Has anyone here studied Koryu arts? Koryu arts are _old school_ Japanese martial arts that were invented and propogated before the Meiji period. Many of them are real samurai arts - i.e. they include the study of unarmed techniques like jujutsu as well as the study of various weapons including the sword, Yari (the spear), naginata (the halberd), chains, knives, etc. They are often different in strucutre of the curriculum and emphasis than many of the "modern" arts like Judo, aikido, Karate, etc.

The reason I ask is that in many ways, our regular kung fu training is like that, where we study the unarmed technques, as well as the techniques of using various battlefield weapons which don't apply nowadays. The "modern" JMA like karate, Judo, Aikido, kendo usually specialize or emphasize either empty hand alone, or have only a limited amount of weapons taught in their regular curriculum.

If you've done Koryu before, I'd like to hear your perspective on similarities or differences between those arts, and the CMA that you practice now. I would also be interested in hearing about what and which _aspects_ of the two that you like better or not like in your opinion. Thanks.