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Good Old Days Martial Arts, also known as Shitamachi Martial Arts, is a fighting style that dates back in Japan's Edo period (around the 1600's), back when the law forbade anyone but samurai to wield swords or other weapons. With no other options, some foul-tempered yet resourceful villagers of Downtown Tokyo, in a desperate attempt to defend themselves, turned ordinary toys and trinkets into dangerous weapons. The effectiveness of their style was such that, according to Genma Saotome, even the legendary Miyamoto Musashi shopped elsewhere rather then risk tangling with the members of this school.

Currently, it is twelve generations in age, but most other martial artists (like the Masters of Anything Goes Martial Arts) would've considered this style and it's masters extinct, and for a reason: the modern era so is full of electrical RC toy-cars, video games, and cartoon fanatics (Pokémon, in the case of the episode "And the Challenger is... A Girl?!", which introduced this fighting style) that obviously never heard of re-runs, that kids have shortened their outdoor play time, gotten distracted, lost interest in such "old fashioned" toys, or simply lost the chance to imagine/dream-up adventures of their own... whatever the case is, one thing is for sure; the newest generation doesn't care about hand-me-down playthings anymore (though older masters try to get their attention by demonstrating how Good Old Days Martial Arts can turn simpler toys into something amazing... which only worked until the next-gen "entertainment" gets the youthful crowd turning it down), and with that detail, it's difficult, practically impossible, to find students for the school of Good Old Days Martial Arts. There is only one pupil so far (though she'd be the star student if she had any "playmates")... the grandmaster's granddaughter: Temari Kaminarimon!

Known special techniques of the style are:

Cat Cradle of Hell

Cat's Cradle

Cat's Cradle Hundred Thread: Using ordinary thread, the user creates an instantaneous web to ensnare their opponent and immobilize them. As the threads are ordinary threads, it's pretty much useless against anyone who is blade-armed or expecting it. If they aren't, it makes a good way to immobilize a challenger, especially to then use the Fire Flower Beanbag Endless Downpour against them.

Iron Tops: The user flings metal tops with sharpened edges at a target like shuriken. Unlike shuriken, though, the hollow centers of the tops allows them to be filled with a small but potent amount of gunpowder.

Beanbag Hell - Hypnotism

Beanbag

Fire Flower Beanbag Endless Downpour: The most dangerous of the special techniques seen, the user takes up three beanbags loaded with explosives and starts rhythmatically juggling them, chanting an old-fashioned song as they do. The effect hypnotizes the victim, causing them to perceive the chant ending with the user throwing a barrage of dozens of beanbags. In reality, this is just an optical illusion, and only the initial three beanbags are real. If the victim can somehow break the trance, they'll be able to spot the real ones as the illusory ones vanish and take action accordingly.

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