Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

Well, this is a bit of a shameless plug, but Akuzawa is doing a seminar in the DC area May 31-June 1, and he is Robert John's teacher.

http://aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13962

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

I welcome anyone who wants to train with us.
it is free. I am not exclusive. We will laugh and have fun. I will let you be the judge of whether you want to return. Nothing but good vibes either way.

And please, test my stuff and question it. Make it yours, adapt it to your way, or throw it out. Your martial path is yours and no one else's.

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

This is a great discussion, Chris. "Good vibes", particularly to a newbie, should have been listed in traditional Asian martial arts as an indicator. Goes to show what they didn't know back then.

Regards,

Mike Sigman

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

yes, Mike.
You are invited too.

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

I spent 9 years in Ames, Iowa. I learned lots of good martial arts there. Swine jujitsu bailed me out some very nasty places. corn-plucking-fu taught me to be very good a blocking. snow-shoveling-do shown me the way of freezing my breath in mid-air.

learned ballroom dancing there too which helped my aikido greatly. :)

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

That is my morning Misogi right now.

By the way, I think great folks come from Ames, Iowa. I was there last year (-17 degrees) supporting the USDA new buildings.

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

I am using snow shovelling as my morning Misogi right now.

I loved Ames Iowa when I was there last year in -17 degree snowstorm. Great folks. Great wrestlers come from Iowa...Kinda like in the country of Georgia (near the Black Sea).

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

Yeah, we got some good wrestlers, some okay karate, and a boat-load of taekwondo *shudder* We are the TKD capitol of the world, I think. :yuck:

Ah well, At least I get to practice my rooting skill on charging hogs and practice my fajin on sleeping cows. :D

Maybe life is good... :cool:

-Blake

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

I always wondered why someone would want to train in a system that does not take easily to a given area?

Kind of like using exotic herbs..

The vibrational energy of an area attracts certain things. It seems to repell others. Why contend with such a Tao? The wrestlers in Iowa make great Judo make players. I bet the Judo there is exquisite.

My Judo teacher, Hal von Luebbert, was from Iowa. He is one of the few folks that can document that he fought over 1,000 organized bouts by the age of 55. He's now 72. When he was 66, he won his 3rd national championship. Tough critters live in Iowa.

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

I hate those NCAA wrestlers. half of the team were taking Judo. They were relentless. I was tired of losing to them so I switched over and studied TKD and Hapkido. of course, in TKD I ran into the twin brothers who can throw axe kicks faster than I can throw a jab. Kept running into freaks of nature.

sleeping cows in Iowa? didn't remember seeing those. *scratching head* hmmmmm

I remembered getting kicks by dairy cows in Minnesota which taught me quite a bit about ukemi on the prairie. Ellis Amdur said that you should not slap the floor when you take ukemi. Very sensible advice, especially when you in a barn full with manure.

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

During the turn of the century and up until about 1920, (i belive) we had a big upsurge in catch-as-catch-can wrestling events in the U.S. Those events were real and much like the floavor of this decade (MMA).

But the guys were a different breed. They were sinewey, lean, weighing about 165-175 pounds. They could fight for hours.

Many were farmboys. Makes you wonder if their tendon and ligament strength came from using a horse and plow?

Boy have we as city-boy machnie- addicted humans changed since then...

But not Iowans

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

you called that misogi? I viewed that as nature sense of humor. you shovel, it dumps more on, you shovel, it dumps more on, .....

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

I was in Bettendorf, Iowa, once! Saw a fabulous John Deere showroom there. And I buy my chickens from Murray McMurray, another Iowa institution. Iowa is one of America's last, great hopes for an agrarian society -- a way of life that is underrated and even treated derisively by today's urbanites and Metrosexuals, but which is our nation's backbone and root to the ground ;). No ability to support ourselves without it.

Oh, and there's a town in Iowa called Goldfield. How could I not love a state with a town named Goldfield? :D
Back to shoveling snow here in New England, where the storm is just hitting.

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

OK, we'll call it the wheel of Karma.

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

I have moved the discussion between Mike Patterson and Chris Parkerson to the below thread:

http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14107

-- Jun

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

Further discussions between Mike Patterson and Chris Parkerson have been moved here:

http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14107

-- Jun

Re: Freeform Bokken Drills to Develop Aiki Flow
 

Hi Chris,
Read your article, yes I do the same type of thing for stick, knife, sword and staff, I begin with a basic sequence of cuts and blocks, 1 to 6. then progress using combinations of 3 (1,2,3. 4,5,6)
then begin random attacks, quickly followed by a counter of 2/3 cuts/strikes/thrust.
in addition to the sword V sword, I also use;
Sword V Double stick (or machete, machete and knife)
Sword V Long staff or (spear)
Just to keep you occupied, when you get bored with this, you can throw in multiple opponents with various weapons.

Happy training.

PS I developed this type of training from 1985-94 as part of my own syllabus