Had my first class as a purple belt last night. Sensei took me aside for over 20 minutes and taught me Simple Sai - the first of the required new katas for my brown-belt test. It's aptly named. I have the moves down in my brain pretty clearly today, and can do them well enough to be certain of what I'm trying to do, even if my sai work is pretty pathetic still. So now it's a matter of getting smooth and strong with the weapon, rather than learning the kata itself.
I'm the first person in class to learn the kata, for the straightforward reason that I'm the only one with my own sais thus far. Rob got me a complete set of Isshinryu weaponry (except for a bo, which I already had) for my birthday last year. This year I'm just getting the book on speed and a new gi - well those and a purple belt, but I don't think Sensei remembers when my birthday is, so I doubt that was deliberate. It feels good to get the sais out and really start using them at last. Now I just have to stop stabbing myself in the forearm when doing a swooping close.
3 comments:
oooh Sai are so cool. I can't wait to use those. I have to go through 5 bo kata, nunchucks, and Kama before I start Sai. I'm up to the 5th bo kata so I have a while yet before I can start.
Have fun!
I love the sai. They are one of my favorite weapons. What kata are you doing? Our first is Odo No Sai and the second is Nakamura No sai.
Thanks, frotoe!
bbm - it's just called Simple Sai. It's a fairly short, repetative kata intended to give you several shots at each of the basic openings and closings. It's short enough that I was able to learn (and retain) it in one evening. Our first serious sai kata is Kusanku Sai, which I may or may not get a shot at before brown. Sometimes Sensei will let me move ahead on weapons because a) I have the additonal experience and b) I love the weapons work, and am currently the only student in the dojo who seems to have a real affinity for it. For instance, I would normally only learn Simple Sai and Chinto for purple, but Sensei has already said he will teach me Tokomeni no Kun (bo #2 for us) as soon as opportunity arises.
Post a Comment