Cheradenine

I'm flying into Tokyo and buy a 2 week train pass so the country is pretty much open to me, but the basic plan is to take my time heading down to Kumomoto, but like I say I'm after suggestions of other places to go, see, and stay at.

Great site there ERPMISTER I look foward to the jounal going up.. I'm actually in New Zealand and don't plan on visiting the States any time soon, as I say the trip is mainly to visit the grave of Musashi, but I appreciate your views. I wouldn't consider training there either, although visiting various schools would be interesting, mainly Chidokan.

I have booked a 3 week trip to Japan for October of next year and I was after some recommondations of places to visit relevant to martial arts (Karate) , samurai culture, temples, or other interesting sights. The trip itself is somewhat of a Pilgrimmage; a journey to the grave site of Miyamoto Musashi and the cave in which The Book of 5 Rings was written in Kumamoto. Any tips would be appreciated

That's exactly what I was hoping to hear... so both symbols (the .gif link and my avatar) are more or less the same, only written different...

Hiya.. just wondering if you can confirm for me what this http://members.chello.nl/~p.bouwens/Zanshin.gif translates to, and if it is similar to the symbols in my avatar just over on the left.. and give your best description for each.. if not if anyone could recommend someone that would know I'd greatly appreciate it..

"I'm sorry my sparring was a bit wobbly tonight.. it must have been those beers I downed before arriving..." "What is the most effective way to get out of a policemans arm lock?" "Where is the best place to hit a girl?" "When are you going to teach us the 'Crane Kick'?"

Through my 2 years of MA so far of pressups and situps (in dojo and out) I have built up a lot of muscle, and lost alot of body fat - although late last year something 'gave' in my lower back and I had to see my physio. I now have a few excersises to use such as hyper extentions etc... but after situps and pressups at times I can feel tension still there. I'm just wondering who else has experienced weak a lower back and what other sorts of excersises you have done to combat this?

I just wanted to back Rich67 up on that daily plan on the last page.. about a year ago I read a magazine article which pretty much described the same diet (not the same foods, but same nutritional values) I had been doing MA for one year before that and was pretty overweight, but the fat literally fell off after changing to that 'diet' and kicking my metabolism into overdrive. I recommend this to anyone - eating that often during the day (small frequent meals) keeps you going, keeps the hunger pains at bay, and by writing down a daily diet you will really notice the difference. Trust me, after a couple of weeks it becomes habbit, and never really seems like a diet.

...also the Crazy 88 scene in Kill Bill vol. 1... BOOM

Tekken 4 (5 is out soon), Soul Calibur 2, and VF4 for one on one games. Tenchu: Wrath of Heaven is good, but Dynasty Warriors 4 must be my over all fav... oh and Ninka Gaiden on Xbox looks decent but I'm yet to play it..

Also check the 'Once Upon a Time in China' trilogy.

...funny you should say that.. I'm reading a sci fi at the moment just to kill time, and if I haven't found anything else I was secretly looking foward to reading it again!

Auckland, NZ

... and I was wondering if anyone could recommend me another book along the same kinda lines; prefereably based on real characters etc as Musashi was... I really got alot out of that book. Cheers

Funnily enough this morning we did a kinda of tag-sparring as a warm up, one had to go for the head and the other for the legs.. without having to worry about landing a good attack you learn alot from foot work and what you can get away with..

I'm still waiting to learn fireballs...

I got thrown about 4 months ago and I can't remember what happened exactly, but my foot was planted on the ground while the rest of me wen the other way.. I heard this loud CRACK from my knee then I was in hella-serious pain.. I hobbled off to the side for a couple of minutes then ended up back sparring on one foot... dunno what went crack but the physio said I'd be ok.. .. other than that just 2 sprained thumbs.

Jet Li vs his Japanese father blindfolded in Fist of Legend Jackie Chan and his teacher vs a whole army in the restraunt in Drunken Master 2 Jet Li vs Thunderfoot in Once Upon a Time in China 2 Ricky Ho vs The Gang of Four in Story of Ricky Michelle Yeoh vs The intruder who stole the sword in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon Damn there are tonnes more worth mentioning from some of my fav's such as Iron Monkey, Buddhist Fist, Drunken Master 1, Twin Warriors and even crazy old The One Armed Boxer vs The Mater of the Flying Guillotine

Yeh that's pretty much the conclusion I came to and mentioned in the topic I created about my second sprained thumb Good advice, but now it's REALLY hard to keep the thumb in as it's strained under the force of putting out the fist, and even th other hand is losing speed as Hiketei hurts it as well All part and parcel huh?

I'm with you on this one.. below will see a topic I started about pretty much the same thing I just taped it up and hope for aspeedy recovery, but 1 week on its still hell..

hehe I'm still playing 3, I've finished it as Rikkimaru, but only half way as Ayame.. damn fine game

Well first off you'll need a blowdart pipe, some poisoned rice, a couple of caltrops, and am a past master or family member to avenge But seriously, is there much need for ninjas now days? are we going to be sending ninjas in to fight the war on terrorism? Perhaps take out Osama and Saddam in one fell swoop (maybe not such a bad idea afterall!!), or do we just want an excuse to lead a 'double life' so we can dress in black and roll play... okay so I've always thought ninjas were hella-cool too, but I'm thinking now days it's all movies.

I bought some leg weights a while ago and wear them every second day at work... at first they were pretty tough (2.5 kg extra on each leg) but now I'm pretty used to them as they've helped build extra muscle.. my kicks have definatley improved since!!

I've been training for only a year and a half now and I plan to continue for as long as I can.. I just can't see myself ever wanting to call it quits. Missing training to me is like when I used to smoke and would run out of cigarrettes.. I get all cranky and fidgety!

From what I can tell this addrenaline rush or tense freezing has saved you.. and I know exaclty what it feels like. A real fight is similar to losing your virginity; or being worried about it being your first time. When it happens, it will be because of the right reasons; not because you have to defend your honour from some junkie yelling at you from acoss the street (only to have his friends you were'nt aware of waiting around the next corner).. I'm yet to be in a real fight.. before I learned martial arts I was walking to work one day and a couple of guys walked right behind me with metal crotches threatening to beat me with them (one had a broken leg, the other guy was holding one as a weapon) .. I just kept walking and nothing happened.. all of the possibilitys ran through my head of "what if I knew kung fu? Then I'd really show them.. I'd do a flying kick through the guys useless skull and then I'd spit on his corpse before the goregous blonde ran into my arms etc etc" where as a matter of fact I did win. I avoided physical and even verbal combat.. admittedly 'frozen' as you have mentioned.. but as many have posted here already it is about self control. There are many times when I can get into a heated conversation with friends or family, where you can see that you are never going to change their mind on the subject... you just want to yell obsenities into their face and then put your training to good use... this is about the time that I shut up in this situation, realise I'm taking a bad 'stance' as it were, and try and 'win' the debate by keeping dignity and self respect. I try to apply this to everything in life.. work getting too much and you just wanna start throwing stuff? To me these are all chapters in the fight that is every day life. It may sound a little overly phylisophical, but it's working for me so far. Well that's my rant.. take from it what you will; hey I'm still learning, but to me the ettequite does not stop at just knowing when to fight or not.