Martial arts magazine budo international 334 – april 2 fortnight – 2017

The work with this film is a primer in the difference between Kyusho and Dim Mak, as they are not based on the same targets. It is a continuation of the 6-Ji Hands and Iron Shirt study and films available through Budo International. The 6 Ji Hands that are prevalent throughout an art called Pangai-Noon or Uechi Ryu. It is one of the very few styles that contain and focus on these specific hand positions to get to the Deeper Tissue of the body. This film shows the use of hands not as bludgeons, but rather daggers with the transitional torqueing type power utilized in the 6 Ji Hands* to properly use Kyusho‌ this is a missing facet in most Kyusho practitioners skill sets. 8 KO's (including compression and blood KO's). In this DVD set, works the seemingly simple Sanchin Kata through 8 stages of fighting skill (a complete Martial System in one Kata with Iron Shirt methods as well). DVD Vol.2 Contents: Leg Targets, Takedowns, Kyusho Grappling, Tuite, Kyusho Knife Defense

Ref.: • DVD/Kyusho-26 All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo Inter national, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com

"The vocation of the career politician is that of making a problem of every solution."

Woody Allen he world's hopping mad by the election of Trump as president of the USA. Beyond any consideration on the character (there are plenty of people well able to pass an opinion on that!) we are witnessing a phase of increasingly extreme polarization throughout the planet, as the result of the times we are going through. Seen in this way, Trump (and so many other populist phenomena of one or another sign) is a symptom, not a cause.

The tendency to extremisms and consequently to separation, results from the negative pressure that the planet is supporting in this cycle, and which goes far beyond the more or less relevant symptoms; the ends feedback themselves and they can’t stop growing in high pressure phases.

And as if it was a pressure cooker, they have disconnected from the planet the exhaust valve of conventional wars by placing the "lid" on the atomic dissuasion, thus pressure keeps increasing. To top it off, every day there are more "ingredients" in the pot: humanity doesn't stop growing. The symptoms are unquestionable: more heat, less space, acceleration, expansion... All this implies a condition of more and more pressure, and pressure always forces to positioning: You're either with me, or you're against me!

In this scenario, the intermediate phases of the human pyramid decrease, ever further from the eternal Egyptian mathematical ideal. The pyramid stretches more and more: Less up, they have more; more below, they have less. Middle classes, the basis of prosperity and the flourishing of the modern West, are now gone to the pits from the very moment the barriers of protectionism were opened and the first world, championing the free trade, exported of our model only what the rest of the planet was ready to accept; without relevant counterweights, without preparation, without a history that could act as a master beam of those new realities, betting everything on the simple idea that capitalism would bring along the necessary changes and mankind would soon enjoy the happy Arcadia.

Certainly, the motivations neither were these, nor they ever existed as such; arguments can never replace the premises. Beyond the motivations there are the root causes, and these have to do with titanic forces much more superior which govern without ruling; phases and cycles that transcend us, historical and "Toynbeean" Yin-Yang changes, to which those small movements and characters serve without knowing (We all do!). If we look from top to bottom, the leaders are simple puppets of those forces; seen from bottom to top, they are tide emergents and trends governed by the most elementary physics. We humans are always children of our time and like the rest of the matter and energy of the Universe, we are exposed to Universal laws, like the law of the pendulum.

Protectionism, whether economic, ideological, racial or of any other type, is a defensive measure and

T

"Fear is my most faithful companion, it has never deceived me to leave with another."

Woody Allen consequently a symbol of weakness. As the great Sun Tsu proclaims: "When one is stronger, he attacks; when one is weaker, he defends." It's natural that these tendencies are echoed in society and find social support, because middle classes, now in the minor leagues, cry out against the deception in which they graciously had taken refuge (welfare state), and today, softened, neutered and with their initiative kidnapped - since their major impulse force, that is, necessity, was abducted from them a lot of time ago -, they are madly fighting and without any strategy for the crumbs of their worn out dream. Some like hawks, others like doves, all of them face the fall of the Western Empire, in this uncertain, trickster and disconcerting mismatch, where lucidity is conspicuous by its absence and slogans fill the place of intelligence.

Hawks, more individualistic, roar to join forces and try to return to an idealized past, which is nothing more than an anachronistic and outdated fallacy. Doves, who shit everything, gather in flocks to defend themselves, asking for free food, as if the things didn't cost any effort and the manna could rain from the sky, but that's what we have them accustomed to, right?

Hawks, Yang, and doves, Yin, are both the symptoms of two ends that touch each other, symbols of the tumultuous times we are living, where suppliers of facile solutions, charlatans of magic potions and peddlers of cure-all liniments shamelessly thrive: mass seducers, or seduced masses ... or both. Seen that way, Chavez is not as far from Trump himself as one might think; or Trump from Al-Qaeda; or these from the big-bellied father of the hungry Korea.

The opposite and complementary reaction of slicing the world right down the middle is happening now; we have passed from the dream of a world government to the provincialism and smallholding of the new yokels, clinging to the sentimental dream of the beloved native soil (now transcendental and imperishable Nation). We have passed from Esperanto to the slang of my region or my corner in the planetary neighborhood, as if the goal of languages had stopped being communication, to become a tool of all self-affirmation in the difference. We have passed without solution of continuity from a total crossbreeding to the purity of race... as if such thing existed! And talking about going back in time, why stop at some point nearby? Let's go to the origins!

Let's reach the primitive amoeba from which we all come! But of course, an amoeba with our flag! And we thought that 19th century had been the century of nationalisms! History comes and goes... “¡Cosas veredes, hermano Sancho, que farán fablar las piedras!”

(Don Quixote: Things you will see, brother Sancho, that will make the stones speak!)

But beyond all this there is the pressure that does not stop, but is constantly increasing and squashes nations and individuals who, without any perspective, perceive

the future with the only certainty that things are not going to get any better. Neither Merkel's orthodoxy nor the fallacious heterodoxy of "Podemos" can fix this mess, because what is behind all this exceeds by far the average threshold of understanding. There remain the slogans, the manipulation and the stunning.

I am tempted to enlarge on the qualifications and analysis of the deceptions that all of them propose, but the darkness is not fought with arguments, but turning the light on.

The sage is one who sees the advantages inherent in the drawbacks and the drawbacks inherent in the advantages; he is the one who knows that there is no front without a back, and that the bigger the front, the bigger the back. And, please... There's no such thing as a free lunch!

However, no matter what exercise of lucidity we do, we will not be able to abstract ourselves from the mess in which we are involved, and pressure will force us to take sides and adopt a position. But positioning shouldn't mean swallowing anything, nor buying the fallacies they want to sell us; rather, it means to keep the mind clear, to see beyond the obvious, to read between the lines, and to know that there is no simple recipe, no shortcut, without work.

It means that touching one end implies touching the other; that one can be a person, despite everything; intelligent, despite everything; and above all, capable to distinguish the individual thing from the collective, the clan from the tribe, and the tribe from the nation; because we are more, much more than ideas, sponsorships or adscriptions; we are spiritual beings living a material life, with a task of our own to elucidate, to conclude, perhaps if, like a grain of sand on the beaches of infinity, moved by a thousand and one tides ... tides that pass; sometimes we will be in the breaking of the wave ... other times we'll be inland; and although the world and its prophets are often disgusting, there are so many beautiful things to live and discover, that we mustn't reduce ourselves, nor be satisfied with dedicating ourselves to practice the mentality of an amoeba. Evolution is uphill ... we'll have to work hard...

Great Figures

Tong Po, more than a villain, a referent of the '90s An afternoon with Mohammed Qissi is enough to realize that behind the villain image we see in his films (especially in "Kickboxer") there hides a tremendously nice and polite person. With a very imposing physique - he's 6' 2" tall -, Qissi seems a serious and disciplined man, something that, throughout that afternoon, we were able to ratify. The impression he made on us was that of a religious man (the interview was held in front of the great mosque in Madrid) who doesn't smoke or drink and, by his actions, he seems to follow strictly the precepts laid down in the Koran. He is pretty much concerned about street kids and youngsters and it worries him that they can get into bad drug habits or become juvenile delinquents.

He told us many anecdotes and unknown facets about his companion, Jean Claude Van Damme. After the inter view, ther e came the photographic session in which it was made obvious that Qissi's style is that of a real pro Thai and Kickboxer, with a vast experience in boxing and contact sports. Although his way of fighting looks nothing like the spectacular style of Jean Claude Van Damme, it is true that Qissi possesses a natural talent to choreograph and set up the camera in the

Martial Cinema “Muhammed Qissi was one of the witnesses and protagonists of the second Golden Age of Martial Arts cinema, the decade of the '90S, being in the very eye of the hurricane.

Qissi has worked with some of the best martial artists in action movies and has managed to make a name for himself in this genre.”

Text: Mónica Gail Rodríguez & Pedro Conde Studio Photos: © Alfredo Tucci

Great Figures most appropriate place to capture the action from the best angle.

Qissi knows perfectly his physical limitations: because of his bony constitution, he lacks flexibility. By observing his techniques, you can perceive that his goal is to finalize the combat as soon as possible. And he does it in a very effective way. You can tell immediately that he has fought in a ring because he seeks to economize his movements; he doesn't perform any technique without a purpose, and that's why spectacular and risky techniques are absent. This doesn't attract the attention of the movie's audience, and Qissi is aware that it's very difficult for him to star a film. But there are other possibilities for which he is highly qualified and his great asset is behind a camera being a choreographer or director.

Muhammed Qissi was one of the witnesses and protagonists of the second Golden Age of Martial Arts cinema, the decade of the '90S, being in the very eye of the hurricane. Qissi has worked with some of the best martial artists in action movies and has managed to make a name for himself in this genre.

Muhammed Qissi with our Director Alfredo Tucci, in the ‘90s.

Martial Cinema “The personal friendship that binds Qissi and Jean Claude Van Damme from their childhood probably was in due course a key piece in the blazing career of the ‘golden Belgian’.”

Martial Cinema The personal friendship that binds Qissi and Jean Claude Van Damme from their childhood probably was in due course a key piece in the blazing career of the "golden Belgian". We have already discussed extensively that indissoluble relationship in a previous work published in Budo International, and this time we will focus more on the person of Qissi. Because, do we really know Muhammed Qissi? What has he learned and trained? How important was the film "Kickboxer" in his career? How important was his role as Tong Po in Jean Claude Van Damme's career and in his own? We answer all of these and other questions below.

Muhammed Qissi is best known for his stage name: Michel Qissi. The actor and choreographer was born on September 12, 1962 in the city of Oujda, northwest of Morocco. With only two years of age, he emigrated with his family to France, where they settled in a suburb of Paris. Getting a job was not easy, so a few months later, they moved to Brussels in search of a new life and better opportunities. There, in the Belgian city, Qissi went to school in Ixelles. Because of his young age, he didn’t have any problem in adapting to European life, despite he was growing with both cultures, because his parents kept and maintained the customs and traditions of their country. At age seven, he started practicing Boxing at a sports center but, why this particular sport?

"My older brother practiced boxing and I wanted to imitate him. I saw him with great confidence in himself. Besides, Muhammad Ali was one of my idols."

In that sports center, he met a nine-year-old boy who practiced Shotokan Karate: Jean Claude Camille François Van Varenberg. And a great friendship was born between the two...

"At first, when we met and became friends, he taught me some Karate kicks and techniques and I taught him other Boxing techniques. Thus began our friendship. We became brothers, I stayed in his house to sleep and he stayed in mine".

Due to the frequent visits, a great confidence was created and, in the house of Jean Claude, a curious anecdote arose: "The father of Jean Claude, and even him, began to call me Michel. Then the people in the neighborhood kept calling me that way, and the same thing happened when I got to Hollywood. However now, at my age, although some people continue to call me Michel, at present I prefer to use my authentic name: Muhammed".

Besides sharing a passion for Martial Arts, they both love action films. Stalwart fans of Bruce Lee, they also admire someone who was not an actor: Muhammad Ali. "My brother deeply admired Muhammad Ali; he would jump out of bed at night to see his fights on TV, and I did too! Abdel wanted to be just like him and he passed on to me his fondness and admiration for Ali".

Jean Claude won some Karate championships and, later, when he started competing in Full Contact tournaments, he scored 18 victories and only one defeat, while Qissi was doing the same in Boxing with similar results, in 1979. In the Belgian league semi-finals, he beat the fearsome Jesús Fernández, Belgian of Spanish origin, who, months later, won all his fights by knockout. "At 17, in 1980 I was Middleweight Amateur Champion in Belgium, and in 1981 I was Champion of Europe conquering the gold medal in Salonika, Greece."

Regrettably, three years later, such promising career, that everyone augured as successful, was truncated. "I seriously hurt my elbows just when I had been selected

Martial Cinema for the Belgian boxing team that was going to the '84 Olympics. Due to that, I was depressed for a whole year, but today I am glad because the competitive life of a boxer is very short and very hard". The pugilistic career of his brother Abdel, two year older that him, whom Jean Claude Van Damme's fans will remember for his performances as Athila in the film "Lionheart" (1990), the wrestler Khan in "The Quest" (1996), or the bully in "The Order" (2001), didn't go much better.

"Abdel was a very good fighter, he never lost a bout. He was very fast for a Heavyweight and he's got very long arms. But he also had to give up because the skin of his face is very thin and he easily got gashes and breaches. So he got married, raised a family and hung the gloves forever at a professional level." It's paradoxical that someone who practiced boxing and whose idol was Muhammad Ali, nowadays recommends training Karate, Shotokan style, and advises against the practice of the noble art:

Great Figures

“In "Bloodsport", for example, in addition to helping Van Damme to choreograph the action scenes, I also participated in the post-production.�

Martial Cinema

“I've been boxing for a while and I know it can really hurt you and hurt your brain over time, unless you take it easy.�

"From a very young age, I liked boxing and Muhammad Ali, but that was when I was very young.

Now, with age, I see things differently. I wouldn't let my kids practice Boxing, that's for sure, I wouldn't tell anybody to do it, though I believe it depends on each one. I would never recommend sports in which you can hurt another person. I have enrolled my sons in Shotokan Karate; that's what Jean Claude used to practice. I think that's the best thing, you only have to find the right master. For me, the Shotokan, which comes from Japan, is the best because it implies respect, love and peace; instead of fighting you have katas and in sparring and tournament fighting they have very good rules, it's very clean. I think it's the best thing we can advise our kids to practice. What I like most about Shotokan are the Kata (forms) and that it has very good blocking techniques, and if you are an expert in Shotokan and someone has a problem on the street, like a woman or a child, you can defend them. I have been for many years against drugs and trying to motivate people to play sports, and the only sport that I recommend to everyone because I know that it is good for people, is Shotokan. Still, I always say that you have to be careful and find the right master. In general, all Shotokan federations in the world present good programs and they usually have very good masters. If I say that Boxing is not good for you is because that's what I think, but it's only my personal opinion. I've been boxing for a while and I know it can really hurt you and hurt your brain over time, unless you take it easy. I was very lucky because I didn't practice that much, not because I didn't want to, but because I had problems with my elbow and I had to stop fighting, and I'm glad it was so because if I had continued, I could have bigger problems now. But if I had to choose between the street and the ring for the kids, then I would undoubtedly choose Boxing. Many bad things can happen and the worst of all is the street: street fights, drugs ... You can get involved in very bad things with the wrong people. In that case, of course, Boxing is better than the street".

Swayed by his friend Jean Claude, Muhammed Qissi practiced Karate in his youth. He recalls: "When I met Jean Claude I began to discover oriental Martial Arts and I fell in love with them. As a young man I even participated in a Shotokan Karate tournament in which I was runner-up".

When Van Damme was 18 and Qissi was 16, they went to the Milan Film Festival in an attempt to meet film producers. They returned home with a bunch of business cards and telephones of important personalities from the cinema world. Their illusion began to grow and soon they were tempted by "the American dream" forgetting all about competitions. That's how in the mid '80s they decided to go to the United States to try their luck in Hollywood.

Those early years in America were really hard for both friends, because, just like them, many young people were looking too for their opportunity. Jean Claude Van Damme was about to throw in the towel, but Qissi flatly refused to return and encouraged his friend to keep trying. The miracle they expected finally came: For the first time in his life, Van Damme obtained a major role in a Hong Kong production shot in North America, entitled "No Retreat, No Surrender", where he played the villain of the film. Though it was only four days of filming, nevertheless it was the first important step they took in the world of celluloid. Shortly after, Jean Claude passed the

Martial Cinema “Bloodsport was the first important film for us.�

casting to give life to the alien in "Depredator". However, what they really wanted at any cost was to meet Menahem Golan, producer of the Canon. Almost every wester n Martial Arts film of the time was produced by Canon, and Chuck Norris, Michael Dudikoff, Sho Kosugi, etc., worked in this company.

The opportunity to meet Menahem Golan arose, but what no one knows is what Qissi told us: "Bloodsport was the first important film for us. We managed to obtain an interview with Mr. Golan.

Once we saw him, Jean-Claude made his famous leg-splits between two chairs, but Golan wasn't impressed. After chatting for a while and seeing Jean-Claude in action, he told us that he had seen enough and that he didn't think that we could be successful in a movie. Then I told him that he was making a big mistake, because Jean

Martial Cinema Claude had passed a casting to work on a great production with Ar nold Schwarzenegger. This caught his attention and he told his secretary to call the 20th Century Fox to confirm it. The agent of the company said that indeed, a certain Jean-Claude Van Damme had been selected for the role of villain in the film with Schwarzenegger. What the agent didn't say was that the villain was a monster and that Jean-Claude was going to wear a suit that wouldn't let his face to be seen. After hearing that, Golan gave us the opportunity and here is really where it all started for us".

Ironic twist of fate, Jean Claude didn't get to play the role of the alien because he didn't reach the stature required by the character. In spite of that, and thanks to that pre-selection, he managed to star "Bloodsport". Qissi had very little role in this film playing the Brazilian Thai-boxer that has a shocking confrontation against Chong Li (Bolo Yeung), although his work behind the cameras was quite important. This and other experiences have allowed him to eventually direct his own films. "I have always been very interested in the whole complex process of making a film.

In fact, I've always "unofficially" collaborated in it, although my name doesn't appear in the technical credit titles. In "Bloodsport", for example, in addition to helping Van Damme to choreograph the action scenes, I also participated in the post-production: after seeing the deplorable final editing work of the film, Van Damme and I asked Menahem Golan to let us set it up again and then he'd choose the edition he liked best. He chose ours and I believe that we saved the film and we managed to make it a success. From then on, everything was better for both of us".

"Bloodsport" was a hit that surprised everyone, including Jean Claude Van Damme, and made him known worldwide.

Despite being a film originally intended for the video market, it unexpectedly became a blockbuster.

"Menahem Golan" - explains Van Damme -, "didn't even think of the idea that 'Bloodsport' could be released on the big screen. It was a B series production and, as such, it

“I have always been very interested in the whole complex process of making a film.�

Great Figures seemed doomed to go directly to video clubs. It must be recognized that the realization was null and the music inaudible. The first version of the original script, written by Sheldon Lettich, was really interesting, it promised a story with good rhythm and tension, but certain scriptwriters imposed by the Cannon began to interfere in it, adding and removing from here and there, finally resulting in an uneven story, full of ups and downs, and much too often quite stupid. The first set up was also disastrous, but I knew it was a rough diamond and I wanted to try to carve it. After a year, during which the film was just gathering dust in the Cannon's warehouse, Golan gave me the green light to try to fix it.

So I started to set up the whole film, paying special attention to the combat scenes. After several weeks working 12 hours a day, from seven in the morning to seven in the evening, Golan watched my version and agreed to distribute it in cinemas. Only in the United States, and with no publicity, it raised $ 40 million in movie theaters, and then $ 12 million in video clubs. In Hong Kong it raised more in box office than the film "Pursued" of Schwarzenegger that was premiered simultaneously. Menahem Golan apologized for not having listened to me before. "I get the feeling that you and I can make a good team!" - He added. From that day on, I was granted three parking places and a whole floor of the Cannon building so that I could work at ease."

The fact that Jean Claude Van Damme agreed to play the role of villain in "Black Eagle" (1988) - in which Qissi didn't participate -, after starring in a resounding success such as "Bloodsport" (1987), may be strange for some.

Van Damme himself explains this detail, inconsistent in appearance: "When I was offered the role of villain in "Black Eagle" I was not in a position to demand anything and had serious financial problems, so I was willing to accept anything. It should be noted that, although I had already starred in "Bloodsport", this film had not yet been released and it was dozing off in the archives of the Cannon, so I wasn't yet well known. Playing the role of Sho Kosugi's opponent in "Black Eagle" represented a fantastic opportunity for me, even if I had to play the villain."

After the success achieved by "Bloodsport", Cannon offered Jean Claude Van Damme three alternative projects: to co-star "Delta Force III" along with Chuck Norris, to star in "American Ninja", or to star in "Cyborg." He did not accept the first project because: "Although I loved the idea of working with Chuck, after the success of "Bloodsport" it would have been wrong to accept that offer. For me it was the right moment to fly with my own wings or to not take off."

His response to the second project was a resounding no; he had nothing to do with Ninjutsu.

So he was forced to accept the third offer, "Cyborg".

"Actually I didn’t want to make that film, but I had a contract with Cannon and I considered that this was the least bad of the three possibilities that I had been offered. Anyway I think I was wrong, because everything was horrible from the first day of shooting". The film had a cold reception at the box office; everybody could foresee Jean Claude's huge potential, but the film that would launch him toward success was still missing. His next job was "Kickboxer", and this time Qissi intervened... In an incredible way!: the "great villain" who unquestionably stood out in the Martial Arts cinema of the '90s, the odious Thai-boxer Tong Po, a character that marked a whole generation.

"Kickboxer" contains some really epic scenes of Qissi (Tong Po). Perhaps the most striking one is when the Thai fighter is hardening his tibias by kicking a column of brick and lime, and while his long braid wriggles around to the beat of his low kicks, lime fragments fall around him like raindrops.

"Kickboxer" premiered on November 8, 1989 in North America and, months later, in the rest of the world. The film had a budget of one and a half million dollars, and in a couple of weeks it collected in the North American market a total of $ 14 million and a half, becoming a blockbuster. No one knows exactly the benefits that the film obtained worldwide in its distribution in cinema, in video and for the rights of image for the broadcast on television. The only thing that is known for certain is that it was a success wherever it was exhibited. The filming lasted 56 days, from June 28 to August 23, 1988. It was directed by Mark Disalle, who has not only directed the

Martial Cinema possibly Jean Claude Van Damme's best film ever, but also the best one of Jeff Speakman: "Lethal Weapon".

At the beginning, the filming of "Kickboxer" was loaded with problems, Qissi reports: "Harold Diamond was originally the actor selected to play Tong Po, but he had an argument with the director and he was taken out of the casting at the last moment. Then they thought of hiring a Thai fighter, so I was commissioned to look around all the gyms in town where Thai boxing was taught and find the right person. But all the Thai practitioners I interviewed either had no interpretive skills or didn't give the weight and muscle structure required by the role of Tong Po, so I told Jean Claude: "We don't have time to find a substitute, but don't worry, I'll do it myself." He said: "But you don't look like an Asian!" But I told him I knew someone who could make me look like an Asian.

After the make-up session, he couldn't believe the transformation. And that's how I managed to get this role, thanks to the complicity of Van Damme. He told the producers that in Brussels he would find the ideal person to play Tong Po. On his return to Los Angeles, he showed them pictures of me with makeup to look like a Thai (the magnificent characterization work was done by the makeup artist of "Cyborg") and with my head shaved. The producers seemed delighted and told him to hire the "Thai" from these photos. I still remember their disbelief when we revealed to them that I was that "Thai". My interpretation of detestable villain was a success".

Part of the unforgettable training scenes of Jean Claude was recorded near the temples of Wat Phra Si Sanphet and Wat Ratchaburana,

“I prepared myself for the character and I liked it playing the bad boy.

I bet for it and I worked out the character with great enthusiasm and one thing led to the other and the film was a success.�

and another part, in the ruins of the city of Ayutthaya in Thailand. The gym that Kurt (Jean Claude) visits during his quest to find a coach was Sor Thanikul of Bangkok.

Although closed in 2003, it was a real training center for Muay Thai practitioners, hosting at the time more than 50 Thai boxers, mostly competitors.

No practitioner of contact sports, even of Martial Arts, understood why the film was titled "Kickboxer" if all the fighting carried out throughout the film is Thai-boxing and the training that Jean Claude Van Damme performs is Muay Thai (traditional version of Thai-boxing). It is logical, if we take into account that the action of the film is entirely set in Thailand, where Thai-boxing is national sport. As everyone knows, Kickboxing is a kind of Thaiboxing softened for decades by the Japanese. Given the great hardness of Thai-boxing, it was difficult to export it to Japan, Europe and the United States, so the Japanese decided to create a more "civilized" version in which hitting with elbows and knees was banned; and they called it Kick Boxing.

However, "Kickboxer" combats are unquestionably Thai-boxing and practitioners even fight in the most traditional Muay Thai way, i.e., with permitted head butts and with the knuckles covered by glue-daubed bands that were introduced into a bowl full of broken glass with the terrible result that can be seen in the final scene of

“Although I loved the idea of working with Chuck, after the success of "Bloodsport" it would have been wrong to accept that offer.”

Martial Cinema the film. This was not invented or devised by the writers to add spectacle in the final fight, but it comes from a very recent time, in the early 20th century, in which some Muay Thai combats were carried out to the death.

Despite the ill-advised title, the result was that Tong Po hit hard in the audience. Without this sadistic and vile character, it is possible that the film would never have succeeded the way it did. The makeup of the character was a hit in itself. "Yes, totally. Of course, it worked, it was really well done. I even got scared the first time I looked myself at the mirror! I prepared myself for the character and I liked it playing the bad boy. I bet for it and I worked out the character with great enthusiasm and one thing led to the other and the film was a success".

The shooting, as mentioned above, was full of difficulties and mainly marked by the weather and the tropical climate. It was rolled during the rainy season or monsoon (from May to October, more or less), so some days, rolling wasn’t possible or it was canceled and changed scenery having to improvise and move all equipment from a place to another.

Everything depended on the weather, so it was a marathon filming. Besides, it was especially hard for Qissi: "I keep a nice memory of "Kickboxer" although I had a handicap that the other actors didn't have.

For me, the hardest part of the movie was my daily makeup session. I had to be there at four in the morning and sit for two and a half hours without moving. It took two hours for the face makeup and about 30 minutes for the shoulder tattoo. Staying that way for such a long time was very hard because I couldn't read, watch TV or do anything, just collaborate and help as much as possible to the makeup artists; and after that I participated in the choreography and I rolled; it really was exhausting but it was worth it".

As for the collaboration that Muhammed Qissi provided in choreography, it's something that we will never know. What we can assure is that thanks to the film, the Kick Boxing film genre was born and it was a breath of fresh air in the Martial Arts cinema, showing a totally innovative style of fighting that captivated the public in the five Continents. "The style used in "Kickboxer" (it's the same used in "Bloodsport"), we could call it free - declared Jean Claude Van Damme -, it varies depending on the opponent. Every martial artist has to find his own style: Jackie Chan's style is acrobatic, fanciful and humorous, while Bruce Lee's is just the opposite: direct, blunt and dramatic. My style could be said to be intermediate between these two Martial Arts superstars: it's spectacular but

blunt; funny, flexible and fast. In "Bloodsport" I try to get the viewer to appreciate the hero's desire for revenge on his way of fighting. Something similar happens in "Kickboxer", but this film, unlike "Bloodsport", has behind a solid history, a philosophy".

Regardless of the style he used, the truth is that if his rivals had not been Bolo Yeung and Muhammed Qissi, probably neither "Bloodsport" nor "Kickboxer" would have obtained the success they achieved among the public, their final combats being among the best ones in the filmography of Jean Claude Van Damme. For those things of fate, Qissi didn't appear in the credits titles, so as to make him appear as a real Thai fighter. In spite of that, given the character and charisma he gave to the character of Tong Po, it wasn't an obstacle to jump to fame. "Jean Claude thought it would be good to keep the mystery about the character and when I found out, it was too late to change it".

The film consecrated Van Damme as one of the great actors of the so-called "Martial Arts cinema". His next work was "Lionheart", in which Qissi plays a French legionnaire who chases the deserter Van Damme. This was the last feature film where they worked together.

From there, each followed his film career separately.

Since Tong Po strongly impacted the audience, Qissi was hired for the sequel "Kickboxer II" being the real hook of the film (Jean Claude dismissed the project).

Despite getting some success, it didn't turn out to be what it was expected at the box office. It worked pretty well in the video market but it was clear that the star was missing ... Qissi then intervened in the following productions representing the role in which he was typecasting: "Bloodmacht" (1991), "To the death" (1992) and "Terminator Woman" (1993).

On April 13, 1992, Jean Claude Van Damme promoted the film "Nowhere to run" in Madrid. He was accompanied by Mohamed Qissi and, thanks to him, before the press conference, we were able to speak with Jean Claude. There was a great complicity and friendship between them. Sometime later, we learned that they had had some discrepancies. Whether it was true or not, the fact is that there was a standstill of a few years in Qissi's career, before he returned to the cameras with Héctor Echevarría in the films "Extreme Force" and "The Falkland Man". These films, both shot in 2001, were his latest works in North America.

In 2002, he decided to pass on his knowledge and experience to the young people in his country. After 40 years abroad, he returned to Morocco and married in the city of Ahfir. He later settled in Tata, a city he fell in love with because of its beautiful landscapes and the

“When I met Jean Claude I began to discover oriental Martial Arts and I fell in love with them.

As a young man I even participated in a Shotokan Karate tournament in which I was runner-up.”

kindness of its people. Moreover, it's in this city, where his sons Ayoub, aged nine, and Adam, eight, have become champions of Shotokan Karate under the guidance of Master Chakir, who owns one of the best Karate gyms in Morocco.

Since then, Muhammed Qissi has hardly worked in the seventh art. He has participated in "Road to Kabul" (2011), "Un Marocain Ă Paris" (2012), "Kanyamakan" (2014) or "Bara" (2015). All these films are very modest productions, far from the great American studies.

Finally, and after years without working together, in 2016 Qissi had a secondary role in "Kickboxer: Vengeance", in which Jean Claude worked too. In the sequel, none of them had a leading role, but the most important thing is that they have come together again; they have spoken ... Who knows if they have projects in common? Let's hope it's like that and we can see them together again on the big screen. We, sentimental and nostalgic, would enjoy enormously watching them in action. We are aware that almost 30 years have elapsed since the filming of "Kickboxer", but seeing what is done today in the action film genre, particularly in the Martial Arts cinema... If "The mercenaries" saga has succeeded in the box office, why wouldn't they succeed too?

Conjectures aside, the only sure thing is that if that film re-encounter would ever take place, they would already have one spectator for sure.

Martial Cinema

Being an instructor Becoming an instructor requires a lot of sacrifices in order to be ready to teach and give our knowledge.

It seems easy, and easy to reach in this time of pure consumption, in which everything is owed.

Yet, teaching is not easy and we need to leave our pride in the changing room, to give the most to our students.

We always have to give everything with our heart to allow our students to reach their goals, without forcing them to reach our goals, but theirs!

It’s inconceivable that an instructor attempt to force a student to do something he doesn’t desire, like doing tournaments, teaching…

“The instructor is here to advise the student and help him to reach his goal. But for this, a partnership is needed between the student and the teacher.�

he instructor is here to advise the student and help him to reach his goal. But for this, a partnership is needed between the student and the teacher.

Without it, nothing is possible, so we have to develop a complicity relationship, in order to get the best results.

Without this complicity and this trust between them, nothing will come out of this.

This is why the instructor has to be honest with himself: he has to be able to guide his student toward another instructor if he’s not able to help him reach his goals.

This instructor can’t be self-centered, but has to do everything at all-time for the good of the student.

If an instructor can’t train properly a future champion for him to reach his best level and become the champion he deserves to be, the instructor has to be honest to tell him, and guide him toward someone competent in this domain.

Unfortunately, most of instructors will think of their own fame and their profit by having this champion in their clubs, instead of give him the opportunity to exploit his potential.

On the other hand, people forget that in the word “instructor”, there is the word “instruct”, and this not easy and not everybody can do it.

Some great fighters are unable to share their knowledge, and non-fighters can be able to transmit them perfectly.

We always have to train on and work on our teaching skills to do our best to share our knowledge, in an efficient way, to our students.

Training will never end, no matter what people think.

Our training will last all our life, and will evolve in accordance with time and our age.

T

Nowadays, everybody wants to instruct without training, or just train in a very short time, and then live with these little knowledge without putting themselves in question, continuing to be corrected…

Being continually corrected is something that too many instructors don’t accept; indeed a lot of people think that once certified, they know everything and no longer tolerate a comment or advice from their own teachers.

It can seem ridiculous or beyond understanding, but it’s extremely common.

People think that being corrected, receiving remark or criticism will lower their credibility, but on the contrary, it will allow them to improve and become a better instructor than they were before.

Unfortunately, people rather like to show their big ego, and they refuse to progress to give the best to their students.

This is is just a brake to this questioning and to the continuity of their evolution as instructors.

How many instructors just want to shine in front of their students, without giving any consideration for them and their goals?

A lot of them are narcissists and only wants to impress their students and not make them evolve.

Yet, teaching means transferring knowledge, and be in total self-denial of our own desires.

We have to give our best to our students, and do our best to propel them the highest possible without thinking of our personal success and satisfaction.

Our only satisfaction will be to have helped our students to reach their goals, to have them learned to get to know themselves and to be happy.

However, the instructor should never pretend to be the only responsible for this result; it’s the

collaboration, the partnership and the trust that made this possible.

Without the student’s work, nothing is possible, and that’s what should be shown by the instructor to highlight him, and show him that all his work and his sacrifices have not been in vain, but on the contrary beneficial.

The teacher was only a link in the chain, in the student’s success.

The instructor can’t take credit for the primary role in this adventure, but just the role of a guide who did everything with his heart to satisfy his student.

People who think only about themselves have nothing to do in the teaching domain, they have to train and reach their goals by themselves without taking advantage of students to shine and feel important.

Often, instructors without any consideration for their students are only incompetents who take refuge in the teaching domain to express their frustration of being unable to become important without taking advantage of someone, or without crushing people to feel better than them.

As an instructor, it is essential to never think of ourselves, to want to help others and to apply some self-analysis, and this all along our life.

Without this, please, do not become instructor, because the only result will be to damage and destroy your future students’ dreams.

Some students will even stop practicing any sports because of this disgust and of this disappointment they will have lived with their incompetent teacher.

Teaching means transmitting our passion to others, by listening to them fully, and by answering each of their requests.

On the other hand, an instructor should not regret what he has done for his students, even if they leave or they betray him.

Everything that is given must be done with the heart, a n d n o t h i n g c an be calculated or made with the expectation of something in return, like any profit.

“How many instructors just want to shine in front of their students, without giving any consideration for them and their goals?�

Krav Maga Israeli Survival System: the new Krav Maga frontier. After the success of his first DVD, Grandmaster Marco Morabito appears unprecedented in Budo International with a DVD dedicated to weapons: Morabito knowledge in both civil and military defense fields intertwines in an explosive mixture of technology and innovation. Nothing is left to chance and there are no secrets: with "experimentalis cognitio", the most common armed attacks are carefully examined paying utmost attention to every single detail.

Diverse techniques with the most common weapons are analyzed, always bearing in mind that there is no such thing as a "universal pattern of aggression": the kinds of attacks are unlimited and so are the means of defense. Technique is only the basis of study to acquire and develop fluency and conscience of the movement, but the aim is that of making our defense instinctive thus shortening the time of reaction. As on the ring, we will never have the mathematical certainty of winning the bout, but we can greatly increase our chances of emerging victorious: "He who fights risks to lose, he who doesn't fight has already lost." Morabito, with his Israeli Krav Maga Survival System wants to break with the patterns and show the public something totally new, far from the regular old-fashioned techniques, emulated for decades. On this DVD, technique melts with experience and everything acquires clear and definite contours. Nothing is left at random and the most common mistakes are unmasked and analyzed.

In the Israeli Krav Maga Survival System you will find an exceptional and authentic new method of self-defense.

REF.: • DVD/KMISS 2

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com

WORLD FU-SHIH KENPO “Clarifying Basic Concepts of the Style�

Since the style was created in 1985, endorsed by several oriental world organizations and masters of the time, but mainly by Grandmaster Robert A. Trias (may he rest in peace) and the "United States Karate Association", USKA, I've always had the idea, preserved to this day, that the Art of Fu-Shih Kenpo should have the following characteristics:

Great Masters

Great Masters • The order of Ranks that I presented in my first design, as well as the Logo of our Teaching and Graduation Program - the Spike -, and the various belt colors from the White Belt up to Brown Belt 1st Kyu, and then the Black Belt in their different Dan grades. The description thereof can be found in the multiple articles, books, videos and interviews that I've been offering you during the last 32 years.

• The Training Program takes us from the physical and physiological aspects to the mental and spiritual development, as well as the historic features of the style, so as to preserve the martial traditions and out of respect to the Great Masters who in the past created them. So is the highly relevant and transcendent basic technique, in its sets of fists, open hands, kicks, blocks or defenses, positions and their various combinations. This comes from my influence of the Shotokan Karate in my beginnings, and later with my introduction to Kosho-Ryu Kenpo. My highest grade in Shotokan was the 5th Dan, and in the Kosho-Ryu Kenpo I was awarded the 9th Dan, tittle that I directly received from the hands of Grand Master Thomas Barro Mitose.

• Secondly we analyze the School of Self-Defense. And I call it School, simply because it's the study, learning, repetition and development of techniques, or simulated series, as I also usually say, "à la Carte." It's in the Dojo that with persistence, will and hopes we make the maximum efforts to achieve skill, control, and speed.

• Strength, power and continuity in our possible responses to an attack. But of course, in the school or dojo we generally practice on "assumptions and mutual agreement", in the sense that we know how our opponent is going to attack us, simply because the teacher, instructor or master, says to our sparring partner or assistant coach the weapon he must use or the way in which he must attack us.

Then we make a beautiful display of our abilities, managing him at our whim. And he lets himself do. When he attacks us, he doesn't really have any intention of hurting us; then

he stands still and he doesn't react. He doesn't even move away or tries to block our impacts. So everything looks nice, but it's not real. Although of course, this has a meaning and logic. It is a stage by which we must pass, because it's a link of the road to other levels or evolutions of the style. A baby first starts crawling, until he gets up and walks, later he learns to run and jump; and finally it comes one day when he makes his own decisions and follows his own path as he sees fit or according with his needs.

• Within the Fu-Shih Self-Defense method, we have a special section which is the Street Self-Defense. It's a totally different world, a world of realities, hard, rough, extremely violent and even deadly at times. In this area, our opponent does want to hurt us; slightly, very much, or even too much. He will attack us in whatever way, probably without previous notice, and often treacherously. He will try to hit us with his maximum power and his best technique; with no moral sense, without any civic spirit or religious, political or legal impediments. He will want to rip off our head and our scalp, like the ancient Indians. If he is holding a knife, as is often the case, he won't hesitate to use it against us, neither will he do an exhibition, nor will he be careful to avoid causing us an excessive damage. On the contrary, he will stab us plunging his knife deep in whatever part of our body. He won't be concerned about the wound being slight or lethal, or what can happen to us. He will have no concern at all and he will be convinced that justice will never find him, and he'll be able to escape at all times. If he has a stick or an iron bar he will also seek the way of bursting our knees, our arms or our head. And if he carries a pistol he will empty the magazine on us. Unfortunately, this the ugliest part of life. But we civilized people, those of us who still believe in GOD, who love our family and friends and respect Law and Justice - despite it abandons us and disappoints us day after day -, we will not use our knowledge and power to defend ourselves at that level. Simply because we do not want to hurt or kill anyone.

“Strength, power and continuity in our possible responses to an attack.”

Great Masters We do not want to end up in jail on account of someone who is mentally confused, a madman or a vulgar scoundrel. Not that we are afraid of any bandit or social misfit, but we do worry about not damaging our existence or that of our loved ones. The other party won't have such concern about it. The best thing is not being in the place of real conflicts. It is preferable to avoid it. And we must act only when there is no other way or exit. The fact on our part of being careful not to exceed ourselves in the use of our fighting strength and martial knowledge will play against us. Of course, it's a huge disadvantage.

• Continuing with the Self-Defense subject, we come to Law Enforcement Agencies. In this section, the form, techniques and tactics must be oriented toward the real work of police officers, security agents and escorts. And the use of force, maneuvers, reductions, handcuffing, transport and conduction, weapons handling, etc., must be regulated by the norms and laws in force in each sector. Some sectors will require a greater use of the force and others less. In Spain we have the "Guardia Civil" (Civil Guard), National Police, Local Police, Ertzaintza, Mossos D'Esquadra, etc., and the various Security and Escorts Companies, as well as the Spanish Armed Forces.

• In the Sports Combat section, our fighting system is in line with the rules of Kick-Boxing and contact fighting systems. The Fu-Shih Kenpo characterizes always by contact, from its first training programs; we call this section FuShih Contact.

• The fifth aspect of Fu-Shih Kenpo is related to the handling of weapons such as: Yawara, Short Stick, Street Stick, Knife, Long Stick, Tonfa

Great Masters and Kama, in which we seek their use, maneuverability and application in the most practical sense, always pursuing the same thing: effectiveness, simplicity and the most logical and natural way of solving real encounters.

• The general idea of the study and practice of Fu-Shih Kenpo is that each practitioner can choose his or her learning through all of the aforementioned lines, or choose which one of them is the one he or she wishes to develop in particular. This means that the student could choose to study just the self-defense method of the school at an artistic level, or simply street self-defense, or police defense, or even combat or weapons management. No one would be required to the complete the whole system.

Some of our students or members of the World Fu-Shih Kenpo have chosen their own way, for instance, Santiago Remesal Fernández, in Madrid, is the Official Coach of the Escorts Group of one of the main Banks of the country. Luis Vidaechea Benito, in CastillaLeón, develops it in a global way and he is also an expert in Combat systems. Our Representative in Lisbon, Portugal, Instructor Luis Tavares, is dedicated exclusively to the socalled Fu-Shih Contact, etc.

“In the Sports Combat section, our fighting system is in line with the rules of Kick-Boxing and contact fighting systems.”

This month, we would like to introduce to SIFU Leung Pui Chung. Director of Ving Tsun Athletic Association, and an outstanding pupil of Sifu Tsui Sheung Tin (King of Siu Lim Tau), a pupil of Grandmaster Ip Man

When did you start practicing Wing Chun? Who was your master?

Sifu Leung Pui Chung studied Ving Tsun in 1972 from his older brother. In 1978 he became a student of Grandmaster Chu Shong Tin. Ving Tsun House Martial Arts Association was established in 1983 by Sifu Leung.

Since 1999, he has been the director and treasurer of the Ving Tsun Athletic Association of Hong Kong.

There are many schools that focus their practice on self-defense, some others on health or historical aspects of Chinese culture of Kung Fu. At your school, which is your main approach towards Wing Chun practice?

With the progress of civilization, the concept of martial arts should be in line with the trend of the times, so our school engaged the concept of physical fitness (Healthy Exercise Guidelines) to teach traditional Wing Chun, using a scientific way (Biomechanics, Kinesiology) of interpretation, introduced Wing Chun to everyone. But we stick to a concept not get away from the simplistic ideas with directness and efficiency in fighting that were handed down to us from our ancestors. Our mission is to train high quality coaches.

Wing Chun is, nowadays, a wellknown Style worldwide. There are

VingTsun thousands of practitioners in Europe and the United States. The growth has been huge over the last 20 years, mainly because of the movies of grand master Yip Man. But many people think that this was not good for Wing Chun, what do you think?

I think that the movies of grandmaster Yip Man, among them may be not true or exaggerated, was good for Wing Chun promotion, at least, it can make more people aware of Wing Chun and enhance the interest in learning or developing Wing Chun. So then, the interpretation of the true meaning of Wing Chun and the connotation of Wing Chun is the responsibility of our coaches.

Do you think that Martial Arts Movies, especially Yip Man's latest movies, are positive or negative?

If our coaches have the ability to correctly interpret Wing Chun's true meaning, in this case, Yip Man's latest movies is positive for the promotion in our Wing Chun industry.

At a technical level, do you think that Wing Chun has evolved, over the last few years, or do you think that there's been an involution?

The mainstream at a technical level, as a whole is evolving, but a little bit underestimates the energy saving principle. Fighting can be weak to overcome the strong, energy-saving is a very important factor, otherwise it will deviant.

Do you think that Wing Chun should remain the way it's was learnt from preceding generations, or that, on the contrary, it should be adapted to the new times by introducing changes? Why? (Reason out your answer) I think Wing Chun should not keep the old teacher-centered learning style, should be through the student-centered learning approach to adapt to the knowledge-based and evidence-based society, thus, coaches should continue to further study both in the technical and theoretical level in Wing Chun for self-value-added.

Wing Chun's three sets of routines are focused on how to perform the heavy punch and heavy kick through the body weight as the basic concept. We advocate using the mind to lead up the motions, reduce the restrictions by the moves, play to their potential and expertise. It is often, to their strengths, reaching different achievements.

It's up to us, the next generation of Ving Tsun practitioners, to see what we pass on the best system, to ensure that only very this system has to offer survives into the next few decades.

VingTsun

(When we talk about changes we mean, for instance, the need to introduce techniques to fight against grapplers, ground fighting etc.)

We should not accommodate, but need to know, the opponents advantage to fight. Facing the grapplers or ground fighter, the effective techniques are to fight against them with our heavy punch and heavy kick to hinder the opponents take full play to their technology.

How do you see the future of Wing Chun in Hong Kong? And in the rest of the world?

Hong Kong is burdened with historical factors and has become the development base of Wing Chun. In the future, it should develop into Wing Chun's teaching hub and research center, train more excellent coaches and mentors and continue to research and develop Wing Chun Industry. Wing Chun practitioners around the world should be regarded as fair competitors, to work together to develop the industry in Wing Chun.

Do you like the path the system is taking and the huge increase in the number of practitioners?

Why? Why not?

As a director of the Ving Tsun Athletic Association, it is happy to see that Ving Tsun can be spread all over the world. The more practitioners, the better is one of our mission. There is competition, there is progress; eliminate weak to stay strong, Wing Chun can continue to develop into the pursuit of excellence.

VingTsun Is teaching Wing Chun a full time job for you now, or do you have another job and you teach in your spare time?

Teaching, developing and promoting Wing Chun is my full-time job.

How important are these form for you?

Siu Nin Tao Siu Nin Tao is intended to learn how to release "mind force" applying to fighting. It can make learners realize their body structure, practice to relax the joints, how to generate force through the body weight; reduce the use of muscle tightening strength. Although Siu Nin Tao, is divided to three sections, is the basic routine, it is the most important one of three routines in Wing Chun. The first section is a coordination training between the center line and the wrist; the second section is a coordination training between the center line and the elbow joint, the third section is a coordination training between the center line and the shoulder joint, with function of the stance " Yee Chi Kim Yeung Ma " - for the gravitational homing and the vector, will form a powerful body structure force.

Chum Kiu Chum Kiu is to find the force point where the places at the upper limbs of your opponent, with the “Mind force� of Siu Nim Tau and structure-based, practice two-way or multi-directional joints force. So that learners further understand the principle of using force "Dragonfly point of water - like a dragonfly touching the water surface". Chum Kiu, is divided to three sections for the coordination training between the limbs and trunk. The first section is training of the application of trunk rotation; the second section is training of the application of left and right move; the third section is training of the application of forward and backward move, resulting in generating more powerful vortex force to contact with opponent, through the limbs will fully spread our weight to the force point at upper limbs of your opponent. Chum Kiu, is also began to train Wing Chun's basic kicks.

Biu Jee Biu Jee advocates that using the attack as the best defense. It is an integrated training of application of the "gravitational homing" principle, including the use of trunk rotation and limbs distal centrifugal force to generate force. It can quickly transfer body weight to the limbs the furthest place, means "striking out a fully concentrated force with a finger-tip". Biu Gee is, indeed, the most powerful form in Wing Chun, with the fastest and tremendous destructive power. Biu Gee is, in my mind, the most suitable for fighting during facing some opponents. In the past, it was because the concept of the existence of forgiveness and benevolence is not easily passed this technique to the malicious student or hypocrite.

VingTsun Wood Doll Wooden dummy form itself is not only focus on the hardness of the upper limbs and the use of moves. In fact, it is to train the technology can be used for the actual fighting with the stronger opponent. In the face of adversity, teaching you how to use the footwork cooperate with the three set of Wing Chun forms to fight with the opponent. In short, wooden dummy form is to practice how to fight with another martial arts master.

Bart Cham Dao Form Bart Cham Dao form of Wing Chun is weapon training by hands extended, holds the knives in both hands and was very suitable for the ancient battlefield soldiers in fighting purposes.

Who make good use knife will never conflict with the knife itself, Bart Cham Dao using with "mind force" to drive limb and knife, together with the footwork of triangular stance, move flexible and simple, every moves are very practical. Knives motions consists the weight of the body and the knife itself. When contacting with the opponent's weapons, knives set in front of the foot, and foot stop and the knife stop. Its force can be continued to pass and send out, through cut or thorn from different angles, to control the opponent's shoulders and instantly break the pose of handheld weapons, presents solid and ease, as well as powerful and masterful magnanimity. The trick of using knife is how to hand the weapon, you cannot hold the weapon tightly, the handle should be the best position control weapon, have to know the place of the center and gravity point of the weapon.

Lone Pole Form Long Pole form as also known as Six-point-half Pole, the length of the poles in Hong Kong is around nine feet long; Pole form is simple and practical. Although the length of the pole seems difficult to control, the appropriate application can make everywhere of the pole is very strong. The whole form is only seven moves, more suitable for the ancient battlefield on the use of offensive and defensive, to defeat the enemy over distance. The majority moves of attack, is to point strike and stab, have to cooperate with footwork and body weight.

Therefore, the training approach is very important, if one can understand the true meanings - destroy the opponent's pose by occupied space and occupied position, the power and effects of Six-point-half Pole is not less than Bart Cham Dao form.

It's very common, among Ving Tsun practitioners, to teach the same way we learned from our master. But Sometimes, some practitioners also use some ideas of their own (such as drills or training systems) developed after years of teaching. Is your teaching method the one you learned from your master, or did you add something new to the teaching method?

In our lineage, we believe that Wing Chun's theory and force generating principle are important than the moves. As long as consistent with the theory of directness, simplicity and efficiency in fighting, we will teach different series Wing Chun's moves. The content has been unified, by the students to choose, with their own body type and fit their character for practice based. Our school pursues a student-centered

VingTsun teaching model and individualized approach, the purpose is to enhance the achievement and learning outcome of the student.

Could you please show us one? (in case they have exercises of developed by them) Yat Jee Chung Kuen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LpD3_uHUaY&feature=youtu.be Kick Under Skirts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_YTocc-UFU&feature=youtu.be Could you please show us some of your drills/ technical exercise which you practice at your school? (in case they maintain the classic system of teaching).

Self-Defence Application https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7HE1SiDlXc&feature=youtu.be Bong Da Sparring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKj72xJ4u40&feature=youtu.be What would your advice be for a practitioner who's starting to learn Wing Chun and is still at the early stages of his study?

First of all, to understand their purpose and need to learn Wing Chun, try to find a suitable style, after the participation please persevere to practice.

They will find the choice of learning Wing Chun is a wise decision.

What would be your advice for a practitioner who’s starting to learn the advanced stages of the system?

As a senior practitioner, they have to understand the themes, purposes and every movement underlying each form of Wing Chun. These all have a common point, the energy saving but the weak can overcome the strong.

Please find the reasons and know how to do it, we are practicing the form without it being a form, met the deeper level.

Thank You so Much for your Hospitality. It was a Great pleaser conducting this interview China/HongKong 2017

“As a director of the Ving Tsun Athletic Association, it is happy to see that Ving Tsun can be spread all over the world. The more practitioners, the better is one of our mission.

There is competition, there is progress; eliminate weak to stay strong, Wing Chun can continue to develop into the pursuit of excellence.”

“The iron wire” The Secret Form

1 - 2 - 3 - 4 July 2017 - Genoa (Casella) - Italy I ° Hung Gar Special Seminar The Secret Form Taught and analyzed in all its secrets

by Grand Master Paolo Cangelosi.

The form of the 6 moods, the 5 emotions, the 12 bridges, accompanied by the sound of the inner singing, the sonorous poem of Grand Master TIK KIU SAM. The seminar is open to all those wishing to delve into the advanced level of Kung Fu. It will be carried out in the midst of nature and includes study, practice, room and board. A total immersion.

ENROLLMENT IS OPEN AND IN LIMITED NUMBER For more information and details: tel. +39 010 8391575 / cell. +39 340 6848475 email: cangelosipaolo@libero.it www.sifupaolocangelosi.com fb: School Sifu Paolo Cangelosi - Headquarter Kung Fu Genova - ITALY

New video & DVD

Sanchin Entering Part 2 Sanchin is the epitome of Martial Arts, as it is a strengthening exercise, a moving Meditation and contains powerful fighting possibilities.

One of the more powerful aspects of Sanchin for Kyusho lies in the deployment of Torque.

Torque is a measure of how much a force or energetic action acting on an object causes that object to rotate.

The object rotates about an axis, in the case of Sanchin in the wrist, arm, torso, hips and legs. This is accomplished in short and explosive action that send the spiraling energetic transfer into the Kyusho target. This is just one of the details to making Kyusho work, but one of the most vital.

Kyusho

New video & DVD

Kyusho

Rotational Power Kyusho works with rotation not linear attack‌ and this is where many novices find difficulty in making it work. In most conventional Martial Arts we employ linear power, with massive training on focus pads, heavy bags, Makiwara and other training devices. They focus more on ballistic force to cause massive trauma to the exoskeletal aspects of the opponent rather than penetrating to the weaker and more vital inner anatomy.

Torque is nothing more than a measurement of twisting,

or rotational, force. It generates far more than a straight line issuance of power and many fighters have talked about this since the early days of Boxing. Those old boxers always stated that you twist the glove on impact‌ it was for different reasons, but still they knew. They used it primarily to open a cut, preferably over the eye to have the blood drip into the eye and have a blinding affect‌ that would remain the target for the rest of the fight. They also knew it had far more impact even if it did not open a wound as the stretching with the impact made the hit far more effective.

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So what makes torque stronger than linear power?

Let’s start with Kinetic energy; in physics, the kinetic energy of an object is the energy that it possesses due to its motion. It is also defined as the effort or inertia needed to accelerate a given mass from rest to a specific velocity.

Kinetic energy is divided between linear kinetic energy and rotational kinetic energy. The overwhelming advantage of using the rotational technique is the greater ability to increase the speed of a strike over a given distance due to the greater acceleration path. This increased path of acceleration can be up to 1.5 times greater in the rotational as opposed to the linear technique.

Kinetic energy can also be passed from one object to another as in a game of billiards. This is observable when a player imposes kinetic energy on the cue ball by striking it with the cue stick. When the cue ball collides with another ball, it slows down dramatically and the ball it collided with accelerates to a speed as the kinetic energy is transferred to it. These are called elastic collisions, in which kinetic energy is preserved, (with inelastic collision, kinetic energy is dissipated in other ways or energies, such as heat, sound, breaking, etc.

Now it is also possible to combined linear and rotational energy for a maximum speed as well as transferable power level. So as you initiate the strike with a linear projection and at the very end add the rotational speed and force on contact, you will then gain the maximum affect.

But why is torque more influential with Kyusho on the opponent than the straight line kinetic energy transfer?

Most beginners try ballistic straight line power or force, which is why Kyusho does not work for them until they develop the correct touch with torque. But not only does it increase penetration power, there are many other vital components involved.

Kyusho

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Kyusho

By using a rotation as seen, explained and demonstrated in the 6 Ji Hands DVD, we use this double power transfer for greater penetration into the target area. The nerve is more cleanly accessed as the action of the rotation serves in pushing the muscle structures aside. This gives a clear path to the nerve without the muscles protecting or padding the contact area from the weapon. It also serves to gain depth from the increased speed and velocity of the action.

In this action the nerve, once exposed and accessed, is also stretched making it far more vulnerable and reactive with greater results. The action can be instrumental in also pinching the stretched nerve against a basing object like a bone structure for an even more acute message to the brain. This can cause an overload of sensory input and trigger a safety mechanism in the body such as dropping to a prone position (via feinting, dysfunction or unconsciousness), for recovery.

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Now if the target is in a muscular section of the body (as opposed to a head point with few layers of skin, fat and fascia), it also serves to attack the reflexive system taking it from somatic motor affect to more autonomic reflexive and subconscious level. This is accomplished by simultaneously affecting the Muscle Spindle Cells or Golgi Tendon Organ depending on where you struck. The same stretching action that will be issued on the nerve will also catch one of these two structures as well yield even greater effects on the opponent.

It also serves us in classical boxing or kick boxing and even the more modern MMA training, by adding that extra rotation on contact that the old boxers used. Let’s take the jab for example; most fighters will use linear power which stuns on contact but if the just learned to also drop the knuckles (even through gloves), down on impact, the results would be far greater and especially so when used on a Kyusho target. Take the chin as yet another example in this rotational energetic, if we jab straight in, there will be little discernable results other than a flinch or withdrawal of the recipients head. If we manage to drop the knuckles at the end of the jab on impact to the chin, then the angle to trajectory to access the nerve is accomplished and there will be far greater dysfunction, sense impairment or altered state of consciousness.

This also holds true for the cross, hook and uppercut… the 4 main strikes used in matches as well as street altercations. By learning the Kyusho targets and working them with the rotational strike, you will become far more powerful, potent and protected.

To summarize, we have: • • • •

Increased acceleration of our attack Increased penetration Increased velocity of the strike at delivery phase Narrower base of power transference

Kyusho

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Kyusho

Advantages of the rotational technique include: • Practitioners do not have to be as big or as strong • Greater variations in training for rotation technique compared to linear attack • Tension required and strength needed for linear attack can be counterproductive as opposed to the relaxed and

more fluent movement of the rotational attack So the “torque” (measurement of rotational kinetic energy) in Kyusho is not measured by mechanical device, it is measured in physical result in training.

Sorry Vince energy is really real. © Evan Pantazi 2016 www.kyusho.com

Bujutsu, in the center and in the whole!

Several were the concepts that the masters developed in the past to explain that, in order to find the Mushin (empty mind, without feeling), we first learn and then we forget. On the other hand, the fluidity that we all crave arises from the moment that we are able to free our mind from the concepts rooted in right and wrong.

Within the reasoning of Bujutsu as a form of war, there is no right and wrong. There are ways that favor us to reach our goal and others that delay us. In the path of Bujutsu there is no excellence. If we find it, excellence must be admired by itself. Excellence exists in the Seiteigata - sequences correctly pre-ordered. They are responsible for showing us the essence of reasoning. There are rules in them!

Therefore, within the context of the war forms presented by man throughout history, there's no difference among them in what regards the search for victory. For the most part, the aim of wars has always been that of taking over the enemy's territory. Innumerable systems and movements established the countries best prepared or technologically more developed. We can see this clearly with the reappearance of mercenaries in some African crises, for example, in CĂ´te d'Ivoire.

Arts of Japan

Over the last 15 years, a part of the world has undergone a profound "somalization": the fragmentation and dissolution of the power structures in some states undermined by corruption provoke the rebirth of precolonial identities and the destruction of the legal economy. The "non-state armed groups" - more than 400, present in 90 countries - have become true actors of these low-intensity crises.

If we look at it with the eyes of the present, coming out a little of the Middle Ages, which is always the focus of my articles on Bujutsu, according to Le Monde, crises of political origin are the most traditional: their declared goal is the seizure of power, but - without receiving funds from Washington or Moscow after the end of the Cold War they've been forced to seek a whole range of means to find the resources they needed for their survival. This was the case of Sendero Luminoso, in Peru. In the particular context of Colombia, the FARC, Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, resort to kidnapping and the collection of coca tax, or the first stage of its transformation into cocaine (basic paste) to finance themselves: but the money from drug trafficking finances equally the paramilitary groups. It has even penetrated into the Army and other "respectable" economic sectors, as well as into the political class.

Arts of Japan

“Within the reasoning of Bujutsu as a form of war, there is no right and wrong.

There are ways that favor us to reach our goal and others that delay us.�

We can see that, no matter the way, war always manifests itself through the bias of conquest and the constant search for it. Similarly, since the period of the Sengoku Jidai, the mentality of war was deeply modified, and the truths and lies that lead to victory were greatly reassessed. What we know as Bujutsu - art of war - has never been so advanced and so well prepared.

On the other hand, if we turn our eyes to the traditional way, the Seiteigata represent just the romantic literacy of a system. First of all, observing at a real war level, especially in front of what was known worldwide, the essence of the study of the Way, however well known, hardly reaches the home of tradition and conservation. Nothing else!

Perhaps for this reason, many abandon their romantic search. There is no separation between the beautiful, the lovely, the classic of the past, and the naked and crude reality of the present. Here, the mind becomes the worst enemy. It is enough to observe that today's practitioners, without understanding the inner workings of the Way, want to witness miracles, to be the samurai of Hollywood films. Many ask: “And what is better, to practice the traditional method or a self-defense system?�

Regardless of the choice, if we speak of Bujutsu, once we learn the Seiteigata and we start moving toward the study of war as a form, past and present are merged into the idea of freeing the mind and not establishing what is right or wrong.

To study the Way is to become one with the Way - and to forget any vestige of Enlightenment. Those who begin to practice Bujutsu, or any other method, no matter what, they must first believe in it. Those who believe in the Way (in the Path) must believe that they are already in it from the beginning, without being subject to illusion, to misleading thoughts and confused ideas, with no increase and no decrease, and without deviation from understanding. He who awakens a security like this, which clarifies the Way and practices accordingly - holds the essence of the study of the Way. So, war comes from the center or from the whole?

It comes from both! ... This is a truth that can be affirmed. If the principle of war arises from the center, it also arises from the whole. That is, given that the responsibility for our actions is entirely ours, since we are privileged with free will, we become war when it exists within us - the center, - and war becomes the whole, when it rises from the outside to the inside.

Arts of Japan

“We can see that, no matter the way, war always manifests itself through the bias of conquest and the constant search for it.�

In the study of Bujutsu as form and expression, in relation to the whole (not as matter), you can see that "the forte of the masses is ignorance", since strategy is the principle that manipulates and interacts with a very large number of people. Thus, if we see Bujutsu hardly as a mere expression of war, let us remember that wars have accompanied the trajectory of civilization from the earliest times.

In the study of Bujutsu as form and expression, in relation to the whole (not as matter), you can see that "the forte of the masses is ignorance", taking into account that strategy is the principle that manipulates and gets to interact with a huge amount of people. Thus, if we see Bujutsu as a mere expression of war, let us remember that wars have accompanied the trajectory of civilization from the earliest times.

In spite of the efforts such as the creation of the UN, at the end of the World War II and international agreements at various levels, war is a phenomenon still present and its consequences are devastating. On the other hand, despite all and returning to the center, the past is constantly modified, according to the interpretations it receives from each generation. In the intentions of the generated wars, whether of words or of interests, there are events that will always be among us, although their rereading may change. The Crusades, as a myth, are more present than ever.

The warning calls to the "clash of civilizations" and cultures are constantly sending to the stake unhappy people who believe they can be different from the system. Intolerance, coupled with the social and strategic interest of each one, is even greater than the awareness that War arises first inwardly.

“In the path of Bujutsu there is no excellence.

If we find it, excellence must be admired by itself.�

Arts of Japan

“Both in Japanese Bujutsu and in the war forms presented by any country, there is no determinism in history, as it is an open process, a tissue that emerges from the political will of countless actors.�

Both in Japanese Bujutsu and in the war forms presented by any country, there is no determinism in history, as it is an open process, a tissue that emerges from the political will of countless actors.

The expectation that many thinkers and humanists have maintained throughout history on the possibility that one day the world would be free of wars, surely got thwarted. They imagined that with the advance of civilization and with the growing ethical perfection of men and women, it would be possible to avoid the massacres and other misfortunes brought about by the great armed confrontations. Far from remaining as a relic of the barbaric and primitive times of mankind, war, instead of disappearing, has only modernized itself, adopting, due to advances in technology, an even more deadly and destructive potential than ever before .

Whether through politics, weapons, intrigues... Bujutsu is an art inherent to man. In the end, words, movements, techniques, developments, everything is Bujutsu!!!

At the same time we can say that between the whole and the center there is no similarity. What exists is metaphors.

So, whatever your Bujutsu or your war, the Gautama - Buddha - says something very interesting: "Trust not the master, but his teachings.

Trust not the teaching but in the spirit of words.

Trust not theory, but experience.

Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.

Do not believe in traditions simply because they have been kept from generation to generation.

Do not believe in anything simply because it has been said and commented upon by many.

Do not believe anything simply because it is written in holy books.

Do not believe in what you imagine thinking that a God inspired you.

Do not believe in anything merely based on the authority of masters and elders.

But after contemplation and reflection, when you realize that something is consistent with what is reasonable and leads to what is good and beneficial for you and for others, then you will accept it, making it the basis of your life."

Arts of Japan “Whether through politics, weapons, intrigues...

Bujutsu is an art inherent to man.

In the end, words, movements, techniques, developments, everything is Bujutsu!!!�

In this DVD, G.M. Larry Tatum (10th Dan) develops techniques of the Kenpo program at the highest level.

Particularly, some of his “favorites” like Flashing Mace, Parting Wings, Entwined Lance…

Masterfully executed and based on the experience of the movement, G.M. Tatum incorporates his innovative teachings in these techniques that will help you add and complement your training in the Kenpo system. Besides, they provide the individual with the best choice for selfdefense, based on the logical and practical thinking, and place him in the path of understanding the art of Kenpo. These are the self-defense and fighting systems of the modern times we live in.

They are designed so that the practitioner gets all the benefits that training these techniques can provide. This DVD has the support of Master Adolfo Luelmo (9th Dan), who goes on with a series of techniques performed in a smooth and strong way, for situations of extreme aggression, in which can be appreciated different states of the movement, in a logical and effective way. As a conclusion, Master Camacho Assisi (8th Dan), displays a technique that combines the strength of the arms and his expertise with legs.

REF.: • DVD/LARRY4

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com

Plastic Arts and Martial Arts = Total Art Four fingers below the belt “Don’t forget the five senses you already have when you go looking for the sixth sense”.

Bruce Lee Fear enters through our navel...and so if we don’t want to be afraid then we have to cover over our navel with our right hand”. I learnt this lesson from the physical education teacher at my primary school when I was very young and I believed him. I took the story in and for a long time afterwards each time I was afraid I would cover my bellybutton with my right hand and straight away I would feel how little by little the fear subsided. It was a good palliative measure that worked like a placebo and helped me to control my fear, even though it was an erroneous teaching because the truth is that fear does not enter us by our navels. Nevertheless, this belief helped me to keep control of certain fears that like ghosts were lying in wait for me.

Fear manifests itself as a center, an epicenter, four fingers below our navel, and it easily controls all our actions. Adrenaline, badly channeled, invades our bodies and a misdirected energy takes possession of our organism, making us act in an uncontrolled way and feel nauseous. It also makes us lose control of our sphincter muscles, giving us strength to do the most absurd things and leaving us pale and trembling, in a cold sweat, running frantically to nowhere in particular, groaning and shouting hysterically, or what is even worse, leaving us paralyzed with fear.

Situated at a distance of four fingers below the navel is the point that the martial masters call the "HARA". It is our center of gravity and point of percussion, the point from which emanate all an individual’s psychic and physical forces. It is where our will power resides and where our energy sits and moves out from: the KI, CHI, QI, DANTIAN, PRANA, KHI, and the IHRU… the “ENERGY" that is a direct manifestation of our God.

Plastic Arts and Martial Arts = Total Art The HARA is where you hold up your hands, palm against palm with the thumbs touching in ZEN meditation in order to generate energy.

Energy is manifested in the actions of our life; it emanates from our “four fingers below the navel” and then is fully manifested. This beautiful energy “per se”, badly managed and manipulated by our “own personal demons” and by “our minds”, can attract the most terrible things to us; bad luck and sorrows may assault us, even to the extent that a dog will bite us and urinate on us.

However, in its purest state it can help us to direct our lives better and allow us to have more positive experiences like love, good luck and good health. It allows us to discourage aggressors, intimidate rivals or opponents in the street or in a Martial Arts combat in the Dojo without realizing that the opponent is taller, stronger or more experienced in combat than we are.

A protective field of energy that emanates and flows from us surrounds us. In this way this powerful energy emanating from us wards off aggressors and delinquents. Those who use the power of KI, this life energy, will show a positive or negative aspect of themselves because the energy is manifested in whatever way the person chooses to employ it and “his true reflection” is thus expressed in the way he looks, the way he walks and the way he behaves.

But we ask where does this energy come from? In truth this energy is we, our spirit, our soul manifesting itself. It is the force of the invisible world become visible. In the world of the martial arts, the body’s most important energy point is situated “four fingers below the navel”, and we believe that this supernatural force emanates from the center of the “KI” and that this force enables us to solve extreme situations: lift up a car in dangerous situations, kill a charging bull with one sure strike, or destroy an enemy without moving a finger. It enables us to achieve the highest efficiency in one movement or total attack, accompanied by a shout, from a KIAI arising from this point, or a devastating attack called KIME, that is the meeting of all the physical and psychological forces starting from a point called HARA, like a final decision that mobilizes our whole being in one single movement in an instance of pure efficiency.

Plastic Arts and Martial Arts = Total Art The fact is that as human beings we all possess this although many of us possess it in latent form while others erroneously search outside for what they already have in their interior.

The key to the recognition of our energy is in the concept “seeing is believing” (as the Christian disciple thought) but if we change the order of the words, we then find that we have “to believe in order to see”, because if we believe wholeheartedly then we will indeed see.

This is the reality these days, whether we like to think so or not, although we have not been able to prove it scientifically. But do we really need a scientific confirmation to accept the spiritual world?

Many years have passed and a lot of water has gone under the bridge...and those teachings, which helped me to get over my fear when I was a young boy, no longer have a place in my life. Covering my navel with my right hand makes no sense now. I am no longer afraid of the dark, of the ghosts in my grandmother’s house, of nights in the cemetery. Nor am I afraid of monsters under my bed. The thing that really frightens me and makes me lose sleep, as Master Huang Ta Chung says, is the enemy within us. The enemy is not outside.

Outside is the mirror, the battlefield where we face our true enemy, stupidity itself.

I am certain now that fear does not enter by way of my navel, instead I produce it myself. I also know that I have to locate the origin of my fear in order to optimize the use of my energy...of my positive energy that is not just above my navel and definitely not four fingers below it. Instead it is somewhere along the path to my interior, somewhere along the path to our very center.

Carlos Zerpa is a painter and a Venezuelan artist, a practitioner and lover of Martial Arts.

Keysi What has a child that you don't have?

The child possesses the quality of the non-knowledge, the innocence; he looks at the eyes, he's transparent; without prejudices, without judging, without establishing ideas.

A child is able to do things that can surprise you. He knows the movement because it's something natural to him; all you know is the technique that you have created by repeating it hundreds of times. Technique is the simple interpretation of who you are and of what you have come to understand; it's composed of things separated from each other; it's your notion of truth.

Technique consists of a movement in a unit. For Keysi, technique is the bridge to reach the goal, but not the goal in itself.

Justo Diéguez Question: The game acts as a stimulant of self-improvement.

Justo Diéguez: The learning motor simplifying all the knowledge that exists on a determined subject is the interest with which we do things, the way in which we get thrilled with what we do. Games enter in that sensitive sphere. Games must be a message of values, those aspects that make us more and more human. In Keysi, the game brings us the art and contributes to the capacity of expression; our body language is part of our intelligence because it represents the functional assimilation of reality. Depending on the stage or phase, it contributes to the development of functions facing a given situation. Through the game we represent scenes that go beyond our inner emotional impulses; with the game we can exteriorize fears and anguish, we can get rid of our deeper woes thus allowing to recognize passions and feelings, by recreating them through the scenarios and rehearsing different endings to difficult situations, or putting ourselves in the shoes of another, "empathy", by repeating ad infinitum the countless situations that we encounter and confront in the game.

Question: Playing to reality getting out of reality.

Justo Diéguez: Playing to reality getting out of reality, and of our routine; playing is innate, it's an instinct that allows us to develop our imagination, to feel, to share experiences and to acquire a series of skills that we will need while recognizing our physical and emotional self. Games are a space where we have the opportunity to interact with ourselves and with others, as well as with our environment. This way of learning while playing covers a very important facet in our apprenticeship. As we human beings move away from innocence, we relegate games only for the children. In Keysi we know that playing is a door that we gradually close as we grow; in Keysi playing is the basis of learning; playing we awake that need to discover, to know, to learn, to experience, and especially to understand ourselves.

Question: Games make it easier for us to understand who we are.

Justo Diéguez: Because games open our mind and we experience sensations that with a closed mind would be hard to achieve. Playing we manage to analyze and decipher situations to understand them better, a way to reduce the cruel complexity of reality by taking it to a territory that we can dominate without the stress of being damaged. Games facilitate the understanding of what we are and what we can do; playing we can afford to recreate a scenario as if it were a test of a real situation, without having to live that reality. We can make mistakes, experiment, try, project without harmful consequences; the game is apprenticeship, pleasure and fun that develops our creativity.

“For Keysi, technique is the bridge to reach the goal, but not the goal in itself.”

Keysi

Question: Playing we express our inner self.

Justo DiĂŠguez: It has been evaluated that playing is the art of developing the body language and this has an impact on the overall development of the person as our mind begins to connect with our body. With the game we begin to unravel that reality that surrounds us and the rules by which it is governed; the game gives us the tools that help us to decipher a specific situation and to adapt to it. With the game we express our inner self, linking it to the outside world, and for this we use imaginary scenarios of situations that have already occurred, or could occur, in order to assimilate the different roles in risk situations.

Question: Playing is an attitude towards life.

Justo DiĂŠguez: Playing is attitude towards life that doesn't have an goal in itself, beyond the pleasure of enjoying. Trying to imagine a chained sequence that never ends allows us to release emotions and shows us our nature; it's a mechanism where we express our true identity; in the heart of the game lies freedom, it integrates so many skills! And these are the ones we intentionally use in Keysi in our teaching.

Question: The teacher in Keysi is the transmitter.

Justo DiĂŠguez: In Keysi, the teacher is the transmitter, in the form and the situation to analyze that it poses, and in the way in which it allows the action to be carried out, respecting the principles of the game: basically recognition of the environment, the lapse of time and the repetition.

During the game, we think, we create, we invent and we solve situations, which is one of the fundamental aspects of intelligence; an introspection from what we think and what we actually do; the ability to sustain situations of failure or of breaking rules.

We are pleased to present the second work of the KMRED group. This video bearing the name "Concept and Education" aims to make you discover a part of the concept Krav Maga Research, Evolution and Development, as well as the pedagogy developed within our group. The different exercises that you will discover here are not intended to "feast your eyes" or demonstrate our combative attitudes, because our priority here is that of explaining how we prepare our students so that they become "warriors", capable of "adapting" to the different evolutions of street fighting.

REF.: • DVD/KMRED-2 All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com

Martial Classics COMBAT ARTS FAMILY In 1973 I was shocked by the first chapter of the Kung Fu series, to such an extent, that I immediately started to collect data and information on what was so innovative and different from what we had seen and known so far: Martial Arts.

Within a few weeks, my father enrolled me in a gym.

On the recommendation of the teacher, I star ted to train Judo, which, according to the teacher, was the most complete exercise and the best for my age, but it had nothing to do with what I was watching in the series, or, months later, what I saw in the cinema. After seeing Bruce Lee in action, it happened to me what happened to thousands of youngsters: I got captivated by his skills and charisma. I wanted to fight like him, however, the "atemis" (hitting techniques) were hardly practiced in the gym; almost everything was based on grabbing, projecting and fighting on the ground.

Texto: Ramรณn Luego & Pedro Conde

fter an unpleasant encounter, I decided to abandon the practice of that art and here began my indefatigable quest to find the adequate combat system, the style that would better adapt to the ideals that I had forged in my mind. There had to be something different that wasn’t yet within my reach, something that would fill my thirst for knowledge and self-improvement; and I was determined to find it.

In my search I included magazines and books, and, over time, I realized that, at least theoretically, I had accumulated more knowledge about certain subjects than my own instructors or masters. Guided by this motivation, I came up with the idea of writing several articles that were very well received by the readers, which led me to become Director of the "DOJO" magazine for 20 years.

Whenever a master or champion came to give a seminar, I used to prepare thoroughly the interview that I was going to do and, logically, if I was given the option and I was

A

convinced by his way of training, I trained with him. But, obviously, one thing is attending a seminar of whatever martial system and another thing is being an expert in that art. It’s quite different.

At first, I thought that my path was oriented toward the fighting system created by Bruce Lee (Jeet Kune Do) and I was destined to become an expert in the art, but I got disappointed when I learnt that no one in Spain was certified to teach it; besides I lacked the economic means to move to North America for a few years and learn it. The only option within my reach was to attend the seminars given in Spain by some Bruce Lee's students. In addition to these experiences, I never stopped practicing, many times two Martial Arts at a time. Among them, Karate along with Full Contact, later Kick Boxing, and when Sanda (roughly Kick Boxing with projections) landed in Spain, I dove into it too.

For years I accumulated practice and experience and in this quest for knowledge I came to the conclusion that I was doing something similar to Jeet Kune Do. I used some of its

Martial Classics concepts on certain occasions, but not always, so I couldn't call it JKD. I was interested, and still I am, in Bruce Lee's ideas and concepts about Martial Arts. I think he was a genius that reached revolutionary conclusions for his time. I value his talent and his art, and although in the past it probably bordered on the limits of perfection, especially in the years in which it was devised, I don't think it does it in our days.

Why do I say this? Bruce Lee was a warrior in the broadest sense of the word and his Jeet Kune Do concepts were revolutionary, but it seems that in the present, or at least that's my impression, they have been left behind and remain somewhat stagnant or obsolete. Combat sports and MMA have evolved a lot and not always you can carry out the concept of interception and anticipation - at least I am not able to do so -, and when this fails, I must resort to other technical repertoires and concepts of different Martial Arts and contact sports, which have nothing to do with JKD, if I want to win the match.

I am aware that I have a lot of limitations in JKD, for example: in front of an experienced boxer I am not able to

carry out hand grasps techniques; with MMA "warriors" I am not able to intercept or anticipate in the 100% of the cases, finishing frequently on the ground where I am greatly limited in front of Jiu Jitsu experts, etc. In short, for me JKD is not always the "answer" to the different circumstances that can occur in the course of a combat, so for years I've had clear that I practice my own style, which I call Combat Arts Family, fruit of my personal experiences of 40 years of practice and learning. I have not invented anything new; in this style, the concepts of Jeet Kune Do are occasionally used, but it cannot be called JKD; is a style with its own personality.

We could say that "Combat Arts Family" is the art resulting from my own experience, enriched with that of my studentfriends.

COMBAT ARTS FAMILY In its genesis, every style stems from the discovery of a master (or several) with one or more key martial concepts. For

example, Jigoro Kano, founder of Judo, explored in depth the concept of flexibility and made it the structural axis of his style; Morihei Ueshiba, founder of Aikido, did the same with the concepts of circularity and balance. If we analyze the structure of every style we will always find several basic concepts that define it.

The problem arises when a whole generation of students, instead of inheriting the concepts of their master and continue to explore (transforming the structure developed by the founder and generating new ones), clings to the former structure and crystallizes it. This stops the evolution, the martial exploration. The pupils then limit themselves to reproducing and imitating, instead of interpreting and creating, and "no one became great by imitating ..." In this way, martial concepts are locked into rigid structures, and turn into traditions. As such, they become sacred, immovable and unquestionable, and lose much of their meaning. "Fixed models, incapable of adaptation, of flexibility, only offer a better cage. The truth is out of all models."

Martial Classics The problem arises when a whole generation of students, instead of inheriting the concepts of their master and continue to explore (transforming the structure developed by the founder and generating new ones), clings to the former structure and crystallizes it. This stops the evolution, the martial exploration. Pupils then limit themselves to reproducing and imitating, instead of interpreting and creating, and "no one has ever become great by imitating ..."

In this way, martial concepts, locked into rigid structures, turn into traditions and, as such, become sacred, immovable and unquestionable losing much of their meaning. "Fixed models, incapable of adaptation, of flexibility, only offer a better cage.

The truth is out of all models."

In Combat Arts Family we believe that a person cannot be tied to a single concept or idea. A combat is something alive and impossible to predict, because adversaries, tactics and strategies, distances, circumstances where the fight takes place... everything vary over time, and even more in the area of self-defense, so you can't be cling to a single concept or idea.

In Combat Arts Family we think that persons are unique and unrepeatable, and they must adapt the knowledge and martial concepts to themselves, interpreting them according to their own physical characteristics and attributes, that is: combat arts must adapt to the person rather than the reverse.

Depending on our physical features and personal constitution, there exist techniques that adapt better to us, and that we can learn easily, turning them into natural movements in a very short time; on the contrary, there are other movements that require years of training and with which we will never reach perfection. It's up to the master to find out and enhance the qualities of the student, directing him toward the path that he requires. The master is only a "guide" at a technical level that helps the student to develop his attributes, displaying a technical range for the student to choose and adapt what suits him best. We think that, unlike some Martial Arts where movements are reproduced ad nauseam in order to achieve the perfection level of the

master, the student must create, as he gradually gains experience, his own "way" of expression.

Obviously, there exists a technical apprenticeship in Combat Arts Family: since no one's born knowing, we first begin by observing and imitating, but as we progress we must transform what we've learned, so as to create over time our own martial interpretation. In our style it is not intended that the student be the technical "copy" of the master; on a martial level, first of all he must be himself. A martial style is born when a human being, a master, creates his own way of interpreting the martial thing. If his students merely repeat exactly his techniques and approaches, they are reproducing, not creating; their master is expressing himself through them, but at the cost of depriving them from self-expressing.

Revolutionary as these ideas might seem, Combat Arts Family is not a "new" Martial Art, as the techniques that are it uses are common in contact sports and Martial Arts; rather, it's a compendium of techniques and experiences accumulated during 40 years in a quest to be as effective as possible in combat or in a street encounter. To begin with, we should clarify what is meant by effective: "able to bring about the result intended", so it must be functional in any type of circumstance and in any of the four existing combat distances: Long or kicking distance; Middle, in which direct fists reach; Short or hand-to-hand distance; and finally, Ground.

In its context it's quite simple. Long Distance fosters the use of all kind of leg techniques: front kick, roundhouse kick, side kick, back kick, spinning kick, etc.

In the Middle Distance, direct fists, blows, traps, low kicks, etc., are used Short Distance is perfect for using of elbows strikes, hooks, knee blows and projections.

Ground fighting requires the use of luxation, immobilizations and strangulations, as well as hitting with fists, elbows, knees and even the heels.

Seemingly it can give the impression of being MMA, but it's not so. Also it's beyond the traditional known styles. Basically

“In 1973 I was shocked by the first chapter of the Kung Fu series, to such an extent, that I immediately started to collect data and information on what was so innovative and different from what we had seen and known so far: Martial Arts.�

Martial Classics The Combat Arts Family system is divided into two parts: 1) Combat: in which we include every distance, attacking angles, defensive system, shifting ... and a part of weapons like knives, kali, etc.

2) Self-defense: more specific and directed to repel an aggression in contexts as realistic as possible. We have in here three different approaches, namely: street self-defense, military self-defense and police self-defense. The art that exploits it most is the Krav Maga, which doesn't imply that other combat arts are not effective, because everything depends on the approach given and the way you put it into practice.

Within the Combat Arts Family apprenticeship there are three stages: The first is the physic stage, where you start to know and work to externalize your skills; the second one is "growth", where you learn to teach and share; and the third is the stage of evolution, the inner journey, where you discover that there is something more than kicking and punching...

Through the technique and the martial discipline you acquire a security and the most important thing, a philosophy that you apply to the daily life and that helps you to achieve and reach your objectives. Perhaps the person who has most successfully reflected the system philosophy in a writing is my student and friend Ramon Luengo, this is his story:

it's a personal development that leads to the evolution of the practitioner, using the combat arts as a means.

It's not a contact sport because there is a philosophy and a martial spirit that has nothing to do with MMA or Thai Boxing, nor is it a traditional Martial Art because it lacks kata forms.

We base ourselves on a perfectionist spirit and a much firmer grasp of combat and self-defense, without dwelling into practices of the frills and showmanship of many techniques the use of which has been relegated to exhibitions. Although it's linked to contact sports, it's not something eclectic that takes different techniques from different Martial Arts; what we carry out is the study of each movement, each technique ... and we apply the three questions "how, when and why". The ultimate goal is effectiveness and simplicity.

The philosophy of Combat Arts Family The central figure of Combat Arts Family is the Tao, the martial universe as an instrument for personal development.

Because, as Mr. T. Suzuki said, those who are always too busy improving their technical skills and dexterity, become more dexterous, but that is not always valid. Ability is an activity of the mind. It's important to remember this in the art of fighting.

The history of Combat Arts Family is in itself an example of the creative power of the combination; Pedro has done nothing but interpret the teachings of Martial Arts on the basis of the psychological peculiarities of the current society, and being reborn with a new way of personal development.

Therefore, the transformative potential of the Combat Arts Family is enormous, as well as its effect at the subconscious

level. Practicing Combat Arts Family serves us as a seed or pillar for the training and development of the five "mental states" or "neuro-competencies".

"Behind every movement is the music of the soul made visible.” Toshimitsu Hasumi "It is said that you have mastered the art when the technique works through your body and your members as if they were independent of your conscious mind.”

Yagyu Munenori

The "states of mind" (neuro-competencies) that we develop and integrate in Combat Arts Family are: 1) Self-confidence: It is the feeling of having the capacity to achieve something; it is based on the thought "I can". It's not "I know Martial Arts", it's "I'm a martial artist".

"The battles of life are not always won by the stronger or faster man; sooner or later, the man who succeeds is the one who believes he can succeed." Vince Lombardi "Self-conquest is the greatest of victories. Mighty is the man who conquers himself." Lao Tse 2) Self-motivation: It's the ability to orientate ourselves towards the achievement of our goals and persevere keenly in it. It involves keeping the effort beyond the automatic impulse, providing a feeling of belonging to something greater than ourselves.

"When a man comes to a vital realization, aware of those great forces within himself, and starts using such forces in science, in business and in life, his progress in the future will be unstoppable." Bruce Lee 3) Adapting to Change: It's the aptitude to reorganize our own fighting style depending on the adversaries whom we face, and provide an adequate and coherent response in front of uncertain and changing environments, such as the present one.

"The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn."

Alvin Toffler

4) Concentration: It is the ability to focus intensely our attention on something; it supposes the durability over time to support the action.

"Concentration is the root of all man's abilities."

Bruce Lee 5) Emotional self-regulation: It's the ability to accept all possibilities, detach from the result and go into combat "ready to die"; without this capacity, your "nerves" deflate you, make you rigid...

"In a soul absolutely free of thoughts and emotions, not even the tiger finds space to insert its fierce claws." Ise no Kami Hidetsuna "The sword has a double function to perform: it's not that of killing any being, but our own greed, rage and unreason.

It's directed towards ourselves." D.T. Suzuki This is not an idea, it's a reality; I have seen it myself. Pedro is a master because he has achieved mastery over Martial Arts, not in the sense of having conquered them, but in that of being himself the Martial Art. Yes, I know that these words may sound like pretty literature and need some more explanation, although, in reality, the process is not to understand but to feel. I can try to explain my process, my own evolution, what I have seen in my friends-training partners and in Pedro himself as we were all training, and how we applied that philosophy to our daily lives, without being aware in most cases.

First I will highlight what is visible: Competition: I have to say that competition doesn't mean much to Pedro, and when we tried to convince him he always told us that self-confidence is not on the ring or the tatami, but inside us. In spite of that, a small group, me included, kept pressing him and he finally agreed to take us to tournaments. The result? Kung Fu Champions of Spain, Villa de Madrid Trophy, Triangular Regional Championships, World Kung Fu runner-up , Full Contact champions (a bunch of victories by KO)... In summary, if we were six competitors in a championship, we came back home with four cups; if it was one he'd bring one...

Now the important, the "side effects" in our daily lives; I have seen several friends-training fellows pass oppositions (often on the first time) to national and local police, fire

“It is said that you have mastered the art when the technique works through your body and your members as if they were independent of your conscious mind.”

Yagyu Munenori

Martial Classics department and the normal school. I have also witnessed the international success of books written by another friendcolleague and the starting of business with great success.

My professional life is linked to personal development; I am responsible for training and development in a high performance training consultancy.

Of course, it could be just a coincidence, but I personally believe that training with Pedro has been a key factor.

But let's not talk about the final results, but the process...

It all started on the Martial Arts gatherings (Bruce Lee, philosophy, technique and mechanics of the movement, selfdefense) that Pedro organized through Dojo magazine. Some of the regulars to the gatherings (Salvador Múgica, José Antonio Acedo, Julia Sevillano and Adrián Sevilla) convinced Pedro to give them classes; a couple of years later I joined the group...

My name is Ramon, I was born in 1971 (I am 45 years old). At age 7 my parents took me to a Judo Dojo; during the following years I practiced Karate, Kung Fu and Full Contact. When I was 17 years old my friend Andrés told me that Pedro Conde, from Dojo magazine, was coaching a small group of students, I wrote a letter to Pedro and he kindly invited me to a class...

I remember very fondly my first day, we were two rookies (the other boy was Marcos, a Bruce Lee's fan who had been practicing Martial Arts since he was twelve). José Antonio Acedo (from whom I learned how to multiply the power of the side kick) showed us the Dojo and "supervised" our first training. My first contact with the Dojo was like opening the door to another reality; it was a martial micro-universe with two rooms; in one of them, which had the floor covered by a laminated brown parquet, there was a group of persons practicing self-defense in street clothes and with real knives; in the other room, the tatami properly said, another group was training combat, striking the paos, the mittens... you

could breathe the energy, and the splendor of the moment, so much dazzled me, that my mind, compulsively talkative in those days, paused to avoid distracting me from the here and now.

I immediately perceived that there were two very differentiated poles, although they were united (yin and yang); on one side there were "the warriors" (whose undisputed leader was the great Salvador Múgica, who years later was World Kung Fu runner-up. Three months later I was his Uke, and when after a few years Salva went to Chile, I was his natural successor). On the other side were "the philosophers" (with no interest in competing, although no less skilled in combat), whose principal bulwark was Jose Antonio). And Pedro's classes satisfied everyone, his way of explaining, his approach to self-defense...

For several years a small group gathered with Pedro to train on Sundays at 11:00 in the Cerro de los Ángeles (Hill of the Angels, at about 10 km - 6.2 miles - south of Madrid, a famous site for being considered the geographic center of the Iberian Peninsula). We finished after 14:00. Pedro talked to us about energy and motivated us to try and question on our own; I specifically combined training with Pedro with other physical workout disciplines and self-defense. I also trained with Salva in parks every time he came to Spain. And along with Toni (more than a brother, the best person I've ever met, and the most effective in a real fight), Fer, Juancar and Andrés, we managed to train some evenings in a dojo, on Saturdays in a school...

In spite of all my training, a funny thing was happening to me. Whenever I competed, I was but a shadow of myself.

Something inside was limiting me, I didn't care whether I won, or I was disqualified in finals, or that masters from other schools came up to me to tell me that I had been the best fighter of the tournament ... or rather, the more there was of that, the worse I faced the competitions. I even had an injury

Martial Classics that appeared and disappeared during the competition periods. Pedro told me: "Ramรณn, you already have your trophies, give up competition, forget about winning, just look inside yourself, concentrate, study your emotions, the solution is not out, absorb, learn, question, search your inner self and you will find; be as disciplined for your mind as you are for your technique and your body." I decided to take meditation seriously and I started practicing it daily, I thoroughly studied Oriental philosophy, positive psychology, emotional intelligence and neuro-communication...

I have had many friends-training partners in which Pedro has planted a seed, many of them perhaps have not even noticed. It was much later, looking back, when I became aware of how much Pedro had influenced in the formation of my character, my ideas and my way of life.

Pedro has helped us to become martial artists while we have helped him transform his art, and it continues to grow because learning never ends, and we continue to learn until the last moment.

In short, I am now aware that what Peter had supplied me with were not tools to beat other people, but tools to explore through my ego, my fears, my rage and my conscious life. In fact, all tools are ultimately means to penetrate the depth of our being.

With the philosophy we come to the end of the article, we can only add that we believe that all fighting arts are good, maybe some are structurally superior to others, but their effectiveness lies mainly on the person and his or her attitude, and not so much on the Martial Art itself. That is, the individual is above the Martial Art that he or she practices.

The important thing is finding that person who teaches you or supplies you with what you are looking for: to train in the company of a group of colleagues and friends, enjoying what you do. The secret lies in the respect among all the combat arts, because when training with other masters and experts, you come to the conclusion that anyone can teach you and contribute with something. No one is in possession of the absolute truth.

Be careful when you look at the appearances, because a champion may be very good at fighting but he may not be able to transmit anything to his students, and he only makes them sweat. On the contrary, there are persons that even without having big physical gifts, they nevertheless have a special ability to teach and motivate their pupils like nobody else can do. Finally, I wish to emphasize that Combat Arts Family is not a closed art, but a dynamic system in continuous expansion and change for all that can serve to our idea to increase our knowledge, discarding what doesn't serve, and learning from what we ignore. In the same way that there is constant evolution in life, the style also evolves.

Consonance and

When the Way of the W

emptiness

Warrior reaches spirituality!

Grand Masters POLITICS AND THE MARTIAL ARTS

by Grandmaster John Pellegrini

There is an old proverb in the USA that says: “if you want to keep your friends, never discuss politics or religion with them”. Interesting….and, unfortunately, probably true. But I am not quite in agreement with its premises because I ask: if you cannot discuss politics or religion with your friends, who can you discuss them with, strangers? In a civilized society of mature and intelligent individuals, we should be able to talk about any subjects, even controversial and highly emotional ones such as politics or religion, in a respectful and objective manner. But, sadly, I know that it is wishful thinking on my part to expect that. Human nature and social conditioning being what they are, certain topics will always be bitterly adversarial and bring conflict between people, even between close friends and family members.

Combat Hapkido

Grand Masters

“During my long martial arts career I have tried to observe a publicly “detached neutrality” on the subjects of politics and religion.”

Combat Hapkido

“Politics are intrinsically and inevitably linked to social and economic conditions, business activities and public attitudes.”

uring my long martial arts career I have tried to observe a publicly “detached neutrality” on the subjects of politics and religion. After all, the Martial Arts are a philosophy of life that welcomes individuals of all persuasions as long as they are willing to accept the demands of our disciplines and abide by their code of honor.

It was also a sensibly pragmatic business decision: when leading an International Martial Arts organization, it is not smart to alienate thousands of potential members by being too openly and strongly vocal about your political or religious beliefs.

Over the years, I have met many Instructors who openly proclaim their religious beliefs and some even incorporate them in their teaching programs. I personally do not agree with that approach, but I respect their right to do so. If they feel so strongly about those beliefs that they want to share them with their students, so be it, as long as they are prepared to accept the potential negative response from those members of their community who do not share their beliefs or do not approve the inclusion of those beliefs in their martial arts training.

The same is true of politics but in a different and to a somewhat lesser degree. Politics are intrinsically and inevitably linked to social and economic conditions, business activities and public attitudes.

For instance, if you operate a Martial Arts program as a business, you will be concerned about how much taxes are imposed on your business and how local, state and federal regulations impact your ability to operate. The success of your business is, to an extent, directly related to political decisions and your political views and consequent course of action will reflect your approval or disapproval of those decision.

But politics are also connected to the Martial Arts in other, less obvious aspects. Let me give you some examples: In the USA, in the last few years, several militant, violent groups and gangs have targeted Police officers with violence and even assassinations. Is this a political issue about which Martial Arts Instructors can remain “neutral”? Would you knowingly teach fighting techniques to a member of one of those groups? Our organization, the International Combat Hapkido Federation, has a specialized branch dedicated to the teaching of Defensive Tactics to the Law Enforcement community. We enjoy a great reputation with Police agencies in several Countries and I value that special

D

Grand Masters

“We are peaceful warriors, conscientious warriors, and we should never be silent in the face of evil.

And this is a political statement we should be unequivocally proud to make.�

Combat Hapkido

“In the USA, in the last few years, several militant, violent groups and gangs have targeted Police officers with violence and even assassinations.

Is this a political issue about which Martial Arts Instructors can remain “neutral”?”

relationship. So, how could we possibly train individuals who are committed to harming and possibly even killing Police officers? And if we refuse, are we than making a political statement?

We certainly are and we are proud of it!

Here is another example: Would any truly ethical, honest and responsible Instructor knowingly train a member of a terrorist group?

Would you teach effective, devastating fighting tactics, including disarming, pressure points and knife techniques to someone who wants to commit massacres or other horrible acts of terror? I hope your answer is NO! But in so doing you are making a political (and possibly even a religious) statement. Again, you cannot avoid taking sides.

What if a brutal dictator who represses, imprisons, tortures and murders his own people, offered you a contract to train his Police force or his elite Military units, would you do it?

That has actually happened to me twice during my career. Once I was contacted to conduct training in Cuba and another time in Iran. I refused both offers. Was that a political statement? Absolutely! I have traveled to 20 Countries to teach my art and I will continue to do so but I will never offer my services to tyrants, despots, terrorists, communist regimes and religious fanatics.

As you can see, separating the Martial Arts from all political issues is not as simple or easy as it first appears.

And that brings me to an issue that has been a source of heated controversy and disagreement in the Korean Martial Arts community for several years and continues to be fiercely debated. There is a faction in the TaeKwonDo community that advocates active engagement, exchange, cooperation and friendship with the TaeKwonDo community in North Korea. The opposing faction believes that pursuing any amicable relations with that Country, ultimately only serves to validate, dignify and support the brutal government currently in power. For those of you who do not follow international politics, North Korea is currently run by a megalomaniac, psychopathic murderer who, unfortunately, also has access to nuclear weapons. That regime is the most oppressive and dangerous dictatorship on the planet today. Every year, over one million of its

Grand Masters

“Would any truly ethical, honest and responsible Instructor knowingly train a member of a terrorist group?�

Combat Hapkido citizens die of starvation while billions are spent on weapons for its enormous military machine. The “cult of the leader” is so effectively brainwashed into the population starting at infancy and the state police so brutally repressive that there is no hope for an internal overthrow of this nightmarish regime in the foreseeable future. The martial sport of TaeKwonDo is funded, organized and rigidly controlled by the North Korean military.

So, in view of all that, would you join a TaeKwonDo “good-will” tour to North Korea? Would you be so naïve to believe that your visit would contribute to a “better” understanding between our cultures? That “reaching out” to this evil regime will produce positive changes? That this kind of meaningless, useless, friendly gestures actually helps the cause of World peace?

Those who believe or hope that being “nice” to an evil monster will cause a magical transformation, are, at best, naïve and ignorant of history. At worst, they are knowingly allowing themselves to be used and manipulated like puppets for the benefit of the image of that regime. By respectfully exchanging visits and cordial TaeKwonDo activities with North Korea we are legitimizing and dignifying one of the worst, most cruel tyrannies on the face of the planet. We are also turning a blind eye to the millions of victims of the barbarous atrocities committed by that government. No symbolic TaeKwonDo “good will” tour will change that reality.

While, in general, it is best not to mix politics and Martial Arts, there are, as I have illustrated, times when exceptions must be made. Martial Artists do not live in a vacuum, isolated and insulated from World events.

In fact, I believe that TRUE Martial Artists should be courageous champions and defenders of freedom, justice and human rights, not weak, gullible, appeasers. We are peaceful warriors, conscientious warriors, and we should never be silent in the face of evil. And this is a political statement we should be unequivocally proud to make.

“While, in general, it is best not to mix politics and Martial Arts, there are, as I have illustrated, times when exceptions must be made. Martial Artists do not live in a vacuum, isolated and insulated from World events.”

Combat Hapkido

In this first DVD of "Wind Warriors XXI", Master Rui Ribeiro presents a work that anyone can do, in traditional martial arts and combat sports, to improve your health, your techniques and your way of working both in training and in combat. EVIDENCE, REFERENCE and CONTROL IN MARTIAL ARTS, COMBAT SPORTS and LIFE, MAN MOST BE WILD, NATURAL and PREPARED. Show no afraid. Touch your body. Make a relation with your Spirit. Take your time to understand the values of what you are. Feel the diferences of your constitution. The way that your brain act. External signals exist to notify you against further errors.

Understand the signals, the relation of body and soul, the relation with others, with your senses. KIND of NATURE / KIND of REASON Kind of Evolution achievements / Kind of Systems. All it's on you. Make your body an empty place. In the exercise of nothing only spirit can be attacked, if you loose natural instinct. OSS

Ref.: • DVD/RIBeIRO-1 All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com

In this new DVD of Vovinam, Patrick Levet has wanted to show the facets of the use and handling of the Vietnamese Stick. Although little known, the Vietnamese long stick is, without a doubt, the most important weapon among all the weapons of the traditional Martial Arts of Vietnam. The Vovinam school, in its official program, only proposes the Stick Form (Tu Tuong Con Phap) and the counterattacks of stick vs. stick (Phan The Con), without explaining the intermediate movements.

But the Vietnamese stick goes far beyond these two facets and Master Levet offers us 2 detailed DVDs on all the applications of the numerous intermediate movements of the Stick Quyen. This first volume includes a series of specific stick warming up and bodybuilding exercises, the guard, fundamental principles, stylistic handling of the weapon, defense against disarmament, blocking and dodging, displacements, as well as combat techniques. An original work that shows for the first time the Vietnamese stick in a complete and exhaustive way.

REF.: • DVD/VIET7 All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com

REF.: • DVD/TOYAMA-2

This DVD is the result promoted by the Spanish subsidiary of the Zen Nihon Toyama-Ryu Iaido Renmei (ZNTIR - Spain Branch), to publicize the technical content of the ToyamaRyu style as practiced in the ZNTIR Honbu Dojo in Machida, Tokyo, unchanged, with no alterations. The loyalty of the program is such that is its president and maximum technical manager, Yoshitoki Hataya Sensei, who, accompanied by some members, executes personally the entire compendium of the current style program. In him you can find the basic structure of the methodology that is applied, from the coded exercises of warming up and preparation and through the cutting exercises; the guards; the school Katas, including those corresponding to the Toyama Army Academy, the Gunto Soho and its explanation; work in pairs, both in Kumitachi and Gekken Kumitachi, and the cornerstone on which the Toyama-Ryu is based, i.e., Tameshigiri or cutting exercises on a real target.

Zen Nihon Toyama-Ryu IaiDo Renmei (ZNTIR) is the body that currently - once reviewed and adapted the concepts and methodology of a school that comes from a method of actual combat intends to maintain alive this tradition and the original forms through a system that unifies body, mind and spirit in a realistic and effective way. Thanks to the commitment of a few graduates of the Toyama Army Academy (Rikugun Toyama Gakko), who continued secretly keeping alive the art until the lifting of the bans and the return of sovereignty to the Japanese people, today can learn a fencing style framed among the current schools of Iai-Do. This is a meticulous DVD in different languages, which proves to be a valuable source for researchers and practitioners of Japanese sword, and for martial artists in general or interested in the history of Japan and its last world war. It's a real stroke of luck being able to observe the techniques it contains, and at least for serious researchers, is well worth having it in your video library. We practitioners of the style want to share loyally the knowledge of our Japanese fencing school, in the hope that at the same time, the own inter nal values of those armed men impregnate the new generations and allow to glimpse a revulsive, in a traditionally way very different from the current approach to combat disciplines of Japanese origin.

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com

In this comprehensive instructional video, Andreas Weitzel, founder and head instructor of the SYSTEMA Academy Weitzel (Augsburg, Germany) and one of the leading SYSTEMA Instructors in Europe explains the most important fighting fundamentals. First he vividly elucidates how to walk naturally focusing on the correct execution of steps. He then shows how to use this work in combat applications. A variety of different topics are explained in this movie including: How to unbalance an attacker; How to strike and kick correctly; How to defend against, grabs, throws, strikes and kicks. The explanations in this video are simple but clear with the aim for easy comprehension and lear ning for everyone.

During his explanation Andreas always includes and focuses on the most important principles and fundamentals of SYSTEMA by showing how different topics are tightly linked to each other. Furthermore free and spontaneous work against different attacks including weapons is shown under realistic conditions and full speed. In this video Andreas is assisted and supported by Michael Hazenbeller (Rastatt) and Thomas Gößler (Augsburg), two experienced Systema Instructors.

REF.: • DVD/SYSWEITZEL1

All DVDs, wichi is produced by Budo International, si provided and alone in the formats DVD-5 or MPEG-2, in VCD, DivX or the like is however neves offered with a special holograma sticker. Besides our DVD is characteristed coverings by the hig quality in pressure and material. If this DVD and/or the DVD covering do not corespond to the requirements specified above, it concerns illegal pirat copy.

ORDERS: Budo international.com