swords and arrows

ahhh, the good old days. I was invited by my teacher to join in special all-day seminars in Chen style tai ji jian (straight sword) and tai ji dao (broadsword). The pace was brutal but I learned both forms. Rode the Shinkansen bullet train out of Tokyo to a different prefecture and back in one long day.

The last session was in a prefecture gym / sports complex. We used the kyudo dojo -- kyudo is the stylized Japanese form of archery. People store umbrellas or arrows in the divided compartments outside. They also serve as a nice place to put swords at lunchtime.

I would give much to have a teleporter device and be able to travel instantly to Japan to join in more of those trainings.....

Chen style tai ji quan

"The most important thing in learning Chen style is not to rush."

From an email from my teacher last year...

Well we certainly have not been rushing on the empty hands form (a version of xinjia which he teaches). But necessity has meant learning large chunks of the chen style jian and dao forms in a very short period of time. A few days of extremely concentrated, intensive practice -- but even then I don't feel rushed. I only feel the excitement of surging forward in a form. But really the not-rushing part begins now -- weeks and months and more of practicing and refining and searching deeper.