RULES??? WHAT RULES???

 by Phillip Starr

In 2022 (approximately), there was an astounding occurrence in the martial arts world. Because it happened in Japan, most of us still don't know anything about it. A similar event could never happen in the West because too many egos are involved, but...

Numerous well-known (some internationally famous) martial arts teachers from several different disciplines began to actually get together in a spirit of learning and sharing information. Instructors of different forms of karate, MMA, Jeet Kune Do, traditional gong-fu, traditional forms of jujitsu....all began to communicate and collaborate. This is raising the understanding of many different facets of martial arts to a whole new level.

Techniques, training methods, concepts, and principles that had never been shown publicly were revealed openly, in a spirit of friendship and furtherance of the martial arts. My senior student, Hiro Misawa, knows some of these teachers and stays abreast of many of their new “discoveries.”

One instructor believes that one of the greatest weaknesses/flaws in modern martial arts training has to do with adherence to “rules” in so far as freestyle sparring is concerned. In practice in the training hall and especially in competitions, various rules are strictly followed (mostly for the sake of safety). This can and does strangle the true nature of the art and causes practitioners to become a bit too accustomed to performing according to the rules.

He allows practitioners to practice sparring without any rules other than maintaining very strict control. No protective gear (other than a groin cup) is worn. Finger jabs to the eyes and kicks to the knees and groin are all permitted. Of course, the upper-level practitioners who participate in these sessions are extremely careful not to make contact. Several interesting discoveries have been made, and one of them is that we all tend to fight (even in a real fight) in accordance with the rules by which we practice regularly.

For example, a renowned Kyokushin full-contact competitor was rendered very confused and helpless against this gentleman's flurry of eye jabs, which were reminiscent of xingyi's “monkey boxing.” The Kyokushin fighter simply could not adequately defend himself. Why? After all, Kyokushin is famous for its full-contact, bare-knuckle competitions.

The answer is clear. In Kyokushin tournaments, kicking to the head is permitted, but strikes made with the hands are not allowed above the shoulders. This world-famous champion was totally unprepared for hand strikes directed at his face (particularly eye thrusts, even though they were well-controlled)!

MMA fighters experienced considerable difficulty as did western-style boxers; they were accustomed to fighting according to certain rules. When those rules disappeared, they became confused and unable to fully engage their opponents.

The master who conducts these training sessions emphasizes the need for control, so injuries just don't happen. And of course, this type of practice is off-limits for persons under the rank of nidan (2^nd grade black belt) and never for children; it is geared to experienced and highly-skilled practitioners only.

But it does give you pause to think, doesn't it?