Travellin Blues

[kyklos]

Ive got a question for everybody.

Has anyone ever dreamed of going to the birthplace country of your favorite martial ART and finding some old folk master to learn from?
The "real, authentic" type stuff. (almost movie style lol)

or if you have please let me know about yer experiences:

Where you shunned because you were a foreigner?
or admired?

Are you satisfied with what you learned?
or disappointed and regretful of the experience?

Did you get the basic schooling?
or a more advanced level?

Did they pay attention to your own expertise?
or just give you a basic treatment?

Also any info on the living conditions

bla, bla bla, etc, etc

P.S. I have read the BROOKLYN MONK stories but realise there are many diffirent experiences to be had out there and thus welcome any input:confused: :confused:

[Mr Punch]

Nah, never thought of that... :D :rolleyes: :D

Not much time to answer this but...

Although had a fairly good idea of japan before I got here, had read up a lot about it, so the culture shock was negligible, and wasn't on some romantic quest, when I got here I found the speed and cost of living basically prevented me from finding a dojo for the first six mths. when I found one, I was acccepted no problem, and they even accepted my grade from the start despite being from a different branch. But I did have someone to introduce and vouch for me, whihc is important in japan, and maybe some areas of China too.

The quality of the training was by all accounts very good by Japanese standards, but here was the rub: I found I'd been spoiled by my training in the UK, and certainly in terms of reality training, a country that developed its budo in an extended period of ppeace (altough they did hone them again in war but often thhen a s a form of bullying POWs rather than active combat techs) and then became one of the safest countries in terms of personal safety and random vviolence in the world, is maybe not the best country to study MA in, if you have an interest in SD.

On the up-side, it's great for sports. Many crosstraining dojo, and dojo teaching trad stuff for modern fighters, and they're no longer as picky about joining.

Hwever if you want the deep deep koryu (old-school bujutsu/-do), you'd better have a cast iron guarantor, and let's be honest, a minimum commitment of five years or so. And to be honest, although it's very smart, good-looking, good form, correct, proper, impressive etc I've trained/sparred with some of these people and it isn't so different. It's not magic. It's hard work, sweat, blood, snot and tears like evrything else.

One of my teachers trained for a long time in daito-ryu, but he mixes his teaching with hsingyi and some shaolin related stuff... so he obviously wasn't too impressed. The bits of daitoryu (exercises, techs, 'energies') he's shown me have had the same problem as a lot of aiki, and other TMA for that matter: non-resistance, techs too deadly to practice properly, plus a lot of philosophy, which is ok as long as it ties in with what you are trying to demonstrate (eg relaxing into techs, centre to centre connections etc).

Just a few ideas, but the most important are:

educate yourself before you go... language, local economy, introduction trads (tho most of the social stuff sorts itself out if your not too spoilt, too demanding), local lifestyle (like I said, there no reason for reality training SD in Japan!), and

take a load of money!

The more disciplined you are (getting up and training, training when you have spare time instead of just kicking back) forgoing that Big Mac in place of some real food, etc) the easier it will be for you when you get there.

BTW, small observation, other people may have had diff exps but it seemed to me, in China certs don't matter at all, and indeed previous exp only atters in that they will correct you and tell you that everything you knew before was wrong so you really need t empty your cup. In Japan, certs are everything. Although you may be able too jump grades a wee bit quicker than other novices if you have extra exp without the cert it's worthless. These statements apply for trad eastern ma only. Of course in boxing or something you get in a ring and duke it out!!!

Long post, sorry bout typos, tearing hurry!