Playing It By Ear

which actually--at least in this case--has nothing to do with making music. This time, it is about black belt class. Sensei was going to cancel the class because it would be just him and me there. But I talked to Barrett Friday, and he said they weren't leaving to go on vacation until Wednesday, so he would be there. I told him to call sensei and let him know--I was thinking so that he could plan something for the class. I don't think Barrett did, because in class sensei apologized for not being more organized. "I wasn't expecting to have this class today," he said. So we played it by ear.

Frankly, those are my favorite kinds of classes. I know you can't do them all the time, because you have to have some structure in your lessons, but every so often they can be great. We started off going through all our kata--just on our own. We, well I did, all 8 empty hand kata and the three weapons kata that I know. I noticed Barrett skipped sanchin kata. I've noticed that has become a bad habit in our dojo--to skip sanchin kata. Every time I lead the class, we do it, but sensei tends to skip it.

We went over sunsu bunkai. For those of you who don't know, a kata (or form) is an imaginary fight. When you have an imaginary fight, you have imaginary opponents. The bunkai is what your imaginary opponents are doing during this imaginary fight. In other words, it is the application of the techniques you are performing in the kata. There are many, many possible bunkai for each kata, ranging from the very simple to the very complex. Sensei is a KISS man. Keep It Simple, Stupid. He believes in teaching simple, yet effective techniques.

I was watching a documentary on martial arts in America a few weeks ago. It got to a section on women's self defense. The demonstration was a woman defending herself against a male attacker. It took her about 15 moves to subdue her attacker. And of course, the man was not even attempting to fight back. He was not using his size or strength to gain control of the conflict. He was just relaxing and going with her moves. About the time she hit the 10th or so technique, I thought, "My goodness, if that were a real life situation, she'd be dead before she could do all that!"

My sensei teaches that the purpose of self defense is to create an opportunity to escape. Up until recently, he was teaching street fight/bar fight techniques. I said something to him about how a man will attack a man differently than how he would attack a woman. We got into a little discussion about the differences in ways men attack women, and how a woman cannot rely on strength to defend herself against a man. That led into a digression of how a lot of the women's self defense seminars and videos that sensei has seen teaches stuff that is basically useless in a real life confrontation. He didn't give any examples of what that stuff was. I wish he had because I'd be interested in knowing. We did talk about how in every women's self defense seminar that has ever been held, we are taught to attack the groin. Sensei says this is basically useless because 1) men are going to reflexively protect the groin and to get a good groin shot in, you will have to take him by surprise. That means, you'll have to know some basic, effective techniques to distract him while you attack the groin. 2) If you do get a good lick in to the groin, he may be so pumped with adrenaline that he won't feel it for--well, for long enough to kill you. I have seen this happen. The guy didn't kill the woman, just knocked her down, but he could have. 3) Men know we are taught to attack the groin, so they expect it. This brings us back to knowing other effective techniques.

I got off on a tangent there, but the point I was trying to make was that ever since that conversation, sensei has been showing me how to adapt the techniques he teaches to what a man may realistically do to me.

Back to tonight's class--We went over kusanku sai kata a few times. That one and sunsu are the two I will need to know for my nidan rank. Frankly, kusanku sai is kicking my butt. It's not the moves. I know them. It's just that the sai are so clumsy in my hands. I think they may be too big. I have cheap, generic sais from Century. I'd love to have some of Mr Worbington's custom built sais, but I can't afford them right now. One day, though...

We finished the class by going over bo vs. bo kumite. I had learned this previously, but hadn't done it in a long time. There were also minor changes made since sensei learned, so I had to relearn it they way they do it now. No biggie, just minor stuff. And we stood around talking about lineages, associations, tournaments, respect, stalkers (I seem to have a couple, and the one I used to have must have given up on me. Took him 11 years to do it, but he finally quit asking me to marry him)--that kind of stuff.

Those are the best kind of classes.
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