Another round of testing at the dojo and...

[aurik]

Not a silly question at all. Yes, when he turns 15, he will need to re-test for full shodan (and concurrently test for nidan-sho). In Uechi-Ryu, the only different requirement for the different Dan grades is the rank kata — so he will need to demonstrate both Seisan (for full shodan) and Seiryu (for nidan-sho). Assuming he continues training, he will then be eligible to test for full nidan at 17 or 18 - before he leaves for college.

[DarthPenguin]

Excellent! Assuming he passes (which i am confident he will) being a nidan in uechi-ryu at 18 will be no joke! Is he planning to stick with it or start cross training in a grappling style too?

[aurik]

Excellent! Assuming he passes (which i am confident he will) being a nidan in uechi-ryu at 18 will be no joke! Is he planning to stick with it or start cross training in a grappling style too?

Our dojo also teaches Aikido, which I've tried to encourage him to try out. They even have a convenient Saturday morning class, right before the class we usually go to. I find it's a really nice warmup for the Uechi-Ryu class. I'd really like for him to stick with it, because as our director said after the testing, "Karate is like boing water. If you take away the heat, it stops bubbling within you". That's one of the things I love about our school --after you pass your test, our instructors will give you feedback on things you can improve upon.

[bushido_man96]

Again, congrats to both of you! Super well done!

[aurik]

It's been awhile since I posted in here, and in the meantime I've started taking Matayoshi kobudo classes.  It's a different experience, using different muscles, and is taking quite a bit to get used to.  However, last month I was fortunate to test for (and pass) my board for kukyu.  The only firm requirement was that we be able to perform bo no hojo undo dai ichi (first set of basics with the bo), but he also had us demonstrate the first bo kata, tsushi no kun, to gauge where we were.  We got some good feedback after the test (for one thing, I need to re-learn how I have been doing my hand pivots on the bo, that's going to take a bit).  But in the end we all passed!

Edited October 9, 2024 by aurik

[sensei8]

Congrats to you, aurik, and the others who've passed their Testing Cycle!!

 

[bushido_man96]

Congratulations Aurik!  Excellent work! 

[aurik]

Last Saturday was my second test in Matayoshi Kobudo (for hachikyu).  I was originally scheduled to test in December, but due to the cardiac surgery in November, I had to miss too many classes to qualify to test.  No biggie, I'm still training and moving forward.  We had four candidates at the test: I was testing for hachikyu, Daniel and his son Ian were testing for rokkyu, and Michael was testing for nikyu.  The way our CI runs kobudo tests is that each rank has a new set of required material, but the tests are cumulative.  So my new material was sai no hojo undo, but I also had to perform bo no hojo undo dai ichi as well.  This means that the higher rank the students, the more material that needs to be covered, and the longer the tests need to run.  Daniel and Ian had to run bo hojo undo dai ichi and dai ni, and technically I only had to run dai ichi.  However, I volunteered to also do dai ni, since I am feeling reasonably comfortable with it.  (Our CI will teach you whatever he feels you're ready for, so we'll often work on things that we don't have to test on for quite awhile).  Over the past 6 months or so, I've also been training with the 6.5' untapered purpleheart bo that I made.  That bo is probably twice as heavy as the untapered oak bo I have, so when I brought in that 6' oak bo to test with, it felt light as a feather.  

I felt the test went really well.  I was able to get good speed and power in all of my techniques, both with the bo and the sai.  In addition to the formal test material, he also ran us through the first bo kata (shushi no kun); even though that is not required until shodan.  All in all, I felt that I put forth a really good effort, and I got some good feedback on how to improve things for future tests.  

And yes, we all passed.  I'm attaching the obligatory photo in front of the nafudakake:

 

 

[Patrick]

Congrats!

[bushido_man96]

Congratulations @aurik!