aurik

I've got a Barbarian going -- I tend to go for the typical hack and slash melee classes. I'm playing on Veteran, and some of the Act I bosses are REALLY hard. One of them took like 8 tries for me to down.

Will you be going to any of the games? No! Lowest ticket is $441; too rich for my blood. It's free on TV. Like most events here in Las Vegas, ticket prices are through the roof. Triple A Baseball with the Las Vegas Aviators are the most reasonable ticket prices, at around $20. Great game 1. The Knights came from behind to win!! Knights found gold with discipline, offense, and with Hill making 33 saves, with one of those saves an incredible stick save. Knights are now 8-3 when allowing the first goal in the playoffs. The Knights have 9 come-from-behind wins. Game 2 tomorrow in Vegas. Knights have to remain as humble as apple pie because there's still a lot of games to be played. GO KNIGNHTS!! Actually $441 for a ticket to the Cup Finals isn't all that unreasonable. I'd expect if the Avs were in the finals, that's about what tickets would cost. I'm still cheering for the Panthers, but they have a LONG way to go. And Matthew Tkachuk needs to keep his temper in check, or he's going to be more of a hindrance than an asset.

Congrats, Zaine!

Happy birthday KF!! I'd say you're old enough to imbibe, but that was last year

Well, the Stars just plain didn't show up tonight... I guess they didn't get the memo that it was a "win or go home" game.

So it's been a little while since I checked in here. I was able to attend the seminar with Itokazu sensei. Sadly, this is likely going to be his last time traveling internationally -- he was in a car accident last year, and between that and his age. he was struggling. We did a lot of hojo undo and got quite a few pointers. We did some good work on Sanchin, and then worked previous versions of some of our kata. There had been talk of doing some one on one kata work after the seminar proper, but unfortunately Itokazu was feeling pretty drained afterwards, so that did not happen. This past weekend, Zach and I assisted with a dan-level testing board. One of the requirements for students who intend to test for dan grades is that they watch a test (or participate in a mock test), since the testing is much more formalized than kyu gradings. Zach and I clerked for the test -- which means that we collected, collated, and averaged the scores from all of the testing board members. It was an eye-opening experience when you see how the various instructors grade the students and how, at least for first-degrees, the scores are barely passing. For example, one of the segments was 12 points, with 8 required to pass. Most of the students received 8 or 8.5 from the various instructors. In the end, all of the candidates did pass. We had 3 students pass for shodan-sho, 2 passed for shodan, one new nidan, a sandan, and a godan. Needless to say, the sanchin section of the test for the godan candidate was VERY intense. The other cool news, since I'm a instructor trainee, I might be able to test for nidan this coming November, which is the same time Zach tests for shodan-sho. It will very much depend on how my back holds up though. I'll need to kick my training up a notch in order to start getting ready.

That's the beauty of this place. The price of the class includes all of the materials. They provide the W-2 steel, the clay, the wood, the rayskin, the bronze, the silk cords... everything. They do some add-ons for some of their classes, but again, they rpovide all of the materials and equipment. That is really cool. How long is the class? Does it take place over the course of a couple of weeks? What is the cost, if you don't mind me asking? It is a 5 day class (35 hours total) that runs Monday through Friday. Cost for the class is $850.

On a lark I had considered putting money on Tkachuk to get the GWG in overtime... and I've NEVER bet money on a sports event before (not counting the office football pool and the like). Now I'm kinda wishing I had, getting 10:1 odds on that would've been pretty cool. In any case, all 4 teams remaining are REALLY good teams. These next 2 rounds are going to be definitely worth watching!

That's the beauty of this place. The price of the class includes all of the materials. They provide the W-2 steel, the clay, the wood, the rayskin, the bronze, the silk cords... everything. They do some add-ons for some of their classes, but again, they rpovide all of the materials and equipment.

Speaking as an advanced student/beginning instructor, there is a definite balance between consistency (which leads to progress) and variation, which keeps students interested. Our advanced/adult classes usually follow a fixed format. We start with warmups, technique exercises (kihon/hojo undo), and Sanchin (30 minutes). The next session is usually kotekitae, 2 sessions of rank requirements, which can be 2 person drills, learning kata, or learning bunkai. The last 10-15 minutes of class is performing kata. Now I said *generally*. Our CI tends to run classes in 2-3 month cycles. Every so often, he'll have a "sparring week", where the classes will focus on sparring techniques, footwork, combinations, and then there will be informal sparring bouts between students. Another week he may do throws/takedowns that are implicit in our kata and 2-person drills. Another week he'll cover self-defense techniques (again, derived from our kata). Your students will want to progress -- if not just to earn their next rank, they want enough repetitions of their techniques where they can feel their speed/power/technique improving. However, they also need the occasional variety of new material. You'll find a balance that works best for you and your students.

Two of my current hobbies right now are blacksmithing and woodworking, and some time ago I picked up a really nice slab of purpleheart (6.5's2"x8", with the intention of making a number of weapons out of it, starting with a bo staff. Well, I haven't gotten around to that (yet), since I always seem to have something else on my plate. However, I did just recently sign up for a 1 week class where I will be making a katana, including forging and heat-treating the blace (using clay to create a traditional hamon line), casting a tsuka out of bronze, constructing a traditional handle, covered in rayskin with the silk cord wrappings, and making a saya for it. I'm super excited! I'l definitely post pictures of the process and the end results after the class. I've always been interested in blacksmithing, since I started playing D&D back in grade school. However, I never thought it was something you could actually do in this day and age. I then discovered the show "Forged in Fire" on the History Channel, and what do you know? There are actually people who do this stuff in the here and now! And I discovered that there are a number of people in my area who have been on the show (and some of them have won). So far I have a lot of incomplete projects, including a knife I made from the (old) timing chains from my truck. I've taken a few fundamentals classes, and a lot of various knifemaking classes, and now I'm at the point where I can do most of the basics with a bit of guidance here and there. It's something I find very therapeutic and great stress relief!

There is a curse associated with winning the President's Trophy -- more often than not, whichever team wins the President's Trophy ends up bowing out in the first or second round of the playoffs. In fact, since the President's Trophy was first awarded in 1986, only eight teams have gone on to win the Stanley Cup. However, 8 teams have lost in the first round, and another 11 teams have lost in the second round. This has become even more prevalent since 2000, in which 15 teams have bowed out in the first or second round, and only 4 teams have went on to win the Cup. The takeaway is that a team that is built to win in the regular season isn't necessarily built to win in the playoffs.

This week has been a mixed bag. The downside -- the steroid injection I got back at the beginning of March has worn off. The bad news is that the pain in the thigh is coming back. It's not nearly as bad as it once was and I'm able to train through it. Last night I went to class and after about 15 minutes things started feeling pretty good. Not great, but the pain diminishes as I am up and moving more. So that's what I'll be doing more of. Last night was a pretty good class though. I'm finding strength is starting to come back in the left leg -- it's still far from where it once was, and the stamina isn't there, but I can feel an improvement. The good news is that tonight I'll be attending a seminar hosted at our dojo for Seisho Itokazu (10th dan Uechi-Ryu, 10th dan Matayoshi Kobudo). This is the second time we've hosted him at a seminar (the last time was about 3 years ago). Zach and I will both be attending (our CI opened the seminar up to all adult students and brown belt and above youth students). Itokazu Sensei's father was one of Kanei Uechi's senior students, and he developed the kata Daini Seisan, which eventually became Kanshu (required for shishikjyu/green belt). He is one of the few instructors that still teaches Daini Seisan, as well as Kanshabu (which eventually became Kanshiwa, required for kukyu). So this will definitely be a rare opportunity to get an insight to the history of our style. I'll share more after the seminar. We have had a number of other Matayoshi Kobudo students visiting our dojo over the past few days -- one of whom was doing a private lesson upstairs yesterday before the 6-7pm adult class (although this is more of an "advanced youth/adult class"). As he walked past after class, I greeted him with a simple "hello". He mumbled a "hello" back. Apparently our CI's wife did NOT hear him say it because she turned to him and said "Mustafa! He just said hello to you. Where are your manners?" She is a stickler for politeness and manners -- if a student doesn't show good manners she will call them out for it. In all fairness I did tell her he DID say hello back, just really quietly.

So let me tell you the reasons that I ultimately decided to start taking classes at my current dojo. My son was already enrolled (he was in their 4-6 year old program at the time). The reasons I decided to start taking classes are: 1 - The instructor has very high standards for his students. He will never tell a student that their technique is "perfect". There is always something to improve upon. Don't get me wrong, when a student does something well, he will give them honest praise, but he will then look at a few elements of their form and ask them to make improvements. 2 - The instructors are also students. My CI and his wife regularly travel to Okinawa and to Michigan to train with their teachers. In fact, this weekend we are hosting a seminar for Seishi Itokazu (10th dan Uechi-Ryu, 10th dan Matayoshi Kobudo), who is visiting from Okinawa. He visited a year or two pre-covid, and I learned quite a bit. This time, we brought in another high-ranking Kobudo instructor to act as an interpreter, since Itokazu Sensei does not speak much English. 3 - Dedicated adult classes with a solid student base. When I started up in classes, there were adult students of all ranks attending. There were 4 adult classes each week (mon-thurs evenings), and there were other adult students ranging from teenagers through mid-50's. There were a couple of black belt students who helped with teaching, and there were other students at my grade. So I didn't feel like a fish out of water. Most of the adult students did have a child also attending, but not all of them. There were a number of adults in their early to mid-20's who didn't have any kids. 4 - While the curriculum for testing is the same, the material is presented differently to adults than to children. Youths tend to get material "spoon-fed" to them -- they are only shown material needed for their next grading. If an adult shows hiim/herself capable, they'll get shown material they may not need for several ranks, so they get comfortable with it and can internalize it. For example, we had an adult white belt (jukyu) last night who I was teaching our kicking drill (not required until shichikyu). It's a hard drill to get the hang of, and she was struggling with it. However, seeing it now will give her plenty of time to internalize it for when she needs to test on it. Also, the adult classes are longer, which allows our CI to present more material in a session, and go into more depth with it. Granted, if you don't have any adult students yet, getting all of those things going is going to be a heavy lift up front. The important takeaway, I think, is that you give adults a solid reason to join.

I'm wondering how far the Kraken will make it this year. Grubauer is definitely on his A-game, and they were able to completely stifle MacKinnon for large portions of round 1. Granted, the Avs were playing without several key players (Nichuskin for one), but the Kraken are playing really well. Mind you, given that the Avs and Blues are out of the picture, I'm cheering for the Stars here, but my playoff bracket is basically completely busted. I had picked the Bruins, Avs, and Rangers all to advance., with the Bruins and Avs in the Cup Finals. We all see how THAT worked out...

We don't have dedicated 'flow drills' per se, but we do have a number of drills that can be performed as flow drills. We do have a few kotekitae drills that double as flow drills. Our dan kumite, when performed as intended (renzoku style) also doubles as a flow drill, since each sequance is supposed to flow into the next. Here is an example of our

I'd love to see the results as well!

So i returned to the advanced adult class last night, and boy was it a struggle. I've been using my right side to compensate to a certain degree, and my right hip was REALLY sore yesterday because of it. It slowed me down quite a bit, but as class went on things loosened up quite a bit. I found myself way short of breath (due to the lack of stamina again), but the class was pretty fun as a whole. We started out with junbi undo, and instead of the normal hojo undo, we did a variation of our "across the floor" hojo undo. Normally we pair up with a partner, and each partner steps and strikes. We then step back and perform a counter prescribed by the hojo undo technique. In this case, the attacker would throw two punches, to which we would perform two blocks and then counter. It was a substantially different experience than we normally have. Our CI then talked about WHY we did it that way today. Our training usually is of the "one block, one counter, one down opponent" a la the budo mindset. Well, in a real conflict, you would have to defend against multiple attacks before your opponent presented an opening to take him out. At that point you do your counter and take him out. He mentioned how this is even more important when dealing with an opponent with a weapon, such as a knife or baseball bat. We train defenses against those, but it's usually a single committed strike -- which rarely happens in real life. We then performed sanchin, both as a group and individually. Afterwards, Kyoshi gave me some very profound feedback as to the "half hard/half soft" nature of Uechi-Ryu. He said that I don't have to be tense for the entire Sanchin kata. I can give a little if I'm pushed or pulled. However, be prepared to tense the muscles as needed to prevent getting out of position. In my particular case, he was pushing and pulling on my wrists in such a way that pulled my weight forward and up. I was more focused on not letting my arms move, so that I found myself getting unbalanced. I realized afterwards that I needed to focus on "sinking in" and rooting myself into my stance. Next we did our two-person drills for awhile and then did an extended session of kata. We did group kata, and then we all took a break and did individual kata in front of the instructors, both Seisan and Seiryu (for me, at least). I was finding myself really gassed during the group kata, but once I had a chance to catch my breath, I found that each of my kata felt REALLY good. Kyoshi told me both of the kata looked really solid, and gave me a few places where I needed to think about making changes. For example, in Seisan, there is a point where you slam your opponent's head into your knee, step back into Sanchin, and then perform 3 one-knuckle strikes to the back of the head. Apparently I'm not taking enough time to set in my stance on this and I end up bending over too much (and getting unbalanced). Also I was told in Seiryu I should look at my foot placement such that I can pivot from a good Sanchin stance to a good Sanchin stance (without stepping). Mind you, he has seen grandmasters perform the kata the way I do (at least in this section), but his preference would be that I not have to step. Overall it was a VERY good class. I had a good amount of exhaustion going on afterwards, but time and exercise will take care of that.

Gretzky is, imo, the best ever, though some do argue for Gordie Howe. Sadly, Gretsky's goal record will likely be broken in the 24-25 season. I say sadly because Gretzky was the reason I became a hockey fan. Favorite player right now though is Morgan Barron. In a game last week, the dude took a skate to the face. Went into the locker room, needed 75 stitches, then returned to the game. I was at the game when it happened. Legendary toughness. I won't say it's sad that Gretzky's record is likely to be broken. It's the nature of things that eventually someone better, stronger, faster will come around. I'm not a huge Caps fan, but I've been following Ovi's march towards Gordie's (and soon to be Gretzky's) goal records. The fact that he has put up THIRTEEN 40+ goal seasons is amazing in today's hockey environment. Hockey players always amaze me with their toughness and resilience. Morgan Barron is just the most recent to do so. I remember a number of years ago where Chris Pronger took a puck to the chest in a playoff game against the Red Wings. He stood back up, took two strides and collapsed on the ice -- the puck had interrupted his cardiac rythm. His heart started back up on its own (VERY fortunate for him). He spent the night in the hospital for observation, and was back on the ice two nights later. I remember watching Pierre Turgeon take a puck to the face and lose several teeth. He missed less than a period where he got stitched up (declining anaesthetic!), and came back to score the game winning goal in overtime. After a team gets eliminated in the playoffs each year, you'll hear the injury reports. So-and-so was playiing with a broken finger. So-and-so dislocated his shoulder in round 1. Player X played with a hairline fracture on his ankle. Hockey players are a different breed to be sure.

I study Uechi-Ryu, which originated from Pangai-Noon Kung Fu. Our eight kata are: Sanchin (三戦): Three conflicts, Three battles. Usually interpreted as bringing harmony to the body, mind, and spirit Seisan (十三): Literally, 13. This can be interpreted as "13 hands, 13 ways of attack or defense". Sanseiryu (三十六) Literally 36. Generally interpreted as "36 modes of attack and defense" This is also a reference to Kanbun Uechi's teacher Shu Shiwa, who was known as the 36th room priest. Sanchin, Seisan, and Sanseiryu were the original 3 kata taught to Kanbun Uechi. The following kata were added later as "bridging kata" to help students transition between the main 3 kata. These were created by Kanei Uechi and his senior students in the 1950's and 1960's. Kanshiwa (完子和) is a conbination of the kanji for KANbun (Uechi) and shu SHIWA. This was oriignally known as Kanshabu Kanshu (完周) likewise is a combination of the kanji from KANbun and SHU shiwa. This was originally known as Daini Seisan (第二十三), or "half seisan" or "secondary seisan". Daini Seisan isn't taught much these days, but there are a few instructors who still teach it. Seichin (十戦) "10 conflicts" or "10 battles". This is a portmanteau of Seisan and Sanchin Seiryu (十六) literally, "16". Kanchin (完戦), a combination of KANei (uechi) and sanCHIN.

I understand your frustration, Swede. As you move up in the ranks, you get new things thrown at you, and sometimes you don't even know to expect those things until they smack you full on in the face. Fortunately our CI is really good at explaining what the valid targets are for students of different ranks. For example, the head is not considered a valid target until a student is at least at the green belt level. Likewise, kicks to the leg are not permitted for students under a certain age (mainly because they tend to kick the knee, and not the leg). Personally I am a big fan of kicking the outer thigh and foot/leg sweeps. Kicking the thigh can be devastating to someone who hasn't conditioned for it, and that distraction can set you up for other techniques. Likewise, a well-timed sweep to the foot or leg can at the minimum unbalance your opponent and give you the opportunity to get a few strikes in while they catch their balance (I've even caught my CI with a foot sweep before. Caught him right as he was about to put weight on that foot, and while he caught his balance I stepped in and caught him with a few strikes to the head and midsection. It only happened once though). Keep in mind these lessons on the sparring floor may be a little painful, both mental and physical, but take them for what they are. Now you know that technique is considered legal, so learn how to defend against it, and (better yet) learn how to use it effectively on your opponent.

The kanji for Seisan is 十三, literally "13". It is generally understood to mean "13 ways of attack and defense". In Uechi-Ryu it has another meaning, because Shu Shiwa (Kanbun Uechi's teacher) was also known as the "13th room priest".

Our CI has very lenient training time requirements for rank advancement. Generally you're expected to attend two classes per week each week. As you get up into the brown belt ranks, he gets pretty strict about those, but honestly if you can't commit to two training sessions per week, it's REALLY hard to progress. For those who intend to test for black belt ranks, there is a 3 month "test prep" cycle, where you have an additional required class each week that focuses on the test material. Fortunately he will poll the students and pick one or two days/times in the week that work for all of the students. But if you're planning on a dan grading, he does expect a certain degree of commitment from you. On the flip side, he does also trust dan-graded students to train on their own. For example, we have several (black belt) students who live a fair distance away that makes it infeasible to train multiple times per week. As long as they check in with him and show that they are progressing (ie, show that they have been training at home), he'll let them grade at the usual pace.

And now for our regularly scheduled update.. So Zach did successfully test for his ikkyu (you can see the update here. He is now back to regular training and getting up to speed on what he needs for his test for shodan-sho (hopefully at the end of this year). He was the only advanced brown belt in his testing cycle, which meant he had to demonstrate a lot of his techniques all by himself, or with our CI as his partner. While it was a bit rough on him at the time, it's good practice for when he will test for black belt later on. I've started back in regular classes. The back and leg are still improving, not quite 100%, but good enough to do classes as long I don't do certain things. My endurance and stamina are WAY down, so that's hurting quite a bit. Last night I found myself winded while leading warmups... mainly because trying to count AND do the exercises is considerably harder than when you can breathe when you need to. But that's something I need to work towards. We have a whole new batch of students in the youth advanced class, and we had a number of students that moved up to the adult class. So Zach and his friend Blake are now pretty much the senior students. I hope that will give Zach motivation to be a good example to the other students. But we shall see. I know he's going to be goofy from time to time, but I hope he can keep it in check to a degree. Other than that there's not much to tell. Mainly I'm just trying to regain my stamina and form after 2 months off. But the fact that I'm back to training is a VERY good thing.

I'm kind of curious as to how this would work for Naha-te. Uechi-ryu is classified as Naha-te, but my understanding is that Kanbun Uechi learned everything he knew in China, and not from any Naha-te masters in Okinawa. So I'm curious as to whether or not they even have the same katas. Uechi-Ryu has Sanchin and Seisan, which are two very common kata among Okinawan styles. Those 2 kata, along with Sanseiryu, are the core kata of Uechi-Ryu. In fact, tests for rokudan and above ONLY include those 3 kata (and not the other kata in the system).