Shorin Ryuu

A properly designed makiwara has "give" to it, making it "Joint-friendly".

Weapons I own and train with regularly... 1 pair of Carbone sai (from Weapons Connection...they are superb) 1 purpleheart rokushakubo (Murasaki Kobudo) 1 purpleheart eku (Crane Mountain) 1 purpleheart jo (Murasaki Kobudo) 1 pair of purpleheart kama (Murasaki Kobudo) 1 pair of purpleheart tonfa (Murasaki Kobudo) Kobudo) 1 pair of purpleheart nunchaku (Murasaki Kobudo) 1 pair of ash nitanbo (Murasaki Kobudo) 1 pair of ash tekko (Murasaki Kobudo) 1 M-9 There are some repeats of the same or different kind of weapons above, but I don't use them regularly...

Just as an update on this (bumped it because it was old and not likely to be seen if I simply edited it), I got the Carbone's sai in from Weapons Connection and the balance is unbelievably superb. I would say even better than Shureido. You have to feel them to know what I mean, but they are great. Oh, and this is my first post after about a month and a half hiatus or so...

I don't see how it is advantageous for them because it isn't a competition between you and them, it's just a test of your individual ability. And even then, it often isn't really a test of your abilities because as mentioned before, people usually aren't asked to test unless they are ready. Unless there is a screw up (or a preponderance of screw ups) of monumental proportions, then they usually pass regardless of how they actually do during the test.

No, but the only one with a penchant for profuse use of capital letters and a superabundant smattering of smilies. But, my thirteen year old brother wants some video game for Christmas. I forget what it is...I have to go to the department store sometime soon. As for me, I just haven't felt the urge to pick up the game controller in a long time...I'm not even sure when the last time I played a video game (Okay, so I lied, it was about half a year ago). Shifting priorities, I suppose. Games are fun every once in a while, but they take up too much time better spent on other things.

I just had this really funny thought stick in my head of someone doing a bo kata to a really slow, twangy country music song.

Congratulations!

Perhaps I'll lose cool points, but yes, I have seen it. I enjoyed the series for a lot of its simple everyday situational humor and enjoyable characters. The characters really grow on you, I think. Sometimes it got a little zany, but that made it all the more fun, I suppose. I would think that at least half the humor is lost on people that don't really understand or know much about Japanese culture, as a lot of cultural references are embedded in Azumanga. I'm sure the DVDs will have lots of cultural explanations and all that. I did like the the manga (in Japanese) even more, but that goes for a lot of anime out there.

Thanks for the info, but could you be a little more specific, Zhong Gau? (Of course by now, I've already found a karate teacher up in San Francisco that has captivated my attention)

Good luck with your training and I salute your service to our country, the spread of democracy and the war against terrorism.

Well, for instructors that are extremely "traditional" (whatever that means), they usually don't ask you to test unless you are ready. The test isn't taking place during the assigned "testing time", it takes place every day in your training. They know if you look like crap or if you look excellent. Trust in your teacher and your training. And I do mean this in the nicest way possible, but buck up and get yourself a little more confidence.

Thank you Sauzin, you voiced my thoughts in a most...artful manner. Oh, well if it was in BLACKBELT magazine, then it had to have been methodologically sound and puts an end to this debate... Yes, you can learn something from a tape. Usually, it is bad habits. I will concede this point, though: If you are well-versed enough in the martial arts, such as the bo or empty hand, for example, then you can learn from a tape. If you are a raw beginner, like someone who has never picked up a bo in their life, or never had an instructor, then there is very little value that you can gain from a tape. You may even memorize the rough movements of some basics, but they will most likely be plagued with bad habits that an instructor is not present to catch. In other words, you may end up worse off than before you started. This always seemed to me to be the weakest argument for learning from a tape. People just love the idea of the rugged individual putting their brain, heart and body to work and creating something entirely brand new. However, in the martial arts, most people trying to do this end up merely re-inventing the wheel, and in many cases, that wheel really stinks. Have I learned things from tapes? Yes. In all cases, it was never anything that I had no exposure to. Furthermore, they almost all required partners for me to test them on, and I sometimes had the benefit of asking instructors about various things. But learning the katana from a tape? No. This isn't the voice of bias, it's the voice of reason and experience.

I did manage to think of something...that Kurosawa Akira DVD boxset with four of his movies...

I know I must be getting older...when my family asked what I wanted, I sort of blanked out and managed to give a weak response that I think included something about "socks and underwear". I may be transitioning to that age where all I get are ties, socks and underwear. But since I'm living on my own with a comfortable margin of financial income, there really isn't anything that I really want right now in terms of things that money can bring in.

Actually, those questions are very rare, from what I've seen. If anything, I've seen much less questions on specific, pure technique rather than other things. Not that there haven't been any discussion about it, but it usually stems from something else rather than a specific question about it. I think a lot of this has to do with how complex everything really is when you try to explain it over a text forum in detail (Like when I posted about a double punch in the Strategy section...I ended up going into way more detail than I wanted to simply because there is so much to be considered). All the same, these questions are far, far less common than "Who can teach me the bo fundamentals" or "I want to know how to use the sword. Can anyone give me links to videos or teach me a form?" In case of these situations, then I WOULD tell them to get an instructor OR to narrow down their question. They rarely do. When they do, we are all more than happy to help. Evidence: http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=16196&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=6489&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=15997 http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=16006&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=16037&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=16047&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=16177&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=16385&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= http://www.karateforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=16407&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= Just a few, not all, of the posts where I think people have helped only in this weapons forum and only in the past month, which is a rather short time.

Well, there's basically two general ways of approaching this problem. You can take either one, I suppose. One is having an "on/off" switch where you can have the control to turn the adrenaline on and off as you will. This is usually accomplished through experience in stress situations, as many people mentioned above. This method deals with the situation as it arises. The other way is not to have a switch at all, meaning that you are always "off." This is usually accomplished through meditation and other calming techniques. It also requires more of a balancing throughout your daily life and the avoiding of deep swings in emotion either way. This method is more of a continuous action/inaction/whatever-you-want-to-call-it.

I'm a bit concerned about the abundance of the word "technique" in your post and the lack of the words "concept" or "principle". I for one try to be as well-rounded as possible, with a few principles that I prefer to use very often. I'm giving your Hanshi (and his 38 years of experience that dwarfs mine) the benefit of the doubt by saying this. I think your Hanshi may be reluctant to teach you all these different techniques because he realizes that you don't have to know a million techniques, just the principles behind them. It certainly helps to have a few techniques that you can perform really well, and as he says, you have a tendency to fall back on things you are comfortable with during times of stress. However, you can't simply rely on a few techniques to get you through a fight. They may work, they may not. As all those who have been in a fight can attest, sometimes things work beautifully...and sometimes it gets real messy real quick. In these situations, quick improvisation backed by a thorough knowledge of fighting principles rather than a throng of techniques will ensure you can defend yourself. The extent to which you understand the principles is the extent that things will flow and happen by themselves. Not that conscious thought is a bad thing during a fight, but sometimes things happen far too quickly for it. I don't like the phrase "you react instinctively", but I prefer to think of it as your mind is fused with your body so that your calculations happen that much faster, seemingly instinctual, but not quite. There is feeling, but there is also thinking. And if someone posts "Don't think, feel", I'll scream. No, wait, I'll just laugh.

Right, I was thinking more of the 45 degree angle...just like in the samurai movies or something. In either case, I was just trying to emphasize the specific cutting mechanism of the katana, which is never hacking, but sliding. In other words, not a direct hit against the bo...(I know you know this, I was just throwing that out there for others).

I think you are approaching this from the wrong angle. You're assuming that it's going to be a full out clash of bo against sword with both of them directly impacting each other. It's foolish (and this goes for all weapons in my opinion) to simply bash the weapons against each other or block one directly with the other. Sure, you may end up doing it if you absolutely have to, but the principle is to redirect his weapon rather than pound it into submission. Even if you are talking about the katana, that I suppose in the hands of a trained expert could cut through a bo, you would much prefer to simply cut the person rather than the bo in the first place. If you were using a more bludgeoning type of weapon, then perhaps you would be less inclined to care if he blocks (since you would overpower him), but if he isn't there, than it doesn't matter how hard you swing. At any rate, you certainly don't want your weapon to be the only thing between you and your opponent's weapon. You simply want to be out of the path of the weapon and/or redirecting the path of the weapon so that the opponent's "power zone" is not where you're standing. You didn't necessarily say you were opposed to these principles, but from what you stated, you don't necessarily take them into account either. Let me relate a little anecdote that I think is of relevance to all this. Sokon Matsumura (Big pioneer of Okinawan karate) once said to his student Itosu, "With your strong punch you can knock anything down but you can't so much as touch me." In other words, you may be correct in assuming that a big sword may shatter a bo. However, you don't use the bo in that manner. For that matter, you don't use the short weapons like that either. How do you expect to block a sword or bo with the kama or the sai? Certainly not with a direct block, but a redirect and/or moving yourself out of the way.

Well, just to give you a brief rundown on how my knee surgery/recovery went. I had an torn ACL for two years, then I finally got a patellar tendon graft. For the first three weeks, I was on crutches. I don't recall exactly, but it was perhaps around 2 months out that I was doing some kata, very slowly, and taking my knee into consideration. It was probably about 2 1/2 months before I could actually start jogging forwards at more than a crawl. Probably about 3 1/2 months till I could run distance and speed. Now, here's the other part. Most days (maybe a day or two off a week), I was also doing physical therapy about 5-6 hours a day. A lot of it was very low intensity (although with my knee, it sure felt like high intensity) over, and over, and over again. Fortunately, I was able to do this and still watch class from the sidelines (which I recommend, since you can still learn a lot from just watching a class). However, many people would probably be hard-pressed to find the time to do that and their necessary physical therapy. I simply can not stress enough how important the physical therapy is to your recovery. Above all else, I would say even more than going to class, spend time doing your physical therapy. Worst case scenario (And this wouldn't happen, but I'm using it for the sake of example), if you didn't go to class for 6 months and only did your physical therapy, you would be far better off than if you sacrificed physical therapy time for class. Fortunately, your knee surgery won't be anywhere near as extensive as mine, from what it sounds like, but start your therapy now (before the surgery) and really hit the ground running (well, crutching) in terms of your therapy right after it. I started the same day I had surgery. I'm really stressing the point of therapy because I think it is that important.

I roomed with a wrestler for a year back in college. Now, I had just a little more experience than you do, but my advice would still remain the same. Simply take all of his jibes in stride, and ask him to teach you some things. You can take what you want, discard what you don't want, but he may introduce a few principles that you may or may not get in your training elsewhere. It will also give you an opportunity to point out weaknesses in his methods just as he is trying to do to you. I would recommend that you try to make it as complementary as possible, rather than pure criticism. If you offer to "learn" some stuff from him, maybe he'll be receptive if you show him some things as well. I for one was able to win the respect of my roommate, since we would often wrestle around, and even if he got me in a hold or something, I'd ask him if I could cheat (i.e., use my karate) and would show him a thing or two. Either way, I would learn things and he would learn things.

I think that is a good point, but you have to be careful that you are not teaching the wrong lesson. No one ever certainly means to teach this lesson, but I think over-reliance on that technique breeds the idea subconsciously that the instructor, or the better sparring partner was right merely because they were better at technique and better skilled. I understand the need to put people in their place, at times, but more emphasis should be put on character regardless of the skill level (in other words, humility through humiliation isn't always the best technique). We all know that your skill level has nothing to do with your character, so we should be wary of methods that employ skill level as an arbitrator of right and wrong. And then, like you mentioned, there are times where they simply need to know where they stand. But even in those times, they must understand clearly how their behavior is wrong regardless of whether they won or lost the physical confrontation with the mediating superior.

Oh...I didn't see this post before I posted on the other one. Anyway, Sauzin gives some excellent advice. I especially like how he said the answer lies in the kata, of which I am a staunch advocate. I do disagree with him on one point, though. I think that perhaps by the shodan level (I had started before), you should try to start incorporating energy (ki/chi energy) into your kata, or at least try and figure out what it is. It obviously won't come to you right away, but that is where the time comes in. I think it is necessary to start thinking about these concepts early (at least by shodan level, you should have all the movements down in the kata, so you don't need to worry about that). Since there are so many layers of kata (bunkai, biomechanics, energy, etc.), I think it would be such a waste to only think about energy years and years down the line. Eventually, I think it is the goal to seamlessly integrate all the layers of the kata at once. However, I am unable to do this perfectly (or perhaps even well), so I do them individually. I usually do each kata three or four times. The first time, I do it completely without any thought or focus. The second time time, I do it concentrating on bunkai and visualizing the opponent. The third time, I try to listen solely to how my body feels in terms of energy and biomechanics. The last time, I try and do all of the stages at once. Granted, there will be some overlap in these stages, and I actually try and pay attention to energy and biomechanics during every stage. Sometimes, I just do them all at once without breaking up the levels of analysis. But you get the picture. But once again, since I believe energy plays such an integral role in what you do and where you want to head towards in your kata and karate, I think it is beneficial to think about these things even in the earlier stages of training. Now if you aren't comfortable in knowing your kata, then Sauzin and I are in agreement: you should worry more about learning the basic pattern. After a point, however, even if you are learning a new kata, you should be incorporating all these levels when you learn it, not just learning the basic pattern like you did back when you were first starting. And then, I revert to the often used, but never over-used answer: "It takes time."

It seems your question has three parts...the first is the bo, the second is ki, and the third is more philosophy. The second two, I recommend you post a thread in the internal arts and the general martial arts sections. I (and other people) will probably post more on those last two topics that way. To answer the first part, though, I do believe purpleheart is just an excellent wood. All my weapons (except my nitanbo and tekko...and that'll change as soon as I get around to using them more) are made from purpleheart. That site is a good one (it's where I got mine...half I ordered from there, the other half I bought in person) and the service is superb.

I'm going to venture a guess that the spinning isn't so much used for blocking and the like (although conceivably, it may be...), but more for concealment purposes and for manipulation of the grip (which could also be useful not only in terms of striking, but in grappling situations as well). I'm a bit hesitant about using the spin as a block or strike or something like that because to really get the momentum to block on the spin, the finger would have to be isolated and that would effectively render your control of the spin non-existent (for combative purposes). Besides, the amount of power generated by the spin would probably be no different than an unspun block, if not less. If you weren't going for power, then you would have no control anyways. Now, there may be some usage of it as more of a whipping, snapping spin (that never gets close to doing a full spin even once, as it will hit the target and bounce back).