Over the weekend, I had an opportunity to train with the Phoenix Society of Historical Swordsmanship, which is a HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts) club that specializes in Italian styles of swordsmanship, as well as Spanish rapier. The club is run by Richard Marsden, who is also the President of the HEMA Alliance. They were a good group of people, […]
Every now and then, I like to search YouTube with the kanji/kana for certain key phrases, to see if I’m missing any good material because it isn’t listed in English. Sometimes, it’s as simple as searching for 空手 (karate). Other times, I will search for something specific, like 取り手 (torite/tuidi). As an English speaker, with very limited Japanese skills, I […]
Nishiuchi Sensei demonstrating tonfa Most karateka practice at least a little bit of kobudo, or they have seen it done by their sensei or dojo-mates. I will admit that I am far from an expert on kobudo–years ago, I passed a proficiency test with the bo, and nearly passed a proficiency test for sai (failed the “impractical weapon manipulation” requirement), […]
Ota Eihachi Sensei demonstrating Pinan Sandan The spinning backfist, or hammerfist, can be used in both self defense situations and sport fighting, if it’s used correctly. These are usually seen in kata as hammerfists (which I actually prefer to the backfist), and the kata tells you precisely when to use them in self defense. This brief article is going to […]
Every time I wash my obi (belts), I get mental images of countless karate instructors and practitioners screaming “never wash your belt!” When I first started training, I followed that tradition, and everything was fine. Of course, I also went up through the belt ranks pretty quickly, so I didn’t wear the first few for very long. On top of […]
Kiyohide Shinjo Sensei breaking two 1″ boards with a small surface strike Martial artists–usually of the competition-driven variety–often like to point out that certain techniques don’t work, are impractical, or simply too difficult to make work. There are certainly bad techniques out there, that simply do not work in reality, but I will often see perfectly sound techniques being lumped […]
