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Date Posted: 17:20:19 10/03/01 Wed
Author: Goktimus Prime
Subject: A brief comparison of CMAs and JMAs

(the following is a copy of an Email I sent in response to a rather interesting mail I received this morning)

Hello there. Thank you for your E-mail. I found your comments quite interesting. :)

>
>A friend sent me your link to your Kung Fu Myths and Facts... Very nice.
>

Thank you very much.

>Just a quick comment on the Kiai... practicing karate for many many years
>in my youth (primarily kajukenbo karate). The Kiai (not yelling or
>screaming though) is designed to focus the student to expend all of his/her
>energy into a single blow or strike, helping to set the right timing for
>the body. Now, don't get me wrong, I believe the breathing exercises of
>Kung Fu are superior in the long run, but that is the intent of the kiai.

I am aware of this intent, but I fail to understand how a loud exhale/shout can channel kinetic energy into your fist. There doesn't seem to be any logical/scientific correlation.

>In addition, the kiai is used to reduce the impact of a blow to the body,
>so one does not lose their wind when hit by a powerful blow. In practice,
>I found the second reason more valuable when sparring. When on the attack,
>there are times when your opponent may get in a good blow while you are
>executing the attack. If your attack included a kiai, it will help lesson
>the blow received and limit the possibility of loosing one's wind.
>

Yes, I also heard this theory on Kiai. I used to live in Japan, where although I mainly did Aikido, I also dabbled in many other Japanese arts including Gojuryu Karate. Kyokushinryu Karate, Shourinji Kempou to name a few. And naturally, I've dabbled in several more styles here in Australia too.

I believe pure body hardening is far more beneficial for conditioning the body to sustain a blow than trying to counter it with an exhale. I've seen no medical evidence which confirms the theory that a sharp exhale can actually counter the effects of a sharp punch, thus I really fail to see the benefits. I believe that having a hardened body and maintaining good breathing is far more better, as it does not disturb your metabolic rate/gas exchange as the kiai does.

I know that many styles of Karate are quite good at body hardening, so this is an area I feel Karate is quite competent in -- in fact, better than some Kung Fu styles such as Yongchun (Wing Chun) which seems to totally neglect body hardening conditioning (most Yongchun practitioners either agree with me on this point or argue that they would simply not allow the opponent to get a hit in -- but of course, the latter argument presumes that you're some kind of android who never makes a mistake -- realistically, we ought to expect that we will sustain some blows in a real fight -- and this is something I do admire Karate for alongside other martial arts).

But if you have any academic evidence which supports any theory of kiai, I'd love to read it.

By the way, my comments about the sharp exhalation doesn't focus on Karate alone (well, at least it shouldn't -- I may have mentioned Karate as an _example_ of a style which practices this) -- many other Japanese arts practice the kiai, and actually, the whole sharp exhalatoin thing actually comes from KUNG FU, albeit Southern Kung Fu (particularly the Fujian styles, which I'm sure you're already aware, is the branch of Wushu which came to Okinawa and evolved to become Okinawante). The Japanese eventually developed the Fujian sharp exhalation into the "kiai".

If you haven't already checked out a Fujian style of Wushu, I strongly recommend that you do. As a Karateka, you will find it very interesting as you will be able to see a direct "root" style of Karate.

>One more quick note... karate vs kung fu....
>
>As my good friend and I always debate (me coming from a karate background
>and him spending a lifetime in kung fu), trying to compare karate and kung
>fu can't be done (or shouldn't be done). That's like comparing a doctor to
>a first aid attendant. One is a 1,000 day program and the other a 100 day
>program. To become a good doctor takes many many years of study and
>dedication and may mean that if I needed help from that person before
>completing his studies as a doctor, he would be limited in his abilities to
>do anything. The first aid attendant on the other hand could help me
>almost immediately within the bounds of what he has learned.
>However, the
>first student, provided they are able to stay with the program and become a
>doctor will far surpass the capabilities of the second student, the first
>aid attendant.

Actually, a medical doctor is fully capable of administering all forms of first aid.

First aid is supposed to enable your average person (with average IQ -- since the study of medicine requires people within the higher IQ band of the population) to administer some medical aid to a patient BEFORE a doctor can arrive on the scene.

That's why it's called _FIRST_ Aid (being, a the "first" form of medical assistance, but never the final-- even if you were to resuscitate someone with the kiss of life, you would naturally still have that person brought to a doctor for further inspection).

>Hence... you can't compare a 1,000 day program with a 100
>day Program. Each has their advantages and disavantages. It just depends
>on what you want to achieve.
>

A truly interesting analogy, but I fail to see how it relates to martial arts, presuming that both Wushu and Karate have the same ultimate objective: to defeat (re: kill) the opponent. I realise that many schools of karate have commercialised themselves as competition sports, but the intent of traditional Karatedo was ultimately to destroy the opponent.

If anything, we ought to examine the REASONS behind why any martial art has developed certain characteristics, be they considered as advantages or disadvantages (which, as you said, depends on what you want to achieve). There are historical reasons why martial arts such as Karate has developed distinct differences from Wushu.

Just a few brief examples:
1. It was the Samurai who took away the use of the shoulders in Japanese martial arts, as they considered raising the shoulders to be "unbecoming." Hence why Japanese martial arts never use the shoulders and maintain a very "square on" stance in some styles. This is very noticeable in Samurai arts such as Taemshigiri Iaijutsu. Okinawante on the other hand still retains the use of the shoulders.

2. Japanese martial arts, particularly karate, has often been abused as a political tool by various Japanese governments. And often when a martial art becomes a political vehicle (e.g.: Xiandai Wushu -- just to show that it happens in China as well as Japan), it often loses most of its use as a true fighting style. It was the politicisation of Karate which made it lose a lot of its fluidity that the Okinawans had taken from Wushu. The Imperial government has made a lot of significant changes within the last century, such as the introduction of military ranking (since it became adopted by the Japanese army) thus the introduction of the coloured "belt" system. Many Japanese purists will argue that there shouldn't be any other colour in a Karateka's uniform except for white, which symbolises the martial spirit in Japanese martial culture, thus Japanese martial art purists argue that the use of other colours is a corruption of the symbolism of the martial spirit (but what if you're colour blind?). Another example is the notion of "one hit one kill" as an initial move in many Japanese martial arts (e.g.: Toyamaryu Kenjutsu). I have yet to see any traditional (re: pre-WWII) texts which mention the use of "one hit one kill" as an _initial_ move. Traditional karate texts speak of "one hit one kill" as a _finishing_ move, yet we see many Japanese martial arts today using it as an initial move. Historical evidence tells us that this was actually a notion devised by the son of Funakoshi, who, during the war, was asked by the Japanese military to help them modify karate to help them better use it as a brainwashing tool. One thing they were concerned about was conditioning the soldiers to become suicidal in battle -- especially midget submarine and kamikaze bomber pilots. As I'm sure you're aware, the whole concept of blindly kiling yourself in battle was NOT part of traditional Bushido. As famous tales such as the story of the 40 ronin of Ako tells us, the Samurai had to repay all their debts before they could take their own lives if they had been disgraced. This ideology was not really compatible with the 20th Century imperial notion of just killing yourself in battle. Thus Karate was given the notion of "one hit one kill" as an initial strike - which directly correlates to the mentality behind a kamikaze or midget submarine attack (since you EXPLODE upon impact -- the concept of one hit one kill as an initial attack would work for karate the human body could spontaneously combust upon impact).

Anyway, these are just a few examples. I could be here all week giving a history lesson, but I'm sure we BOTH have better things to do with our time. :)

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