Any Tool

Friday Knight News

The first rule of martial arts is to learn how to fight. This goes beyond martial art dance classes and healing yoga type of training. Both of these approaches have merit and in the life of most people they hold greater merit. Still it is better in my view to train first for application and to uncover the other benefits as you progress. This means to develop an understanding how to avoid needless battles, as no fights have a winner only degrees of pain or loss. If our training gives us confidence enough to be friendly to others and power enough to convince those with bad intent to look elsewhere to let off their aggression; in this case we win. The makiwara is a tool that builds this confidence.

I was trying to decide what to address on this Friday Knight News when I received a question on my e-mail. It began with a statement about how their striking pad was set up. In this case it was wall mounted. I mentioned that the iron palm strikes were what I used with my makiwara training. I hit with the iron palm with a falling water feel. The strike has splash and no penetration' that is for hanging bag work. I feel it is best for you to use different tools for different types of training. Any thing can be made a substitute but there is nothing like the right tool for the job at hand. The makiwara sharpens the weapon, repetition teaches the use of the tool. They can be learned together or independently depending on your understanding. 

I feel that the makiwara is a mix of the mook jong and the iron palm bag. This is even more apparent when you use the single arm makiwara in your practice. The Chinese translations of what I was told were called the heavenly seven are the core to all upper body strikes. In fact I feel that iron palm is the foundation to effective chin-na. This includes sensitivity types of drills; again there are other tools more suited but there are many lessons to be extrapolated from them.

My iron palm strikes that I use on my striking post are as follows:

Dot (this covers all types of finger strikes and feeling drills).

Chop (covers all types of chops, knife-hand, ridge-hand etc). If you look at my hook punch video you should be able to see that I use it to set up strikes that are not delivered primarily with the fore fist as in a boxing hook punch. In dirty boxing what we call a ridge fist (part of the press group and the ridge-hand from the chop group) can be delivered in this manner. This strike is illegal in boxing for good reason.

Slap (covers all types of palm strikes and these many also be used in the hook punch connotation).

Press (covers all types of hammer fist and ridge fist movements), there are additional press movement not trained with the iron bag or the standard makiwara. These uses are commonly found in Tai Chi Chuan, Baguazhang, Hsing I Chuan the internal Chinese arts and in Japanese kenjutsu. One of the press variations was one of  the deadliest moves mentioned by Musashi in his Go Rin no Sho and the sword opened the door to deploying this technique.

Throw (which covers all types of back-fist, back-hands, and bent wrist strikes).

Forearm (covers all types of straight, raising, horizontal and diagonal dropping strikes).

Elbow (this covers all types straight, raising, horizontal, dropping back elbow blows).

The second rule of martial arts is about how to protect and heal. Sorry the fight club rules don’t apply here or do they? All of my teachers like and insisted on keeping your knowledge secret. It was always a pet peeve of mine to have students who went out and showed everything they knew to anyone they came across. This was always compounded if the student was the type of person who was not walking what they talked. These students are few and far between as pruning helps, weeding helps more but avoidance of the type works best.

The final good question the astute writer asked was if I had any good ideas for drills on striking?  I was certain that I had plenty of ideas but as to if they are good or not depends on the amount of effort you put into it and how much understanding you can draw from them. I liken the beginning of  makiwara training to sharpening my weapon not fencing itself. A good lesson is to learn to merge the two together; a hint is to see it as iaijutsu.

My stories are about martial arts adventures that are intertwined with paranormal or supernatural events. The following links are to the Kindle version books from the "Dream Walker” series. Our adventurers find themselves on a quest where they are confronted with both conspiracy and mystery. Their challenge is to unite their mind and body skills together utilizing what they have learned in the martial arts with the transcendental power of dream mediation. They attempt to do this while they are trying to make a life for themselves and elude those that seek to use and control them.

Conversations with a Sage (Book 1 of the Dream-Walker)

Conversations with a Sage: This explores Xander Davidson's early encounters with the mysterious fog like Dream Walking martial art sages. He ponders if they are real or if they are only remnants of his dreams. He mainly keeps this secret world to himself as he tries to copes with abuse, growing up without support or guidance and the mystery of his family's past. 

Xander and the Assassins Gift (Book 2 of the Dream-Walker)

The Assassins Gift: Xander Davidson struggles with the conspiracy of his family and the group that is actively trying to manipulate him to join them or die. The young Dream Walkers learns an early lesson to be careful about whom they let into their circle.


Warriors of Perception (Book 3 of the Dream-Walker)

Warriors of Perception: Xander Davidson and his band of friends embark on a mission to free themselves from their oppressors. They bravely face the challenge all the while vying for the right moment to turn the tables.

Jace Lee The Shift (Book 4 of the Dream-Walker)

Jace Lee The Shift: We find a new apprentice, Adam, that is fighting for his life. He is struggling to understand the amazing skills of his mentor, Jace Lee; a younger man that has trained under Xander Davidson. All the while his mentor attempts to reconcile the fact that his skills do not match up with the other Dream Walkers.


Jace Lee No Agenda (Dream Walker Book 5)

Jace Lee No Agenda: Jace Lee attempts to find himself on a self-imposed vision quest of sorts. Instead he finds himself being stalked by the same group that had previously sought after his teacher, (Xander Davidson). Instead of mastering his odd Dream Walking skills he finds love and the potential loss of his powers.

Jace Lee and the Tutelage of Ming Wu: Dream Walker 6 

Jace Lee The Tutelage of Ming Wu: Jace Lee rejoins his teacher Xander Davidson as they cope with a possible combined threat (the mysterious), Ming Wu and the Council that has continuously monitored the Dream Walkers.