The timing of one attack is related to distance. This relationbship between timing and distance and the psychological sensations that go along with distance are what we call Ma-ai or "The Measure".

This last week we were practicing one attack with daggers, this time using the stabbing grip. This practice is the most similar to one attack that I used to do in karate. The attacks come in fast and directly and as we faced each other we all started getting some pretty solid cases of the flinchies. It reminded me of an important nuance to one attack that I want to describe here.

In one attack the rules are simple. One person attacks the other defends. The attack is designated but it is uncontrolled in the sense that you are really trying to hit your opponent. The defenders job is to not get hit anddeliver a counter attack. …

After several rounds of editing I have finished the Code of Conduct. As our group evolves, grows, changes, matures more people than yours truly will be in charge of things. Having a Code of Conduct has not been necessary until now because I have always known what conduct I wanted from the people I immediately teach. Now that other Instructors and Captains are teaching things when I am not necessarily there I want to be very clear about these expectations.

Swordfighters is based on Character values that I believe are universal. These values are very old and transcend cultures. Even people with vastly opposing ideologies can and do support similar character values. Honesty, Integrity, Benevolence, Courage Tenacity and so on define what we universally think of as nobility. The martial arts that I have studied derived from the old ways. My Karate teacher Mr. Ohshima was from a Samurai fa…

The Swordfighters Basic Program is the system through which I have introduced Swordfighting to my students. While this is something that continually evolves, at this point my continual efforts to make this program the best that it can be have congealed down into the what you might call the "Swordfighters Approach"

This material is what I introduce to beginners in the Basic Program. It is also the body of information that I use during yearly gradings and it is actually what I expect people to know for their first level grading of Free Scholar.

For Beginners, the emphasis is on teaching them the protocols of how we do things, introducing them to the longsword, and introducng them to the subtle fundamentals that mastery depends on. If you keep at martial arts, you will spend your entire life trying to understand the Fundamentals and the difference between beginners and advanced …

Here are the meeting notes for the Annual General Meeting:

1. Starting in January, our dues will rise to $120 per month as a result of the continued marginal losses that Swordfighters incurs.

2. Starting in January we will try a new model for the regular practice. Sometime over break we will have a zoom meeting and plan the next 2-3 months of practices.

For each practice one of the senior students will act as Captain. It will be necessary for at least 2 other students to sign up to attend fo rthe class to go forward. Mike will continue to teach advanced and fundamentals practices but they will be scheduled in along with the other paractices.

Because my personal background is infused with karate I am going to place karate influences that are useful to Swordfighters here. The first nstallment is about the kata Tekki Shodan.

Tekki was my favorite kata for years. It is a short kata compared to Bassai. The name tekki refers to "man riding a horse." The form is from the shokei tradition in okinawa and has the feeling of the intensity of a blast furnance (Fire and Earth). I think that it is a grappling and infighting form. I did 30 tekki per day for at least 330-360 days per year for 10 years. 30 x 330 x 10 = approximately 100,000. I still have questions about this form.

Here is tekki:

As you all know, I began Swordfighters after having taught karate through Shotokan Karate of America (Canada Shotokan) for at least 40 years. I chose to focus on HEMA because I am ecclectic by nature and I have always thought for myself and stepped outside of the box and because karate is based on Japanese culture and while I admire the Japanese martial culture greatly I began to realize that I wanted to delve into the martial culture of my own ancestry. There was also another thing...the heirarchical nature of japanese arts, while at its roots emphasized really important principles of respect such as the "Line" between seniors students and juniors and character values, in practice it often placed the wrong people in charge.

Here is my take on this...

Some student comes along and is exceptional, a real savante. The savante studies under a sensei but the combination o…

I have spoken occasionally about the use of poetry as an appropriate way to express the subtleties of martial principles. The 8 important phrases of karate is on example of this as is the 109 line Zettle from the German traditions. Here is another one. This one also derives from the Bubishi and its source is through Master Funakoshi and in that is similar to the eight important phrases.

The original poem is in kanji. Kanji is a symbolic language like heiroglyphics. There are often multiple meanings.

For example Kyo jitsu.

Kyo : unpreparedness, falseness, emptiness

Jitsue: truth, reality, sincerity, honesty, content, substance, result

Kyo jitsu in karate means something similar to emptiness and fullness. Substantial and insubstantial. The dynamic between lack of awareness and focusing on something such that you can be missing an important thing while focusing on something not important.

Here are all the notes that I've gone over so far in class. They are written for me as quick references, so they may feel scattered.

Week 1 - movement with the buckler

Figure 8 cutting drill with out the buckler

Figure 8 cutting drill with the buckler

Sticky swords without buckler focus of binding

Sticky swords with the buckler working on keeping the hands together and moving buckler around the