Gatka

[Rochellita]

Just out of curiousity- has anyone ever done the Sikh martial art called Gatka. I used to work with a one of the Gatka masters and it's a pretty scary martial art- in the training he did the advanced students used real swords and other "ancient" weapons.

[Myrddin]

I don't know much about it, but because it is weapons focused it does seem not as practical for 21st century self defence. And cause its so war like it doesn't seem very Vegan either

Adam

[Rochellita]

Not condoning the art, just curious really as the guys I knew who did it were actually very gentle vegetarians most of the time!

..I know a vegan or two who is into weapons-based martial arts.

Also, before this project was set up we didn't realise how many vegan martial artists there are out there


Rochelle

[Frostfire]

Hi

I think weaponry can be modern and vegan. I'm learning a few nunchuku katas in my martial art and it's great. They are doing wonders for my dexderity, hand-eye coordination and more stuff I'm sure that I'm not even aware of.

They don't have to be used to bash people's brains in, either. Most of what I know is defensive blocking and parrying (sp?), especially against knives which I think are used at least as frequently now as ever (well, at least where I live). Granted I don't walk around caring my weapons with me (okay, I sort of do because I keep them in my gym bag and I alway have that with me!), but other common objects can be used similarly.

Also, I think it keeps the tradition alive so weaponry doesn't become a lost art form. My husband is learning bokken techniques in Aikido, and that is one of the most passive and no-harm-philosophy martial art that I know of!

But that is just what I think. Thanks for reading

[prenna]

I do weapons training as part of the Kali that I practice. It is a Filipino Martial Art and like most FMA's it's primarily weapons-based. The student learns stick and knife combat before moving on to the empty hand techniques. This is quite different to the majority of martial arts as they usually teach empty hand stuff first and only teach weapons at higher grades.


As I'm such a martial arts geek I'm going to have to look into Gatka. Especially since India has so much to do with the early history of many martial arts (India being the birthplace of Boddhidharma, the monk who first taught Chi Kung techniques to the Shaolin monks). Anyway before I start boring people with my martial arts lectures I'll just say that it'll be interesting to compare the Gatka techniques to the other weapons systems I have looked at.

[Mary]

Not condoning the art, just curious really as the guys I knew who did it were actually very gentle vegetarians most of the time!

I know loads of people doing Gatka in Wolverhampton now. To back up Rochelle, the temple where they teach Gatka have asked if they can cook us free vegan food for our next festival in the Midlands. The family who run the nearest post office have been getting our leaflets for the local veggie group distributed all over the Sikh temples in Wolverhampton, and they bought vegan creem eggs off us, and vegan birthday cake of the SNGP group - I am still hoping they will come to a meeting some time.

I don't know much about how Gatka flows, because I have only been shown static forms, but isn't all "martial" art war like? That's what martial means!

[pandiriver]

I did a google search for this gatka - never heard of it before and being a martial arts geek I need to check it out - "dance of the sword".

I'd suppose it has good flow and it does seem awefully weapon centered - but so does iaido, and we sure played iaido with live blades too. I even remember kendo kata from back in the days when I did that with live blades.
so scary.. I dunno - blades are sexy having also gotten into FMA (escrima concept) I'm getting a bit hooked on knives too I've always had a fascination with those sweet japanese swords.. these gatka ones doesn't seem like my cup o' tea. buuuut. this gatka being a Sikh art I suppose it also has some spiritual aspect to it and not just "war! war! war!".

I think I might have seen a tvshow on this art now that I think about it.. well well, to bad there is nothing of the sort around here

[Mary]

I've been invited to the temple to try it out, on Fridays. At the moment I am umming and awing about it, since I do karate three days a week, and German at night school one day a week. I don't want to spread myself too thin - besides which, I like to sit in and watch shite on telly with Neilly when we have finished work for the day. Very important too, since he may be in hospital this time next week. But maybe in Summer when night school is over for a few months... Then again, shouldn't I get really good at one martial art before moving onto another?

[prenna]

Then again, shouldn't I get really good at one martial art before moving onto another?

In my humble opinion I think that most people can take up to 3 martial arts at the same time without it getting too watered down. Anymore than three and it eats into the amount of time you can spend practising each. Luckily for me I study Jeet Kune Do so I get to sample sections of many different martial arts so that I can blend them into my own system. So I say go for it if it interests you.

[pandiriver]

getting really good at one art might have you end up being 80 years old before yer done and then you're probably not so in the mood to start from scratch with a new one

I see martial arts a bit like learning to play music. I learn a lot of things from my flute playing that improves my guitar playing - and vice versa. for me spreading out on different things gives me a better grasp of the whole idea.. works the same with martial arts for me.

some might prefer learning one thing at a time though. Takes a bit of concentrating with all the skipping back and forth though

'course also martial arts does wonders for my music too. hmm. crosstraining everything in life is the key for me

anyhoo. I think you should check it out - it seems a style very different from karate so I doubt it will mess your karate up too much