Sunday, June 03, 2007

WeakEnd Activity

Samurai battle
Mad Dog spent Saturday and Sunday engaged in swordplay

Well a couple of you quite correctly pointed out that the item in my last post was a "tsuba" or the handguard part of a Japanese sword. Actually it's from my own iaito or practice sword (it looks exactly like the real thing except only the point is sharp and believe me this is scary enough). Anyway I've just spent the the entire weekend at one of the most amazing martial arts seminars I've ever witnessed. It was an iaido seminar taught by three esteemed instructors from Japan: Noguichi Sensei (8th Dan) Aoki Sensei (7th Dan) and Suzuki Sensei (6th Dan). In addition from my own dojo there was Murasako Sensei (7th Dan), Konno Sensei (7th Dan) and Seto Sensei (5th Dan). Furthermore there were several other noted Sensei from all over the western United States and numerous yudansha. Quite an astonishing group. The demonstrations were all inspiring and I was trying to absorb facts like a dry sponge and I just hope I can retain a few percent of what I was taught (damn the aging grey matter). Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to limp off to soak myself in a hot bath and swallow a handful of ibuprofen...if I can summon the energy to open the container, that is.

No comments: