Kamidake

Thanks! I told the teacher about it up front, and he says anything soft that'll hold my shoe insert on and won't damage the floor or the other people is fine with him.

I'm in the U.S. so I can't answer the original question, but what I CAN say is that I was once married to a man who "didn't want guns in the house," so when he decided to beat hell out of me there was very little I could do to stop him. I finally escaped and called the police, who threatened to arrest ME for causing a disturbance. (This was in the late '70's; supposedly it's better now. One hopes so.) I think everyone should take responsibility for his (her) safety, arm himself, and learn how to use the weapon responsibly. I did and I feel much safer now. On the broader issue of arms control--well, we all know what happened to the samurai when they agreed to give up their swords!

Hi! I plan to start studying Jinenkan as soon as the foot dr. clears me to do so (I have a foot deformity that caused a 3-year case of Achilles tendinitis). I'm the world's oldest belly dancer (43) but don't know anything about martial arts yet, so I am finding this board very interesting and helpful. It has already answered some of the more basic questions I have.

Is the character written the same as the "pa kua" used to describe the ornate Chinese compass used by feng shui practitioners?