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It's becoming clear that it's going to be a struggle for me to get to Bujinkan on Weds this term. My Korean professor doesn't give homework in advance which means I invariably have several pages of Korean homework every Weds evening which are due the next day. On top of that, I have Japanese on Thurs afternoon so if I have a test (or heaven forbid, haven't finished my homework (I generally do it over the weekend or at least a few days in advance)) there's no way I can go to Bujinkan. On the other hand, if I finish my homework by 5:30pm on Weds, I can go. Meanwhile, I have a shift to work on Monday from 2-5:30 which means I'm basically going directly from Rutgers to Bujinkan, without dinner, on Mondays, but at least I can go, ne?
Anyway, I made it to buyu today for the first time in awhile, and for the first time in awhile Jack was there to teach the class *L* We trained with knives the entire class. My partner was T. and my only real complaint from the night was that he had a rubber knife. Jack had us doing exercises at keeping our distance and form and striking the other person's knife/hand/arm while keeping ourselves out of the way. He had us do this twice in the class, at the beginning and at the end, and unfortunately for me a flexible weapon actually hurts more and leaves welts on a person rather than just the bruises of a harder weapon (this is why getting hit by a shinai hurts so much). My arm looked like I'd been whipped - it was criss crossed with short red lines of welts most of which have faded now, but I can still pick several out. There's also a bruise which I think will lighten by tomorrow, so really it was just painful to experience and looked pretty bad. T. felt so guilty about it that he treated me to ice cream afterwards. Class was a lot of fun with tons of various ways to avoid or go around a knife attack. I liked catching the strike with your left hand while wrapping your right with your own knife around and under their arm, giving you both a nasty cut to their upper arm and an arm bar. As usual, Jack made me demonstrate. I had been playing around with one particular block (lifting your shoulder to channel the blade up, then grabbing it with the same hand) but it wasn't working for me cause I'm so short, there wasn't space for me to use my same hand. Jack suggested just using my shoulder instead and it worked well, hence why he made me show the class. The usual high level guys weren't there tonight so I suspect I got more attention from Jack out of boredom on his part. Still a very fun class though.
Anyway, I made it to buyu today for the first time in awhile, and for the first time in awhile Jack was there to teach the class *L* We trained with knives the entire class. My partner was T. and my only real complaint from the night was that he had a rubber knife. Jack had us doing exercises at keeping our distance and form and striking the other person's knife/hand/arm while keeping ourselves out of the way. He had us do this twice in the class, at the beginning and at the end, and unfortunately for me a flexible weapon actually hurts more and leaves welts on a person rather than just the bruises of a harder weapon (this is why getting hit by a shinai hurts so much). My arm looked like I'd been whipped - it was criss crossed with short red lines of welts most of which have faded now, but I can still pick several out. There's also a bruise which I think will lighten by tomorrow, so really it was just painful to experience and looked pretty bad. T. felt so guilty about it that he treated me to ice cream afterwards. Class was a lot of fun with tons of various ways to avoid or go around a knife attack. I liked catching the strike with your left hand while wrapping your right with your own knife around and under their arm, giving you both a nasty cut to their upper arm and an arm bar. As usual, Jack made me demonstrate. I had been playing around with one particular block (lifting your shoulder to channel the blade up, then grabbing it with the same hand) but it wasn't working for me cause I'm so short, there wasn't space for me to use my same hand. Jack suggested just using my shoulder instead and it worked well, hence why he made me show the class. The usual high level guys weren't there tonight so I suspect I got more attention from Jack out of boredom on his part. Still a very fun class though.
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