Comments on: Ask Forrest Morgan

By: John

John — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 08:48:21 +0000

I'd ask him how how stays motivated to train after umpteen years in TKD, jiu-jitsu, or whatever he's involved in these days. That's assuming the ol' boy is still at it. I'm sure he is.

I believe he co-wrote a book a while back on Imperial Japan and also one on global terrorism. I'd be tempted to ask him about his thoughts on the war in Iraq and the possibility of Al-Quaeda cells in the US and how to deal with that, from a civilian's perspective. It may seem a bit off topic, but then some of Morgan's anecdotes (from LTMW) that dealt with his time in the military were always cleverly directed back to traditional martial arts concepts like honor, courage, etc.

Looking forward to that interview.

By: John

John — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:48:21 +0000

By: SueC

SueC — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 12:31:01 +0000

Wenhsiu: Thanks for sharing all this knowledge with me. You've given me enough to go and research this a bit more myself. I think I will write a blog post about it on my blog in the near future.

Matt: hope you didn't mind us hogging your blog for this conversation (:

By: MargueriteNico

MargueriteNico — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 22:35:02 +0000

I'm interested in how he keeps himself on track? Is there any kind of an obstacle, be it mental or physical that you've had to work through in order to make yourself a better martial artist?

By: wenhsiu

wenhsiu — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 11:53:55 +0000

It's my pleasure. It's not every day I get the opportunity to discuss
martial arts with a woman. I tend to think of karate as a hybrid of
various Chinese and Japanese styles.

Remember what I said about Taekwondo? Well. The same kicks are found
in the popular styles of Karate nowadays. So, you have the tools to
develop your own style. I have even found elements of Taiji and Qigong
in Karate (Usually they are in those bits in your katas that don't
make any sense.)

Besides that, Karate (Especially the Shotokan-based styles) also
contain techniques from ju-jutsu. The punching and kicking parts (and
the flowery parts of the katas)- are Chinese.

Sorry- I am rambling now. Wing Chun was developed by a Shaolin Nun
called Ng Mui. She noticed the plight of a young girl called Wing Chun
(Her name means "Beautiful Spring") and taught her this new art to
defend her self against an unscrupulous landlord who wanted to force
her into marriage. The art was subsequently named after her.

Enjoy your training.

By: SueC

SueC — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 10:01:30 +0000

That's very interesting about Taiji and Qigong, I must look into that more. Perhaps the Chinese were a bit more enlightened about male/female differences than the Japanese! No I didnt know that Wing Chun Chuen was devised by a woman – who was she? I do karate so may be I didn't pick the most female friendly martial art, but you can only do what's available in your local area. Thank you for your comments.

By: Wayne Boozer

Wayne Boozer — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 20:31:02 +0000

I'm a HUGE fan of that book; and it did indeed change my approach to training. Please keep everyone informed of your endeavor!

By: wenhsiu

wenhsiu — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:23:27 +0000

Sue, in traditional internal systems like Taiji and Qigong you find differentiation in techniques for men and women, mainly because women are Yin in relation to men being Yang.

Taekwondo is very suitable for female fighters due to the emphasis on leg techniques, which not only compensates for relative smaller upper body strength, but also proves beneficial to women's physical well-being due to the high kicking and stretching involved.

Did you know that Wing Chun Chuen was devised by a woman?

By: wenhsiu

wenhsiu — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 17:18:07 +0000

Sue, I can tell you that since the early times martial artists have known that a woman's technique would be different. In Chinese internal arts like taiji and the systems of qigong you even find techniques or methods of using techniques which are specifically for women. Regarding qi, this woul be because women are yin in relation to males being yang.

I have noted that Taekwondo appears very suitable for female fighters, not only because of the emphasis on leg techniques, but also because of the health benefits the stretching and high kicking holds for women.
Which art are you practicing now?

Oh! Did you know that Wing Chun Chuen was devised by a nun?

By: SueC

SueC — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:37:38 +0000

I have to confess that I haven't heard of Forrest Morgan before (I am a relative newbie to martial arts) and so haven't read his book. However, I assume from the title that he is a traditionalist. I would want to ask him a question about women in martial arts. I base my question on the premise that traditional fighting arts were developed by men for men to fight other men and are thus best suited for the male physique. As a consequence of this I tend to think that women are slightly square pegs in round holes when it comes to learning a traditional martial art and we have to make it 'fit' to our physiques as best we can. With this in mind does Mr Morgan think that traditional martial arts training techniques should be adapted to help women learn techniques that play to their physiological strengths i.e techniques that utilise their proportionately greater core strength, adapting kicks to take account of a womens different shaped pelvis (which affects the angle of articulation of the hip), learning techniques that compensate for a woman's lack of upper body strength etc. Or does he think women should just get on with it and train the same as men?

A bit long winded this question I know – but an important one for women.