eye power

When it comes to martial arts, there’s almost as much fantasy as there is reality. Despite the rise of MMA and full-contact contests designed to ferret out the “ultimate” style, debate still rages about everything from who’s the best fighter to whether or not Shaolin kung-fu is totally awesome. (It is.) One controversial topic that simply won’t die, though, is chi. Is it actually possible to project your chi out of your body like a Street Fighter character? Or is reality actually just a total bummer?

Normally, this would be when Dr. House would hobble into the room and smack someone on the head with his cane, but instead we have a video of a middle-aged Japanese demonstrating the fearsome power of his…eyes??

Fending off multiple attackers is tricky even for the most skilled fighter, despite what the movies would have you believe. There are only so many punches a single human can throw in a few seconds–and that number isn’t nearly as close to infinity as we’d like to think. But what if you could harness your raw spirit–your chi–and use that to literally push attackers away? Well, then you’d probably be in a Hong Kong wire film, but on the off-chance you actually were able to tap into some mystical powers, you’d be a bona fide bad-ass! Or at least you’d be really good at dodgeball.

As you may have guessed, we’re not sold on the idea of chi and supernatural powers. But despite our skepticism, there’s no denying the zeal with which this master energetically demonstrates his powers in the video below.

Hm. If you’re like us, and almost all the commenters, you’re probably cackling in your chair right now, wondering who would ever believe. It’s possible that no one believes this guy–it could be a set-up from the looks of things. The students go flying just a bit too enthusiastically. Nevertheless, the master offers a bit of advice for any believing viewers, saying: “The stronger they attack, the easier it is to use on them,” and “I don’t let them get too close.”

While the concept of using someone’s force against them has been around for quite some time–and has been effectively used by numerous judo practitioners–we’re not sure how you use an attackers force against them just by staring at them really hard. Maybe he has laser beams in his eyes? Or maybe this is actually a demo reel for an old Japanese man campaigning to be the new Superman?

Well, until we can get a independent observer in the ring for a fight between Mr. Scary Eyes and regular professional fighter, we’ll never know. Of course, this immediately brings to mind the old video of the kiai master vs the MMA fighter. In case you haven’t seen it yet, we’ll just leave it here to give you a good dose of Schadenfreude to help brighten your day.

Well, who knows, maybe he was leaking chi somewhere. Possibly from the hole he had punched in his face…

Sources: Facebook (SGAG)
Images: Facebook (SGAG)