I was reading a book with interviews of various Neijia (Internal Martial Arts) masters. There is a lot that is interesting in that book, but one part was of particular interest. Tim Cartmell, has loads of experience in the Chinese Martial Arts as well as attaining a black belt in Brazilian Jiujitsu. Always interested in what he has to say since he experience in both "traditional martial arts" as well as neijia and BJJ. Interesting what he said about Jack Dempsey's book, Championship Fighting, and how it relates to Xingyi (Hsing I).
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If you read the original Judo documents, what Jigoro Kano actually wrote, you wouldn't know that you weren't reading the Tai Ji classics - they're virtually the same. The Ju in Judo is Rou in Chinese; it's the word that people translate as "Soft." It doesn't mean soft like Jell-O. You're always halfway between hard and flaccid. Rou is like bamboo, or like grass. Rou is flexible, you have structure and strength, you yield and snap back, that's the idea of Judo. Ju means to be pliable, to use the opponent's strength against him, have a superior angle, all those things that the Chinese recognize as what we now call internal.
Tim Cartmell on Sport Fighting and Internal Principles
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If you read the original Judo documents, what Jigoro Kano actually wrote, you wouldn't know that you weren't reading the Tai Ji classics - they're virtually the same. The Ju in Judo is Rou in Chinese; it's the word that people translate as "Soft." It doesn't mean soft like Jell-O. You're always halfway between hard and flaccid. Rou is like bamboo, or like grass. Rou is flexible, you have structure and strength, you yield and snap back, that's the idea of Judo. Ju means to be pliable, to use the opponent's strength against him, have a superior angle, all those things that the Chinese recognize as what we now call internal.
