Cool stuff I learned this week

[sensei8]

Now you’re talking!! Great help for both you and Zach.

Nothing more exciting than having a guest instructor of that caliber on the floor.

He definitely ran you all through the paces from A to Z and back. That’s my type of training…hit them hard and shake them up with no- nonsense training. I bet everyone one the floor was drenched in sweat from head to toe.

An old Okinawa saying that my Sensei always reminded us often…

“Minai chichi nai. - We learn by watching and listening!!” You both did just that.

[bushido_man96]

That's an awesome training experience, @aurik.  You are right about doing the same things from someone else's perspective; it helps you to see the same things in a different light and brings on new thoughts and methods of doing things.  Sometimes you don't need to learn something different, just the same thing differently, to open avenues of growth.

It's really cool how he pulled Zach aside to work with him.  Awesome for him.

[aurik]

So I saw Ian yesterday at his dan grading (he was grading for nidan).  I asked him about that sokusen geri -- the third time, Gushi sensei hit him hard.  Of course, Ian, being the good Uechi Ryu karateka he is, kept a stolid face.  Gushi leaned in and whispered, "That hurt, didn't it?"  He definitely nodded.  It turns out he had a bruise on that thigh visible from across the room (his mom noticed too.)  Fortunately being the young guy he is, he recovered in a few days.

[Nidan Melbourne]

On 5/20/2025 at 5:44 AM, aurik said:

So I saw Ian yesterday at his dan grading (he was grading for nidan).  I asked him about that sokusen geri -- the third time, Gushi sensei hit him hard.  Of course, Ian, being the good Uechi Ryu karateka he is, kept a stolid face.  Gushi leaned in and whispered, "That hurt, didn't it?"  He definitely nodded.  It turns out he had a bruise on that thigh visible from across the room (his mom noticed too.)  Fortunately being the young guy he is, he recovered in a few days.

I've lost count of how many times that's happened to me over the years. 

I remember going or my Nidan, was doing Sanchin Kata and my "partner" left a massive welt on the inside of my right thigh then my sensei came up to test my stance and delivered 6 nasty thigh kicks to my outer thigh. 

i winced after every kick, which sucked massively. Then one of the other instructors asked me the same thing "you got one heck of a bruise don't you?" and all I could give was the look of "No duh Sensei"

But what was worse that I still had to do Saifa, Seeinchin, Sanseru, Seisan and Shisochin after that little beating. *ouch*

I changed into a lighter Gi after my last kata and before the Pre-Arranged Sparring portion of the grading. And the bruises were clear as day to everyone even the instructors. 

Hurt like heck for the rest of the grading as I had Pre-Arranged Sparring (Our Gyakusoku Kumite, Kyogi [Self-Defence Routines we come up with], Bunkai [Dojo Created]) and Sparring. 

Although to be fair I did leave a monster bruise on the one that gave me the first bruise and that was during a couple of rounds of 2 on 1. he just laughed it off like a maniac which was hilarious. 

[aurik]

It has been a ... little while since I last posted in here.  Life has been pretty darned hectic, trying to keep up with family life, work life, martial arts life, and posting in here.  Fortunately, the martial arts life hasn't suffered, but keeping up with this thread sadly has.  I have continued to train in Uechi-Ryu and kobudo as often as my other commitments allow, and I have also continued to teach almost every week.

Zach is preparing to enter high school, so it seems that there's always some new event associated with that to go to.  Last night it was an introduction to the different classes and "pathways" he can take at his high school.  Fortunately, the high school is less than a mile from our house, so unless the weather is absolutely awful, we shouldn't ever have to drive him to/from school.  Here in Colorado, we have a "choice of school" system, where you have the school you are zoned for, but you can actually select any school within the school district.  We have several excellent schools that are options (including the one he picked), so unfortunately some of his friends may be going to a different school.  Fortunately, many of them are going to the same school

At the beginning of this year, I made several resolutions.  The first one is to be more consistent in my training - not just in martial arts, but also getting into better shape overall.  As I get older, I find that if I take any significant time off (more than a week), it takes a REALLY long time to get back to where I was.  This kicks in especially hard if I spend any time at sea level.

Back in October I took a trip to see the St Louis Blues (ice hockey team) play their home opener.  We got a hotel within walking distance of the arena, and I had the opportunity to show Tracy and Zach some of the places I really enjoyed growing up.  The pre-game festivities were a lot of fun, and I got a couple autographs from some of the Blues' alumni.  Unfortunately the Blues just flat out got blown away in the game, but everything else was fun.  Well, while I was there, I went to visit a Uechi-Ryu Kenyukai (different organization) dojo and both Zach and I had the opportunity to train with them for a day.  I got some very good and pointed feedback on my rank kata.  Some of the feedback was specific to the Kenyukai organization, but I found all of it quite valuable and insightful.

I've had a couple promotions in Kobudo, and most of all I'm finding my technique improving substantially.  The key improvement I think I've found is that I'm more able to activate my hips when wielding the tonkua, and that is helping me with the other weapons - bo and sai mainly.  I'm also finding that there are lessons from kobudo that translate directly to Uechi-Ryu - after all, karate and kobudo were developed alongside each other, so the lessons in one often apply to the other.

I've also continued to progress in my bladesmithing/weaponsmithing.  Over the holidays I took a class for a kitchen knife (they're a LOT harder than they look) which turned out amazing, and last week I made an arming sword.  The kitchen knife class was very well-run and I am delighted with the result.  The arming sword class taught me a LOT about consistency, both with the forging and the grinding.  I still have some work to finish out on the arming sword, but once I get that finished, I'll be posting the pictures here.

Lastly, I just got the news that I'll be testing for sandan this May, and (assuming I pass), I should also receive my Shidoin license.  Just in the past few months I've started to feel pretty confident in my Kanchin kata (required for 3rd degree) enough to ask for help in fine-tuning it.  So I'll need to make a point in getting to the advanced adult class more often.  This will also mean skipping some of Zach's Scout activities, but that's why we have a 2 parent team here.

I promise the next update won't be NEARLY as far off as this one was...

[sensei8]

Quite a fantastic post; I always enjoy reading your posts!!

You sure don’t need to apologize for not posting in awhile because real life has priority. Your thoughtfulness is always appreciated.

Zach going into high school is quite exciting for sure. My high school days are far behind me but my high school days weren’t always fun. My kids, who are all grown up with their own families was great all the way around. Our son Nathan was a star in high school and our daughter Krystal loved playing the flute in high school. We lived in Oklahoma back then and that’s why I hate snow.

Glad that Zach and you are still training in the martial arts. Good luck with you Sandan Testing Cycle in May!! You both are turning out to be effective MAists across the board.

Your other travels and your blade smithing are exciting to read about. I’ve never been to a NHL game and I’m all thumbs whenever it comes to things like gardening or carpentry or things like that because I can’t draw a straight line at all.

I’m sure Zach will understand when you miss his scouting class/events. Just remember, 7 times down, 8 times up; that’s the MA way!!

[bushido_man96]

Good to see the update!  Best of luck on your upcoming test.  I'm sure you'll knock it out of the park! 

[aurik]

It's been an interesting few weeks.  Some good news, some really rough news (that really started before my last update).  The good news: a week ago Thursday I tested for (and passed) my test for gokyu in Matayoshi Kobudo.  It's considered one of the harder tests, since you are required to perform all of the hojo undo for bo, sai, and tonkua in sequence, in addition to whatever other additional things our instructor wants to see.  Usually he wants to see a kata or two, although the kobudo kata aren't *required* until dan gradings.  However, he likes to see where you are, so that when you *do* test on the kata, you look really good at them.  The test pretty well gassed me, but I made it through, and I thought I looked really good for everything I did.  For my next test, I need to start working bo no hojo undo bunkai... so I get to start whacking my partner (and defending from) a bamboo bo.  I've had the chance to do it a few times, and it's a lot of fun.

I talked with my CI a couple weeks ago about how I really wanted to start getting feedback for Kanchin (my kata required for sandan), since I am testing in May and want to polish it as best I can before I test.  So he has been making a point to do so.  On last Tuesday's class, our CI had me working seisan bunkai (a core test requirement, something which I don't get to practice very often), and then he and his younger brother made a point to get the nidans out to practice Kanchin.  I got some really good feedback from that - in certain places I was stepping too far, and other places I needed to shift my weight further forward.  Definitely good stuff.

Thursday night, I attended weapons class, and we went through all the basics with a few kata in there.  I'm starting to really get the hang of the second bo kata (choun no kun).  It's hard memorizing these kata sometimes, because you don't get to run through them very often.  But I'm pretty sure I've memorized most of that one.  In my teaching session, I had the pleasure to work with Jack, who is a yellow belt who is about Zach's age.  He's a real joy to work with.  He's all knees and elbows and uncoordinated as a 13 year old can be, but he listens, tries to do what you ask, and he always thanks me profusely for working with him.  

Now for the really hard stuff.  A few weeks ago, a friend of mine was killed in a motorcycle accident.  She had been going through some tough times - dealing with an abusive relationship, lost her job, was about to get evicted from her apartment.  She weathered this huge storm of <insert epithet here>, and everytime life knocked her down, she got right back up.  She had just found a new job at the beginning of January, and she had just signed the lease for a house that she loved.  As she was riding home that same night from work, someone pulled out in front of her, and she slammed into that vehicle.  I don't know if she died instantly, but she was gone before they could load her into an ambulance.  

And... she was the glue that held her whole family together, and I'm now watching the family get torn apart.  Her 2 youngest (3 and 10) are going to NC to live with their grandmother, since their dad doesn't feel he can take care of them in his current state.  Her sister and 21 year old daughter are trying to strongarm her 17 (almost 18) year old into moving in with either of them (he turns 18 at the end of Feb).  And the 2 youngest's dad may be going back into a really dark place that it took him 2 years to get out of the last time.

And sadly there's not a whole lot I can do from where I stand.  But it breaks my heart to see it happen, because I know how important it was to her to have all 3 of her youngest living together under the same roof.

[sensei8]

Martial Arts aside, and as important that MA training is, and you know you’ve got my support across the board, the death of your friend and that situation that surrounds, you can only do whatever you can do, and no more!!

Hopefully, the 3 of her youngest will be living together soon.