Page 89 - Phonebox Magazine March 2016

Everyone needs a Hobby
My dad loved shing and it was a great disappointment to him that it never caught my fancy, but at the age of 17 I was caught by the Martial Arts; I am 60 this year (2016). The Art I study is Budo Tai Jutsu, to explain the name,
Budo means war way or method, Tai means Body, and Jutsu means application, so it is the way of applying yourself in war or battle.
Tai Jutsu is an art of movement, training concentrates on motion, timing and distance and the effective use of the body in all situations so it does not matter how strong or heavy or how small you may be.
We have had people training who are partially sighted and also people with disabilities who learn to move and make this a functional system and also a method of self defence.
Budo Tai Jutsu can be an enjoyable hour a couple of times a week as a hobby, or you can immerse yourself and explore the culture and the history and make this a very rewarding and enjoyable pastime and people of any size can bene t from this.
Because of these points of study, Tai Jutsu is the original self defence. I see it as defence of self against age, life in general and the issues that come with it, these events happen to us all on our journey and the thread, the stabilising thread for me, has been the Martial Arts. It’s a constant in all the change.
There are Martial Arts from all over the world in the UK, much of what we had in Britain was lost. It used to be compulsory to practice Archery and Long Staff every week, but that stopped many centuries ago. In Japan the feudal system was still operating until the 19th Century and this kept the related work systems alive until relatively recent.
If you decide to start a Martial Art look around and do some study. Decide if you want to use it to get t or be involved in competitions or
Ian Jones
something for the longer view. Visit a few different places and talk to the instructor, use your judgement. It’s a sad fact that there are many pretenders out there who make all kinds of claims. There was a Martial Art a few years ago that proclaimed it could make you impervious to blows. This group are not around anymore thankfully.
I now live in Newport Pagnell and I have recently ful lled a life long wish and built a Dojo (Place/Way) for personal training and study. I call it “Dojo Ongyo” (隠 on hidden/secret; 形 gyo form/shape/style) I have a website Ongy.org.uk if you wish to explore for more information.
I hope this small article gave some impetus to those who were thinking about doing a Martial Art and maybe stimulated others to do more, modern life is too passive, don’t you think? And with regards to shing... I still don’t like it.
March 2016 | Phonebox Magazine 89