Secret Techniques

There are LOTS of "secret techniques" in martial arts.  Stretching from dim mak in Chinese traditions to secret Ninjutsu to secret footwork of Wing Chun and sword drawing of Yagyu Shinkage and so on, and so on.  Everyone, it seems, is looking for a shortcut, surefire way to victory.  Saturday morning chop-socky Kung Fu movies almost all included some secret technique the master would show the student "when he was ready".  So much so that Tarantino even included it in his homage movies Kill Bill 1 & 2 as "The Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique". 

First of all, the fact that all of these so-called "secret" techniques were found using Google (no secret) in seconds, I guess they are a little too accessible to be secret.  That being said, there is value in considering the idea of a shortcut, surefire way to victory.

At its simplest, we could define military strategy as "kill more of them first" and for thousands of years that seemed to be the case.  New technology enabled us to kill others at a much faster pace and attrition was the principle way to win battles and, ultimately, wars.  This is exemplified by the Battle of the Somme in WWI, where withering machine gun fire raked No Man's Land, mowing down wave after wave of ineffective infantry charges.  Of course, the use of atomic bombs on Japan shows the zenith, at least for now, of man's use of technology to kill other men.

Modern warfare is different, however.  The goals are no longer to kill as many enemy troops as possible.  Instead, we disrupt infrastructure/communications.  We destroy the enemy's economic outputs.  We deny them access to war supplies.  We weaken their public support and will to fight.  All of these so-called "non-military" actions support, enhance and facilitate actual combat, sometimes making it almost unnecessary.  The British conflict in the Falkland Islands or the US involvement in Panama are only two examples.

In martial arts, too, there are varying degrees of fighting strategy.  Very simply, my objective can be to punch or kick my opponent into unconsciousness, as is the goal of boxing, Muay Thai and other pugilistic arts.  in Judo or Jiu Jitsu, my goal is submission or making the opponent give up for fear of joint injury or being choked/strangled unconscious.  MMA combines striking and grappling to allow more ways to render your opponent unable to continue.

Some styles emphasize specific targeting like low kicking, in an effort to win by taking away the opponent's mobility - if they can't stand they can't fight.  Still others like Kyusho Jitsu try to target acupuncture points to disrupt or "short circuit" the body's electrical system (Dim Mak is also related to this).

As we become more mature in our study, we often look to efficiency in our expression of martial arts.  This can mean a single movement that attacks on multiple dimensions or sets up multiple follow-ups.  It can also mean the use of space, timing, distance and environment to give advantage.  Furthermore, it can mean using the structure and limitations of the opponent's body to weaken their ability to resist.  In this way, we aren't attacking the person as much as we are attacking their posture, balance and structure.  Having done so, they become easier to control.  High level Aikido is known for this, as are some more esoteric Chinese traditions.

Ethically and morally (and legally) speaking, I am opposed to causing injuring to people unless there is simply no alternative.  I have no issue using pain compliance, and of course pain and injury are related but not the same.

Like many things in life, it is very important to know your objective before you determine the various options available to achieve it.  In martial arts this requires some soul-searching to realize what kind of person we are and how to express that through our art.  Self-defense should be a goal of any practical martial arts system, but excessive force is ego, and that is worth reflection, too.

I suppose the secret is really that there are no secrets.