evergrey

OSU!

OSU, I bow to your Dai-Soke! I know he is proud of you. How could he not be proud of such a good man? OSU!

I agree!

Hi there! So, who here does full contact sparring? How about medium contact? I am in Kyokushin, so there is contact. I get plenty of bruises in class, but people don't hit me very hard yet on account of me being a white belt, and female. In time, I'll no longer be a white belt, and hopefully in time people will realize that I am a female who WANTS harder contact. Outside of the dojo, Sensei hits a lot harder when we spar. :} So if you do it, why do you do it? I do it because "you fight how you train," and because I love it! OSU

Ah, well, I suppose I am defining "warrior" as a phlisophical state of being, not "soldier" or the like...

OSU, The more I train, the less I want to get in a real fight. I get all my aggression out in kumite anyway. And there is a difference between being a warrior and a thug!

Haha, JJN, let me tell you, I got as far away as fast as I could! When you're a kid though, you really can't make that choice... I still carry a knife though. Would have a gun too, except it's the Bay Area, and good luck with that.

Interesting, maybe it's just different there than on the border where I grew up...

Turn 180 degrees, and then pull back your hand almost like a backfist, but get ready to snap it instead, and it is important at this point to understand that that I am never gonna give you up, because you just got uraken-rolled!

Most fights I have seen out on the street didn't really go to the ground, to be honest. Some of them, yeah, but certainly not a majority. If you go down, then the other guy and his cousins and his cousin's cousins all come and stomp the teeth out of your head. So, not something people try for. I have seen people rolling around a couple times, but I haven't ever seen some guy with his legs wrapped around some other guy's head in a pretzel just on the sidewalk somewhere... 'Course, most of the fights I saw where I grew up also involved knives, guns, or at least some baseball bats and 2 by 4s with nails stuck through them. It was not a nice town.

I now have a middleweight white tiger claw gi. The sleeves are tacked up because the arms are about 9 inches or so too long for me, hah!

OSU, Thank you, sensei8! Tomorrow is another class day. I'm always so nervous beforehand, and so happy and excited (and exhausted, haha!) after...

Yes! EXACTLY! I have learned a lot about myself in the dojo... I was very badly injured a few years back, and I didn't realize until recently just how much I have been holding myself back... "I CAN'T do that, are you serious? I could NEVER do that!" I kept seeing myself as a girl with a broken body in a hospital bed, unable to sit up or roll on her side unassisted. The change started with my horsemanship mentor (a 4th dan in Aikido, haha!) and continued with my sensei... then we started training at the dojo of his shihan, and he tells me to do all kinds of things that my brain automatically screams "you CAN'T do that" at! But he expects me to do it and I do... I probably have a look of shock on my face a lot in the dojo. Like the first time I tried falls, and then carefully got up using my hands and my knees. "We don't use hands and knees to get up here!" he said to me. I looked over at the shodan who was training me in the falls and said "uhm, excuse me but may I ask a question? How do I get up without my hands and knees?" So he showed me, rocking back and then springing up on his toes. I thought, "no way can I do that!" But I tried it. The first time, I got up on my toes but then fell on my side. The second time, I got up on my toes and stayed there. Shihan bellowed from across the dojo "SEE? MUCH BETTER!" A little part of me was thinking "but I shouldn't be able to do this!" But another part of me was saying "wow! I did it! I CAN do it!" I think that's a part of why his students clearly love him so much. He believes in them, and expects them to do things they don't even realize they're capable of. But because he believes it, they try, and when they succeed, they gain confidence they wouldn't have found, otherwise.

Hey Shizentai! I read your webcomic. :} I like to share the joy for martial arts with my mate, but I do see that it could get quite challenging. Have to be careful There are a number of women at the dojo sensei and I are training at now (under his sensei, now shihan) and it's nice to see- I met a female shodan on Thrusday, and we discussed starting a women's true full contact club someday, if I survive long enough to read brown belt! That's when I can start training full contact, according to Shihan. I asked Shihan why there wasn't any full contact for women in the area. He said that World Oyama had it, but I said "with no padding?" "Well, no, they make you wear padding, which I don't agree with but it's not my tournament. You don't want to do full contact anyway- your punches are too weak, and your wrists couldn't handle it yet." "Oh no, I meant LATER, when I am more experienced." "Well then, when you are a brown belt you can start your training for it, not before." I really liked that he did NOT tell me I couldn't ever do it just because I was a girl. There are plenty of people who would... I think there must be other women who want to do bare knuckle full contact in the area!

Oh yar, my lip's fine now. :} I'm getting better, though yesterday I got a little uppercut to the jaw on accident, hah! I really need to stop blocking with my face...

OSU, yes, some in fact do!

OSU, Thank you sensei8! I don't mind the formality at all! I... kind of enjoy it a lot actually. I know I'm going to screw it up at some point, haha! I have heard STORIES, too. It's like sitting at your father's knee hearing all these legendary tales about someone, and then suddenly you find yourself in their clutches! He told me that he had to do hundreds of push-ups in the middle of a tournament once because he stepped on a line and didn't bow, haha. That's Shihan for you. All the stories seem to be true, except he doesn't seem as mean... this was only my first class though! I woke up today feeling really pumped! I am going to work out now, actually. RARRR! I might save a bunch of it for night when it cools off, but... for now, I am going to do what I can. I have class again TOMORROW so I'd better work on retaining that knowledge...

OSU Well, today was my first day at the dojo, and sensei's first day back with shihan after a good 18 or 20 years. We walked in, me clinging to sensei's shirt, and shihan glanced up and said "get dressed!" Sooo off we went to put on gis and stuff. I needed sensei's help tying my belt... I really need to work on that and get it down, heh. After we were changed, we heard shihan say "I'm used to people coming when I call them, and not having to wait." Oh uhhh, we didn't hear. Sensei started to say "oh, actually I just came out of the dressing roo-" "Sit down." Before class, we discussed the eating plan. I negotiated vegetables. YAY. I am content, for now. We'll see how it goes. shihan says I must lose 2 pounds a week, no excuses. I'll try? He says I'm the first person who hasn't steadily lost weight on it, so I'm the problem child. Hah. Then he said "that's not something to celebrate" when I struck a "victory" post and said "YESSSSSS!" Haha, oh yes, I am going to have fun. I had to run to the restroom, and while I was there, class started. So when I got back, I huddled against a wall, trying to make myself look small, heh. A parent of one of the kids said "PSSST! Don't lean against he wall! If Shihan catches you, you'll be doing 500 push-ups!" I thanked her profusely for the warning, and sort of edged to the back wall. Shihan, who really does seem to see all, told me to come over. He had sensei show him Pinan 1, and then Pinan 2, which sensei was rusty on. It had been a long time. So sensei worked on Pinan 2 and then Pinan 3 for the class. He has a bit of catching up to do, and the katas may have changed a little bit since he learned them. Then he came to me and said that we were going to work on my Pinan 1... and I think he saw the look of abject terror on my face, hah. Well, earlier he had told me my Pinan 1 in the video was absolutely horrible, and I had guts for posting it online. No brains, but guts. He was baiting me! Heh. I just shot him a glare and laughed. So he said we were going to start with Taikyoku Sono Ichi, which hadn't really come into being yet when Sensei was in training. They teach it now, though, to give a bit of a stronger foundation I suppose. He said "yoi" and my brain froze up, haha. I man, sensei had said that to me before, I knew what it meant! But it just poured out of my ear for some reason, staring at shihan. "Didn't he teach you any of this?" "Uhmm he told me but!" I think shihan might have shot a little scold at sensei, I don't remember. But then he told me about Yoi and Mokuso. "If I tell you Mokuso, you keep your eyes closed and meditate until I tell you that you can open them. Even if it's the whole class. OSU?" "osu!" (I was so mousy! I don't know how he even managed to HEAR me! I don't know what came over me but I was just... mousy.) He also told me that I belonged to him when I was in the dojo. He said it didn't matter whose I was outside of those walls, but inside of them, he owned me. Heh. Well okay then, that's how it is there! So he had me start with a lower block and then a punch. He had me do those two moves for half the class. Over and over again. I didn't mind it. It was good exercise, and once in a while he'd come by and correct me. After the first half of class or so, he added in the turn and the second lower block/punch combo. He would come and tell me "don't move, don't you move at all. Now, where is your belt pointing? When you punch, do your fists line up? No, you need to square up more," or "is there something about the mat that is really fascinating? Get your chin up!" And then there was "if I see those thumbs out, I will get them and it will hurt. Ask your sensei about that! Don't let me see them sticking out again..." Somehow the way he said it made it all okay though. I was quite entertained by his teaching methods. I thoroughly enjoyed myself! There was a lot of ribbing. It was often delivered in a stern tone with a glare, but one could tell it was in fun. Shihan spotted a hickey on my neck, and told me to not come to class with those any more, haha. He also grabbed the front of my gi and pulled it into place a number of times, which made me laugh. I'm to wear a shirt with a higher collar next time. I DID wear an undershirt, but, well, I'm busty, ya know? After a while, I got into a rhythm, and I just kept going over the four moves, again and again. My knee and my foot bothered me a little bit, but I figured with practice and time, they'd get used to that. I sweated a lot- got the mat a bit wet, hah! I watched him working with the kids, too. He was strict, but he gave encouragement. He made them smile, and laugh, and he made the parents that were there laugh too. Meanwhile, sensei was practicing his kata behind me, and we both travelled a bit on the mat. At one point he was pretty close behind me and let out an "OSU!" that made me just about jump out of my skin! There was some real power behind his kiai, and I hadn't really heard him use it like that before. I actually skittered a few paces away, and he said "you're safe, kohai." Quite reassuring. I actually got some praise from shihan. That felt nice, very nice actually. Positive re-enforcement helps! And it made me feel good, that despite being a newbie who had a lot to learn, he saw some good things in what I did along with the things that needed to be corrected. So we lined up, and I just stood at the very far end, after all the kids. I figured they'd been to class more than once, and thus outranked me. Doesn't bother me! Sensei called out the bowing to Shihan White and Sensei Wah. Then I learned (from watching) that everyone went through and shook Sensei Wah's hand. Well, now I know! When everyone was dismissed, Shihan told me that I did pretty well for my first class, and that he could tell sensei had been teaching me some things. He also complimented sensei, and said that everything would come back to him soon. I found that I'd gotten a great workout. I hope nobody minded the smell of my sweat, heh. Everyone in the dojo was nice, and a female brown belt came and introduced herself to me after class, showing me a little pocket she had sewn in the inside of her gi for keeping little things. I hope that I get to meet her again. Shihan instructed us to come to class as often as we could. The next class he's at will be Thursday, and we plan to be there! Of course when he left he said, "PRACTICE, OSU."

Haha! Thank you so much phoenixfire! I do hope I don't get in trouble with that blog of mine, but sensei does read it. He has the right to tell me to edit or remove anything on there, but he never has asked me to. Sensei accidentally impaled my lip on one of my front teeth (grrr overbite) when he jabbed and I dodged the first jab then ran my face into the second one. Oooops! I'm very grateful for sensei's patience, and everything he does for me.

I don't remember if I've responded to this before or not! White belt, heh.

Yes, I kept mostly quiet on the dating in the dojo thread. I think that sometimes it can work, and wonderful things can be built from it, if the relationship is strong. Even eventually a husband and wife team run dojo...

*looks at bruises on thighs* OSU.

Wow, thank you very much for posting that link! Very inspiring...

OSU, and hi also to Dobbersky! It's great when both people in a couple are into martial arts. I recently visited a Kyokushin dojo up near Seattle that was run by a husband and wife team. Female senseis in Kyokushin are pretty rare, and it was great to be able to spend a bit of time training with one. They had their 2 month old baby there, who was quiet during the entire hour and a half lesson. He had been listening to loud counting in Japanese and OSU so much in the womb that he was comforted by it. That was the female sensei's theory anyway. She gave birth and then was back to training a couple days later. How hardcore is that, eh? She was built for power too. I think I'd be scared to spar with her, hah! I'd still try, of course...

Kyokushin gal here! Hi!