Chibi

I had the pleasure of holding a $30,000 sword on Sunday. The balance was amazing, it was beautiful. I'd never buy one though. There are much cheaper swords that are beautifuly balanced and look good.

Anybody train at the Setku-do Vegas dojo?

White or slightly off white

Welcome to KF!

Did you get the book?

Sure you can do it. Give it everything you've got, have a go. As SevebStar said 'compete at local events' and work your way up.

The Takeda family is believed to have been taught in secrecy by the descendants of The Seiwa Emperor, who developed the art after learning basics from the Emperors' family. I can't remember exactly, but I think it all started in the mid-late 800's. By the time it got to the Takeda family it was a full system of blocks, strikes, holds and joint locks etc. We're talking something like 800-900 years for it to reach the Takeda family.

What would you like to know? The history is very long. Ueshiba Morihei (Aikido) studied Daito-ryu. Okuyama Ryuho (founder of Hakko-ryu) studied Daito-ryu under Matsuda Hosaku, who was a direct disciple of Takeda Sokaku, and under Sokaku himself. I will give more when I have more time, gotta run.

Welcome to KF

Welcome to KF

The red-oak nunchaku sold in Japan are made in China. You can probably get the same ones cheaper were you are. Nunchaku are expensive here.

I usually practice with both on hand. Try new stuff with foam first and then wood. Wood has a much better feel about it, the weight and the texture. But if you can only get foam, you can only get foam.

Our shodan test has 30 min of full contact fighting, including karate, grappling, judo and whatever else you can do. Aswell as kata, kihon and nunchaku.

That's about it.

I also have back problems. I started doing some yoga exercises for my back and since then it hasn't been half as bad as it was.

I don't think there is any 'best' MA. They are all different and all good for what they are. I have studied 3 MA and liked them all.

No punching or elbows to the head/face. No 'dirty' fighting. Everything else is OK. Throws, grappling, knees (head and body), elbows (body only) and of course punching and kicking. I guess I'm learning to fight.

I think variety is great.

I pay about US$70 a month. I can train as often as I like, including private lessons

aefibird, in Japan purple is the colour of royalty, and because of this the founder of Hakko-ryu decided on purple for the highest level. I think Hakko-ryu gives coloured belts in America, but in Japan coloured belts aren't used. Purple is given for the rank of Shihan and above.

Welcome

When I studied Hakko-ryu we had ; white black purple In the style I'm studying now, Setku-do, we have white blue yellow green brown black

IMHO if you produce good quality students, your numbers will increase quite quickly through word of mouth.

I think you could learn quite a bit studying there for 2 months. 6 days a week, lesson time plus the time you put in yourself, it's possible to gain a bit of knowledge.

I don't study shotokan, but thought some people here might like to look at this page. http://www.unh.edu/shotokan/kata.html