Some basic warmup stretches, followed by a good bit of kihon. Second half for me was bo, working on learning Kenjo Seko Bobo Kumi, a partner kata.
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Class with Kaiden Steelwind, Jesse, Bryce, and Miriam. Stretch and requirements. I reviewed Miriam a couple times through while Steelwind reviewed Bryce and Jesse’s respective white rope requirements, and then I worked with Steelwind on a few upper rank requirements (advanced blocks, cutting pattern 3, kata san).
After a break, we started with 100 continuous cuts (myself 2H steel) followed by a few rounds of Refined Strikes. Steelwind the led a posture/awareness drill, placing cups of water on our heads and then moving and -ultimately- cutting. Next I setup pels, first in standard zigzag pattern, then in an asterisk formation. We finished with some machinegun drill, first with any upper full circle attack, then with neck or leg full circles.
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I travelled to the San Francisco bay area for the 2026 Best of the Best (BotB) tournament, held at Arata Farm in Half Moon Bay. There were – including myself – 14 competitors this year. The weather was bright sunny, on the warm side. They ran two rings again in order to get through it quickly. I didn’t win, and I did not check my matches yet, but I estimate my average was around 50%.
Sadly, my camera overheated in the sun and shut off, so for the first time since 2009 I did not capture a full video record of the tournament.
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Class with Jesse and Bryce. Stretch and requirements. I started with Jesse, reviewing the cutting patterns and draw cuts. I then worked with Bryce, reviewing cutting patterns, the Samurai, and his 13th move, Defense Chop (which I took a note to review with Head Kaiden Gad next weekend at Best of the Best). As a class we did a study session on The Lightning, a new move for Bryce to bring him to 15 total. Jesse has 19 and still needs one more at some point.
After break, we did 100 full circle cuts with steel (myself 2H), followed by a few rounds of Refined Strikes. I had us pick up boffers and do some multi-opponent drilling, putting one person in the middle between the two ukes/opponents which then took turns making a single attack that the middle person would block or evade and/or counter. The attacks were effectively non-stop, like the non-stop battle, keeping us moving and working on the flow of identifying and eliminating threats. I then moved three pels into an outer triangle with us three inside rotating non-stop through then gambit-style, first clockwise, then after a pause, we went again counter-clockwise. Finally I shifted the three pels in closer and we took turns being in the middle, making some 20 – 30 attacks amongst the three pels.
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Regular 3 laps with 3 burpees each followed by stretch and warmup. Went through several kihone including some 3 technique combos (san-uke/san-uchi); age/ude/geidan uke, jo/chu/gei-dan zuki, chu/yoko/ushiro zuki. Also reviewing the main stances (dachi); heisoko, musubi, kiba, shiko, zenkutsu, neko, kosa.
https://www.thekaratelifestyle.com/list-of-karate-stances/
After a brief break, we worked the rest of the time on kata, myself on Ananku (and before class I reviewed Naihanchi and Seisan).
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Class with Jesse and Derek. Stretch and requirements. I reviewed Derek’s requirements, continuing to refresh his memory and refine his technique. With Jesse I reviewed a few items of his choice. As a class we did a focus session on The I Move, one of the moves Derek had previously learned but forgot.
After a break, we did 100 full circle cuts (2H steel myself and Jesse), Refined Strikes, Advanced Response training, and finished with some Add-On.
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Class with Bryce and Derek. Stretch and requirements. I worked with Derek, welcoming him back after his extended break, reviewing what he remembered and then starting to fill in the gaps and make adjustments. I then paired him with Bryce and they went through their respective requirements while I soloed my own. He remembered learning Jumping Tiger 1, 2, and The Tradition, so we took some time to work on Thorn, either a new move for Derek or a refresher.
After a break, we did 100 cuts (I just used my 1H bokken, but got in 100 right handed and another 50 left handed). Followed with a few rounds of Refined Strikes, and then multi-opponent pel work.
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Class with just Kaiden Severer, unfortunately no other students made it for his visit. Stretch and we went through the Silver Chain requirements using our steel. After a break, we did 100 full circle cuts, Refined Strikes, multi-opponent pel drills, and finished with some Silent Sword.
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Regular 3 dojo laps with 3 burpees each lap, stretch and warmup including 14 more pushups and some kihon. Once through Seisan, than spent remainder of class working on Ananku.
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Class with Bryce and Miriam. Stretch and requirements once through. Focus session on The Tradition. After the break, we logged 40 matches total.
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Tonight was a testing night. The entire session was administered in Japanese, reminding me of the time I tested for my 4th kyu (1st purple) with my original Shotokan school (and did not pass). Fortunately for me, tonight’s test, though in Japanese, was a little more forgiving. I earned my Shorin Ryu green belt (7th kyu, I think), recognizing that I have learned Naihanchi, Seisan, and Shihone Nuke, as well as demonstrating all my techniques well.
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Class with Bryce and Miriam. Stretch and requirements. Focus session on The Mantis. After the break, 100 full circle cuts (myself 2H steel), refined strikes, advanced response training, and move builder.
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Dojo laps and burpees, warmup stretch and exercises, Naihanchi once through, then several Seisan. After a break, focus on Shihon Nuke bo kata.
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Class with Miriam. Stretch and our respective requirements in full. After a break, we did 100 full circle cuts (I just did bokken tonight), a study in combat movement, a couple rounds of Refined Strikes, a few rounds of Add-On, several rounds of Advanced Response training, and finished with unarmored parry (standard, switch parry).
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Class with Bryce and Miriam. Stretch and our respective requirements (I solo’d while they worked together). Study session on Mantis followed by Tradition. After a break, we did 100 cuts (me 2H steel), did some focus work on stance and movement, a few rounds of Refined Strikes, and finished with Balance 1 & 2.
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Warmup followed by some break-fall practice on the mats. Moved on to forward roll and backward rolls (on the mats as well). The class separated into those with kumite gear and those without, and those with (incl me) did a few rounds of light kumite having to stay within the wrestling ring printed on the mats.
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Class with Miriam. Stretch and our respective requirements. Took a little tangent into Myo Sim Kendo and went over the three basic drawing techniques and the blocks available with the up-draw/down-strike.
After a break during which we got into armor, we had 18 one-on-one matches. I did the first 9 two-handed, the second 9 one-handed.
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Brief warm up stretch and straight into bojutsu. Worked extensively on Shihan Nuke (sp?).
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Class with Miriam. Stretch and our respective full requirements. Took a break. Started second half with continuous full circle cuts (myself 200 steel 2H, 100 for Miriam). Did a study session on Thorn, then a few rounds of Refined Strikes applying Basic Cuts to focus on quality and differentiation. Next were several sets of Advanced Response Training, and we finished with a few rounds of Add-On.
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Class with Bryce and Miriam. Stretch and requirements. Study session on The Tradition. After the break, we had a total of 50 1-on-1 sparring matches. I swapped around between 2H (HNH), 1H, and full 2H longsword to give them different styles of opponents.
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Class with Bryce and Miriam. Stretch and requirements. Study session on Jumping Tiger 2. After the break, we did 100 continuous full circle cuts (myself 2H steel), refined strikes, dagger training and dagger refined strikes, advanced response training, and finished with unarmored parry.
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Special post-quarter “open dojo” session. Unfortunately I missed the altered time and missed the first 20ish minutes. Worked on Seisan some, but especially worked on the first bo kata, getting it down pretty well, besides the name which continues to elude me.
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Class with Miriam. Stretch and full through our respective requirements. After a break, we got in 15 1-on-1 matches.
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Stretch and kihon. Worked primarily on kata Seisan.
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Class with Bryce and Miriam. Stretch and requirements. Worked with Bryce on his 13th move and The Samurai. Reviewed Miriam’s requirements. As a class we did a focus session on Jumping Tiger 2. After a break, we did 100 full circle cuts (2h steel for me), several sets of Refined Strikes, several passes of Advanced Response training, and finished with Balance 1 & 2.
Conditions: Medium rain and muddy.