I'm going to disagree on much of this. As Reg noted it might be a bit
early in your Wado career to offer much constructive criticism to the
art. Essentially it is not possible to teach everything at once, so
whatever 'holes' you might see could simply be lessons to come.

Now arts will have a certain perspective and emphasis so that Wado is
not jujitsu and there is a lot to learn from study under Toby
Threadgill, e.g. But one can muddy the water a bit by trying to
integrate the two or several ad hoc.

Finally, if one applies Tai Chi in the Wado class you are not
practicing Wado, so why are you there? I'm not trying to be
sarcastic, but am pointing out that if you are there to learn Wado,
then do Wado. Just like practicing French in the Japanese class: I'm
wasting my time and money, not to mention those of my instructor and
partners.

I am not a real single art practitioner either so I am not trying to
choose a side per se. However,I am saying that 'holes' in an art like
Wado may have a purpose from an art perspective.

--- In wadokarate@yahoogroups.com, "Robert Agar-Hutton" <robert@...>
wrote:
>
>
> Hi Reg (and All),
>
> > That's a fairly bold statement
> That's me 'Bold' - OK Good Looking and Bold - OK Intelligent, Good
> Looking and Bold.... (Could go on but don't want to appear big
> headed) - :) :) :) :) :)
>
> The idea I wanted to share is that practice of any martial art
> benefits practice of any other martial art - YES I totally agree with
> the concept that a base art should be studied for long enough for the
> exponent to be comfortable and to understand not only the moves but
> the principles of the art - but then cross training - I suggest - is
> beneficial.
>
> It's beneficial not only for filling in the holes in the base art -
> and EVERY martial art without exception has holes (Because otherwise
> the art that didn't have any holes would be the one that we would ALL
> study)... but also because practising a different art often will give
> you insights into the GOOD STUFF in your base art as you can get to
> the "Can't see the wood for the trees" situation in your base art and
> think you are practising and developing when in fact you are
> practising and stagnating (BEEN THERE DONE THAT!!!)
>
> By the way you mentioned "variation in the practice of wado" - I
> wasn't suggesting that at all - when I'm at the Wado club I try and
> do everything the way the instructor wants - the Wado way, the same
> as when I go to Ju-Jitsu on a Friday evening I try and do things the
> Ju-Jitsu way... Of course sometimes (especially when under pressure)
> other bits and pieces pop out - but hey that's the fun of it all.
>
> The best one was doing a push-hands type drill at Ju-jitsu some
> months ago and being partnered up with a young black belt who just
> couldn't figure out why he couldn't touch me whilst I could pretty
> much touch him at will - the associations senior instructor (who was
> teaching at the club that night) knows I teach Tai Chi and quietly
> crept up behind me and pinned my arms to my side so as to give the
> young guy a chance - LOVED IT :) :) :)
>
> You also (earlier in your post) mentioned arts being "diametrically
> opposed in character" - I just don't think that is EVER true - we all
> have two arms, two legs, etc and the same physical laws apply to
> everybody - so even if basic things like power generation are
> intrinsically different they are still just variations on a theme...
>
> All the best.
>
> Robert.
> ---
> Robert Agar-Hutton
> www.p-k-j.org
>