wolfen

agreed

thank you for the information, everyone. While looking up red oak and purple heartwood; I actually found that properly treated hickory is MUCH stronger than any of the others without a terribly significant hike in prices.

about "kancho" In Toshikan we refer to Shigeki Umemoto as kancho; he is the founder and head of the house; he is at least 8th dan (I'm not sure exactly). is this abnormal?

I suppose a seperation between energy replenishment/rehydration drinks and caffienated "sleep is bad! kill the sleep! hyper is good!" energy drinks is a good thing. I was only referring to the caffiene variety.

shadowstep, grab, pull yourself in, slash.... unfortunately this woudn't work on the likes of a naginata. edit - or the glaive

if you still don't get it... think of the black knight in monty python's holy grail. Arthur used his attacks to prevent any more attacks on him (a fangless snake won't do much)

I find increasing the duration of each sparring round is more useful for building endurance than increasing rounds. In any case, the idea is to do extra so that you won't be totally worn out after the sparring portion but can still put high effort into that portion.

against bo or tonfa... tonfa against sai or a single short sword ... bo against dual blades... kama w/chain against katana... bladed jutte against a spear... katana

actually, rick makes an escellent point. Depending on the severity of the fight, it could be wiser to shadow step and explode into their underarm. however, I assume that if it is a poor hook then there would be no need to go really hard; a simple block->counter would suffice

Are there any specifically excellent materials for combat staff? I think mine was probably a practice staff of some sort... I'll have to check. On a side note, I just realised that with the tape (already slightly worn) it sort of looks liek donatello's bo from tmnt

Hello all. I was doing some bojutsu training (shadowbox-style and on a tall stump in our back yard) and accidentally splintered (not a full break, but cracked) the bo with a strike that I didn't think was very hard. So the question, as I bought that bo for a group demonstration and bo kata competition (I got 3rd with "twelve winds") I was wondering if it was simply a lower quality material than it should be for striking practice. I patched it up with athletic tape and it has held well enough to not wobble, but I want to but a new bo and thought you folk might know what material to get. Thanks all.

if he's experienced, then my strategy would be simple... run fast enough and move through/pver/past enough obstacles that I could prolong death or earn life. If he's inexperienced then I would grab a stick of some sort... people try to use hollywood sword fighting which involves a lot of blocking and very little offense. get close and drop the stick to do a tiger fist to the side of his head... after that, I would have at least a slight advantage.

sugar snap peas are wonderful, but why anyone would ever cook any type of peas or put them in a soup/stew is beyond me.

I can see the possible benefit, but when you read the warnings and then think about starters for a football team downing a bottle during the halftime.... just doesn't seem healthy. Thank you for all the input

I couldn't agree more with Cathal... if just holding the persons arms to prevent then from swinging while you wait for them to calm down is enough, then you should go no further. now, if you know that by not going furtherm they will sneak attack you later, then only do what you must.