Quote Originally Posted by Crackers View Post
I watched a show recently on the troubles that Richard III had with Osteo, they had a bloke his size with roughly the same bend in his spine double to show how Richard could charge the French. Awesome show about blacksmithing the armour and quick training with the various weapons to see how his body would react.

I was watching a show on the similarities of most martial arts, it was centric around the use of bladed weapons and how most of our take downs etc are based on an opponent with a blade. The disarming and locking up of limbs in principle is exactly the same with or without a weapon (there is just less change of getting sliced if they do not have one handy). The show was mostly about Jujitsu, what was impressive was the fluidity of movement. It bought a whole new level to my training because I have always been a bit stiff when the adrenalin takes over.
Adapting to circumstance & flowing is pretty integral to survival. Rigor Mortis is the ultimate stiffness & you need to avoid that in battle eh
The character Ju implies softness & compliance but it has an outcome. We use the phrase " Give way to conquer " so the goal is to allow the attacker to destroy themselves.

Of course this implies a commited aggressive attacker which most will say is unrealistic but if you can't deal with a committed force you will have no chance of dealing with a stalking uncommited attacker. A sensitivity has to be developed to receiving information & close range committed attacks are the starting point. Distance is gradually introduced & the forces at range then have a very strong reality. Just like the force between 2 repelling magnets,angles & directions of travel are an interplay that govern position & movement. As the student progresses to master there is a different 'spin' applied to the basic principles & the attacker & his attack is largely irrelevant. I often joke that the ultimate principle is to not be where the attacker is striking but it is much more than a joke.