Train For Your Environment By Adapting
All martial arts were developed to serve a specific function from a specific time period. Many of the older martial arts have tried adapting to modern-day environments with varying degrees of success. However, some are more suited to our modern environment than others. Japanese Kenjutsu was a lethal art for the battlefield samurai, but today its kind of useless. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been challenged to a sword duel recently. Even something as popular as karate doesn’t quite make sense anymore. Karate’s slow, heavy punches were designed to be used against samurai in armor. Today, not many people still wear armor in their everyday lives. My instructor, Master Weilai, has adapted the ancient Chinese system of kung fu known as Ku Guo(哭果) into a form more readily applicable to today’s world and situations.
Ku Guo is ideally suited for the environment I most often find myself. It is a street-lethal system for the street I live on. Of course, however, I live on a cul-de-sac. In the suburbs. In a good neighborhood. This ancient Southern Chinese art is ideally suited to combat those who have the general lack of physical conditioning and martial skill of the average American living in the 21st century. This means that with minimal physical ability and training, you will be ahead of the curve and be able to walk around your friendly, suburban neighborhood without fear.
Modern Adaptation
To give an overview of Ku Guo’s system, let’s consider the following situation: When am I most likely to have a conflict on my street? That’s right, at a neighborhood barbecue. That’s why the first form learned in Ku Guo is a drunken boxing form. However, it is different from other styles in that its designed for use when you are boxing someone else who is drunk. The best part is, the drunker they are, the better Ku Guo’s quick actions dazzle and confuse the drunk opponent, allowing you to slip past their defenses to issue a killing blow. Usually an elbow to the head.
Weapons
Ku Guo, like many kung fu styles, also has weapons as part of its curriculum. But, again, Ku Guo is adapting to our modern cul-de-sac-based environment. I myself have placed second in the state with our dual grill spatula form. Our ranged weapons were adapted from the Shinobi throwing knife techniques of the late 16th century. However, it deals, again, with our modern lives. We practice knock-outs with our cell phone throwing techniques. In fact, Apple has sponsored our competition team where we cut actual apples with our throwing phone techniques.
Continuous Adaptations
Ku Guo has had to continuously adapt itself to the times. There was a time in the mid-20th century when phone-cord strangulation techniques were taught as part of our system. But, in keeping with our motto of “Always Adapting-Never the Same,” our chairman led the vote to remove this technique in the early 2000s as cell phones became readily available. Looking ahead, it has even been proposed that we adapt our kicking techniques to be launched above head height to be able to take out drones flying nearby.
Let me know what you think. Are there any other “modern adaptations” that we should consider adding to the Kugo system?
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