Now, this is not putting down other ‘hard’ styles. In fact, all physical forms of martial art are effective – it boils down to the practitioner and how he/she executes the Style effectively. Muay Thai, Nanquan, Full Contact Karate and many others have all survived the test of time because they were effective in one aspect or another. However, many have evolved into a form of combat sport or another, and have had their combat practicalities reduced.

Let’s take a few instances where ‘hard’ arts have become competition arts...and sacrificed some of their effective ‘soft’ (or competition unfriendly) techniques.

Muay Thai– The most popular combat sport on the planet now. Did you know that originally it was made into a combat sport from an ancient Thai art known as Muay Boran? Now back in the Kingdom of Siam, Muay Boran wasn’t one style – It was a collective term for local martial arts, pretty much like what kung fu is to the chinese or karate is to the Japanese. When you look at Muay Thai now it seems pretty basic – western boxing combined with elbows, Thai knees, kicks, clinches. The Art of Eight Limbs.

Back in the olden days, Muay Boran was an effective (and slightly complicated) art designed for killing people in the battlefield or maiming them on the streets (although I’m sure they had ancient tournaments). And therefore, Muay Boran has elements you don’t see in modern muay thai, such as joint manipulation, limb destruction, strangling, choking and evasive movement.

Case in point, this video:

Note how the instructor uses evasive movement, limb manipulation, choking as well as a rear knee stomp to subdue this ‘opponent’. This is actually the application of many ‘soft’ movements that you see in arts such as Taichi, Aikido and Baguazhang. Circular movements and takedowns. Example:

Now, we’re sure there are instructors in modern Muay Thai who add elements of ‘soft’ into their training unconsciously. Many good Muay Thai coaches cross train in Judo, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, or even hire movement coaches, yoga coaches or domodern hybrid gymnastics. These are soft forms of training, though, not all are considered martial movements.

Full contact Karate- No one can dispute the fact that traditional karate (especially those of Okinawan origins) did have both hard and soft elements in its syllabus. You can easily see that in theirkata. What many people believe is that when Kyokushin was developed, it’s karate was created in mind to be a purely hard style. That is far from truth – Kyokushin did have a fair amount of 'soft' breathing exercises in it’s kata syllabus such as tensho. It is also known that Mas Oyama, founder of kyokushin did experiment with soft elements thanks to influence from his friend Kenichi Sawai, the master oftaikiken(Japanese form of Yi Quan).

Some contemporary Kyokushin masters such as Hajime Kazumi incorporate Yi Quan meditative elements in their karate. If you watch him fight in past tournaments, note how fluid, calm and precise his striking and movements are.

We feel that soft flowing movements in one’s kata and kihon practice will teach students how to mindfully generate power. If you have been to any full contact karate dojo, the instructor will instruct the students to execute their punches slowly, then speed up for the last few punches with ki-ai. Although the students eventually generate that power through muscle memory, slowly and mindfully doing their kata as well as kihon is still the best way for their bodies to feel, to understand, and eventually to execute. Sadly though, in modern societies, we do not have the time to absorb and to feel what our muscles are telling us. The calmer we are, the more power we generate and the faster we get our bodies out of harm's way.

A lot of people’s perception about Kyokushin becomes clouded when they see full contact tournaments and think: “Oh, so basically kyokushin is that.” Nope. In every martial art there are always different facets – and that is but one facet that people focus on. The other facet of knockdown karate are it's practical takedowns.

Kyokushin does have fluid takedowns in their kata and syllabus which make people go ‘I thought it was just standing and trading blows!’ When you wish to end a fight effectively, think of how you can negate your opponent’s force instead of exchanging blows without results (unless you can out punch him). For instance…

and, to divert your opponent’s balance and energy off so you can have an advantage, you could use sweeps...like so:

Nanquan/Southern Fist Kung Fu- Southern fist on the outside may seem like a very physical, hard style of martial art. However, there are elements in even the hardest style of nanquan which preach the way of least resistance. For instance, let’s take Hung Gar fist as an example. Take a look at the following video:

Note how the two practitioners execute the throws and takedowns – they do not have to use a lot of power, but rather with proper body movement, alignment and technique, are able to take down their partner easily. You may argue ‘oh but that looks more like modern sanshou than nanquan’. Well take a look at how famed master Chiu Chi Ling of Hung Gar demonstrates a form that is actually a sweep...

It would be extremely foolhardy for a Hung Gar or Southern Fist practitioner to go head on with an opponent who charges in with a flurry of blows. Although southern fist forms appear to be linear and aggressively intercepting by nature, a good martial artist will know how to take the ‘soft’ route to off balance, takedown and finish off his attacker.

Conclusion

People tend to categorize things as black and white. However, a hard style can also have soft elements inside it, and a soft style may actually have explosive, dangerous strikes. If you train in kickboxing or Muay Thai, it would be beneficial to incorporate some form of grappling art (traditional jujitsu, aikido, judo would be good) or body movement exercises in order to achieve a balance of hard and soft.  In the next article, we will discuss soft styles...and why they are not as soft as you would have imagined.

OSU.