I can get this right,

Okinawa Karate & Judo because that is what my father tought all those years ago.

Kenpo because I enjoyed the instructor

Combat Hapkido because of all those seminars, never really taken classes just seminars.

Jujitsu because friends was doing it never tested just did classes.

Kung Fu because one of my friends been doing and teaching it for thirty year so kind of pick some of it up.

TKD just because when I moved to California in the early eighties it was the only true sweat box of a school, the instructor still hit you and made you work for everything. Stayed with it because it is in my blood and true TKD is a valuble asset to one own personality.

 

[Sukerkin]

I'm a firm believer in the quaint sounding aphorism that the art chooses you rather than the other way round.

I did Kung Fu for a long time, until my bike accident rendered it impossible for me to effectively continue. I loved it, I think I was good at it and I got started in it for no deeper reason than my mate and I went to see "Enter the Dragon" and he took the step of finding a school to learn Lau Gar at.

I was 'without art' for a long time after my accident and could not find an empty-hand art that I could do with only one arm that worked properly.

Years in the past, another friend had persuaded me to have a look at a weapon based art called Katori Shinto but it hadn't 'stuck' - I think I was too young still back then and too enamored of the 'freedom' of sparring because it felt like real fighting .

I can't actually tell you why, six or seven years ago, I began to search for a sword based art to train in. I knew I didn't want to do kendo and there wasn't anyone doing European swordsmanship in my area (still isn't) but I found after a lot of digging my current sensei ... who just happened to turn out to be one of the foremost propoents of the JSA in the country . Talk about landing on your feet :lol:. I've never looked back.

 

[stickarts]

It was recommended to me by more than one friend.

 

[SFC JeffJ]

When I was a kid, I started out in Shorin Ryu because it was there.
Later on, it was Kyokushin. Again, because it was there. Out of those two I did enjoy the Kyokushin much more. Lots of good hard training and hitting.

Didn't start back in what I consider a MA for about 10 years while I was in the Army. Then I started Jujutsu primarily because my now wife is an instructor. I'm not entirely happy with it so I crosstrain a lot (BBT, Muay Thai, Arnis, Grappling).

Now if I could just find a Wing Chun school nearby.

 

[mozzandherb]

I didnt choose TKD, TKD chose me. As a matter of fact I didn't choose TKD, I was six and I was kicking everything in site around my house, so my mom decided to direct all my energy into something productive and I guess TKD was the choice. There is a difference though, I think a lot of parents force their kids to do something like a MA when the kid doesnt really want to do it and it doesn't usually last, I guess I really wanted to do it and I guess that's why it has lasted with me for my whole life

 

[Aiki Lee]

Wow! there were more replies to this than I thought. I appreciate everyone's imput. I love talking to people of different systems to get a different point of view of the martial arts. It is always encouraging to me when I interact with others who share the warrior spirit.

 

[tellner]

Wow! there were more replies to this than I thought.

The only surprise is that there haven't been more. You're asking martial artists to talk about their obsession and to talk about everyone's #1 favorite subject, himself.

 

[Aiki Lee]

The only surprise is that there haven't been more. You're asking martial artists to talk about their obsession and to talk about everyone's #1 favorite subject, himself.

Ha ha! I supposed you are right!