you shoulda seen the other guy

yeah, not a scratch on him. Total self-inflicted wound, 自爆.

We were working on bo vs. sai.

hmmmmm. test coming up for me, lots of pressure every practice, very good feeling.

But I smacked myself good.

teacher / friend T. said that until you injure yourself with a weapon, you don't really know the weapon. Well I have cleared the nunchaku (past post) and tonight cleared the sai. Which one is next?

I recovered well, switching into free-style and doing whatever worked to restrain the opponent, but still, the pictures are not pretty.

We ran through the full set of bo vs. sai and I mucked up a couple times but recovered well -- not the official form but I adjusted naturally, smacked the other guy in an unexpected but effective way. Still, tonight's performance would not pass the test.....So I was satisfied, I could adjust in different circumstances, still whack the guy, but I couldn't pull off the needed techniques to pass the test.....

Check back next week....

The gathering of the 5000

A couple weeks back there was a major karate and kobudo gathering in Okinawa. Over 5000 participants from around the world gathered inside the Okinawa Prefecture’s Gym. There were so many demos that 6 or 8 rings were running simultaneously.

I didn’t make it down for the fun, but several dojo mates and seniors did. By chance, I had an open Wednesday night so I visited the Morishita dojo where I have practiced a few times and have always been made to feel extremely welcome.

Though I missed out on the big event in Okinawa, it worked somewhat to my advantage because most of the people from Tokyo had not yet returned. That meant only four people for kobudo practice and more individual attention from the teacher.

He asked each of us to focus on whichever was our weakest weapon for that night’s practice. Oh, so many to choose from when they all need work. I opted for sai, since I will need to perform tsukin shita haku no sai (chikin shita haku no sai) for my next rank exam. And because I have not been able to nail the down block / rising block combo which is done about 552 times in the kata and that has caused some concern out in Tama where I usually practice.

The extra scrutiny from the teacher was well worth it and my kata or form has been completely rebuilt. Now to grind in the changes through about ten thousand reps before the test…

(photo of a number of bo staves strapped onto a bicycle for easy transportation around Tokyo)