Last Saturday, our dojo's Fearless Leader (FL) invited his teacher, the awe-inspiring "He Who Shall Not be Named!" (or HWSNBN!) to give a seminar on sparring. As usual, HWSNBN! gave an excellent class and threw out many comments for us Mere Mortals to consider when we slink back to regular training to work on improving.
I was thinking about one of the rhetorical questions thrown out by HWSNBN! "Why are you in Ichimonji?" He said any response of "I don't know why I'm doing this" is incorrect. I liked that.However, from a teaching point of view, I'm not sure that's always 100% true. Because the student's understanding of why he does anything should constantly improve.
I expect a beginner to say, "I have no idea why I'm doing this other than myteacher told me to, and I trust him." I think that's valid.
Somewhere in the middle, the student should be able to explain that the kamae is optimal for defense, offense, mobility, etc. How the student expresses that is going to change. Defense and offense might be defined as having the arms up to block strikes and be available for punching in response. Later the student might describe how blading the body protects the vital areas, and that three of the four weapons (2 hands, one foot) are between you and the opponent.
The student will later talk about more subtle concepts, "I feel right in this posture; I'm ready to act." Or be able to explain how and why power can be generated from the hips and knees more efficiently.
I think the most advanced people are fully aware of these parts, but probably (and legitimately) they go back to, "I've been doing it so long, I'm comfortable with it. I trust that it works, because I've experienced it working."
I've also heard, in an ominously vague way, that some students, "Didn't seem to have a grasp of Gyokko Ryu Ichimonji." Comments like that cause me to ponder on my own training and lead to the first few paragraphs above.
Here's a training tip: Always assume that a criticism of your group automatically applies to you. Think long and hard about it. Never, ever, hear yourself say, "I'm glad he's not talking about me." He probably is talking about you in that case.
Gambatte!
2 comments:
It was a good time. My apologies for violating the "nothing other than Ichimonji" rule, though likely, my tactics would not have differed much even if I had used the correct kamae. Hoko worked will for me.
Alternately, given that this was a unique opportunity for me, I approached much of the sparring as a chance to learn how to deal with an adversary taking the ichimonji and kamae. I realize this is an inversion of the point of the seminar and I apologize, but the opportunity was too good to pass up. I think you'll find my findings interesting. My only regret is that I didn't get to work with more partners, especially some of the more experienced members of your dojo, such as you and Sky Ninja.
I too took a couple of things from the seminar. I like the martial way we study because 50 people can watch a teacher at the same time, and those 50 people will get what their level of understanding allows.... and then someday get the "ahhh lightbulb stuff".
Just remember folks, don't get wrapped around the axle with things like " oh no, my kamae is wrong" or " damn, I disappointed teacher cause my legs weren't bent enough". There are so many other things to wrap up about. Practice will smooth out the small things.... and testing whats learned frequently in real life will build the confidence to believe in one's own ability to boil down the BS to what works.
I like HWNSNBM's seminars because he has the ability to boil down the BS to just what you need.
In my humble opinion, WE ROCK!! (and have for the last 1000 years or so).
Remember boys and girls..... none of us are leaving here on our feet. Don't sweat the small shit.
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