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yeah, that picture of him with the half molten steel is featured on the cover of the book. if you can find some pictures of his swords, do, they're amazing. i can only imagine what it is like to hold one in real life as opposed to seeing pictures in a book...

At 4/15/06 03:43 AM, tom3rulz wrote: yeah, that picture of him with the half molten steel is featured on the cover of the book. if you can find some pictures of his swords, do, they're amazing. i can only imagine what it is like to hold one in real life as opposed to seeing pictures in a book...

Oooooo..... Sweet pics! :)

Click ==> http://www.legacyswo..Yoshiharanihonto.htm

At 4/15/06 03:51 AM, Monocrom wrote:

Oooooo..... Sweet pics! :)

Click ==> http://www.legacyswo..Yoshiharanihonto.htm

you notice that "30,000.00$ for all" followed by "sold"?

and kuniiye is his older brother.

At 4/15/06 04:25 AM, tom3rulz wrote:

you notice that "30,000.00$ for all" followed by "sold"?

and kuniiye is his older brother.

It probably took him a lifetime to build up a reputation like that! .......... It probably takes him a few months just to make one sword!

one sword takes about 1.5 to 2 weeks. a SUPER high quality sword, just to craft the blade, takes about 2.5 weeks. a full mount scabbard and habaki can take 6 months for a craftsman to make, and polishing takes about 3 days for a superb job.

Sadly, I'll never be able to afford any of his pieces. :'(

At 4/15/06 05:31 AM, Monocrom wrote: Sadly, I'll never be able to afford any of his pieces. :'(

sadly, me neither. but i am willing to settle for something a bit more.... in my price range. which in maybe 10 years when i hope to go to japan will be like 3 or 4 thousand bucks.

*sigh* Mono you really are hopeless. You always say you arent making personal attacks at martial artist but you always just seem to point at the flaws in them. You see no philosophy in martial arts, you dont even take martial arts, and your a dick to anyone who takes them.

When was the last time you posted about your own experiences in martial arts. Im not sure if i've even read one if you did actaully post about it. Then again its really hard to read your dragged out post because God knows no man has the attention span for just useless jibbarish(not sure of spelling).

Im not saying you should apologize to Nole nor am i saying that you shouldnt. Not my concern. But my concern is the club. When the post have nothing to do with martial arts thats a problem. It makes martial artist look at the club and be like, "whats the point of joining". And who the hell made you leader. Quit acting like it

Martial Arts is a unique and mature angle of how one chooses to live life through vigilant endurance, discipline, and through a steady and personal gain of wisdom; it helps decide the "how" in life, how one approaches true dilemmas, how one views others, how one judges and percieves his universe; if one chooses so, it can permeate every fiber of his being and improve their entire life, be it incredibly deprived or incredibly fruitful. It promotes and creates confidence, social understanding, tolerance of all kinds, yet still prepares one for any physical or mental danger or malevolent influence. It is a beautiful institution that enhances society, spirit, and cultural exchange, and one that should never be barred legally or socially...

But you see, everyone....Martial Arts is not about a 8" Stainless Steel Knife. (BUY NOWW!!!!!! CHEAP CHEAP EASILY HIDDEN! BUY BUY BUY, UNBEARABLY MACHO CUSTOMER WHO IS PUBLICLY PROUD OF HIS KNIVES!!!)

If we are to have any sort of sucess here, we must share our dilemmas; we must help eachother make decisions and judgements based on our situations and those of others; family matters, social troubles, drugs, and philosophically unsettling questions are just as relevant to this thread as dilemmas of public or private violence, or indeed the proper way to execute a certain throw or how not to injure yourself while performing a tornado kick.

That will be all. Call me elitist or whatever, what I have stated is inevitably and will forever be what this club is based on.

If I may give my opinion, that was a lovely reply about what this club is about, TBulgius. I can understand and agree to each part of what you said. Myself, I don't get involved in the knife sale replies because 1) I don't care about that stuff anymore and 2) I probably am only an amature(sp?) when it comes to the knowledge of blades. We don't use weapons at my TKD club. I can deduce where the "cool, dangerous knives for sale" thing started from, but simply the sale of them shouldn't be considered an important topic on martial arts. The handeling and fighting with a knife is different because it is focused on self-defense as well as safety when defending oneself with a knife in hand. Updates on what new knives are out there should be kept in a different club forum. Surely mono can afford to post on one more forum to talk about knives for sale. Also, thank you for specifying what dsmk probably meant by "When the post have nothing to do with martial arts thats a problem." I think I should really stress this: Be specific when talking about something somone has said or commented on; I'm sick and tired of playing the "GUESSING GAME", trying to figure out what you meant to say and why you feel a certain way! This situation has occured twice since I joined the club, and I feel like a failiure in English because of my inability to understand what you refer to and why you think what you do. Make your message clear. TBulgius made his clear, so follow his example.

I agree with s7. whether you guys like it or not, knife fighting is considered to be martial arts, and it doesnt need a long name or a extensive history to be a art. and whether you like it or not selling knives isnt a martial art. if this is just the point dsm wanted to make then good, but you can work on being more clear in your posts if thats all.
and if your only beef with mono is that he doesnt post about his own experiances, then, well you shouldnt try and act like everyone needs to be a tournament winning fighter or whatever, i try and post what i can about what i do, but i've already told you guys all my stories and until somthing especcially (sp?) interesting happens i dont really have much to say. i had ninjutsu last night, and i worked with a new guy and was able to help get his techniques down abit. and i got punched in the nose by teacher because he wasnt too careful while doing a technique on me. thats about it. that doesnt particulary excite me, and if this whole club was just "iu went to training or whatever today" then it doesnt sound like a very good martial arts club, more a fitness type thing.
tomB- i agree with you for the most part, but you tend to leave out one of the most integral parts of martial arts. which is the actual martial part. martial arts are about 1/3 techniques, as in actual combat or fighting techniques, 1/3 spiritual type stuff, as in being a good enough person to be worthy (sorry for lack of a better word) to know martial arts, otherwise your a disgrace to your art and yourself if you just go around fighting for the hell of it all the time, and that includes essentially everything you posted; and its 1/3 knowledge, as in knowing when and how to use the techniques. without one of these parts the whole thing will just collapse in on itself.
looking back and reading your post several times i see that you pretty much said this, but it wasnt so clear to me, and i just typed all this and i dont want to just throw it away, in case any one wants to say anything on it.

At 4/14/06 02:44 AM, Monocrom wrote:

Talk about mis-interpreting a post. Let's see, is this the part where I wait for DSM's angry reply because you got pissed off over a post that was filled with NO personal insults directed towards you?..........

Gee thanks for not letting me down DSM. At least you are consistant, I'll give you that much. You also say you're concerned about the club, yet your posts are few and far between. As for being leader, remember when those 2 spammers were in here and they asked who was the leader of this club? Remember the post that Shin made in reply? He told them we had no official leader, but if he had to pick one, well; guess who's name the Founder of this club picked out. (HINT: Not Your's)! ............ Yet, we both know that you BELIEVE you are in charge of this club, when Shin isn't here. Reality check: You're a veteran of this club, not the leader that you pretend to be. I was happy to let you go on playing pretend, because you were never a jerk about it; until now. You are not the leader of this club, so quit acting like it............

The truth is, Tsuchiya and I have worked the hardest to keep this club going, lately. It's good to see the new members contributing on a regular basis. If they disagree with something I post, that's fine. They don't resort to personal insults. I care mostly about the self-defense aspect of martial arts. You care mostly about the sport aspect. Sorry to burst your bubble, but knife-fighting and weapons are a very real aspect of martial arts. (You once claimed that one of the other arts you study is Kali. [although you usually mispelled it with a "C"] Kali is the only art I know of where students start out learning the use of the knife....... and things just progress from that. If that's not how you were taught, then you got ripped off). You accuse me of being a dick, yet you're the one who has no tolerance for anyone or anything that isn't about winning a trophy! You want my life experience? I've already posted it. But here it is again; I use my Art on a daily basis to avoid confrontations that could escalate into violence. I use my Art to de-escalate situations that look as though they are headed towards violence. And if need be, I can use my Art to defend myself against a REAL attacker; not just an opponent in the ring. I have stayed out of jail, out of emergency rooms, and out of a pine box; all because of my R.B.S.D. training. My accomplishments are not the type that can be displayed on a mantle. But I don't expect you to understand; a trophy-fighter never will.

------------ To the other members of this club ------------

It seems some clarification is in order. Tsuchiya is correct about knife fighting being a part of martial arts. The link I created recently, for the swords, was done because I believed that all of you would enjoy the pics. It was not done to promote the site or the Sword-maker. As for the other site, the Martialist is an online magazine that puts out half of the articles in each issue, for free, on the site. A few days ago, it ceased to exist. Now it's back. Yes, there IS an online store located at that site as well. But, there's an online store located at most martial arts related sites! I never said, "Go to that site and buy, buy, BUY!!" What I posted was, "One of my favorite martial arts related sites is back. It's filled with short articles from a guy who is For Real. Check it out if you want to."

Hopefully, this clears up any misunderstanding. As for me, I can discuss any topic with anyone. But, If someone gets so upset at one of my honest answers that they turn it into personal insults; screw it. If you guys want me to lie to you, please let me know before the discussion begins; and I will be happy to do so. Otherwise, expect only honest posts from me. When someone turns a discussion into personal insults, that tells me that they can't defend their point of view. Calling me a dick, an A**hole, a jerk or whatever; that just tells me that the discussion is over, because you can't defend your point of view......... I'm done with this discussion about Faces misinterpreting my post. I'm done with Faces because he owes me an apology and he knows it. (But I doubt he'll be man enough to apologize). I'm done with DSM because I knew he would use Faces' post as an excuse to TRY to start up another flame war; please see the quote at the very beginning of this post. Thank You.

you guys ever tried to compare your arts to other ones, or have someone continuously compare theirs to yours? mono might be a bit lost on this, because when people hear 'reality based self defense' they arnt going to think martial arts and start comparing it to karate and and tkd.
im saying this because i have a friend of mine in TKD and karate (and hes really good at both), and i guess hes just jealous of me taking ninjutsu and he cant, but hes always comparing the tkd and ninjutsu, though not so much anymore. like ill tell him somthing that is almost only done in ninjutsu (if not then i dont know the art.. well its kind of done in wing chun, thats it i think though, if you want to know its the whole 'using the least amount of strength and movement possible, like if someone threw a punch we wouldnt do a block, we kind of.. push their arm out while moving the other way, so they go off and balance and are open to our assualt), but he kept saying things like how all martial arts do that, and that ninjutsu isnt so diffrent from other arts (it has its similarities but many more diffrences). it got annoying so im glad he quit for the most part.
so any of you had these experiances with people before?

Note that I wasn't attacking knife-fighting styles, people. I was attacking the people who are actually proud of their twice-curved thrice-spiked gangfighting knives just to be macho.

Sorry for the double post, but I just read all of Mono's post, and I must say that DSM isn't "a trophy fighter". I'm pretty sure that, like me, he believes in competitions as an exciting and fun activity set aside from "the real point" that MA presents us. Be mindful of that.

To: Ts -
Actually, there was a discussion about the similarites and differences between the 2 branches of JKD and R.B.S.D., on the R.B.S.D. forum where I'm a Regular. I was surprised that most of those who posted, shared my views about JKD (regardless of branch) being a good Art for those mainly interested in self defense.

But the concept that you described sounds familiar to me. In R.B.S.D., it's known as "Conservation of strength & movement." Since my Art is younger than your's, I will openly admit that the concept was borrowed from Ninjutsu or another Art and incorporated into R.B.S.D.

While some arts DO share some tactics or techniques, I haven't encountered an Art that was extremely similar to another one. I can understand why you got upset at your friend.

To: Tomb -
I do not know how much experience you have had in knife-combatives. It has been my experience that most of the practioners take it very seriously. They are aware of the legal consequences of using a knife for self defense. They know that a knife is looked upon as a deadly weapon by the legal system, no different than a gun. Those of us who carry a knife for utilarian and self defense purposes, we know that a knife must be "street-legal." (For me, that means a single-edged folder or fixed-blade with a less than 4"- blade)......... The type of "Macho" individual that you describe is rare in a knife-combatives class. At least that's been my experience. But yeah, I can't stand those types of guys either......... The funny part is, there actually IS a high-quality, twice-curved folding knife that is made by 2 different reputable companies; and specifically marketed as a last-ditch weapon for police officers who need to fight off a violent attacker. As far as I know, there is at least one reported case of an officer using it as such........ But it doesn't come with spikes.

With regards to competitions, I see nothing wrong with a person learning an Art just for it's value in competitions. I also see nothing wrong with a person learning an Art just for it's spiritual value, or just for it's self defense value. I have a problem with martial artists who think their "way" is the ONLY one that has value, out of those three.

Im not going to get in the middle of this pointless shit. Because I think that everyone has the right to their opinion and if that person chooses to include personal attacks in their opinion then whatever. There is some shit in the 1st Amendment about the Right to Free Speech. This means that you can say your personal insults without being shot. But like I said Im not getting into this...so Im going to say Happy Easter to you all. I hope everyone has a great hoilday and spends much time worshipping your God or indulging yourself in chocolate bunnies....like I am doing right now. :D

sorry i haven't been posting, i just got off of an unfair, though short, ban. my view is that if someone wants to study a martial art, for whatever reason, then more power to them as long as they are at least civilised. if someone wants to act all elitist, or bash other arts, then i won't value their opinion too much. but if someone can provide a logical argument for their side then i will listen.

about the knives: i think that self defense, though it is too broad to be considered an art, is an essential aspect of almost all arts. R.B.S.D. is one of the few arts in which the emphasis lies almost solely on defense, and that being what monocrom takes, that will be what he discusses. knives, guns, and other self defense tools are exactly that; tools for defending oneself. personally, i have no problem with monocrom posting links to anything really, because i know that, and here's the kicker, i dont have to click it. i cannot recall one instance where monocrom pressured anyone into buying anything. he may have made recomendations, but yet again, you don't have to pay attention if you don't want to.

Mono why would i bad mouth knife martial arts when i do take one. Its called Cali(misspelled most likely). Its a philipino weapons style which focuses on sticks and knives, even fucking swords.

I am not a trophy fighter. That is the last thing i would ever be. When i lost the tournament i was just recently in i was probably happier than the guy who got first. It was a great fucking experience for me that i never got to experience that well in the past. The couple of tournaments i went to before that one i didnt even get to compete. But this one i got the experience. At the end of that tournament some of my students and friends saw me lose they just saw what i always tell them. You can go to a tournament lose everything and come out happy. You can go to another tournament and win and be miserable. That isnt something a trophy fighter would say is it.

As for your leadership, you can calll yourself the fucking sinsei-grandmaster-bitch for all i care. You can be the self-proclaimed leader. I talk to shin alot and he says that you misinterperted what he said. He never made you a leader. The main reason he said that to you was because he got mad that i said he left the club and came back acting all high and mighty.

Now for my attack back on you.

Thats it.

At 4/16/06 06:04 PM, tom3rulz wrote:

about the knives: i think that self defense, though it is too broad to be considered an art, is an essential aspect of almost all arts. R.B.S.D. is one of the few arts in which the emphasis lies almost solely on defense, and that being what monocrom takes, that will be what he discusses. knives, guns, and other self defense tools are exactly that; tools for defending oneself. personally, i have no problem with monocrom posting links to anything really, because i know that, and here's the kicker, i dont have to click it. i cannot recall one instance where monocrom pressured anyone into buying anything. he may have made recomendations, but yet again, you don't have to pay attention if you don't want to.

To: All Members of the club -

Quite right. I am fully aware of how an internet forum works. I put out martial arts related links, and you guys have the option to click on them or ignore them. (Perhaps one of you has run across one of my links that you believed had nothing to do with martial arts. But I wouldn't have included it, in this thread, if I thought it wasn't martial arts related. A situation like that is a difference of opinion).

Bottom line: This club has no official leader. That's the way Shin wanted it, and that's the way I believe it should stay. If you guys want to post something that's martial arts related, you shouldn't worry about getting insulted by anyone. Just post, whether it's a question or a comment. This club is supposed to be about a free & open exchange of ideas.......... well; that's the way it's SUPPOSED to be. Some topics of discussion are blatantly obvious. Some are not. For example, if a well-known member of this club has studied an Art that emphasizes Knife-Combatives (such as Kali) and wishes to ask which well-made knife to carry for self-defense; I believe that IS martial arts related. I know that some members of this club have already said they disagree with that. But, I do know about knives. Which ones are well-made, and which ones to avoid. And, I'm going to post my answer if someone asks that question. (Just an example).

There have been topics brought up by other members of this club. Topics that I felt were not martial arts related. But I recognized the fact that when the topic was brought up by a particular member, that member felt the topic WAS martial arts related. I have never told a member of this club to, "Shut up about that topic, it's not martial arts related." And, I never will. I believe that every club member here, has common sense. I don't expect to see a topic regarding gardening, or astronomy. But if I do see a topic that I don't feel is martial arts related, I know that the person who brought it up would disagree with me. Please keep that in mind.

At 4/16/06 10:01 PM, dsmking wrote: Mono why would i bad mouth knife martial arts when i do take one. Its called Cali(misspelled most likely). Its a philipino weapons style which focuses on sticks and knives, even fucking swords.

Im sorry. Call me the grammer nazi I dont care, you seem to be on a roll lately with the personal insults. But how can you claim to take an art when you cant spell it? Its KALI...with a K. KKKKKKK....Kali. Thank you. Happy Easter :)

Now I see how the subjects move along. Etiquette-Flaming-Knives... wow! So, mono and dsm seem to have been at this for a while, who has authority? Hmmm... I see no reason to be fighting over who is the "Leader" here, I never even recognized one. I see members who post often and those who post long replies, but as for authority, there should be none but people who runs these forums and those who decide if your reply is banned. I see a subtle, yet undying flame of conflict burning between these two veterans. Both are trying to establish something that isn't even there... becuase it was already taken. Why fight? Belittling others and declaring their intentions and traits for them sets a bad example for newcomers and observers. You only hurt the forum attacking eachother like this. Have respect for what other people say or think, they have a right to it. You can hate each other's guts out, but don't waste the forum's page space on you hatred. Argue facts and opinions, not the character of others. Challenge, but don't outright attack, you show as much as much respect to another doing this as bowing to your opponent before a sparring match. Deal with conflict on the internet the same way as you would on the streets. I don't want to have to post a reply about this again... please make amends. This reminds me of the relationship between my dad and my uncle.......

Found this recently, and decided to share. It's one of those blatantly obvious topics I talked about earlier. I think it will make for an interesting discussion.

Link ==> http://www.newsnet5...100405&qs=1;bp=t

Sorry for double-posting.......

To: S7 -
Please read the post I made, right before you posted. Thank You. Happy to see that you feel the same way. A Flame war will not occur on this thread, as it did in the past.

Mono-

Nice link. I love seeing stuff like that. I once had a fellow student and fellow resident of south Atlanta have her apartment broken into. This guy tried to rape her in her bed in front of her child while she was sleeping. She used Hapkido to fight him off. She fought him all over her apartment. As he tried to escape out the fire escape she continued to fight him. She fought him all the way down the street until she got tired and let him run away. The police had to follow the blood trail to catch him. I was so proud of her. And reading the police report was so funny. The guy got what he deserved. Another story that is good, but didnt end as well is when some punk decided to rob one of my instructors. He was in her house and had all of her sterio equipment by the front door and ready to go. She came home with her two foster children and noticed this. This guy tried to pull a knife on her. She was worried about protecting her children and her home. She disarmed him and held him down until the cops got there. She didnt go overboard as I would have, just because Id enjoy seeing the blood. But apparently this guy didnt care about her professional courtesy. Two years later he sued her because he is "unable" to work because she injured his leg. In my opinion he should be grateful she didnt take his leg off with the knife he drew at her. He lost the lawsuit of course, but is now getting disability. My favorite sparring buddy once had someone break into his house. When my freind walked in on this guy stealing his TV the guy got scared and tried to run away. My friend chased him down and dragged him back into the house and continued to beat him. This way, he couldnt be charged with assult, he was "protecting" his home. This situation was uncalled for and he probably should have let the guy go, but its just so funny hearing that story. I enjoyed the link you sent Mono it made me smile...thanks. :)

haha thats a cool link mono, i wish i could say more but..all i can really say is good thing she knew judo.

but ive been thinking, since everyone has been posting about what martial arts are, and i remember somthing i read in a ninjutsu book (its by the grandmaster so its about as close to the source as i can get). in it he says that the current practictioners of ninjutsu (himself included) are just ghosts of the past. that means that those of us who take ninjutsu seriously (as in not just as a fighting art but also the whole spiritual aspect) are just reflections of our training from past traditions and ways. ninjutsu is also a whole life style type thing if you apply it to yourself (it would be called ninpo then, not ninjutsu)so it helps that way, but, as martial artists dont we all just reflect our own personal art that we take? regarding our training, we cant really say we are just individuals. sure we might take techniques from our arts and just apply them our way, but to say thats an entire new art would be a lie, we all practice (or teach) what we know, which is what we are taught, no matter by whom.

well theres some food for thought for you guys, if you care to take the time to think about it.

oh and mono, i just want to know, is there something in rbsd about not looking like your a martial artist, so that people dont suspect you of being one? the more i learn about rbsd the more it strikes me as like a more modern ninjutsu, from what i know they seem to have similar type techniques and are taught kind of along the same lines. there are diffrences, but there alot of similarities ive noticed too, ive just been comparing the two lately.

Genltemen.. after much deliberation.. I did indeed start my training again, IT WAS FANTASTIC!!! The first day I stepped into my Friend and Mentor's School I instantly felt ..ALIVE again all the haze in my life went away, and as I stepped on the mat after owing respectively to the flags... My friend/ Master presented me with rank of 2nd Dan Black, he ssaid to me, Doug you have worked hard to get where you were and are now.. and you don't deserve to have you rank taken away from you just cuz the assholes down the street railroaded you, you are a damn good no great martial artistAnd I want you to remeber that... take the rank Pleases it is an honor to be training with you again... ALRIGHT enuff of this formal Crap let's get down to buisness ^_^ !!! It was great being thrown around again and finding out who I am again. After the work out the first day I went home sore after using muscles I hadn't in awhile. But the second day that is where I was in trouble . I found out I had lost some power and endurance over the last year. But at least I still had my agility.... My god it was great I was actually sweating again and my heart was was pumping for my love of the martial arts. It felt as if.. I was a.. A Jedi I guess you you could say with the FORCE flowing strongly through him. GOD I LOVED IT!!! SO my next time I hav my four days off I will be going back to train with my friend/master, if I bust my ass hard enough... I will reach my 3rd Dan. Again it was great just bullshitting about what theories work and going over countless joint locks and control holds, cuz aside from hiom teaching Tae kwon do, he has alos reached certification to teach Hapkido, all the stuff I missed when he had left the old dojang... I was enjoying again. Truly ican now join Post in this thread knowing agaion I have regained my title as..A martial artist

Yeah...thanks Blamurai. After reading that post I am depressed. I have been out of Hapkido training for almost 1 year. And what you described in your post is how I feel when I get to train once or twice a year in my style. I want...no i NEED to get back into Hapkido. Thank you for your post it has made me realize i need to get off my ass and get back into my life. Good luck in you training and I will look forward to conversing aout Hapkido philosophy and techniques when I get back into it. Damn I miss it more than i thought.

At 4/17/06 02:03 AM, Satanic_Samurai wrote: Yeah...thanks Blamurai. After reading that post I am depressed. I have been out of Hapkido training for almost 1 year. And what you described in your post is how I feel when I get to train once or twice a year in my style. I want...no i NEED to get back into Hapkido. Thank you for your post it has made me realize i need to get off my ass and get back into my life. Good luck in you training and I will look forward to conversing aout Hapkido philosophy and techniques when I get back into it. Damn I miss it more than i thought.

LOL it is true once you reach Black you never go back, I can't really say Iam that skilled in hapkido, my area is Moo Duk Kwan, tae kwon do as a base art.. but I have dabbled in other areas, ninjitsu, wu shu, kung fu. At one point in my life I was an instructor and now I currentl;y again, hold my rank as a Second DAn Black belt, HOwever I retained my knowledge of teaching methods and ways and am one of the few ppl on the forum that has exp. as a an instructor , hell I envy the great Mod Ozcar, he is instructing for a career, obviously his master not like the one i had before is very honorable, my old one however turned his back on me after I invested a lot of $$$ to become an instructor and to learn to run a school at one point in 2004-2005 I had not learned anything new from him , hell he didn't even come to teach, he was more concerened with business than teaching and preserving the art, and now the art I remeber has not evolved but ben bastardized and perverted.... Anyhow I am learning a second form of TKD now, any questions are welcome and I wish you luck on your training ....

To: satan -
I have to admit, that article put a smile on my face too; the first time I saw it. :)
Glad you enjoyed it.

To: Ts -
I'm glad you enjoyed the link too. As for not looking like a martial artist, yes; most of the well-known R.B.S.D. teachers stress blending in to one's enviornment. One example is how the FBI, in the 1950s, would dress undercover agents in business suits. It worked. But when the 60s rolled around, the FBI investigated the counter-culture movement by sending in agents STILL dressed in business suits. Every hippie could point out an undercover agent........ The key is to blend in. A lot of R.B.S.D. instructors have students practice in their regular street-cloths, since that's what you'll likely be wearing if you're attacked. Sneakers are worn at all times. (Those instructors who do use uniforms, they stress that it not be worn outside; ever). Blending in is very important, in R.B.S.D.; especially since some violent criminals know what to look for. Want an easy way to tell if someone is carrying a concealed handgun? Look at their belt. Gun belts are made from high-quality tan or black leather, with WHITE stiching! Now, when I see a belt like that; I know what it means........ so do quite a few career-criminals. That's a subtle example of not blending in well. But, I honestly can't compare R.B.S.D. and Ninjutsu; since I don't know that much about your Art.

To: Blam -
Welcome back, bro! I never stopped thinking of you as a martial artist. A martial artist who got screwed over, but still; a martial artist!