Rush Concert: 8/26/07

Nick and I went to watch Rush in concert by Indianapolis on Saturday, 8/26/07. It was an outdoor stadium and boy was I glad it rained last week, otherwise we would've been baking. It was basically out in the middle of nowhere, so we decided to drive back to the O'Charley we passed for dinner.

While we were eating at the bar at O'Charley, the couple next to us told a waiter that they were going to the concert. The waiter told us that the lawn seats are basically party areas, with people passing around Jose Cuervo and bad acoustics. This had Nick and me concerned a bit since we thought we had lawn seats and we were not looking forward to being around a bunch of drunks. It turned out that we did have pavilion seats, not the lawn. They were also performing pat down checks at the gate, so we don't see how anyone could sneak that much liquor in. Then again, the waiter was talking about his high school graduation... ^_^;;

It was a good concert. The light show was a bit distracting to me. There were a lot of interesting animations and graphics. Neil Peart was amazing. Geddy Lee's voice was not as annoying in concert; probably lower than it used to be. They played many songs from the new album "Snakes and Arrows," which was ok.

On the trip back, Nick decided to play all of the songs I had on my iPod that were NOT played at the concert. It lasted the whole 2 and a half hour drive back to UIUC. O_O And it was like, "Wait, what's this song? They didn't play it?" I guess with 19 studio albums Rush had a lot of songs to choose from. :-)

Seme with nito (二刀の攻め)

How does one perform or visualize seme (攻め) while using nitou (二刀)? Should it be through the shyoutou (小刀), or through the tsuka (柄) of the daitou (大刀)? Or both? Or neither?

Personally, while in chudan (中段) with ittou (一刀), I now visualize seme (攻め) as starting from my feet, especially my left foot, extending through my legs, up to my abdomen or hara (腹), then through my left hand and extending to the tip of the shinai (竹刀). The tip of the shinai (竹刀) makes a convenient point of focus. In joudan (上段), I have heard that one way to visualize seme (攻め) is to use the end of the handle, the tsuka (柄). Again, it's more a convenient point of focus than anything else. But with two points of focus for nitou (二刀), what is a good way to visualize seme (攻め)? Is one better than the other? Is it desirable or possible even to simultaneously seme (攻め) through two points of focus?

In the book on nito u(二刀) from Musashikai, it gives some ideas to this question. The idea is to seme (攻め) strongly with one of the swords to capture your opponent's attention and defeat him with the other. For example, an active shyoutou (小刀) will demand your opponent's attention, and you attack with the daitou (大刀) while he's distracted. Or if he's afraid of your daitou (大刀), you outmaneuver him using the shyoutou (小刀). This idea is attractive because there is no clear analogue if one is using ittou (一刀). The closest that comes to mind would be renzoku waza (連続技), or fooling your opponent into thinking you are going after a certain target. However, this approach implies the ability to seme (攻め) through both points of focus, possibly focusing more on one than the other at a time.

Another theory of seme (攻め) I've read or heard is to seme (攻め) from the hips, or the stomach/hara (腹). I believe that may be a better way to think about seme (攻め) in general, but it doesn't have as convenient an item for a focus. Although a focus may be a crutch that should be left behind eventually, I could use a crutch for now. Especially for nitou (二刀). :-p

Stupid...

I was at the grocery store this Monday and I decided to buy some bing cherries. They were $3.99/lb. When I was at the cashier, it was rung up as cantaloupe, which are 2 for $4, so I was charged $2. I noticed this and pointed it out. My bag of cherries was weighed and it came out to around $8 instead. :-O Boy did I feel dumb... I guess you have to pay for variety. :-P

真笨

這個星期一我去買菜的時候我決定買一些櫻桃。一磅$3.99。不過付錢的時候，小姐不小心打成甜瓜。甜瓜兩個$4，所以差不多$2。我發覺後請她改。我那一袋櫻桃竟然是$8。:-O 我真蠢。

Notes from 2007 MWKF Summer Camp

稽古 Notes:

• 一足一刀の間合い is from your left foot to your opponent. Not how far your 竹刀 cross.
• 打突 is from the movement of the body, not striking with the 竹刀. If you move in correctly with proper 踏み込み, 有効打突 will naturally follow.
• 3 things to consider for each strike: 打つの前に、打ったの時、打ったの後で. (Before you strike, the moment of the strike, and after the strike.) What needs to happen at each of these 3 moments?
  
• You don't always have to coordinate 気剣体一致 by stomping with the right foot. For example, side stepping to the right while performing 表面すり上げ面. The timing of the strike can be on the right foot and move forward or on the left foot and move backwards. All depends on the situation.
• Don't let the left hand collapse during 体当たり.
• Cut down to the chin on each strike for 素振り.
• Take big steps forward and backward for はや素振り, or 跳躍素振り.
• 田川先生 kept hitting my head during 打ち込み稽古. Why? He only did it when he opened up his 小手, and hits me regardless if I hit 小手 or 小手面. He never hit me when I hit 面. I didn't miss any strikes either. Was I supposed to ignore that opening and strike 面 instead?
• Raise the 竹刀 straight up for 面返し胴. That should be more than enough to deflect your opponent's 面 strike.
• Practice your 手の内 when receiving 切り返し, but do not knock the other person's 竹刀 away. Your first priority is supposed to be receiving and allowing your opponent to practice.
  
• 斎藤先生 said the left hand shouldn't leave the centerline, 中心, while receiving 切り返し. Specifically he didn't receive by moving his 竹刀 left and right. He turned his body, kind of like 半身, to receive. A bit advanced for beginners to learn at first perhaps?
• For すりあげ面, 斎藤先生 said to raise the 竹刀 straight up while side-stepping. This will naturally create the half-moon trajectory. I was confused and unsure about this. At first I thought it would create the opposite half-moon trajectory to the one you want. Upon further reflection, I believe he's right. If you think of raising the 竹刀 FIRST and then side-step, the trajectory would be correct. If you side-step and then raise the 竹刀, then the trajectory would be wrong.
  

形 Notes:

• 合気, understanding and working with your opponent, is very important in both 稽古 and 形.
• 理合い, reasoning, is very important to 形. It is important to understand "why" (なぜ) we perform the movements.
  
• 三本目: When the 打太刀 blocks, the sword should extend to the throat, 喉, of the 仕太刀. The block should also direct the 仕太刀 sword outside the body line. It's not obvious to me how to accomplish this without adopting a 半身 stance. 山中先生 said "自然に", or "move naturally". To me it looked like it's a variant of the 半身 stance.
• 三本目: 仕太刀's block should also direct 打太刀's sword outside the body.
• 五本目: 打太刀 should cut down to the chin. For the 仕太刀, it should be a すりあげ, using the breadth of the sword, not a 払い.
• 六本目: 仕太刀 should 攻め towards 打太刀's hands from 下段. 仕太刀 should also take a large step forward when 打太刀 backs up. (スーとに) Otherwise the distance would be too far apart.
  

Other nuggets of "wisdom":

• We're not doing 突き because the moon (月, つき) isn't out.
• 演歌 (en ka) might be ドルか (dollar ka) in America.
• If you hit someone in the head by accident, say 面 instead of ごめん.
  
• 山中先生 claims to be able to get at least 30% discount from the 松勘防具 shop. He bought their most expensive set of 防具. 山中先生、斎藤先生、と菅原先生 all use 松勘防具.
• Have at least one song memorized in case called upon for singing.