In Search of The Ultimate Martial Art – Part One

Introduction

I have spent the better part of my lifetime as a Martial Artist in the attempt to achieve a dream.  That dream is:

KNOWLEDGE AND MASTERY OF THE FUNDAMENTALS THAT UNDERLIE AND THEREFORE UNITE ALL OF MARTIAL ARTS.

And furthermore, I have the purpose:

TO PASS ON THESE FUNDAMENTALS TO ALL THOSE THAT SHARE THIS DREAM.

First off, I would like to give a little back history so it is possible to fully appreciate where it is that I’m coming from.  When I was about five, I started learning a form of Jujutsu from my father.  I enjoyed wrestling about and I’m sure that my father liked passing on a tradition. The main thing that I took away from this early training was an ancient Martial Arts saying, which my father constantly preached to me.

“A student must practice the basic forms of an art a thousand times in order for the movements to become natural.  In order to master an art, a student must practice the basic forms ten thousand times. Only then will the sacred principles emerge.”  

I do not know where this proverb actually came from.  You will find versions of it spoken by just about every Martial Arts master. Bruce Lee probably summed it up best when he said:

“I do not fear the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”

After being thrown to the ground about a hundred times I got the picture.  I also fell in love with Martial Arts, and have ever since been in the process of trying to master it. 

I spent my teen years learning Okinawan Karate from one of the Old Masters. [Note: By “Old Master” I am referring a founder of one of the traditional Martial Arts systems, such as: Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido; Gichin Funakoshi, founder of Shotokan; or Yip Man, founder of Wing Chun.]  I was taught countless forms and a few basics such as how to breathe and how to generate power.  However, some time after getting my black belt, I eventually realized that all my years of karate training had little actual use in a real fight. So, I started training in Muay Thai, and then Brazilian Jujutsu, and soon found myself gladiating in an octagon. Needless to say, those were the dark years of my art.  However, I did learn some valuable up-close and personal lessons about what a real technique looks and feels like!

It took a real butt-kickin’ before I came to terms with the fact that I wasn’t going to become a true master through combat alone.  So, I fell back on my previous training and started practicing fundamentals again.  I decided that I would approach them from the viewpoint of how to make them actually work.  After a while, I started to realize that the Old Masters just might have had something. 

The purpose was rekindled to resolve the Martial Arts puzzle.  Eventually, I did figure out how it all fits together. Now it doesn’t matter what “style” I call my art, because all styles follow the same principles.  Now it doesn’t matter as much how hard I train or how many repetitions I do, it only matters whether I train the right way.  I can honestly say that I am now on the path to what I have always sought as a Martial Artist — The Ultimate Martial Art!