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Reading Formats and Martial Arts Books
by When it comes to fiction, I’ll generally consume it in whatever medium is convenient: traditional paper, ebook, audio, hypertext. It’s all good, it’s all valid, it’s all fun. But when it comes to non-fiction, and especially to my martial arts reading, I have a vast preference for paper, which isn’t to say I don’t do a lot of reading online, but when it comes to heavier or longer stuff, I’d really rather hold it in my hand or put it on the table or desk in front of me. Because I highlight stuff, make notes, mark stuff for additional research, and circle or underline things for emphasis so things…
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A Learning Experiment
by It’s funny how the human brain works, sometimes. Although, in this case, I mostly mean my brain. A lot of methods of teaching seem to be to break things down to a very fine level, teach the first piece of it, and then build from there, either piece by piece or layer by layer depending on what it is you’re teaching. And there are a number of different ways of teaching and learning, frequently depending on the methodology that works best for the student and often involving how very senses contribute to the process for that student. Most big things are made up of little things, but a lot…
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DIY Martial Arts Equipment
by A while back, so I had some different things to hit than just the heavy bag, I built myself a pair of makiwara. One is a hang on the wall version, currently hanging in the garage: And the other is a portable, fits in the palm of your hand kind of thing that can go with me anywhere: I love my makiwara and have every intention of putting a full version somewhere at some point, but that may wind up waiting until after we move into the house we plan to retire in, which is a year or two out, at least. More recently, about two months into COVID…
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The Stages of Making Your Own Martial Arts Weapon For the First Time When You Have No Woodworking Skills
by For reference, the Tekko is a traditional martial arts weapon from Okinawa. A lot of them look like they may have been derived from horse stirrups. The type you see in this post hasn’t, obviously, but these also involved the least amount of cutting work. As the title of the post suggests, I have no woodworking skills, so this seemed like a good idea for a starting point when I decided to make my own, especially if I wanted to keep all of my fingers. On to the actual post. Start with the picture of what you want. Analyze that picture. Measure what you need to (including your hand…
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The 100 Kobudo Kata Challenge
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The 100 Kobudo Kata Challenge
by There are certain events in the martial arts year that somehow speak to me. In April, we have the 100 Kobudo Kata Challenge. The basic idea of that is that you do 100 repetitions of a weapon kata. Ordinarily, this would be done as an event, as a group, or as a dojo. That’s not really how things work right now. My kobudo journey is still young. I “know” a few kata, but none of them really well yet. Still, I thought this might be something I would like to try. I mean, 100 repetitions of the same kata in one day? It may not sound exiting to you,…
