aurik

I have studied other styles in the past, including Shuri-Ryu, where at each rank you are expected to learn 1 or 2 new kata. And in class you generally ONLY practice that rank kata. When you get to dan levels, you have a LOT of kata to practice and remain current on. One of the things I've learned to appreciate about Uechi-Ryu is that there are only 8 kata in the entire system. We practice Sanchin at the beginning of almost every class. That leaves 7 kata. When we do kata in class, we can practice all of the kata in the system in about 10-15 minutes, depending on how many advanced students are in the class. If we don't have any students above shodan, that's only 5 kata. One of the fundamentals that our CI drills into us as we advance through the ranks is that as you gain experience, you will learn a new kata which teaches some new fundamental technique. For example, at shodan you start learning the kata Seiryu. The ending technique for Seiryu involves a wa-uke (double circular block/double boshiken strike sequence) in which you start the first circular block, and once that first block gets to a certain point, THEN you step forward to complete the technique. I had watched a number of videos on this, and most of them show the technique done subtly differently; for example, Kansho Uechi and the technique in question is at about the 0:57 mark. My CI indicated that that's okay... if you are learning the kata, but as you are getting ready to test for nidan, you should be doing the kata the way he indicated.So as your understanding improves, you are then expected to take these techniques and push them back into your earlier kata. So we do this same wa-uke sequence in Sanchin, Kanshiwa (required for 9th kyu) and Kanshu (required for 6th kyu). So as your understanding improves, the way you perform even your beginner level kata should change to reflect that new knowledge.

It's been a pretty good week overall. Last week our CI and his wife traveled to Edmonton to train with Shinjo sensei at a seminar for part of the week, and while he was gone his dad was in charge. Which means for the most part I got to run the Tuesday class on my own, with him supervising. As we went through hojo undo, I noticed that there are still a LOT of students that are doing their kicks (especially side kicks) at knee or thigh level, so I admonished them that all of their kicks should be at or above the belt. (Interesting note: when our CI got back today, he was telling students that ACTUAL side target is the knee BUT we don't practice it that way for 2 reasons: 1) If you can kick at the floating ribs, kicking the knee is easy. 2) The consequences of accidentally hitting the floating ribs are much less severe than hitting the knee). And when we got to Sanchin, I noticed that a lot of the students were being "floppy" through the first 3 iterations. So I pointed this out and had them run through Sanchin again. During the water break, Kyoshi told me that he would've done the same thing. Next we started on two-person drills, working the yellow belt drills and working out way up through green belt. I was working in with students as they rotated, so I was able to give feedback to individuals, and when I saw issues that repeated, I'd ask one of the other students to come up and demonstrate with me, show what the technique SHOULD be, and explain it to them what it was supposed to be and why. Not all of the students would get it, but I'm seeing a few of them pick up on it. So that's pretty good. Last night's teaching class was also fun. Since it is the first week of the month they will be doing testing this Friday. As such, we "pre-test" the students to see who is ready for testing on Friday. So our hojo undo was done randomly in Japanese. After that, we did Sanchin for 2 repetitions. For the third repetition, our CI pulled the ikkyus aside to work on their hojo undo while he asked me to test the other students' Sanchin. I mainly focused on pushing them to check their arm strength, that they were flexing their fingers properly, and checking their foundation by pushing them at 45 degree angles. When I saw something wasn't quite right, I'd correct it until their foundation was more stable. It was a rough time for them since instead of a 1 minute kata it was like a 5 minute kata. Last night's advanced adult class was really fun. There are some partners I REALLY like working with, mainly because I learn a lot from working with them. Last night I got to work with David sensei, who recently tested for his godan. I always learn a lot of little things when I train with him. The "meat" of last night's class was the Kenseikai kumite drills -- we don't get to do these very often, but since our CI just got back from a seminar they were fresh in his brain so we got to practice them. These are very direct and visceral. For example in the first one, the opponent comes in with a chest level lunge punch. The defense is to stand your ground, perform a osae-uke (circular downward pressing block) with the left hand, while striking the larynx with a vertical nukite. Being on the receiving end of that is pretty disconcerting even if they don't touch you with that nukite. Another fun one we did involves defending against a right front kick. The defense is, again, to stand your ground, drop your right arm down and receive the kick on your right forearm, redirecting it to the right (across your body). You then turn the hand over, reaching down to hook the opponent's heel and pull him past you. Once he loses his balance, you step in with the right, and strike him with an overhand ridge-hand strike on the left clavicle. The official version involves taking him down with a clothesline takedown and a one-knuckle strike to the ribs to finish him. However, our CI said that if he were ever going to use that in a real self-defense situation, his preferred ending would be to pull the opponent into a rear naked choke. So David and I practice that for awhile. My front kicks are pretty strong, so he was having a hard time at first with the technique, but once he got the concept of receiving the kick on the forearm, redirecting it, and then pulling... well, he started using all of that energy against me. It's definitely a technique I want to work on more. You can see the techniques I talked about in this at 0:16 and 0:48.After class, our CI told us that Master Thompson (10 dan uechi-ryu) would be coming to Colorado for a seminar the first (full) weekend in October -- 3 sessions for adults, one session for instructors, and one (optional) aikido session, along with advanced dan grade testing (5th dan and up). He hasn't been to Colorado since before the pandemic (2018, I think?), and I was a white belt when he was here. Given that he's 80+ years old, this may also be the last time I have a chance to train with him here, so I'm really looking forward to that weekend. There are also going to be 3 sessions for kids, but I'm not sure if Zach is going to be up for it. I'm going to try to talk with him to see if he wants to go, but in the end it's up to him. [/url]

Welcome to the forum, BtK!

I bring a 64oz Yeti filled with ice water that I've squirted a bit of fruit flavoring into. I'll usually drink most of it during a class, too especially during the summer.

I've been playing a bit here and there. In fact, I just finished the campaign for Season 1 with a Barbarian. I found that if you go through and do the reknown grind enough that you hit all the altars of lilith and explore all of the areas, it'll give you quite a boost on a new character in a Season character. (It's like +80 to all stats and 5 extra skill points). You will still have to do a fair bit of grinding to get those last 5 skill points, but you'll speed through the campaign quickly enough that you'll need to pause a few times to get your level up to hit the recommended minimum level for certain areas. For example, trying the Burning Hells at level 38 is just *not* recommended. I had to grind a few dungeons and side quests to hit level 42 before really trying that.

That's kids for you. Once you think you've got them figured out, they up and change on you. Generally when ours would do something like this, it meant he had a growth spurt coming o n.

I'm back after my weeklong class in Colorado Springs. It was a great class, and I learned a LOT. My forging technique definitely improved quite a bit, as I was able to hammer out a full 30" katana with a 10" tang (40" total) mostly by hand in the course of one day. Towards the end of the day, my forearm started to cramp up, so I used the power hammer to finish out the tang, and I also used it for flattening (it is awesome for flattening!). Day 2 consisted of a lot of time on the grinders, using a draw file, and hand sanding in order to shape the blade and the bevels. On Day 3 we did the heat treatment to harden the blade (including applying clay to the spine to keep it soft). Unfortunately, I apparently didn't apply enough clay to my spine, so the blade ended up completely straightening out in the quench, and the blade kicked further forward in the temper. The end of Day 3 consisted of making the molds for the tsuba (guard). Day 4 consisted of annealing the blades (softening them), re-shaping the curve on them, and then re-hardening and tempering them. On Day 4 we also poured the bronze for the tsuba, which was my first time ever doing casting, and it turned out really well. All I really needed to do was grind the flash off the outer ring, cut off the sprue lines with an angle grinder, and hit it with a brass bristle brush and it turned out GREAT. Unfortunately the second quench didn't turn out quite as well as the first one in some ways. My blade had a few wobbles in it, which required me to put it in a straightening vise and heat the spine up to soften it. That was a good portion of my Friday morning. Then Friday afternoon I hit the grinders to start cleaning the forge scale off the blade, and we fit up the hibaki, and then started working on getting the tsuba to fit. The blade is still not finished, but I'll be at the shop this coming Saturday to work on it more. I took plenty of pictures in the proces of making it though. I learned a LOT, and I already have plans to make another sword once this one is finished.

Congratulations!

I have trained with a Uechi-Ryu club in San Jose that teaches for a very minimal fee. It's run out of a local youth center, and the instructors have full-time day jobs, so they don't need the money. It was a fun casual group of people who I learned quite a bit from.

Welcome to the forums! I'm sure with your years of experience, you'll have plenty to contribute here. I look forward to hearing your insights.

On the surface, the bunkai for the taikyoku series would be pretty simple. However, as I continue to learn Sanchin, I keep getting introduced to new interpretations of the kata. So I think to myself, "If there are so many applications inherent in Sanchin, then the same can really apply to any kata". It's just a matter of opening your mind to new possibilities. On the flip side of that, I've been told in the past that the Taikyoku series are not so much "real" kata as they are kata "primers", getting students used to the idea of kata - stepping, pivoting, blocking, punching.

Since Monday was my son's birthday, we ended up spending the 4 day weekend in Colorado Springs to celebrate

Welcome, Nick! We're glad to have you here!

I had a really good time teaching and training yesterday. I generally teach the youth advanced class, which is geared for students 5th kyu and up. At that rank they're starting to work the dan-level kumite drills. I get to work with kids, but they already know how things are supposed to work, so I get to do "fine tuning" along the way. Yesterday was such a day. After our warmups, our CI had me work them through our hojo undo techniques on partners. He told me that if I wanted them to focus on anything specific to do so, so I picked a few examples along the way. The first technique I had them try differently is our hajike uke-hiraken tsuki sequence. In the hojo undo proper, it is performed with a snapping upward/forward block, followed by a hiraken-tsuki, followed by a chudan-hiraken-uke circular block, followed by a hiraken-tsuki strike. All of the techniques are performed with the same hand, and all of the tecnniques are done with the hiraken-tsuki (leopard-paw) fist. I took this opportunity to introduce the students to the sen-no-sen mindset. Instead of blocking and countering, each of the "blocking" techniques can be both a block and a strike. For example, if the opponent comes in with a punch to the head, the front rising block can be a hiraken strike to the opponent's opposite eye that also deflects the incoming attack. Likewise, the chudan-uke can also be performed in such a way that the knuckles strike the opponent's eyes while deflecting the incoming attack. Some of the students "got it", others didn't, but they at least have that idea in their head to practice in the future. As we were moving on, I noticed some of the defenders were struggling with which uke to use on a technique. They would step back, start a block, switch to something else, then try something else. So I picked our most complex technique (block-chop-backfist-one knuckle strike) and asked the class, "What is the most important technique in this sequence". The first answer I got was "the chop". The second student said "the block". So I had a student come up and hit me. I showed them what some of the other kids were doing, and lhe of course tagged me, which is what I wanted. I told them that if they got NOTHING else right on the technique, to make sure they got the block right. Because if the block isn't there, none of the other techniques are going to matter. The third technique I had them focus on was the elbow strikes. We have several options to choose from, but one thing I notice that they often do is they will perform their block, step, and then strike with the elblow. I demonstrated this on a partner, and exaggerated the step, pause, strike. I then showed them how if you step/strike in the same motion that you'd have your entire body weight behind that elbow, which gives you a lot more power, and gave them examples from their kata where we do elbow strikes. Hopefully what I said sinks in to a few of them. Not all of them are old enough/mature enough in their karate to really get what I was saying, but I think some of them definitely got it. Fast forward to our advanced adult/black belt class, and we are doing the same thing with our partners. I partnered up once with our CI's younger brother, and he is pretty hardcore. We were doing that same block/chop/backfist/one-knuckle combination. He was coming in like a freight train, and there were a couple times where I was ONLY able to get the block off before getting flustered. But he didn't tag me at all, and he complimented me on how much my uke techniques have improved over the last few months. I then told him what I told the kids earlier. The class was an evening of working alternate dan kumite drills from other Uechi-Ryu organizations, like Okikukai, Kenyukai, and Kenseikai. We tend to do the Okikuai drills the most, but the Kenyukai and Kenseikai drills are pretty fun, and very different. One of the reasons that our CI has us do these drills is because if (and technically when) the head of our organization passes on, he will likely have to join another organization. If and when that happens, we'll have to re-test for our current ranks using their requirements. So... if we already know their drills then it will just be a matter of polishing those techniques and testing, as opposed to learning a completely new set. Given that Thompson sensei is in his 80's, that might not be too far out. But I'm hoping it's not. The good news is that he'll be coming back for a seminar later this year. I'm really looking forward to it. Hopefully it will go better than the last one, where I ended up with muscle cramps right after from not drinking enough water.

I was the mean older brother (by 363 days). It would usually go, she'd tease me and hit me, I'd hit her back. My parents would yell at me, "Don't hit your sister!" "But she hit me first!" "I don't care, you're bigger than her, you could hurt her, don't hit your sister!" My son is an only child so he will never experience that, for good or for ill.

The original karate kid movie (and karate kid part 2) were my inspiration.

Back for my regularly scheduled update. So when our CI and his wife came back from Michigan, they brought a visitor with them, Mustafa, who is a nidan in Uechi-Ryu, and has been studying Kobudo with our CI via Zoom throughout the pandemic. I've had the opportunity to train with him a few times, and he is the type of training partner you either really like or really hate to train with. In my case, I really enjoy training with him. He is the most quiet, unassuming, respectful person you will ever meet. However, he is also fast, strong, and hits like a freight train. I find it refreshing to train with new partners, especially new, skilled, partners. You don't know exactly what to expect from them, so your defenses have to be spot on. For example, in our dan-level drills the typical defense against a roundhouse kick is an "x-block". Your opposite arm blocks low, your same-side arm blocks high, and you end up covering your entire body from the waist to the head. However, most of the partners I train with just can't (or don't) kick above the waist level, so I tend to just block with the low arm. Well, I was training with Mustafa, and he is fast, strong, and does roundhouse kicks to the head level -- which is exactly what I tend to do to other students. So he was keeping me honest there. Also, when we are doing hojo undo with a partner, I tend to power through my partner's blocks at least once or twice in a session -- to teach them that for someone much bigger/stronger than they are that they are usually better off getting out of the way. Well, last night I got sloppy with some of my blocks, and Mustafa tagged me in the chest once or twice. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but It reminded me that the forms on my blocks should be better. Likewise, last night our CI had the two of us do kotekitae together. Normally when I do kotekitae I have to ask my partner to go harder. However, this time I had to tell him to take it a little easier than he was going. As I said, he hits like a freight train. I ended up having to quit on leg kicks after about a dozen rounds. Usually I'm telling people that they aren't hitting me hard enough. Again, a very refreshing experience. He's been really fun to train with. He's here through the end of the week, after which he heads back to Michigan to celebrate my CI's youngest brother's birthday -- he (the youngest brother) just earned his rokudan last month. I've got a few minor bruises on the forearms from the kotekitae last night, but nothing that won't heal in a couple of days. That's actually the first time I've had bruises from kotekitae since we restarted contact post-pandemic.

Oh, I completely agree. We've got kids at the school whose gis look more like a very faded greyish brown than the white they originally started at. Of course, mine's starting to show its age too (I wear a 8.5 oz Sakura big and tall uniform) - it's starting to yellow/gray on the inside of the neck, and grey around the waist where my belt cinches it. However, it's also lasted me a good 5 years of training 3-4x per week. I've got a new one that I just need to have tailored.

Chiming in a bit late to this topic, but our CI does do the "free uniform when you sign up for a X month program". IMO, it lowers the cost of entry for students. Granted, the uniform he provides is your basic 6oz lightweight uniform, but it is serviceable and lowers the cost of entry. It'll generally last a good 2 years or so, assuming you take decent care of it. Generally since most of our students are youths, they'll end up growing out of one or two uniforms before they actually need replacing. Honestly most first-time students aren't going to want to spend the significant amount of money involved with getting a top-grade uniform, especially when they aren't sure if this is something they are going to want to stick with. Most of our dan-grade adult students (and several advanced brown belts) have invested in more expensive uniforms. At our school the Meijin gi seems really popular, but we've also got students wearing Shureido and Tokaido uniforms as well. It boils down to the student's personal preference.

Sakura Martial Arts sells big and tall gis up to size 12-- that's where I got my last 2 gis from. You'll probably need to have it tailored after the fact, though, because a size 12 pants are REALLY long.

Yeah, I made it a point to stay home yesterday because it was the Denver Nuggets' championship parade. No way in heck was I going to try to drive through that insanity.

Yeah, Paul Maurice said that no less than 4 guys were playing with broken bones. Aaron Ekblad, for example, had a broken foot, a torn oblique, and separated his shoulder, TWICE. And yet he still was playing at a very high level. Honestly, to a certain degree the team that can stay the healthiest through the playoffs will often win.

Training continues to go well. My back isn't 100%, but it's definitely getting there. I've bumped up my training to 3-4 sessions per week, including teaching sessions. I've also started to go back to Aikido, but I'm starting to rethink that due to other issues (knee issues involved with taking falls and getting back up from them). I may switch to Kobudo. It's a lot more strenuous, but I can deal with muscle exhaustion much better than I can deal with joint pains. Last night I went back to the advanced adult class for the first time -- it's been difficult recently mainly because of Zach's schedule. He generally has (Boy) Scouts on Tuesday nights, but now that we can just drop him off, I can make it to the advanced class. And I admit that I've missed it quite a bit. Last night I taught for the 5p-6p class. Since we've got students who aren't quite 100% focused due to the summertime, our CI had us do our hojo undo bunkai-style. He stressed to the kids (mainly 10-13 year olds, brown belts and up) that they needed to give good strong punches to their opponents so their opponent could benefit. Likewise, I found myself correcting a number of students during kotekitae, because they were just "going through the motions", and not actually practicing a good stance, solid punches, blocks or strikes. One of the things I'm coming to realize is that the basics are *everything*. If you have good, solid fundamentals, everything looks better. If you take your hojo undo seriously and focus on the little things, it transfers directly into your kata. Most of the sequences in our kata come straight from our hojo undo. For example, one of the things I've been focusing on in my hojo undo is enhancing the "snappiness" of my hajiki uke. It also so happens that the first movement in our Seiryu kata (required for second degree) is a double hajike-uke, and now I'm starting to hear my gi "pop" with that movement. It's a very satisfying sound. So last weekend, our CI went back to Michigan to train with his sensei, Master Thompson (head of our organization), and he came back with some new techniques. One of them is a few new applications of the double wa-uke blocks we do in several of our kata, most notably at the end of Sanchin. The setup involves the opponent throwing a left-right punch combination, and you end up grabbing both hands in sequence. From there, you can either push them backwards, take them down (backwards), or a few other things. It was a lot of fun. However, today my body is telling me that it's SO not used to doing 2.5 hours of training in a day. It's a good soreness, but it is a reminder that I have a long ways to go before my next grading. Fortunately I'm starting my preparations far enough out to get there.

I feel you on this one Aurik! Have had multiple instances of someone suddenly having a fright when they spar and realise weight classes exist for a reason! Yeah, last night I had to tell that to several people, as we were doing hojo undo bunkai in both classes I attended. I can generally put enough mass behind my strikes to just plow right through anyone's blocks unless they are spot on. So I'd tap then a few times. Then after the round, I'd tell them to get out of the way. Of course, there's one kid who is probably 16-17, about 6'4", no more than 170 lbs, and just plain FAST. He was keeping ME honest because there was more than one occasion that I'd be looking straight at his first 2 knuckles before I could block or get out of the way.

The Knights definitely deserved the win. They pretty much had the Panthers' number throughout the Finals, and it didn't help that Tkachuk was injured for game 5, but for previous games he didn't help his team by taking lots of penalties. (10 minute misconduct in game 3, anyone)? I'm definitely happy to see Pietrangelo and Barbashev (former Blues from their 2019 Stanley Cup run) lift the Cup again. And now... it looks like the odds-on favorites to win the Cup next year are the Colorado Avalanche. Which I find interesting since Nichuskin's status is unknown right now, and we aren't expecting Landeskog to play next year due to knee issues (cartilage replacement). I just know that it's very unlikely that my Blues will be in the serious hunt for the Cup next year, since they dumped so many players at the trade deadline. But they do have 3 first-round draft picks coming up this year, so maybe they can trade up to get into the top 5.