Hardest Japanese MA?

What would you consider the most difficult to learn japanese martial art?

I know they are all hard in their own way, but is there one that stands out as extra difficult to you?

[Raven]

From reading one of the other threads here, I would say that Ju Jitsu is the hardest to learn.
You would spend about the first 6 months or so trying to figure out how is is supposed to be spelt before you could actually start training
Hehe, just kidding, but it really does sound very complicated.

Well, I've dabbled in a japanese style or 2, but I'm not that deep in japanese styles nor do I consider myself a japanese stylist...but If I had to chose based on my knowlege right now...I would have to say Aikido

However, this is only my opinion! It all depends on the individual practicioner of the style

[CrazyRob]

Yes, this is yet another question that deals with personal opinion more than anything. I would have to agree than in my personal opinion Ju Jitsu would probably be the hardest Japanese martial art to learn.

[greenone]

I am going with the crowd on this one. I tried ju jitsu and it was very difficult. I enjoyed learning the techniques but it takes a lot of practice. I moved on to another style but would like to try it again soon.

[Shinji246]

In my own opinion the hardest martial art to master would have to be Samurai Swordsmanship, this is difficult because learning to use samurai katana to attack, parry, and evade, has it's own dangers. This is more difficult than the ninjitsu style due to the fact that it is more involved than just striking and sticking the opponent.

[sirdarksol]

If we're sticking with unarmed arts, I would have to say taijutsu (the ninja's unarmed art). Taijutsu encompasses equal amounts striking and grappling, lethal and non-lethal attacks. The ninja needed to learn to fight from many positions, including a position that is pretty much unique to their fighting style, despite how obvious and useful it is: a normal posture. A ninja never knew when he was going to be discovered, and needed to be able to defend himself even if he was just walking down the street.

Counting weapon arts, I guess that would depend on how broad of an art we are talking.
For example, kobudo is the term used to describe the art of using Okinawan farming and fishing implements in fighting situations. This is probably the most complex of all of the Japanese arts, followed, in my opinion, by kyudo (the way of the bow, which included learning how to fire while swimming in armor, talk about harsh).

However, if we are limiting it more, I think things go back to taijutsu, because the art of swordsmanship is split into kenjutsu (fighting armored opponents/fighting with sword already drawn) and iaido (fighting from the draw, the dueler's art), while kobudo is split into separate weapons. Kyudo gets split into several different arts based on certain fighting situations, etc...

[jackg]

Although I a Jiu-jisu practioner and would love to say Jitsu I think its Judo because there are so many subtle tricks you learn and most of all to grade you must compete in matches , I think judo is the hardest japanese MA

[Gray Wolf]

Hello All - In my humble opinion; an External Martial Art, that emphasizes mostly (Striking and Kicking) Are not that Hard to Learn, cause you don't have to Think But, an Internal Martial Art, requires thinking, so it would be harder to learn

[sirdarksol]

Originally Posted by Gray Wolf

Hello All - In my humble opinion; an External Martial Art, that emphasizes mostly (Striking and Kicking) Are not that Hard to Learn, cause you don't have to Think But, an Internal Martial Art, requires thinking, so it would be harder to learn

I disagree very strongly that external martial arts don't require thinking. Give me a Muay Tai fighter who knows a lot of techniques but doesn't think, and I'll destroy him. On the other hand, put me against a Muay Tai fighter who doesn't know a lot of techniques, but thinks about how he uses them, and I'll be looking for a way out of a fight that's too even for comfort.