Last night's class...

Last night I taught my Intel class and found that my body is still quite sore from Dale's seminar last Saturday. I had several of my regulars in attendance, so we reviewed some of the Rokushakubo stuff I've been showing for the past several weeks. I chose not to review kamae postures, following the same path that our Soke took this year with his theme of Kukishinden Ryu. I did, however, spend quite a bit of time on the Bofuri Gata, which involves the constant movement of the staff. We looked at how each point in the movement is a base for strikes and blocks and how the legs need to keep one's position constantly moving. In the chaos of the battlefield, staying in one position for a length of time increases the danger from enemy combatants on all sides. So, the bofuri technique is about freedom and movement - and keeping moving while surrounded by danger.

We drilled high and low hits from bofuri, as advancing and retreating actions. We drilled some basic thrusting techniques, too. Then, I went into some kata concepts involving controlling the distance, then off balancing the uke to allow for a closing step and throw with the staff.

Next, I showed some things picked up at Dale's seminar, mostly in regards to unarmed techniques, but with the feeling of wearing armor. We looked at several kata from Kukishinden Ryu, but focused mostly on the base actions instead of the entire kata.

Something Dale taught at his seminar really struck with me and I taught it to my students. Dale explained that many of the kata in the Kukishinden Ryu involve long, drawn out series of actions. Although practiced against one uke or attacker, the actual densho describes them as being against many foes. Given the purpose of Kukishinden Ryu as a school for battlefield combat, where you face enemies all around you, this would make sense. In addition, Dale said that many of the movements would also be used fighting aboard ships, which were also part of the warring going on in Japan during this tradition's history. This cleared up alot of questions for me, since I've always known Kukishinden Ryu to be a battlefield art. Dale said that there aren't even many ground hold techniques, since the logical battlefield tactic would be to quickly defeat the opponent and move on to another. In fact, it would be normal to even leave a wounded enemy and move on, because other soldiers would be following along to 'clean up' the easy kills you left behind. The same was true in European medieval combat, too.

Our evening ended with some sword kata and free play of unarmed techniques. In the sword kata, I showed one similar to what Dale taught. You're wearing your sword, sheathed, when the attacker does a left hand lapel grab and right cross punch to your face. You step back with the right and, with your left hand still holding the scabbard and hilt of your sword, swing it up to block the punching arm on the inside of their wrist. Then, the attacker does a right kick, but you step back with your left leg and parry the kicking leg with a downward swing of the sword handle (while still in the scabbard). From there, you begin to draw the sword with your left hand by shooting it up to hit the attacker just under his nose with the pommel of the handle. You keep the forward pressure as you step slightly to the right inside their balance point, place your right hand on the sword handle and finish drawing the sword from the scabbard by using your body to remove the scabbard from the blade (it's a backward movement).

Because the distance between you and the attacker is now increased, but you haven't let up on the pressure with the pommel to the attacker's face, you snap the blade forward from the outside to cut the attacker across either the back of their neck or low across the belly. It's a difficult technique to describe in words, but the point is to use the handle to control the balance and space of the attacker, while using the body to draw the sword out. It's a very effective technique and fun to play with. They guys loved it and kept at it until we decided to end the training.

Overall, we weren't real aggressive with our training, since I was still sore and the others were visibly exhausted from long work days. So, it was a good time to relax and work on moving slow and precise. Next week we can work on conditioning.

Cheers!