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Thread: You have one year to prepare for a duel.

  1. #76
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    Originally posted by Yagyu Kenshi
    Sleeping under a sword is one way to elliminate or reduce this affliction; long and arduous training in the dojo, with long and arduous meditation in the temple is another.
    Please don't take this the wrong way, my friend, but do you really think so? How can the oen be equal to the other? Certainly, such people as him go to a mental place that's kind of, I dunno, special.
    We are the Sherlock Holmes English Speaking Vernacular. Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula.

  2. #77
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    Originally posted by Charlie Kondek
    Please don't take this the wrong way, my friend, but do you really think so? How can the oen be equal to the other? Certainly, such people as him go to a mental place that's kind of, I dunno, special.
    Yes, very special. Like satori?
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  3. #78
    aikitazz Guest

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    As I haven't seen any Aikido replies:

    Wait til the last possible second of the attack, and take the blade away from the attacker, just as O'Sensei could have done at any point during the match with the Admiral. I have always found it truly unsettling to have an unarmed defender relaxed and ready without fear facing me holding the bokken or katana. Granted this level of expertise would be hard to develop in one year.
    Classic attacks follow classic patterns and therein lies the weakness. In some cases the amateur holds all the cards as he reacts out of the ordinary.
    Regular weapons work in Aikido does spend a lot of time on removing the threat by disarming the attacker.
    Think on that.

  4. #79
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    Ummm.... yeah.

    At any rate, you are required to sign your real name on this board. The easiest way to do so is to put your name in your signature. Go to the user cp link at the top of the page and find the setting for signature.
    Charles Mahan

    Iaido - Breaking down bad habits,
    and building new ones.

  5. #80
    aikitazz Guest

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    I apologize for the faux pas. I have only been a member since yesterday.

  6. #81
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    Interesting idea, but it seems to me that it leads to a sort of arms-race (no pun intended) of speed, which, while it's not the central thing to iai/ken, makes me think that the kendoka/iaidoka has a bit of advantage...plus the maai. The aikidoka better remember to clear the line and all that...

    Welcome to e-budo
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    "I value the opinion much more of a grand master then I do some English professor, anyways." Well really, who wouldn't?

    We're all of us just bozos on the budo bus and there's no point in looking to us for answers regarding all the deep and important issues.--M. Skoss.

  7. #82
    aikitazz Guest

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    Which is what good sword work is all about....clearing the line and proper maai. As Aikido is a defensive art, albeit aggressively defensive, clearing the line and distancing are the things that make or break good technique. I remember be admonished on a regular basis by my Sensei for moving too soon, and allowing the attacker the option of tracking my motion. Which then, naturally, led to stepping off the line a split second late and taking a good hit from a bokken!! But when it all finally comes together....oh, what magic!
    Having never seen or practiced Kendo puts me at a disadvantage in that my knowledge is restricted to shomen and yokomen attacks that are clean and fast, not combinations or flurries.

    "The easiest way to defeat an enemy is to not be there."

    Nice chatting with a myriad of perspectives.

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    Aikitazz's story of O-sensei and "the Admiral" reminds me of the story of Yagyu Muneyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

    One version of the story goes like this: When asked if the mysterious Shinkage Ryu methods could save an unarmed man facing a swordsman, Muneyoshi suggested that Ieyasu take up a bokken, saying "Let me show you." Ieyasu, a skilled swordsman in his own right, attacked with a shomen uchi and was promptly thrown on his butt. Surprised, and not sure what had happened -- it was all so fast -- he said "Do you think you could do that again?" Muneyoshi said "Almost certainly." And he did.

    Finding himself on the floor again, Ieyasu is said to have looked up at Muneyoshi and said "I like it!"

    The difference between living and dying is in the timing.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  9. #84
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    Welcome, Terrence!

    Originally posted by Yagyu Kenshi
    Yes, very special. Like satori?
    Yeah. I just don't know that any amount of training on my part would quite match up to the mental state of the person in the sword-above-the-bed story.
    We are the Sherlock Holmes English Speaking Vernacular. Help save Fu Manchu, Moriarty and Dracula.

  10. #85
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    Originally posted by Charlie Kondek
    Yeah. I just don't know that any amount of training on my part would quite match up to the mental state of the person in the sword-above-the-bed story.
    There are many paths up the mountain, but few of us will ever reach the summit -- regardless of the path we choose.

    I doubt that there are enough years left for me even to get close, but I better get back in the Dojo soon, before I slide back completely to the base camp! (Hows that for stretching a metaphor.)
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

  11. #86
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    Originally posted by aikitazz
    Having never seen or practiced Kendo puts me at a disadvantage in that my knowledge is restricted to shomen and yokomen attacks that are clean and fast, not combinations or flurries.
    With all due respect to your aikido training, I sincerely doubt you have the foggiest idea what fast is in this context.
    Neil Gendzwill
    Saskatoon Kendo Club

  12. #87
    aikitazz Guest

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    And if I was in your end of the country I would love to stop in and see what your art is about. It has been an interest of mine for many years but there are not any instructors in Dryden, and driving 4 hours one way a few times a week doesn't fit into my life.
    On the other hand, have you had an opportunity to watch Aikido Shihans work out at full speed. I am the first to admit that much of what Aikido does may seem pedestrian to some, but as I am willing to walk a mile in your shoes, so should the favour be returned. And there is very good Aikido in Saskatoon.

  13. #88
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    I think the doubt stems from the commonly held belief that in order to succeed unarmed against a swordsman, you must be at a considerably higher skill level than the swordsman. The timing has to be utterly perfect. Besides, there's a lot a swordsman can do that would completley mess up your standard disarms.

    Simple fact of the matter is to pull off the unarmed defenseagainst a committed attack from an opponent bent on spilling your blood, your timing has to be utterly impeccable, and the swordsman's timing has to be off. Your margin of error is zippo.

    The original query assumed equivalent skill levels.
    Charles Mahan

    Iaido - Breaking down bad habits,
    and building new ones.

  14. #89
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    I was going to to write a long response, but I think Mr. Mahan expressed things very elegently and concisely. The margin of error is so low that only the most elite martial artists (like O'Sensei) could ever hope to pull it off reliably.
    --Timothy Kleinert

    Aikido & Qigongs

  15. #90
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    Default Sleeping under a sword

    I think I would sleep much better, if I hung the sword over my wife's side of the bed. No more knees to the ribs every night. And I wouldn't have to sleep in a left front fighting stance, anymore.
    Skip Cooper
    It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.- Mark Twain

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