Taido/Blog

02/02/2006 In Knowledge Base by andy

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shukumine wrote that the ultimate measure of the quality of a martial art would be based on the actions of its practitioners. with this notion in mind, he designed the core strategy of taido as a decision process. in an unfortunate example of dissymmetry, this process does not quite match up with the 5jokun - though they do express a few shared values. however, understanding this process is quite important in applying taido to battle or any other situation. maybe you have seen this somewhere before…

unsoku, sotai, seiho, kimegi, gentai

of course, this refers to the order of technique in jissen. first, we must respond to the opponent and make plans while moving in unsoku. when we see an opening, we initiate with some sen, un, hen, nen, or ten motion. while checking the opponent’s reaction, we make adjustments, attempting to control his movements until we can finally deliver a connecting strike. then we return to kamae at a safe distance. (incidentally, this where we get the saying that “taido begins and ends with unsoku” - since we use unsoku to make gentai, this is literal as well as philosophic.)

shukumine wrote that the ultimate measure of the quality of a martial art would be based on the actions of its practitioners. with this notion in mind, he designed the core strategy of taido as a decision process. in an unfortunate example of dissymmetry, this process does not quite match up with the 5jokun - though they do express a few shared values. however, understanding this process is quite important in applying taido to battle or any other situation. maybe you have seen this somewhere before…

unsoku, sotai, seiho, kimegi, gentai

of course, this refers to the order of technique in jissen. first, we must respond to the opponent and make plans while moving in unsoku. when we see an opening, we initiate with some sen, un, hen, nen, or ten motion. while checking the opponent’s reaction, we make adjustments, attempting to control his movements until we can finally deliver a connecting strike. then we return to kamae at a safe distance. (incidentally, this where we get the saying that “taido begins and ends with unsoku” - since we use unsoku to make gentai, this is literal as well as philosophic.)

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10/02/2006 In Archives / Info, Georgia Tech Taido by andy

what follows is the text of a letter i sent to my instructor on 10 february 2006:

TO: Mits Uchida President, United States Taido Association

CC: Bryan Sparks, Mitsuaki Uchida, Buddy Fossett, Robert Pope, John Clerici, Mike Cowan

Sensei:

This is a letter I have wanted to write for a very long time, and I imagine you know what it’s about. Bryan has already spoken with you about this, so I simply wanted to send this letter as a written record of my support.

Laura Bardey, Shelley Matthews, and Bolot Kerimbaev are ready for shodan. They have been practicing with us since 1999, with no breaks and nothing less than their best efforts in all functions. In class, they practice hard and help their classmates. Outside of class, they help to keep the club organized and moving forward. I could fill pages telling you all that these three students have done to help our club grow, but I think their Taido speaks for itself.

what follows is the text of a letter i sent to my instructor on 10 february 2006:

TO: Mits Uchida President, United States Taido Association

CC: Bryan Sparks, Mitsuaki Uchida, Buddy Fossett, Robert Pope, John Clerici, Mike Cowan

Sensei:

This is a letter I have wanted to write for a very long time, and I imagine you know what it’s about. Bryan has already spoken with you about this, so I simply wanted to send this letter as a written record of my support.

Laura Bardey, Shelley Matthews, and Bolot Kerimbaev are ready for shodan. They have been practicing with us since 1999, with no breaks and nothing less than their best efforts in all functions. In class, they practice hard and help their classmates. Outside of class, they help to keep the club organized and moving forward. I could fill pages telling you all that these three students have done to help our club grow, but I think their Taido speaks for itself.

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10/02/2006 In Georgia Tech Taido, Rankings / Evaluations by andy

This year will mark the completion of ten continuous years of operation for the Taido club at Georgia Tech. We are the first group to have successfully administered a Taido program in the United States outside of the honbu dojo. We are also the only non-commercial Taido practice group in the country. This year, we will promote our first three black belts, as announced here.

Over the years, black belt tests in American Taido have come to be little more than a formality that occurs after a few years of training. While we aren’t suggesting that the physical black belt test is all that big a deal, Bryan and I have long thought that it should be the final step in a process of black belt candidacy that is at least somewhat transformative to the student. This process should require growth and demonstration of competence in the core areas of Taido practice and philosophy.

This year will mark the completion of ten continuous years of operation for the Taido club at Georgia Tech. We are the first group to have successfully administered a Taido program in the United States outside of the honbu dojo. We are also the only non-commercial Taido practice group in the country. This year, we will promote our first three black belts, as announced here.

Over the years, black belt tests in American Taido have come to be little more than a formality that occurs after a few years of training. While we aren’t suggesting that the physical black belt test is all that big a deal, Bryan and I have long thought that it should be the final step in a process of black belt candidacy that is at least somewhat transformative to the student. This process should require growth and demonstration of competence in the core areas of Taido practice and philosophy.

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14/02/2006 In Rankings / Evaluations by andy

Ok. So if you know me at all, or have read many of the things I’ve written, you know that one of my serious gripes about Asian martial arts (and their western copies) is the custom of “ranking” or awarding level-markers to practitioners. I’m not going to spend too much space in this article discussing the carrot-on-a-stick principle, the love of rankings as a japanese cultural phenomenon, or my opinions about the mental health of those who place too much importance on what belt they wear. I do plan to discuss a particular philosophy of meaning as it applies to martial arts ranks.

Before I get on a roll here, I would like to direct your attention to this belt-related article at 24fc.

Ok. So if you know me at all, or have read many of the things I’ve written, you know that one of my serious gripes about Asian martial arts (and their western copies) is the custom of “ranking” or awarding level-markers to practitioners. I’m not going to spend too much space in this article discussing the carrot-on-a-stick principle, the love of rankings as a japanese cultural phenomenon, or my opinions about the mental health of those who place too much importance on what belt they wear. I do plan to discuss a particular philosophy of meaning as it applies to martial arts ranks.

Before I get on a roll here, I would like to direct your attention to this belt-related article at 24fc.

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28/02/2006 In Experiments / Ideas by andy

In light of the recent hokei assignment I gave the Tech Taido black belt candidates, I decided to post some notes on a couple of hokei that I have created. Though neither one would fulfill the requirements I set forth in the assignment (because they were designed for reasons to be outlined below), their presentation may prove beneficial to the candidates as an example of the kinds of thinking that may be useful in the creation of a new hokei.

Hen/Hen no Hokei (”double weird”)

Sometime around 2000ish, I got to the point that I had become competent in performaing every hokei in the American curriculum, and a couple of others that only a very few older instructors had ever seen. While I could have continued to practice them forever, continually discovering greater depth, our organization was in a very expansive mood at the time, in terms of technique. I thought some creative hokei interpretations would be a good idea.

In light of the recent hokei assignment I gave the Tech Taido black belt candidates, I decided to post some notes on a couple of hokei that I have created. Though neither one would fulfill the requirements I set forth in the assignment (because they were designed for reasons to be outlined below), their presentation may prove beneficial to the candidates as an example of the kinds of thinking that may be useful in the creation of a new hokei.

Hen/Hen no Hokei (”double weird”)

Sometime around 2000ish, I got to the point that I had become competent in performaing every hokei in the American curriculum, and a couple of others that only a very few older instructors had ever seen. While I could have continued to practice them forever, continually discovering greater depth, our organization was in a very expansive mood at the time, in terms of technique. I thought some creative hokei interpretations would be a good idea.

Continue Reading...

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