Kaho ?? (Fake Martial Arts and Artist)

Kaho 花法　KaHo is two Chinese characters that mean flower and method.

About KaHo

In times of continued  peace martial arts become very far from what they were intended to be used for and become more for looks and sports. The ancestors of these martial arts called them Ka Ho, meaning flower methods.

Kaebara Ekiken was very knowledgeable and was the author of many books .One of the books he wrote was about the code for Bushi. Bushi is Japanese for warrior.

He said that if you were a master and intended to employee a samurai , there were 5 types of Bushi you should not employ.

1. The rich spoiled type who runs all around town playing and living it up

2. The kind which collects up beautiful swords and things for their looks and not for really using.

3. The kind who are too old and weak

4. Talking too big and lying about their experiences but actually have not done anything.

5. Has lots of knowledge and interesting to talk too but just lack courage

Another author said ,People who just want to get the compliments from other people distort their technique to get praise like a Kabuki actors trying to get applause from the audience. But their technique looks so obviously in effective.Kabuki is Japanese for Theater.

Takeda Shingen’s warrior BaBa Miyoshi no Mori Nobusa said , “This technique and that technique is o.k but, the most important thing is to just have the attitude to just go to the battle field chase and  knock them down  and just cut their heads off.That is what he said and that is what he did.Takeda Shingen was a land owner and was very famous for his many war victories.

At the end of the Edo period 1603-1658 a famous swordsman, Gyozo Hirayama,said swordery is for killing enemies so you must make your enemy feel like you really want to kill them. They must feel your deep desire to kill them.

He also said when you dodge the enemies attack and just let it go it is not very useful exercise.

In China at the end of the Ming Dynasty 1368-1616 they talked about Ka Ho.

They were two types of martial arts Outside and Inside.
The outside is mainly attacking by jumping up high and kicking or just striking with your limbs. More active than being passive. And when being in this mode your are more likely to be injured because you expose your vital points when kicking. Also your ability to hit the target is not as good when you are closer to the target.

The inside is more for protecting your self when being attacked ,  the counter is more effective and accurate because you are closer when the attacker exposes his vitals when he is attacking you.

Shaolin martial art s looks very beautiful , but it is too big and open, so it is easy to attack their vitals. That is why inside martial arts is better than outside.

Chin Pan ling was born 1892 -1967. He studied Shaolin Kung Fu from his father . While he was studying at a university he met a guy there who had studied Hsing-I for only 6 months when they faught Chen Pan ling was hit only one time and lost. He realized how in effective Shaolin was and so he started learning inside martial arts and in the end became the head of the martial arts federation in China. After the revolution he exiled to Tapai Taiwan and started his martial art federation there.

About Japanese swords, It was said to be the soul of the Samurai. Up until the 16th century swords were not so extravagant they worked well in the field but were not so special. Around the 17th century the focus on the weapon was on its beatification of the sword valued for it's beauty, but actually they bent easily and were not so effective. So at the end of the Edo period a famous sword maker, Masahire collected what was called meito best swords and purposely broke them with a hammer to show how weak they were made.He told the warriors that the main purpose for the sword was it should not break, and could stay sharp and how well they cut, not how they look. So there was even KaHo going on with swords.

My teacher once asked Japanese actors who played swordsmen in the movies and so on if thy were real masters but they said no. When the Chinese actors of Kungfu movies were asked if theymasters they all said yes.He thought that they were not lying but just they thought they really new martial arts ,In other words they thought Kaho was real martial arts.

My sensei studied Kageyama ryu kenjutsu from Miyazaki unshu. After studying with him receiving credentials from him he told me not to show martial arts to anyone without his permission. Especially before you even master anything you will become influenced by the audience you will become louder and bigger etc And the art that you learned will become something else and so will you.