sdargie

My girlfriend and I have a rabbit and a guinea pig. Both girls and as such their names reflect it. The bunny is Nagi, short for naginata since the weapon kind of looks like a bunny ear and is a predominantly female art due to it's history. The guinea pig is Yin although the markings on her are actually closer to yang. http://photos13.flickr.com/18395953_84a3c80f1b.jpg?v=0

My grandfather and father both fenced so I grew up in a house with swords hanging around all the time. My child hood heroes were Zorro and the Three Musketeers. I didn't really get into eastern martial arts until college but growing up around swords has definetly shaped how I approach and digest techniques. It's amazing how many techniques and philosophies can be traced back to sword play.

Nice metaphor!

A Book of Five Rings is great by itself even better if read in conjunction with The Unfettered Mind and The Life-Giving Sword. Miyomoto Musashi, Takuan Soho and Yagyu Munenori were all alive at the same time and knew each other personally or by reputation. Five Rings by Musashi focuses mostly on sword technique with little focus on philosophy; "The Book of the Void" is only a page long. The Life-Giving Sword is actually a document given to graduates of Munenori's school and has a balance of technique and philosophy. The Unfettered Mind is a letter from Takuan to Munenori that uses swordplay as a model for explaining Zen. The biggest concept I pulled from Five Rings was the Void and its descrition of the training process. "The point of training is to forget your training." I can't remember where I read that but it sums it up very nicely.

Chi sao(sp?) is one of my favorite things to do at practice. In fact, I try to do as many techniques possible with my eyes closed to really refine my sensitivity and not really too much on sight. (What if you are fighting in a DARK alley?) My grandfather was the first person, at least in America, to teach the blind to fence so I have an inherent curiousity as to how far I can develop my other senses. In training we also vary chi sao to go beyond pushing someone off balance. We'll try to land punches, use kotegaeshi, juijenage, etc. and move around the room to keep it interesting. The last time we did this, nage (I'll use Aikido terms) was blindfolded and defending themselves against ukes punches, shoves, throws, etc. while trying to find that moment where they could enter and control uke by being sensitive to their openings. It's rediculously tough at first but after a while I was able to duck two full forced punches with ukes right hand by feelinig how their left shoulder was shifting and then irimi nage them. It's a pretty cool awareness once you relax into it.

The fan is more condusive to circular movements of kung fu and is definetly the more inconspicuous of the two in terms of carying it on the street. The sai are more closely related to karate movements and are definetly what I would grab if I had to defend my apartment. Someone attempted to break into our apartment a few weeks ago so now my sai, tai chi sword, katana, wakizashi and tonto as well as my girlfriends katana are all within reaching distance of our bed in case it happens again.

Didn't see this part of the forum at first so here I am now. I have lived in the New England area all my life and have been officially training in martial arts for a little over a year. I've been raiding my Sensei's library and creating a library of my own trying to absorb as much as possible about the arts, their philosophies and applications to life. I am very excited to have started this journey and look forward to many years of learning.

I just have to say that these discussions are great. The internal arts section is the reason I joined. From what I understand (so far) about ki is that the example of the water condensing and the electrical charge are the closest examples of ki but not for the reasons they were brought up. Like Sam said, "energy" itself is not visible.... only its interaction [not reaction] with matter." Li*, or the physical manifestation of ki, what we percieve, feel, hear, see around us. For example; Ki : stress :: Li : ulcer. This also extends to inanimate objects as manifestations of ki albeit in their raw state. I would say "the ki of that chair" is less acurate than "the ki of that wood." I relate Morihei Ueshibas credo that ki is love to this by comparing love to connectedness and not "I love my mom." Keeping in mind that everything can be broken down to electrons, neutrons, protons and even smaller quarks (although I don't know much about quarks) helps to dissipate the mysticism of ki and anchor it firmly in the real world. Thinking in terms that everything is made of the same material/energy definetly helps to wrap my mind around the philosophical aspects that, in my opinion, are more important applications of ki than creating Star Wars-esque lightning. (I don't deny the possibility of using ki like the force, however I doubt the probability of anyone gaining that significant amount of control in one lifetime.) *I learned about this concept in Reflections on Qi by Gary Khor if anyone wants to check it out.

Dating in our dojo is everywhere but it hasn't gotten in the way of training. My Sensei is married to a former student of his, I got my girlfriend involved and our two Joshu have been dating a long time. In fact, it has helped in some instances. We have found that the couples end up training together outside of the dojo (i.e. doing sticky hands and wristlocks while walking down the street). As a result we are training almost constantly and it's a growth process that we share and help each other through. We are very lucky though that our circumstances went this way though, and a professional attitude should be kept while training in the dojo regardless of who you go home with after anyways.

I am a 9th gup in Hapchidado. We start at 10 and count down to black belt. At some point if I have the time I'd like to train in "pure" Aikido and Kendo for more experience. Why does it take so long to decide if you passed?