After studying the martial arts the better part of 35 years and training with some of the most respected instructors in the world I've learned one important lesson - knowledge is universal.
What does that mean? It means that no martial art has the market cornered on being the best or the most effective and that in the rest space and time, everything works. Now, don't get me wrong... there have to be some serious alignment of the heavens for some stuff to even have a chance of being effective - but it could happen! Look at it this way - any system that digs deep enough into a particular aspect of combat is going to discover certain universal principles that work and others that don't. Guro Dan once said that there are only so many way you can punch, kick or throw another human being... and throughout time all those ways have been found and forgotten many, many, many times.
The following video is from a Korean system of martial arts and demonstrates their utilization of a short stick to control and submit someone. I can almost guarantee that this material wasn't developed in a "vacuum" and has been influenced by other martial arts - but it does show you that knowledge is transferred and assimilated across cultures and martial arts. NOTE: observe the similarities behind the final locking and control positions. The transitions and entries into the locking and control positions are different than what we teach in the Filipino Martial Arts, or what I teach as part of the Police Command and Control Baton Program, but if it's got two arms, two legs and a neck you can choke - it's all the same!
