Kamidake

I think Christians who are afraid of innocuous things like bowing or Harry Potter or trick-or-treat are falling victim to Satan. Perfect love is supposed to CAST OUT fear, not make you afraid of everything you see!

Baton twirling? I like baton twirling, but I can't quite see what it has to do with budo. Unless you're twirling it round your opponent's head?

Well, there's an instructor who doesn't want to tackle me, I'll wipe the floor with him. I've been training for a whole FOUR MONTHS!

I think Sauzin brought up a good point about changing the way you think. I am only going into my fifth month (not karate, though) and I am already beginning to use my peripheral vision much more, to look around for something that could be used as a weapon wherever I go, and to think about our drills in all my spare moments, mentally running through them. As far as the karate issue goes, I think some styles are mainly intended for sporting competition, and I expect those are indeed useless in an emergency. One reason I stayed away from karate was I was highly suspicious of its efficacy; I have heard too many sad stories of, and from, black belts who were attacked in a bar or by a mugger and badly injured. Those may well have been people who studied a sporting version of karate. (I don't know enough about karate to know which version is sporting and which is practical, and rather than gamble my life on a mistake, I just signed up with Jinenkan, which states right up front that it is strictly practical.)

I got quite a surprise the first night I went to observe. Jinenkan requires their teachers to wear hakama. So the teacher comes in in his street clothes and I meet him and he goes to change. I was expecting him to come out in the usual black or white jammies. Instead, he looked like he'd raided Rurouni Kenshin's closet!

There isn't really a "Traditional Japanese Arts" section here, so I'll use this one. For all you hakama wearers, and those who train with same: how long does it take before you see nothing amusing in a man saying "I tripped on my skirt"? This happened the other night--fortunately he wasn't hurt--and on my way home I realized what he'd said and burst out giggling. I guess I don't have the proper samurai mentality yet!

Here is something I read in a book that sounds silly but is a lot harder than you'd think. Take a plastic grocery bag and try to keep it in the air with kicks and strikes. Difficult! You really have to be on your toes.

For my first 4 months of class, EVERY night was one of those nights! But it happens to everybody. Even teachers. Mine had one of those nights the other night.

(Puts on mom hat) You kids stop that fighting! (Puts on budoka hat) You shouldn't be hitting anybody, even your sister, who is not threatening your safety. (Puts on general-advice hat) If you're 17, unless you're an emancipated minor a civil suit against you will be tossed out of court. However, you can certainly be charged with assault and battery, and convicted of same, and in that case, you might do time as an adult, which is a truly unpleasant experience, one you want to avoid if at all possible. So stop hitting and start trying to think your way out of this. Is your family in any sort of family counseling? That might help. If not, I suggest contacting Al-Anon; they can refer you to various services that exist to help people with impossible family situations. Good luck!

I would inform the parents of the kids, but if the deranged man has any family I would also talk to them. They would probably like to get him some help but the commitment laws in many states make it almost impossible to commit a mentally ill person against his will. But maybe if they have a witness to his having threatened people with a sword they can get him the help he needs. If the man is truly mentally ill I am sure you would not want to attack him unless someone's safety were at stake. This is a tough problem. Good luck, and let us know what happens!

Most of the people I know are couch potatoes so they don't care one way or the other. I think there are more couch potatoes in the Internet age than there were before. (I'm 43 so I remember when there was no Internet.)

I don't know anyone who does it, but I read a little about it. The founder tried to imagine a defense for every conceivable attack so there are about 500 techniques. Whew.

Another potential problem I can see is with the instructor's insurance company. Maybe the waiver you have to sign when you start class only applies to the dojo premises.

Here's something I've been thinking about. A dojo is a controlled environment. Right now, that's what I need; I am learning to walk, so to speak, and don't need any distractions. But we usually are not lucky enough to be attacked in a controlled environment. When I am ready, when I have my techniques pretty well memorized and don't have to stop to think about them, I am going to suggest to my class that we train outside, in our street clothes, for some period of time each week. It's an old military principle that you should train the way you'll fight. This seems to me to indicate that we should be in various climates, in the clothes we'll probably be wearing when we're attacked. This gives us an opportunity to learn thoroughly what we should do when it's pouring down rain and the mugger is slippery; when it's January and there's a heavy coat padding his ribs; when we're wearing high heels; that sort of thing. We would do it within reason, of course; obviously we can't be slamming one another into asphalt or concrete. But I do think we should get as much variety of circumstances as possible. Does anyone else's class train like this, and, if so, what results have you had?

What's NHB stand for? (No Hakama Boys? )

Monkey Girl, do you have any friends left?

Well, there are no kids in my class. We're all grown-ups. Although I notice that Sensei out front, who has plenty of kids in HIS classes, isn't wasting class time on having everybody do push-ups either. Still sounds to me like those teachers are living out drill-sergeant fantasies. However, if you want to pay somebody to pretend he's a drill sergeant and you're Private Benjamin, it's OK with me. It's your money. Enjoy yourselves! Incidentally, Sensei out front has a military background, so he probably doesn't see anything particularly glamorous about push-ups. Coming from a military background myself (Army brat and civilian DOD employee), I don't either. Maybe to people who have no experience with the real thing, those drill-sergeant fantasies are indeed exotic and interesting and worth the money. Takes all kinds, and while I don't understand the appeal of same, I don't see anything wrong with it, either, as long as both parties are happy. But my teacher prefers to spend class time, and I prefer to spend my money, on take-downs rather than push-ups! And we get all the stress we need in regular class. Jinenkan's not easy to learn. Sensei out front, who's taught wado-ryu karate for 20 years, was telling me how difficult it was. (God bless him. His remarks made me feel a bit less dorky about how long it's taking me to catch on to this stuff!)

Maybe they're just getting more comfortable with the idea of contact sports? Most girls have little experience with contact sports growing up; girls don't normally roughhouse around as boys do. (Messes up our hair. )

Push-ups? You're paying these people AND letting them order you to do push-ups? What are they, frustrated drill sergeants? Is this common? I like the rabbit suit idea. Our class must be very relaxed. I have a feeling that if I did show up in a rabbit suit, my teacher would just tell me to do some technique, and then say his favorite phrase, "Do it again." Or possibly, in that situation, he might say, "Do it again, Harvey." We have quite a bit of fun in our class, possibly because it's so small. If there were 30 of us, we would probably have to be a bit more regimented just to keep things on course and accomplish what we want to accomplish. Then again, the classes out front, which DO all have between 20-30 people, seem to be having a good time too. I guess it just depends on the personality of the teacher.

My teacher's a good sport. Jinenkan requires their teachers to wear hakama. Those of you who have seen hakama know how they swirl and flow. The first night I met him I said, "Wow! That would make a good belly dance skirt!" Not only did he not boot me out, he even tried a couple of steps! http://users.telenet.be/eforum/emoticons4u/party/bellyemoticon.gif

14/20

He's a patient man, that's for sure. I still think the problem may be the wife doesn't understand what goes on in class; that's why I suggested having her watch. Then, if she's been shown what goes on and she still gives him grief, he might want to consider whether what he really needs is a new class, or a new wife. But let's hope it doesn't come to that.

Something my instructor probably wishes I wouldn't say: "Mike, why--?" I'm new to this and bombard him with questions, which he patiently answers, every Monday and Wednesday. Not to mention the ones I think of after class is over and e-mail to him. He patiently answers those too, God bless him. I bet he's heard more questions in the last 3 months than he ever has in his life!

My teacher's been studying his style (kobudo) for 20 years; charges $45/month U.S. for 2 2-hour classes per week (takes unlimited questions). He only teaches the one style.

I am thinking about the time I was struggling to master an elbow-breaking technique and bring my teacher down and I pulled his arm across my chest (DD; runs in the family). He didn't think anything about it, I'm sure, and I certainly didn't; all I was thinking is, "This sure is $#%$# complicated!" I don't think your wife understands what goes on in class. I suggest you have her come watch. If she watches and still thinks you're going there to pick up all those panting, sweating, disheveled women (nothing sexier than a woman dripping sweat, right?), then I'd say the problem is hers, not yours, and would suggest counseling, either for her or jointly.