Class with Bryce. Stretch and reviewed his requirements. Did a study session on The Mantis and The Tradition. 100 full circle cuts (boken). Finished with a relatively short introduction to hand to hand (Shotokan Karate), covering front stance (zenkutsodachi), front punch (oitsuki), and the four basic blocks: down (gedan barai), inside (uchi uke), outside (ude uke), and rising (age uke).
Tag: wcos
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One on one with Sal today as I had made my way down to Redding. We discussed how the Redding Dojo was progressing and then went through our Silver Chain requirements using steel. Key points for myself were:
* remember the final two carotid draw cuts,
* make certain the sword and foot are in sync for Lightning,
* adjust my range accordingly to my uke retreat in Whispering Wind,
* use the new ending on kata ichi (after the two neck blocks, make an advanced thrust block before turning with right leg block and the final head block),
* use the adjusted ending to kata ni (after dragons tail, use the Illusion for the 180, i.e. the sword comes up and over the head/shoulder before thrusting, not around the side as I have done in the past),
* and recite the six traditions, three types of moves, and three rules of swordsmanship in that specific order. -
Class with Bryce. Short day today, just got right to it. Reviewed his requirements, some refined strikes, some Advanced Response training, 100 full circle on our good arm and another 50 full circle with our off hand, and finished with 3-attack parry, Switch parry, and Open parry (unarmored centered cuts).
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Class with Bryce. Stretch followed by going through his requirements. I then taught him my Cutting Pattern 4, including a brief introduction to the techniques involved (mostly the thrust deflection). We then did a few rounds of Refined Strikes followed by 100 full circle cuts, and finished with a progression of 1-attack parry, 3-attack parry, and Switch parry.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and his requirements once through. Instructed him on Gad's Sword Disarming Move. Refined Strikes, 100 full circle cuts (boken, one-handed), Balance 1.
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Got together with Bryce to teach him boken construction and help him with making his first one. I brought a selection of hickory stock that I had on hand. He is looking at arming swords, long term, so we went with a slightly longer one handed format, constrained slightly by the stock I had available.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch followed by review of requirements. Did some focus time on his newest practiced moves, the I Move and the Tradition. A few iterations of Refined Strikes, then took a break to armor up. 15 boken matches, three with me using two handed, one with me using two sword, the rest one handed.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch. 100 full circle cuts with our dominant hand, another 50 with our off hand. Review of requirements. Refined strikes. Etc.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and once through his requirements with me matching. Refined strikes and then a break to get armored up. Armored 1-attack parry, armored Switch parry, and finally 12 matches of light contact one-on-ones (me one handed for first 9, two handed for final 3).
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Class with Bryce. Stretch, then went through his Green Braid requirements. Did some 1 attack parry, some advanced response training, full circle cuts with steel (50 one handed for him, 100 two handed for me), another set of full circle cuts (100 boken for him, 50 iron sword for me), and then switch parry. I also had him try on the loaner protective gear to make certain we're ready for next week (all good).
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Class with Bryce. Stretch, then went through his Green Braid requirements. Added The Tradition (one-handed variant). Did 100 full circle cuts (boken). One-attack parry, then Switch-parry. Ended with balance 1 & 2, using new balance materials I picked up today (4×4's, bricks, semi-rounds, 1×2 cinders that the semi-rounds can slot into, & round cabers, all cabers between 4 – 5 ft for easy transport).
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Class with Bryce, trying out Cedar Hills Recreation Center. Reviewed his requirements, once through with just him, then again with me doing the same as him. Refined strikes. 100 full circle cuts (boken). A little bit of additional focus on Jumping Tiger 1 and The Mantis.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and then went through his requirements. Spent a little more time on Cutting Pattern 1. Did a few rounds of Refined Strikes, then 100 Full Circle Cuts (bokken). Finished with one attack parry followed by three attack parry.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and then a couple excercises, first just leap frog, then a leap frog / pushup burpee, traveling down and back on our dojo space. Reviewed Bryce's requirements and added The Mantis to his set of moves. Finished with Refined Strikes.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch then went through his requirements with myself doing them, too. Spent some focus time on Cutting Pattern 1 and also on loosening and turning over the wrist to achieve a better full circle cut. Performed continuous full circle cuts with boken, 50 for Bryce and 100 for me. Finished with each of us doing Refined Strikes once.
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Class with Bryce. Reviewed his requirements a couple times through, then went through requirements together, him repeating his as needed as I completed all of mine (except the cutting patterns he doesn't know).
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Class with Bryce at new location of Multnomah Community Arts Center. Stretch and review of his requirements. Added Thorn. Ended with a very brief bit of minor Balance 1.
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Class with Bryce. Stretch and review of everything he knows so far. Added thrust block, Cutting Pattern 1, and his first practiced move, Jumping Tiger 1.
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I journeyed to the Hayward Dojo and participated in the 2016 Best of the Best tournament. Top rankings went to Gad, Gemini and Vea, however I was awarded recognition for my exhibited skills and versatility.
In addition to the tournament steel matches, I did 20 or so boken matches with a few of the lower ranks, too. -
Class with Bryce. Stretch followed by a brief review of his basic cuts, then full circle cuts, 50 for him, 100 for me (boken). We then went back to reviewing what he knows so far, and then added decap block and leg block. We worked on flow a little and then I gave a sneak peek of Jumping Tiger 1 which we'll cover in full next week.
Conditions: Light rain, moderate temperature
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Class with Bryce. I provided him with a one handed boken in place of the two-hander I had him temporarily use last week. I spoke about the approach and reaons the WCoS has to training in all conditions, followed by a short stretch. We reviewed his basic cuts, working on some of the more subtle difference between two and one handed. Added thrust and the head and neck blocks.
Conditions: Intermitent light rain, cool
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First day of the new Portland Dojo, temporarily to be held at Commonwealth Lake Park. Bryce met me and we went over the format of the class, the desired commitment I'm looking for, one solid color for uniform, the three rules of swordsmanship, the six traditions, the defensive stance, and the six full circle cuts. I lent him a bastard sword boken for this week, but I will try to get him a one hander come next week and will join him in that style.
Conditions: Perfect, roughly 70 degrees or a little under, dry for the present.
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Solo practice, went through all of my Silver Chain requirements (using steel). Included Kodiak and Dragons Bite, and started experimenting with a move tentatively named Vampire (right shuffle in right neck cut feignt spun into left back edge neck cut ("scorpian") with lateral shift to left stance).
I am training in the park, and a guy (Daniel, I think) happened by and gave me a katana that has been sitting in his closet for a couple years ever since his friend gave it to him. I offered to teach him to use it, but he said he wasn't very interested and probably too busy. I provided him a contact method if he changes his mind.
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I journeyed down to the Hayward Dojo for a Day of Combat and to support Sal's 30 minute non-stop battle and Crimson Chain test, and I also was a part of Steel Wind's steel Red Rope test.
We had a good number of fighters present, six in steel and several more in wood. It started with Sal's non-stop, then the main combat event was 5 wood matches, 5 steel matches, 5 wood matches, 5 steel matches, and 5(?) scenario wood matches.