On Fri, 12 Dec 2003, Matthew Hunter wrote: >On Fri, Dec 12, 2003 at 08:37:40AM -0800, David Silberstein ><davids at kithrup.com> wrote: >> And watching some of the many and varied styles, both with weapons and >> unarmed, my impression is that the Chinese martial arts have a >> tendency towards being much more swirly and flashy, with a lot more >> motions that might be meant to distract the opponent (such as the >> drunken style). >> >> The Japanese styles, from what I could see, are usually more >> direct and choppy, in contrast. > >That's a little odd; the Japanese came up with Aikido, >Aiki-Jutsu, and probably more styles in the "extremely circular" >category. Perhaps the selection of Japanese martial arts simply >didn't include those as examples? > They did not, actually. But I have seen Aikido, and I thought of it as a counterexample as I typed that above. Perhaps I am not using the correct phrasing, though. Maybe I mean that Chinese style is more elaborate and ornate, and Japanese is more austere and simplified? I dunno. It was just a vague impression, anyhow.