Another round of testing at the dojo and...

[sensei8]

Congratulations, aurik!!

[DarthPenguin]

Congratulations Aurik

[aurik]

Last Saturday was the next round of testing in Matayoshi kobudo.  Normally our CI requires that we attend two classes in the week we test prior to testing, but last week was a bit of a challenge.  My wife was out of town for work, so I had to get Zach everywhere he needed to go.  Which meant I had to get him to Scouts on Tuesday, which is at the same time as the Kobudo class.  Fortunately one of our senior students runs kobudo classes at a different dojo on Monday/Wednesday, so I was able to train with him Wednesday night.  I also attended the Saturday class and tested immediately following.

This time again, I used my "normal" sized bo instead of the Purple People Beater.  It's a bit of an adjustment; mainly because of the length difference.  The weight difference is easy enough to adjust to though.  Due to the various student's schedules, I was the only student testing this time around, and that was both good and bad.  It was good that I was able to get immediate, individualized feedback from my CI.  It was bad that I didn't have any time to rest between segments.  Unlike Uechi-Ryu, testing in kobudo is cumulative.  When you test for one rank, you need to demonstrate all of your prior material as well.  They also want to see you incorporate new concepts into the prior techniques.  For example, at rokkyu I'll be tested on tonkua (tonfa) techniques which require a lot of hip/body swiveling.  Therefore, I'll be expected to translate these mechanisms into my bo and sai techniques as well.

Short version -- I passed, and I got a lot of good individualized feedback as well.  After the test, I was pretty gassed, so completely forgot to get the picture.  Unfortunately my CI didn't have any green belts in my size, so I repurposed my old karate green belt.  I may end up ordering one from Kaataro.  I really like my black belt from them, and I noticed another student has a green belt from Kaataro as well.

[bushido_man96]

That's great to hear, @aurik!  Congratulations! 

[aurik]

It's been awhile since I posted a test report, and I'll have two coming up within a week!.

This past Saturday I tested for yonkyu (brown belt) in Matayoshi Kobudo.  It was a test of only 2 candidates (they had also had a test the prior week) -- Tim (testing for green belt/shichikyu) and me.  Since our kobudo tests are cumulative, the test started out with performing bo no hojo undo (all 3 levels, in random order), sai no hojo undo (randomly), and tonkua no hojo undo (randomly).  The new material I tested on was bo no hojo undo bunkai, which consists of performing all 3 levels, both attacking and defending.  Each technique has a specific attack and defense associated with it, and you're required to perform each in sequence.  I demonstrated with our CI as my training partner, and he wanted me to perform the techniques in a specific way.  My main concern during the test was in dialing back the power and intensity I was putting into each technique to ensure I was able to finish the test without being completely gassed.

The good news is that I passed, but I received quite a bit of feedback that I'll need to address before my next test:

- My (bo) gedan harai uke needs to adjust its pathing to "catch" the opponent's weapon better

- When performing (sai) chudan osae uke, I need to drop my weight onto the sai more, and the sai prongs should be vertical, not horizontal.

- My (bo) gedan yoko uke needs to be strong from top to bottom, not just the bottom.  This also applies to the chudan nagashi uchi / gedan yoko uke / jodan nanamae uchi sequence

- When performing the (tonkua) chudan tsuki / jodan harai uke / jodan yoko uchi / jodan uchi, when I raise up the (opposing) arm to allow the tonkua to go underneath, I need to visualize that as a block.

So I have a lot of things to work on, but I have time to do it.  I think the new element on the next test is the kata tsushi no kon.

Also, this coming Saturday I'll be testing for my Uechi-Ryu sandan and shihan-dai license.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by aurik