From: dsmythe@netcom.com (Dave Smythe)
Subject: Re: Greenoch History (OLD REPOST)
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 1993 08:29:27 GMT

In article <C1Dy8M.3Mr@usenet.ucs.indiana.edu> shulick@cineret.ucs.indiana.edu (Sam Hulick) writes:
>
>Seriously.. what *IS* Greenoch?

Reposted without permission from my personal archives...

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From: dougw@gaia.sybase.com (Doug Welch)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts
Subject: Green Druid revisited
Keywords: Greenoch, Ancient, Deadly
Date: 21 Aug 91 21:42:17 GMT
Reply-To: dougw@gaia.UUCP (Doug Welch)
Organization: Sybase, Inc.
Status: OR

In response to the suggestion to repost, the following is a 
reposting of a couple of pieces concerning the Green Druid and 
the ancient combat style, Greenoch. 
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I study an ancient celtic martial art called Greenoch. It was
used by a secret society called the Greenoch during midevel
times for assasinations and espionage.The group were for the nost
part employed secretly by the royal courts of midevil Europe.

The art has been secretly handed down from master to student
since the 12th century and although there has been no recorded
activity of the Geenoch society in several hundred years,
I can vouch for the authenticity of my teacher Master Field Marshall
Jim Weiss, the first non celtic Greenoch master in history.

I believe Greenoch is very useful on the streets. If someone came up
to me to mug me I would use Greenoch moves and then some Judo moves
and then some more Greenoch moves. If there were two of them I 
would also use some Ninjutsu and TKD moves.

As far as sport goes, Greenoch is NOT a sport and I know if
a TKD guy tries anything on a Greenoch guy or a Ninjutsu
guy it would be over in a flash. 

This is because these arts were used secretly for espionage
in the middle ages and posess deadly knowledge. This enables the
Greenoch or Ninjutsu practitioner to easily overpower any
fighter of superior strength and atheletic ablility. Strategic
psychological experience also matters little; its all in the
moves you learn. The secret death blows and castle entry 
techniquies are especially potent.

Master Field Marshall Weiss must be able to trace his lineage
back to the ancient Greenoch society, although I have never
ask him. He teaches in L.A. now.

I was wondering if there are any Greenoch schools in the SF 
Bay area. I have been studying it for almost a year now and 
would hate to quit now. However, I would also like to try
mixing Greenoch, Ninjutsu and either Aikido or TKD. 
Would this work?

Sincerely
The Green Druid 

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Our hero, the Green Druid, ever searching for a more secret, more ancient
more exotic martial art finds himself on the streets of Tokyo in
an effort to find a sensei in the ancient art of Ninjutsu; preferably
a shihan.

As he walks along the brightly lit Ginza district he suddenly has the urge 
to take a left into an alley way criss crossed above by electrical and
telephone wires, and flanked by lighted signs of bars, song pubs and tiny
eating establishments. Many of the signs are in English (as this is 
a sort of prestige thing in Japan) but he chooses to enter a bar which had 
Japanese characters on their sign because this would be a far more 
likely place to find a practitioner of Ninjutsu (or might I say a Ninjutsu-ka). 
He had seen a similar strategy in a sammurai movie once.

He sits alone for a while sizing up the clientele. They are mostly
business men in suits, drinking and having a good time. The Green
Druid is cautious, knowing, as always, he could be jumped at anytime.

After a while he is convinced that a gentleman at the far end of the
bar, sitting alone, staring ahead with stoic resolve must be a
martial artist. He is very mysterious looking. Possibly he is 
one of the ever elusive secret ninja or perhaps he wears a black gi.  

The Green Druid approaches him and shows his familiarity and oneness
with Asian cultures by bowing a real martial arts bow; his left open
palm shielding his right fist. The man is somewhat surprised at this
and looks up quizzically. "Konban wa", says the Green Druid to show
that he is not just another foreigner, "I am looking for a good Ninja 
school ". 

"What?" says the man. He speaks some English. The green Druid 
looks for secret looking tatoos on the man.

After quite a lengthy exchange, the man finally understands the word 
"Ninja".  He laughs. "I don't know" he says as he turns away. "Kono hito wa 
hen desu". He says to the woman behind the bar, taking a drink from his glass 
of whiskey.

The Green Druid decides to look elsewhere for a Ninjitsu sensei. On the 
train he meets with mostly strange looks. "They must be scared to talk 
about the ninja", the Green Druid thinks. He finally finds someone who will 
speak with him.  "The sammurai days are over", the man says, "it's just like 
your Europian knights and castles. Maybe you can try Karate. I took it in
high school, it's a good sport." 

"Nonsense", the Green Druid thinks. He exits the train at the Sengakuji
station where he has read a very old and very famous Zen temple exists.
Surely here they must have a Ninjutsu school. It is at this temple, he has 
read, that the remains of the "47 Ronin" were buried. He walks past some
small tourist shops. At the temple, he sees a few tourists and sight seers. 
He pays a couple of hundred yen to walk through a small museum containing 
relics and clothing from the so called "47 Sammurai" historical event. 
He sees the graves of the 47 (or 48) sammurai, whisps of incense nestling 
moodily among the stones and bushes. 

Finally, he sees a robed resident of the temple. The man is 
wearing glasses which lends a duality of periods to his ambiance against the 
robes and among the simple white and brown wood buildings of the temple. 
"Do you have a Ninja school here?", asks the Green Druid. 

The man smiles shyly without really bothering to fully understand the 
question. "No, no..", he says shaking his head, as he walks away. 

"I've studied the 21 jitsu arts", the Green Druid calls to him.

On the plane on the way back to California, the Green Druid reflects on
how fortunate he is to have studied the ancient and secret Celtic martial art
of Greenoch from Master Field Marshall Jim Weiss, the first non celtic
Greenoch master in the world. Considering his failure at finding a real
Ninja school in Japan, he resolves to mix Wing Chun and Aikido ( or maybe 
Aikijitsu ) with Greenoch. "That will be brutal on the streets", he thinks to 
himself.  And he still might be able to mix some Ninjutsu in there as well. 
"I know there's one guy teaching it in L.A.. You can take anything there", 
he thinks. "Next year I'll go to Scotland and get in on a secret meeting
of the Ancient Greenoch Society. Or maybe I'll go to Taipei and study
something secret there for a few weeks" .

As he falls asleep he hears the words of Master Field Marshall Weiss :
"Remember, it's not in your strength or athletic ability. It's not
in your strategic psychological fighting experience. It's not
in understanding the physics of body mechanics. It's not in any 
kind of internal strength or higher level of concentration.

It's all down to what moves you know, and mine are ancient and secret." 

Later he dreams of Karate Kid's Mr. Miyagi speaking to him while
pruning a Bonsai tree. He hears "..perhaps the westerner studying 
martial art tend to over intellectualize, over verbalize, over idealize. 
This not Zen, Green-san...remember, you have what you have. Now practice.". 

"Naa," he thinks, slightly aroused from his nap, "that wasn't even in the 
movie. Maybe some Muay Thai moves would be good too. And a Hapkido kick."
--------------

The name Jim Weiss is fictional

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There you have it folks.

D

-- 
========================================================================
Dave Smythe   N6XLP    dsmythe@netcom.com (also dsmythe@cs.stanford.edu)
Newsgroups: rec.martial-arts