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glenatronIf anyone is within jumping distance of Guildford and wants to learn to be a ninja, now is a great chance as we have a new class starting up run by one of the teachers I've been training with for the last six years or so.
Ninjutsu is a traditional, non-competetive martial art a little similar to Aikido, incorporating strikes, blocks, kicks, grappling, locks, throws and whatever else comes to mind alongside training with various traditional Japanese weapons, including staves of various lengths and the katana and wazikashi. We train with longer weapons like naginata but that tends to happen when we're outside as light fittings and windows tend to be at risk when you use an 8 foot pole in a confined space. Everything begins from the unarmed taijutsu (meaning literally "body art") that is what you start out learning and then extend in different directions. Pretty much everything is done in pairs so you're always working with different people and learning how techniques really work rather than punching and kicking the air. We only really do that when we're working on the basic punches and kicks and as we bore easy that doesn't tend to happen for very long at a time.
It's a good way of working on your balance, timing and general awareness of your body and the space around it. We learn to fall and to roll so we can land throws successfully, although it may be a little while before we get to work on that much, not having crashmats at the moment. It's also a very practical style if you ever do need to defend yourself, built around techniques designed to be effective against a larger and stronger opponent.
The other thing I really like about it is that we keep things friendly and informal- the way we train is very relaxed and we don't get too serious or obsessive about it. Being lazy we don't do a whole lot of warming up, so it's not an hour of aerobics followed by a bit of martial arts, we just go and train on stuff from start to finish.
Lessons are happening in Onslow Village Church Hall in Guildford - it's just off the A31 so it's pretty easy to get to and training runs from 7:30-9:30. It costs £5 a time and you just pay when you turn up, none of this "pay for ten lessons in a term" nonsense that a lot of people seem to be doing these days.
Edit: Things I forgot until they were pointed out- it's on Friday evening and if you want to come along I suggest wearing loose comfortable clothing- maybe tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt.
Ninjutsu is a traditional, non-competetive martial art a little similar to Aikido, incorporating strikes, blocks, kicks, grappling, locks, throws and whatever else comes to mind alongside training with various traditional Japanese weapons, including staves of various lengths and the katana and wazikashi. We train with longer weapons like naginata but that tends to happen when we're outside as light fittings and windows tend to be at risk when you use an 8 foot pole in a confined space. Everything begins from the unarmed taijutsu (meaning literally "body art") that is what you start out learning and then extend in different directions. Pretty much everything is done in pairs so you're always working with different people and learning how techniques really work rather than punching and kicking the air. We only really do that when we're working on the basic punches and kicks and as we bore easy that doesn't tend to happen for very long at a time.
It's a good way of working on your balance, timing and general awareness of your body and the space around it. We learn to fall and to roll so we can land throws successfully, although it may be a little while before we get to work on that much, not having crashmats at the moment. It's also a very practical style if you ever do need to defend yourself, built around techniques designed to be effective against a larger and stronger opponent.
The other thing I really like about it is that we keep things friendly and informal- the way we train is very relaxed and we don't get too serious or obsessive about it. Being lazy we don't do a whole lot of warming up, so it's not an hour of aerobics followed by a bit of martial arts, we just go and train on stuff from start to finish.
Lessons are happening in Onslow Village Church Hall in Guildford - it's just off the A31 so it's pretty easy to get to and training runs from 7:30-9:30. It costs £5 a time and you just pay when you turn up, none of this "pay for ten lessons in a term" nonsense that a lot of people seem to be doing these days.
Edit: Things I forgot until they were pointed out- it's on Friday evening and if you want to come along I suggest wearing loose comfortable clothing- maybe tracksuit bottoms and a t-shirt.
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no subject
Date: 10 Oct 2007 22:11 (UTC)is there really any difference between this,aikido, and any other ninja ness? all seems the same really.
and £5 to pay for whenever you can make it sounds VERY good!
you didnt say what day it was?
and what would you wear to go?
no subject
Date: 10 Oct 2007 23:46 (UTC)There are a whole bunch of different families of martial arts, things like Karate, Taekwondo and kickboxing are very much oriented towards strikes, lots of punching and kicking. They tend to be more sporting and competetive. Styles like Aikido, some families of Ju Jitsu and Ninjutsu are more about redirecting an enemy's attack and using it to control their body, so rather than blocking a punch and punching them back you might evade the punch and then use the movement behind it to turn it into an arm lock or a throw. Unlike the karates and Judos of this world you really can't turn it into a competetive sport because we tend to poke people in the eyes, kick them in the nads and tread on their feet. It's quite hard to do that kind of thing in a sporting way...
Kung fu comes from loads of different directions from stuff very close to kickboxing through things a bit like what we do (but typically less lock-oriented) right to the theatrical and stage forms that are closer to dance.
no subject
Date: 11 Oct 2007 06:00 (UTC)no subject
Date: 11 Oct 2007 20:13 (UTC)no subject
Date: 11 Oct 2007 22:16 (UTC)Different teachers work very different ways, though, I doubt everyone is as mellow as our lot, you could always go along and watch one time and decide if it looked good.
no subject
Date: 11 Oct 2007 22:20 (UTC)