Self-defense…is not simply a matter of the acquisition of combat skills. What is a valid defense of the self? I believe that the self is that which is most intrinsically human and personal within us. It is the self that is truly wounded in any assault. The only valid defense of the self is that which protects the integrity of the self. Combat itself can be a violation, even if one wins. more...

Who’s in Crisis? A Consideration of Those Helping Victims of Abuse

Is there a crisis? Yes, there is. But whose? All too simplistically, we focus on the victim’s. But I intend to talk here about ours. One of the perpetrator’s most elegant tactics is to split those trying to help. One of the victim’s most elegant, but also self-injurious, defenses is also to split those trying to help. more...

 

Essays on Martial Arts

Natural Movement and It’s Relationship to Martial Arts

There is an island where chimpanzees are resettled after a lab closes, or because of aggressiveness, or psychological and physical damage. The chimpanzees are no longer useful to humans, and so they are placed on this island to live out the rest of their lives. There is not enough forage, so estimable humans bring in food by boat. I saw a video some years back of a rather serious error of judgment by one of these well-meaning individuals. more...

Public Presentations of Skill in Traditional Japanese Martial Arts

Up until modern times, embu (public presentations of a martial art) were either honno embu (offerings to the deities of a shrine) or presentations to a figure of authority. The techniques of a martial ryu (tradition) were considered so essential to survival that one avoided showing one’s techniques to outsiders much as one hides nuclear technology today. For this reason, in the Edo period, warriors would flock to any duel or street confrontation – not only for the entertainment value, but to pick up some of the essentials of combat possessed by the combatants, just in case one had to fight someone from that ryu, oneself. more...