Johnny Cash Fixes The Martial Arts Systems One Piece At A Time

By Al Case

Didn't know that the man in black could fix Martial Arts Systems, did you? Well, actually, his advice is for fixing automobiles, sort of, but it leads into the fighting disciplines. And it is fine advice indeed.

Johnny sang a song almost forty years ago called 'One Piece at a Time.' In the lyrics he has a factory worker, who will never be able to buy a Cadillac, sneak one off the assembly line 'one piece at a time.' Unfortunately, the bits of auto were smuggled out over a 20 year time span, and the assembled vehicle was quite the mess.

1956 hub caps over 1969 tires. 1958 tail lights with a 1971 rear end. The thing was a mess beyond proportion and propelled by rediculosity, and that brings us to the martial arts.

That grip twist flip throw you learned in Hapkido, it's actually a Japanese trick built for Samurais. That pressure point for bringing 'em to tears, it's actually taught better in Tai Chi Chuan schools because...uh, well, because. And that slick punch combo you just learned at Shotokan fighting class, it looked better in Ed Parker Chinese Kenpo Karate.

You see, every martial arts style in existence, all of them, are tacked together out of the bits and pieces of different nations, different ideologies, different mindsets. The kata and patterns are really frankenstein throwups. The bunkai are a hodge podge glued together out of whatever fell out of the sky.

Look, I'm not speaking ill of the beast, on the contrary, I think that people did the best they could. Unfortunately, no matter how sterling the core concepts in one's art, they are a casting of many metals, prone to come apart at the worst time. And the real concepts have been hidden, transfigured, melded to fit another concept, and the true martial art is not in evidence.

People, you see, for thousands of years, have assembled tricks into arts, and this assemblage has confused and made obscure the real truths of the combative disciplines. Think about it, for thousands of years people have made art, driven a vehicle, as it were, and not once has anybody ever stopped and tried to take it all apart, shine the pieces up, and put them back together in the right way. And there is a right way; there is a true art.

The true art is defined by physics, but not a normal physics, rather a physics that has to do with bodies, combat, and the falling of an apple out of a tree. A physics that is not plain to see for the simple reason of being too close to the eyeballs. At any rate, if one did actually fix the various Martial Arts Systems they would end up with faster reaction times (no reaction times), because all the data would be logical and more easily understood, and entire arts that could be taught much, much, much faster.

About the Author:

Al Case is the only person on the planet that actually fixes Martial Arts styles. Mouse over to his website, Monster Martial Arts, and pick up an absolutely free ebook.