Thread:Saris Khan/@comment-24384232-20141211031559/@comment-18812574-20141212153033

Wait, haven't we been doing this the whole time? I mean, I'm not an expert in martial arts, but I have generally seen Hakuda as encompassing of any form of bare-body combat. "Jujutsu" or "Karate" or whatever else is the style. But not the form. And style largely becomes irrelevant when you get to say, Bruce Lee, who integrated all the styles he had learned and made up his own. Jackie Chan has been known to say "You know, [karate, Kung Fu, etc.] all martial arts are really the same." I know that may put some people off, but I think it's true. Once you get to that level: or once taken at the most fundamental level, martial arts or "Hakuda" is the same regardless of style. Has the same goals and such.

The same would apply, I imagine, to Zanjutsu. This is a form, not a style. To me, one of the biggest mistakes people make on here when designing swordsmen/sword "styles" is that they are based heavily on kendo. There is actually a big difference between kendo and kenjutsu. Kendo is a style of sword fighting. Kenjutsu is swordfighting. I think this is what so-and-so (sorry, not sure who said it) meant by "specificity limits you." Absolutely. If a character conforms to the rigidity of style, whether that by Hakuda, Zanjutsu, or Kido, they are incredibly limited. I think this is what Njalm is trying to point out about Kido. A true master would be able to break down kido to the conceptual level, the most fundamental, let's say, and then utilize it from there. But a Zanjutsu master, a Hakuda master, even a Hoho master can do the exact same thing. Perhaps it is less a matter of being limited with Zanjutsu and more a matter of being uncreative with Zanjutsu when in an RP.

Anyway, I don't know why I'm here... I just came to read the comments. >_<