aurik

Most of the instructors I have interacted with, especially the ones who have been awarded shogo titles, prefer to be called "Sensei". We always refer to our CI as just "Sensei". Any other (full) instructor is "<name> sensei". The exception is our CI's father, who we refer to as just "hanshi" - he doesn't insist on it, but we just do it out of respect. When the head of our organization visits, he simply asks to be called "Sensei". I have yet to run across an instructor in our style who insists on being referred to by his/her shogo title.

One of the nice things is that Japanese pronunciations are very consistent across the board. For the vast majority of words, they are pronounced exactly as they are printed. There are a few common words that a vowel sound will get dropped (the trailing "u" in desu being one of the common ones). However it's definitely not like English where you can go through something even though you have a cough. Yeah, English pronunciation & spelling sucks.

Last Saturday was my second test in Matayoshi Kobudo (for hachikyu). I was originally scheduled to test in December, but due to the cardiac surgery in November, I had to miss too many classes to qualify to test. No biggie, I'm still training and moving forward. We had four candidates at the test: I was testing for hachikyu, Daniel and his son Ian were testing for rokkyu, and Michael was testing for nikyu. The way our CI runs kobudo tests is that each rank has a new set of required material, but the tests are cumulative. So my new material was sai no hojo undo, but I also had to perform bo no hojo undo dai ichi as well. This means that the higher rank the students, the more material that needs to be covered, and the longer the tests need to run. Daniel and Ian had to run bo hojo undo dai ichi and dai ni, and technically I only had to run dai ichi. However, I volunteered to also do dai ni, since I am feeling reasonably comfortable with it. (Our CI will teach you whatever he feels you're ready for, so we'll often work on things that we don't have to test on for quite awhile). Over the past 6 months or so, I've also been training with the 6.5' untapered purpleheart bo that I made. That bo is probably twice as heavy as the untapered oak bo I have, so when I brought in that 6' oak bo to test with, it felt light as a feather. I felt the test went really well. I was able to get good speed and power in all of my techniques, both with the bo and the sai. In addition to the formal test material, he also ran us through the first bo kata (shushi no kun); even though that is not required until shodan. All in all, I felt that I put forth a really good effort, and I got some good feedback on how to improve things for future tests. And yes, we all passed. I'm attaching the obligatory photo in front of the nafudakake:

My CI has had to tell students that they were no longer welcome to train with us. Most recently it has happened with older teens as they start getting into their strength/size, and their control doesn't come along with it. The last student was disinvited after he cracked another student's ribs while sparring, and this was not the first instance of him injuring another student. It wasn't just that he had poor control, but he also didn't seem to care. He had just earned his shodan-sho, and he never even returned to pick up his diploma.

Sadly I was out of town on 12/31 so I had to watch a replay of the Winter Classic. I thoroughly enjoyed my Blues trouncing the Blackhawks 6-2, and the fight by the captains in the second period was a nice bit of extra punch.

Congratulations on the double promotion! I understand the struggle to train regularly with family obligations. Keep training and keep moving forward!

Many kudos to all the winners!

So I was sitting at a restaurant earlier tonight and heard someone completely butchering "The Twelve Days of Christmas". So I could best avoid it, I looked it up -- Andy Williams, "A Song and a Christmas Tree". Who in their right mind takes a classic Chrismas song and butchers it so?

Congratulations -- 4th dan is a big step!

During the Blues/Stars game Saturday evening, Stars' defenseman Liam Beschel laid a really nice hit on Blues' captain Brayden Schenn that sent him into the Stars' bench. What was even funnier was that he landed right next to Stars' captain Jamie Benn, who was mic'ed up for the game. Enjoy: Brayden Schenn checked into Dallas' bench

Our road to the dan level grading is much tougher than the grading itself. Before the grading, candidates must attend an extra class per week for a minimum of 12 weeks. That class focuses only on the required elements on the test. The instructor runs the class as a perfectionist; he (or she) will provide frequent corrections which the candidate is expected to quickly incorporate prior to being approved for testing. The classes are nominally an hour each, but they frequently run to 1:15 or 1:30, depending on the number of students. Assuming the students pass the prep cycle (some wash out due to being unable to keep the 12-week commitment), the test itself is pretty straightforward. The candidates demonstrate their techniques in rank order -- the most senior candidates will demonstrate last. The test starts with sanchin and the candidates' rank kata, individually. Next the candidates will demonstrate their yakusoku kumite, kote kitae, and bunkai in pairs. The candidates then perform hojo undo as a group and then have an oral exam. Finally, the candidates will be paired off for one or more sparring rounds. As a general rule, black belt tests will take about 2 hours, possibly a bit longer if candidates have to re-demonstrate multiple times (occasionally an instructor will ask a candidate to re-demonstrate a technique).

Many belt manufacturers will embroider your belt for you. I had mine done by Kataaro, and I'm very happy with it. For my extra-long belt with metallic blue embroidery on both tips, it was about $150, but that was over 2 years ago.

Speaking as an instructor, I'll say that a LOT of my time working with beginning and intermediate students involves making these type of corrections before they become bad habits. Looking from the outside, some may look small (corrections). However, when the student makes these small corrections they'll notice significant improvements in the efficiency and efficacy of their techniques. As a student becomes more advanced and experienced with how things are supposed to look and feel, they can start learning on their own and self-correcting (at my school we generally see this happen around 1st degree black belt). However, even the senior instructors in my school (both of whom have been training for 30+ years) still make it a point to train under other instructors from time to time (generally 2-3 times per year). Yes, you technically CAN learn martial arts remotely, but if you have a good school near you I'd highly recommend you check them out.

Congratulations! I found my test prep for nidan considerably harder and more stressful than the actual test. Once I got to the test, I knew I had prepared as best I could, and that my CI wouldn't invite me to test if he didn't think I was ready. Now you get to figure out all the new material that's a part of the next step of your journey. As Zaine said, that's the really cool part about passing a test....

I couldn't agree more wholeheartedly. A good practitioner will have excellent technique. A good instructor will figure out how to bring out the best technique in others. The second is much harder than the first, because different students learn in different ways. An explanation that resonates with one student may go completely over the head of another, and vice versa.

On the flip side of that, the Blues have scored at least one point in every game they've played since they hired Jim Montgomery. Of course, it helps that they're starting to get some injured players back. But I'm cautiously optimistic.

Our style doesn't have kihons per se; we have hojo undo, which is a brief sequence taken out of one of our kata. For example, one hojo undo is wa-uke/seiken-tsuki, or circle block/flat-fist punch. I don't know if all Uechi-Ryu dojos do this, but we will periodically practice these as a class against each other "across the floor". So we all pair up on one side of the floor. The attacker will throw a sequence of lunge punches at the defender, and the defender will defend him/herself with that technique (or some variant of it). We start this at white belt for adults, and in the kids' intermediate class (generally green belt/6th kyu and up). This is one of the way we try to keep things fresh and interesting. We also start with basic 2-person drills/yakosuku kumite drills at white belt (required for 9th kyu).

I saw that one - how the heck do you live something like that down? Fortunately the Caps won in the end, but Lindgren did get a LOT of well-deserved flak from his teammates for that one.

I'm currently finishing up Rythym of War by Brandon Sanderson. It's a re-read prior to the release of Wind and Truth this coming weekend. This wraps up the first half of his ten-book Stormlight Archive series. Given that he has already killed off one semi-main character (in book 4), I'm half-dreading who he is going to kill off in book 5. In his Mistborn series, he actually killed off both main protagonists at the end of the first trilogy. Mind you, he didn't kill them off randomly; he did it with a purpose. But dammit, by that time you were invested in those characters, and it hurt.

How is it? I may need to check it out...

And so it begins, the Great NHL Coaching Carousel. When a team doesn't perform up to expectations, it's much easier to fire the coach than it is to start moving players. It isn't always the coach's fault per se, but the coach is always accountable. I suspect the reason biggest reason that Drew Bannister lost his job is because Jim Montgomery became available. Granted, the Blues were underperforming, but they had been underperforming for quite awhile. Monty had been an assistant coach with the Blues from 2000-2022 and already had a good relationship with the Blues' management and most of the players. So when he became available, the Blues snapped him up. In his first game as the Blues' head coach, they won 5-2, with a SOG advantage of 46-31. I'm wondering which coach is next to lose his job in the Great Coaching Carousel -- the Avs have had some spectacular meltdowns this year. Last night they got pummeled by the Lightning 8-2 -- at one point the Avs' goaltender was so frustrated he chucked his stick: https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/video/avalanches-georgiev-breaks-stick-in-frustration-after-giving-up-point-goal/

We are allowed to evaluate a student for grades up to one degree lower than ours. So a nidan can evaluate students for shodan-sho and shodan. A godan can evaluate up to yondan. In addition, you must also have a certain number of hours teaching (reflected by an dojo level assistant instructor certification). Generally if you start teaching when you earn your shodan, you'll earn your level 1 assistant instructor certification at the same time you earn your nidan, and your level 3 / shidoin certification at sandan.

I'm going to echo a lot of Bob's (sensei8) suggestions here. I have been studying Uechi-Ryu (another Okinawan style) for a little over 7 years now. Here is why Uechi Ryu works for me (and could possibly work for you): - We don't require a lot of flexibility in our techniques. Most of our techniques are done in a neutral, upright stance (Sanchin-dachi). We don't do a lot of kicks, and our preferred targets are at or below the waist: the bladder or front of the thigh for a front kick, the floating ribs or knees for a side kick, and the floating ribs, calf, or outer thigh for a roundhouse kick. We do occasionally use a "shiko dachi", or low stance, but it is always done for practical reasons; generally to do an elbow strike to the floating ribs or solar plexus, and to get underneath the center of gravity of your opponent for takedowns/throws. - Our techniques are intended to be practical. We practice our techniques through kata, hojo undo (supplementary techniques), yakusoku kumite (prearranged 2 person drills), and free sparring. When performing the techniques, we generally have 2 different ways of doing things, the "textbook" version, and the "practical version", which takes your strengths and limitations into account. This is most applicable to our two-person drills; we have specific adaptions for certain body types and combinations. For example, if you have a short defender against a tall attacker, there are specific changes to some of our drills we expect you to do. - Our 2-person drills encourage you to control and/or disrupt your opponent. Some styles expect your 2-person drill techniques to look pretty with perfect form without touching your opponent. We expect the defender to manipulate the attacker and keep him off-balance. You did mention that you are not fond of the idea of kata, but also keep in mind that kata is a great way of training without a partner. When we were under COVID restrictions, we were unable to actually touch our partners. I ended up learning the black belt level two-person drills by shadow boxing, and once the restrictions lifted, I pretty much had to re-learn the drill. With kata, I was able to train and build the muscle memory for the techniques without needing to rely on a partner. Once I've trained those patterns, applying them to a 2-person drill or self-defense situation involves adapting a sequence of moves I already know. What I would most recommend is that you find an instructor near you that you can train with at least occasionally in person. Training with a partner and a good instructor will increase your learning speed by leaps and bounds. Good luck in your journey!

I've been an assistant instructor at my school for about 2 and a half years now, but yesterday was my first opportunity to sit on a dan grading. Our dojo only holds them twice per year (generally May and November), and in order to sit on a black belt board, you have to be at least a (full) nidan. For one thing I was by far the most junior member of the testing board. The board consisted of one kudan, two nanadans (including my CI, who just tested for his 7th degree the previous day), two godans, a yondan, and me. We had a total of 11 candidates - one for sandan, one for sandan-sho, one for nidan, four for shodan, and three for shodan-sho. Normally, our CI would run 2 tests, but with him returning that morning from our hombu dojo, multiple tests weren't really an option. Our organization has a scorecard for dan exams, where each performance category is worth X points, where 80% of that is required to pass. In theory, you could fail one category and still pass the exam. In practice, most students will get "minimal passing" scores for most categories. I looked at my neighbor's scorecard, and for most categories, he had every candidate earning minimal score, with a few exceptions. Keep in mind that with 7 evaluators, one evaluator isn't going to make or break a candidate's score, so it all evened out in the end. I found that evaluating candidates for Sanchin and their rank kata was pretty easy -- we only had a single candidate demonstrating at a time. Things got more complicated when we we started having two pairs of candidates at a time, performing bunkai, yakusoku kumite, and kote kitae. Then things got really hairy when they performed their hojo undo and free sparring (when we had every candidate on the floor at the same time). Once the candidates were done, the scoring was pretty quick -- (we had 2 scorekeepers helping out with the test). Everyone passed, which wasn't really a surprise. We require everyone who tests for a dan rank to perform a 3 month prep cycle, where they attend an additional class every week that focuses on the content of the test. Before the results were officially announced, each of the instructors was expected to provide feedback to the candidates, either as individuals or as a group. Some of the feedback given was: - My feedback #1 - In a performance test, the judges will most remember the beginning and end of your performance. So start strong, and end strong. There were a number of candidates that had a fairly weak opening. Likewise, quite a few candidates executed their finishing sequence (jump forward to a shiko dachi, circle block, elbow strike, one-knuckle punch). They do that sequence quickly and then immediately stand up and bow out. My recommendation was that they hit that sequence hard, leave the final one-knuckle punch out there for a few seconds (in a good low stance), and give the judges a good final impression. - My feedback #2 - enunciate all of your techniques. There were a number of students that were a bit sloppy here. In their rank kata, I'd see them basically "flick out" their nukite strikes. My recommendation was strike, leave it there for a moment, and then recover. This is like the difference between a flicking type strike versus a penetrating strike. The other place I really saw this come into play was in their kata bunkai in two specific sequences. In one sequence, the attacker comes in with an overhand grab. The defender is supposed to do a hand-over-hand nukite strike to the throat (to stop the opponent), then grab the attacker by the shoulders. They then pull the attacker down while simultaneously driving their knee up into the attacker's middle. The other sequence involves a lapel grab. The defense is to perform a double nukite strike to the lower oblique muscles. The defender then grabs the opponent, lifts them, pivots them to the right, and then pushes them into (nominally) another attacker. In each of these sequences, many of the defenders skipped the nukite strikes and went straight into either pulling the opponent down into the knee strike, or grabbing the opponent and lifting/pivoting/pushing. The thing is those nukite strikes are what stop the opponent's attack. Feedback from other instructors included: watch your distancing. When doing two-person drills and/or bunkai, you should be at a distance such that if you choose to complete and/or follow through with your technique, it should connect with your opponent. Likewise, make sure the attacks you're providing give your opponent a realistic opportunity to practice your defenses. One nitpick I picked up on (which I didn't really notice, but was aware of): when doing the sword attacks (technically we use shinai), always lead with the right foot. There are no left-handed samurai. One instructor asked the students to up their intensity, both in their technique and their bearing, and in the same comment she told the students to pick a spot and look at it. Don't let your gaze wander. If an instructor is standing in front of you, evaluating you, focus on a spot on their uniform. All in all, it was a great test - I learned a lot watching the candidates and hearing the other instructors' feedback. PS: One of the (adult) candidates, Tabata, had her entire family there. Right before the candidates started sparring, her family all busted out "Team Tabata" T-shirts. She had no idea they had them...

Yeah, the events in episode 10 were way over the top, and now I'm trying to figure out how they address the fallout after the last few minutes of episode 10. It wasn't one of the core characters, but it definitely will have serious repercussions to all of the storylines.