tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648987284969270841.post5353380564515142350..comments2024-02-25T12:49:53.561-05:00Comments on The Budo Bum: Budo and the unflinching gazeThe Budo Bumhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17829768452637120001noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648987284969270841.post-66336205758017733252009-05-17T07:06:00.000-04:002009-05-17T07:06:00.000-04:00I went through the same thing in Dec. 2007. Due to...I went through the same thing in Dec. 2007. Due to the fact that almost no one else practices iai at the dojo, sensei was almost always busy taking care of the karate guys' training so from the beginning of my time in Japan, the bulk of my training has been very much self directed with sensei sitting down near the end of class to watch what I have been working on and give a couple of pointers. All in all it worked o.k. but after going back to the U.S. for a couple of years and after returning, still only being able to go to the dojo occassionally, I more of less got stuck in a sort of holding pattern for a few years where I had some ideas on what I probably should improve, but being too lazy to actually do the work ("Well it's not really that bad so I can start working on that later"). For me the wake up call came suddenly when sensei came up to me and said "You are doing a short iai demonstration at my daughter's wedding next month so don't mess up... oh, and you are getting 5-dan next month as well." Luckily the "Holy Crap" double punch really woke me up and I've gotten back on track since then (maybe even gone overboard as you know but...). I think the biggest issue is at some point everyone will need to completely throw away everything they have learned to date and rebuild themselves from scratch at least once if they really want to improve and it quiet hard for your ego to let go of all those years of training and admit "this isn't working and I need to start again". Ironically since doing that, whenever I get to the dojo now, sensei spends almost the entire time working with me and leaves the karate guys to their own devices.PAR-2 Productionshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11352349632217969081noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648987284969270841.post-7324036207623810062009-04-05T13:28:00.000-04:002009-04-05T13:28:00.000-04:00I definitely understand where you are coming from....I definitely understand where you are coming from. After having the first six years of training with weekly correction and and hands on feedback, I then had to learn how to examine what I was doing with a critical eye in comparison to the ideal. Maybe it helped that I was never quite convinced my iai was that good. Maybe it helped that I never traveled where I had to, to be able to take the dan tests. So to continue, I had to now study to prove that I could perform at a level satisfactory for the tests. I had to become unflinchingly critical of what I was doing as a habit just to not be embarrassed in performance. That was a great motivator not to think to highly of what I was doing.keyboard samuraihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01325618377157257837noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648987284969270841.post-2239941473119395212009-01-02T21:15:00.000-05:002009-01-02T21:15:00.000-05:00There were any number of movement puzzles that I h...There were any number of movement puzzles that I had the opportunity to explore. Almost all of them were dead ends. I think my own ego was the lesson that really needed to be learned. When I came back from Japan 10 years ago I was quite convinced at how great my iai was. The sad part is, that my iai was quite good at that time. What I wasn't good enough for was maintaining my skill level without outside instruction, but THAT I didn't realize. So as my iai deteriorated, my opinion of it stayed high until there was an incredible mismatch and my ego wasn't prepared for it when I started to get feedback again. That was a lesson I really needed.The Budo Bumhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17829768452637120001noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2648987284969270841.post-36119113395474073092008-12-27T23:24:00.000-05:002008-12-27T23:24:00.000-05:00This is going to sound weird, but maybe there was ...This is going to sound weird, but maybe there was a reason and a lesson to be learned - and I don't mean just the obvious one you are kicking yourself over - I think what I'm getting at is, was there something else, some puzzle about form or movement you needed to explore even if it led you down the wrong path? ... just a thought that pops into my addled brain.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com