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From the category archives:

Styles

Just in case you thought that Steven Seagal was a fake

by Pai Mei on August 29, 2008

Steven Seagal – Shihan (teacher of teachers)
7th Dan Black Belt in Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido and Aikikai Aikido
6′ 4″ (193 cm) Trained and became a teacher in Osaka and Tokyo, Japan
Current Status – Non Competing but as deadly as ever. Teaches regularly.

Like him or hate him, Steven Seagal is the man

He has a commanding knowledge of Aikido and he can prove it. He has worked very hard and there is no doubt in anyones mind that he is a real master of Aikido. His students know it through learning from him and all the pain that comes along with that.

Even with all the bumps and bruises his students still have the greatest respect for him. Even if its sometimes out of fear.

He started martial arts like most masters training at a young age with excellent teachers

I believe he started in Shotokan Karate (woot woot) and then switched to Aikido later on. Moved to Japan and trained with the real hard core aikido masters. Ended up running his own school and becoming a high rank in Japan (which is no small feat). In Japan they train hard, and when I mean hard its “oups you broke your arm quietly and respectfully get off the matt so as not to disturb others training and take yourself to the hospital”.

In this video you will see Shihan practicing on some students coming at him full throttle. This is how he liked to train Aikido to show people that it is effective and that contrary to popular belief can be very effective in many common self defense situations.

Steven Seagal is known for violence

But that is not how he want’s to be known. He trains his black belts very hard because he believes that Aikido should be shown that it can be effective in self defense situations. If you have ever been to an Aikido class or seen some of it on you tube, you will know what I mean when people say it looks fake, but do not fool yourself. If you attack the teacher you will get a rude awakening of extreme pain should he or she choose to inflect it.

He has a reputation of being very hard on students and stuntmen. Is this his fault? His impression is the black belts need to be ready for live combat at all times and should train full pace, as for the stuntmen he just want’s to make sure it looks real enough for the viewers.

Coming back to America

After opening Aikido dojo’s in LA he started to get some celebrities and movie bigwigs into the schools. At the time Warner Brothers was looking for a new martial arts action star to fill the viewers demand at the time for martial arts related action movies. Someone brought him to warner brothers to do an Aikido demonstration and the rest is action hero history.

In his movies he is using martial arts for violence (but he is the good guy).

After the movies

After the action hero genre ended he focused on training Aikido and another love in his life music. Now I know that people right away say Steven Seagal? Music?…singing? I too was very skeptical but I am here to say that he is no B.B.King or Steve Ray but he is not that bad.

His stuff is a little 80’s blues cheese, easy rock station for me but he can play the guitar and sing and really he is not that bad. You can check it out here, he tours and everything. Steven Seagal Music

In Short He has done some pretty cool stuff with his life. More then most who criticize him. I say until you have walked in someone’s shoes you dont really know them.

Wicked Aikido Master, Sweet Hollywood Action Movies and now Blues Guitar Player in a touring band. I think that some of us should cut the guy a little slack.


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Dim Mak Death Touch – Real?

by Pai Mei on August 12, 2008

We all know the Dim Mak made world wide popularity in the martial arts classic movie Blood Sport starring Jean-Claude Van Damme. This “death touch” move was the final flawless victory kill move at the end allowing the blinded Jean-Claude to win the match.

Jean-Claude doing the Dim Mak

But I never thought that this move was real or in fact it was actually taught to some students in special dojos around the world. But you probably wont learn it from your local dojo. The Dim Mak (dian xue in Mandarin Chinese) is not practiced in a lot of places because of few reasons.

1. Not Many People Know It. Not many people know the intricate details of this very dangerous art of fighting because it’s knowledge was traditionally only passed down to close family members and very advanced favored students of the past masters.

Only the ones that truly could be trusted with such knowledge would obtain it. Students that would only use it in the dire needs of self defense or to defend others from harm.

2. It’s Damn Hard To Learn. You don’t just hit a saturday class for an hour a week and pick up Dim Mak. You need to train as hard as you did to get your first black belt just to learn the many different pressure points and how different people react to them.Pressure Point Chart

You dont want to be pointing your little finger in the middle lower left chest pec of some hug dude expecting him to drop, it wont happen, and he will be mad, and I am sure you will get hurt.
The truth is all the different techniques dont work on everyone.

You will need to be able to quickly evaluate your opponent to apply the best techniques you think for them.
 

 

Check out Erle Montaigue’s web site here and his you tube channel here.

3. Not Many Left To Pass It On. The fact is that there are not too many people left who are real masters of the Dim Mak and those who are must not be teaching so many people. Do not fret tho there are some out there that know how to do it and to teach it properly. I will have some links below the article. Time catches up with all of us and some secrets die with their keepers.

4. Some claim it to be a fraud. Some say it doesn’t even work and that those who claim to be Dim Mak masters are just faking their moves and using stage plants to demonstrate on. This is one reason that it has fallen out of favor and its not regularly taught.

One would also assume that teachers cannot teach what they do not know. As time passes and things become forgotten some information looses its shine for usefulness. In a world of high flying round house kicks to the head, who wants to put a guy down with your finger. No show in that!

5. Clouded In Mystery. Some people just dont want to believe something they do not understand. If there is one thing that science has for sure taught us its that we do not know everything. The human body seems to be unlocking doors to medical breakthroughs every day and we can only be amazed at the rapid community collective and distribution of knowledge in our time.

For a martial artist to grow, one would need to keep there mind open to many new possibilities and advancements in science and technology to bore new styles and techniques that can be applied to old ways. Just because something like Dim Mak was discovered long ago doesn’t mean that it didn’t take many years of masters experimenting and expanding this method and forming it into a teachable style. Maybe its not fully ready for the big time yet, but it sure is an interesting idea that some are working very hard on perfecting.


History of Dim Mak
The history of Dim Mak is clouded in legend more then martial arts historical fact because of the tight lipped masters of old. As said above the masters would only pass on this knowledge to trusted students, and if they found no one with whom they could trust, no knowledge was passed. Like all early martial arts, the Dim Mak teachings were kept secret from enemies.

Today people can learn it like anything else. Take a class, read a book, watch a video. There are many websites available to someone who wants to learn about the Dim Mak style. Below I listed some good sources.

These books will also provide more detailed information then most of the sites. Click Here.

http://www.dimmak.net/ Tells about Dim Mak and sells some books on the subject. If you click on the Dim Mak online link you will see a list of the points with there results.

Dr Pier TSUI-PO’s website www.dimmakworld.com is a great site for info and distance lessons. He runs most of the lessons online.

Dim Mak – Wikipedia has some good info that is always growing as users add to it.


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