Whoohoo!!! Awesome class, this evening!! The more the instructor poured on, the more I just grinned... And breathed... And sweated... My dogi is SOAKED!! Hahahahaha...
We went through some of the basic bunkai of the Seisan Kata, with two opponents throwing kicks and punches, and using movements from that Kata to block or deflect and redirect. It was very physical and very fun.
I'm also enjoying the book, "Living The Martial Way." I've realized that I am not a martial artist. I am, and always have been, a warrior. My first foray into Wadoryu, and now Isshinryu; these are not things that I got into in order to learn only a martial art for its own sake. I have always been interested in archery, guns, marksmanship, training my body, and exerting myself, because I enjoy the challenge. I enjoy pitting myself against myself, like a piece of steel that's between the hammer and the anvil -- The harder, the more difficult, the more "impossible," the better, and I have never found a more worthy opponent than myself. Not that I am the strongest, the best, the smartest, or the greatest warrior by any means, but I enjoy ferreting out my own weakness, competing against it, and rooting it out.
If I succeed, I have become better, faster, stronger, and a better warrior. If I do my very best and fail anyway, then I take that failure and I rip it apart and take every bit of wisdom and learning out of it that I possibly can. In this way, a failure becomes a small setback, and even that is turned to advantage!
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5 years ago
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You have the right attitude towards training, in the end it's yourself and your weaknesses and inadequaties you have to battle. That's the only way to ever become good. "Study strategy over the years and achieve the spirit of the warrior. Today is victory over yourself of yesterday; tomorrow is your victory over lesser men." (Myamoto Musashi)
ReplyDeleteThank you! And thank you for the Musashi quote. I've got the "Book Of Five Rings" on order. Eiji Yoshikawa's, "Musashi," is one of my all-time favorite books. (Along with "The Art Of War," and the "Tao Te Ching.")
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, I read Yoshikawa's novel (very enthralling) and I own copies of the art of war and the Tao te ching. Why did you chose karate over other martial arts and why did you switch styles?
ReplyDeleteWell, I moved back to the United States, so that ended my study of Wadoryu. I live away from any major metropolitan centers, and the only other dojo around, is a local Taekwondo place, but the instructor is rather well-known for practicing on his wife. :-(
ReplyDeleteIt takes me a half-hour to drive to my dojo, in the next town over, but it's well worth it, to me.