Seeking Martial Arts Resources

[Comartemis]

Does anyone know where I can find information on martial arts, kenjutsu and naginata-jutsu techniques, preferably a glossary of maneuvers or something similar?

[MingShun]

IMO, you use the basic stuff, like punch, kick, drop kick, yada...and that's it. But you figure out an interesting angle to it...(hint: surroundings are important. If a character is fighting in a desert, activating the Jusenkyou curse is stupid. However you can create some crazyass technique involving exploding cactuses.)

Using the advanced stuff only works when your audience knows what you're talking about, otherwise you really have to work your butt off to describe how it works.

[Dorin]

Do you have an idea what you're specifically looking for? A break down of move by move items might be difficult to find, but you try some skillful googling, you can come across some fairly useful essays and websites that are maintained by weapon's enthusiasts and scholars.

If you're looking for things like how a specific style of kung-fu, karate, or other martial art adopts stances and the tactics students are given to employ just broad search things like Matis Kung-fu or Shotokan Karate, there are usually some good pages for dojos put up with demonstration videos and the like.

Kenjutsu, that more difficult, there are so many styles and I'm not really aware of many pages put up outlining more than school mottos and a few basics; same goes for naginata. In those my advice would be searching out demo-vids from martial arts tournarments and exhibitions that might give you an idea how those weapons could be used.

The rest of it, like coming up with a fight, really comes down to what you plan on using the information for. If you're gonna be writing out a fight scene, simplicity is best while you practice developing the fight out. There's no real 'right way' to describe a fight. And yeah, like MindShun said, keep it simple; advanced moves in a story should be something unique and interesting. Like Pai Mai's Five Point Heart Exploding Palm technique or what have you.