-David B.

Week 2

Classes continue, and the kids have been coming every day to practice with me. After kihon, we'd do kata, then maybe some kobudo. So far I've gone along for Pinan shodan, Pinan nidan, and Passai sho. I've followed along with Naihanchi and Chinto but don't feel too comfortable with them yet.

クラスが続いている。普段は週に二回だけだけど、子供達も毎日一緒に稽古をしにくる。必ず基本から始め、そして型と古武道。今までピンアン初段と二段とパッサイ小がちょっとできるようになった。ナイハンチもチントーも少しやっているけどまだまだだ。

Paraphrased nuggets of wisdom:

“If you have a bad practice or habit, your form will not correct itself; rather you will perfect doing it the wrong way. Your certainty in your mistake will also grow stronger. So we practice kihon, to make sure we're doing things correctly, no matter how long we practice, we return to kihon, to our posture. It needs to be polished over years of practice, so you can't possibly mess it up.”

黄金言葉：

もし悪い癖があると、時間が経つと自分で直るわけにはいけない。完璧に間違いをやる。その間違いにも自信を持つようになる。だから、毎日基本を練習して、間違っていないように頑張っていく。何十年やっても基本に戻る。ちゃんとした基本だと、間違いになるまい。

Sensei extended his arm. Block this, he said, put your power into it. When I brought my arm to his, he pressed me down and pulled me off balance. That's because you aren't using your tanden; you aren't putting your koshi into it. When your body is in sync, your power moves through your whole body; If your stance is off, if you’re not properly utilizing your hips and lower back, you'll be weak no matter how strong you look. Try again. I rooted myself and flexed my core, and although I couldn't match his strength I could hold my stance against his. This is what he meant by the unseen power in kata; you can go through the movements, but the real practice is in learning to use your body as a conduit for the energy.

先生は手を伸ばした。受けて力を入れてと指示した。そうすると、先生が腕を下げて僕のバランスが崩れた。「丹田入れていないからと叱ってくれた。腰を使って、体を一体化して。どんなに強くても姿勢や立ち方がおかしいとバランスが取りにくい。もう一回。」またやって、腹筋を使って、受けが大分強くなった。あ、前に言った通り、型に隠れた力だとわかった。型の動きやってもいいけど、基本の目的は体を力のエネルギーの導管にする能力を学ぶのだ。

I realized that this is one reason why Paul said he had abandoned all his other styles and their kata when he committed to training in the Hozonkai; not all styles teach how to effectively use power in this subtle way; and it becomes easy to practice in the wrong way, which is detrimental to your development. You can dabble, and see what the other styles offer, but knowing that most of their newer stances were developed because they didn't know or couldn't stand correctly, that all these extra layers of movement aren't being used to generate additional power, but to mask the lack of power delivery. It kind of takes the wind out of the neko-ashi dachi of matsubayashi-ryu or the mahanmi of wado-ryu. Why ARE your heels raised? Why ARE your hips turned out and disjointed?

ポールさんのことを考えて、取材で保存会に入ってから、松村正統以外の稽古を辞めたと言われた。こんな繊細な教えが珍しいから、間違ったやり方をやり続けることが多い。他の流派試しても構わないけど、新系のスタンスの発達が分からなかったからだ。ちょっと猫足を怪しく思っちゃって、「何で踵があげている？何でそんなに足が開くの？」と疑問してしまう。

Do you feel particularly powerful blocking or striking when your power isn't being transferred? Or does it just look cool? Is there substance to the style? “There’s nothing wrong with that, it’s just different from what we do,” is often heard in the Akamine Dojo.

ちゃんとしないと強いと感じる？かっこよくするだけか実用的に使われるか。「間違っているわけないけど、私たちは違うように考える。」そう言う格言はよく赤嶺道場で聞かれる。

Wednesday was raining and I noticed a flat tire on my bike. Took the monorail and walked from Shuri castle. Sensei gave permission to train in street clothes, thankfully. Despite being on foot, I was a sweaty mess when I got to the dojo, thanks to the 4km walk down from the castle. My shins would regret that for days to come.

水曜日は雨に加えて自転車がパンクしたから、モノレールを首里城まで乗って、道場まで40分くらいで足で４キロ歩いてきた。ほぼ全部下り坂だから、脛がきっと痛くなると思った。先生が洋服で稽古してもいいと許してくれてよかったなぁ。

We did passai dai and I asked sensei about the 270 degree step. I don’t often do that turn to my blindside, but usually we’d pull the feet together to increase the inertia of the turn, so I wanted to observe his method. First he asked me to give it a try. Remembered his words, I turned on the balls of my feet. "Yes! you can't do it on your heels, you won't have control, but first it helps to turn your pivoting leg's foot and knee inwards slightly, then slide your other leg behind the pivot leg before the pirouette, then just as you complete the turn, your foot slides back into a full natural stance, now square and 270 degrees from where you started. It all comes from kihon, and is a form of sabaki (body movement/shuffling). Always move toes first, always keep your center. When the movement becomes comfortable you can move quickly and efficiently without compromising your balance.

パッサイ大を打ってみて、270度の回転について聞いた。そんな動きはあまりしないけど、回る時は足を合わせば早くなるかもしれない。やってみーと言われた。そうそう、母指球を中心にして動くよ。素人は大体踵で回るけどそうするとコントロールが取れない。最初は右足を中側へ少し曲げて、左足を右足の後ろまで滑って、回るとまた自然体に戻って、次の動きの準備はもう出来た。こう言う体捌きが基本から学ぶものだ。必ず足の指先で動く。中心もバランスも守って。練習すると自然的にバランスも崩れず動けるはずだ。

Here's another thing that's interesting, Sensei pulled out a new set of Tonfa. See how this tonfa has a “sharp” square edge to it? Foreigners like it like this, they think it looks cool, and maybe it can do more damage to your enemy... but if can also hurt you, and it limits what you can do. He pulled out an older looking set. “See how the body is just as round as the handle? it's because in addition to all these striking surfaces, you can also grab the body and swing it like so, or even use the handle to hook around the arm, leg or neck.” These additional moves are made more difficult by the 90 degree angles on the newer tonfa. He then gave me a bo staff and had Shuyu show me how to swing it. Bring your hands to your ears as you swing and you won't hurt yourself, Sensei advised. It's the same for bo staff as it is for tonfa and nunchaku. Just like how we always crossed our arms on our way to a block.

先生はトンファーを見せてくれた。「これは現代のデザイン、ハンドルが付いている部分が四角い。かっこいいから外国の方はこれが好きだ。相手を傷つけられるけど、自分にも危ないし、できる技が少なくなる。」古いトンファを手に取った。「見て、これは全体的丸いよ、全部ハンドルとなっているから、できることが増える。長い部分を持てば、ハンドルで打てるし、相手の腕か足か首が引っ掛けられる。」四角いのデザインではこう言う技が難しい。棒をくれて、しゅーゆ君の真似をさせてもらった。ヌンチャクでもトンファーでも棒でも同じように体を動く。手が耳から振ると自分にあたらないはずだ。

2020.06