parkerlineage

I see lots of references to the heaviness of broadswords. My dao weighs in at a "hefty" 1.5 pounds. Heavy? I think not.

Wow...I certainly didn't expect such a positive resopnse. I talked with my sensei about it, and he said that perhaps they felt that since they had been away, they needed to prove themselves, and he approved my actions as well, which I knew he would. Still sad, though. So would mine, if he were there. He tends to be very laid back, though, and just told me, "Well, it sounds like you've handled it."

We've had several guys leave our dojo for various reasons - moving away and so forth, and all of them randomly came back to visit tonight. Two of them have been training at alleged MMA places (please note that this post is not intended in any way to put down on MMA, I just wanted to clarify that right now). Basically, from what I saw tonight, that meant that they stopped kicking except for the occasional front kick, started grabbing and sweeping, and used tighter fighting stances. I felt no strong pull toward liking or disliking their new way of fighting, but what I did not appreciate was their attitude. Both of them were/are black belts in our dojo, so they know the etiquette, but they were both overly aggressive toward lesser ranking students, and the student population in general. One green belt got a bloody nose from one of them. My instructor is out of town, so before anybody starts putting him down, he wasn't there to stop any of this. As the second highest rank but youngest student in class, my words carry little weight. The highest rank, a Nidan, told the one who gave a bloody nose to our green belt to calm down, but he didn't. I believe actions speak louder than words, so I let them both have it. I am recovering from a sprained ankle I gave myself doing aerials three weeks ago, so I was fighting on my less preferred side, and was unable to kick - which is my forte. I would like to say, however, that I thouroughly mopped the floor with both of the over-aggressive students - the one who had given the bloody nose especially. He can sweep, but I can land four punches and a front kick on the way down, then a front kick while I roll backward, and another three punches on my way back up. Which I did. Twice. (Slight bow) Am I proud of myself? Perhaps - they used to beat on me when I was little, so turnabout is fair play, eh? Was it proper - I'm not even going there. But please, remember that no matter where you've gone after you leave a dojo, if you return, play by their rules, not yours.

Makes sense to me...well, figuratively. I don't speak either language...but...you get the picture. Thanks!

We have more than 130 something bunkai, and I would say a good 75% of those are not found in our kata. I wouldn't say different from all styles (althought, rereading my original post, I may have come across that way accidentaly), but many, yes?

As far as I know - and it's very possible that I'm wrong - other systems don't place nearly as much emphasis on doing bunkai as we do. Again, I could be wrong.

Again, I say, it's called Dragon Climbs the Pillar in Kung Fu - that's where it came from, though it may be in capoeria, too.

In order of proficiency, and, strangely enough, after I've wrtiten it out, how much I like them: Twin Dao, Bo, Sai, Single Dao, Spear, Nunchaku, Kama

American Kenpo is virtually rooted in bunkai. We have our kata, and kumite, but our bunkai set us apart from other styles.

Yes, it does. Thank you all very much. Very interesting...

I was in a hardware store yesterday with my mother and sister (I'm not sure if there's some thing against saying store names, but anyway...) and I was at the self-checkout counter, scanning some little hangers to hang more weapons in my room. I also had with me a six foot long, 2x1 board that I was purchasing. So, in any event, my sister and I were at one checkout thing, and my mom (who is a brown belt) was at another, when some guy behind me said, "Is this yours?" I half-turned, saw him gesturing toward what I thought was the cart, said, "Yes," then turned back around to the checkout. Suddenly, he goes, "Hey, no it isn't, this is mine!" I kind of turned again, and he was holding some spiral-bound notebook I hadn't seen that must have been in my cart the whole time. I started to apologize, but he cut me off with a string of obscenities and threatened to "f-ing slap me upside my f-ing head." My immediate thoughts were: I need to protect my sister, and make sure my mom doesn't get any crazy ideas. I kicked the board, which was laying horizontally across the counter, into my hand, spun and slid my left foot into a cat stance (loaded, for those who don't speak American Kenpo), with the makeshift staff in a relaxed, vertical position, from which I was planning to implant the bottom of the board in his chin. My mother turned around and ordered, "Leave my son alone!" The guy moved toward her, in front of me, with his back to me, and I said to myself, This is it: are you ready to do what's neccissary? Luckily, he said a few obscenities more to my mother, then stormed out. My hands were shaking for an hour. PS. We went straight from the hardware store to another store, and passed the same guy in the aisle!! Luckily, he either didn't remember me, or chose not to.

I bet you could really mess someone up with a pineapple. Ugh...

My all around favorite is the dao or double dao, but the bo holds a special place in my heart, too, followed closely by sai.

Eagle claw kung fu seems to be complimenting well, also.

I know my karate uniform is called a gi. Is there a specific name for the kung fu uniform (jacket, pants, sash)?

I don't know about Wushu all by itself, but I think I could probably use it in conjuction with my other knowledge to cause some serious damage. A butterfly kick followed up by Kenpo hand attacks certainly works for me rather frequently.

The dojo I will be opening in a few months will be free of charge for much the same reasons; I want to keep martial arts an art, not a business.

Dragon climbs the pillar. Couldn't type it in Chinese.

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!

I have my name on it, but I purposefully got just my last name, in case I ever decide to have children and they get their black belt. Besides, it's in chinese - nobody will know.

I'm sorry I can't help, but that is a powerful story, nonetheless. Talk about devotion!

This style has fascinated me for quite some time, and I have had the opportunity to have minimal training it it. Does anybody know of a decent school in central or northern California, or southern Oregon (I will be living in the Napa area in a few months, and am willing to travel from there; my hometown is a little more than 100 miles away from Oregon, so I'll go from there, too). Thank you!

No question.

When I was six, my parents allowed me to test for my purple belt test even though my instructor said I wasn't ready. I failed, and it did me a lot of good. I'd say, let him learn - he's at an age where he'll make connections. Do not allow him to quit, however. Otherwise, he will learn that, if something's hard, just stop. Granted, I'm just an eighteen year old giving an adult advice, but please consider it. Humbly; Parkerlineage

Am I understanding correctly that you do not practice techniques and kata on an opponent as part of training? If you don't, you may want to; I'm one of a very few instructors that trains their students to do their kata on a body, and you can tell the difference.