Wen Hsiu Quan

When I was 16 I have found this passage in the Book of Five Rings.  And that amounts for as much as what I know about fighting multiple opponents and double weapons today. My Saturday morning workouts always include a single bokken for katana practice. Shairley has however recently given me a shorter bokken to match the black one I have. (I have a natural colour varnished one as well). So- Now having the katana and wakizashi I was eager to get see how I handle the weight of a long sword being held in only one hand. For those who don't know- This posture is Happo Biraki ("Open on eight sides"). This is a posture suited for being surrounded by multiple opponents. One thing that really feels "wrong" about this entire exercise is that the two weapons are not balanced like my sai  or tonfa .  Juji Dome- Cross Guard. The katana was further designed to be a "hand-held guilotine"- its cutting ability being optimal when both ha...

I was about to write my last post for this year when I logged in and found that the views for this blog has gone over 10 000. Yes, Vegeta. That is indeed over 9000... Thank you to everyone who have read and commented on my blog this year.  This year some people at lest got a glimpse of what Wenhsiuquan has to offer. Between the books and the blog I have managed to document a large amount of its principles. What lies ahead for next year remains to be seen. The prospect of having to move to a new town has recently reared its head. What I am going to want to do next, however, is demo videos! Let's see who I find to help with that next year.  One of the most interesting encounters I had while working on the books this year was Chris. He would have been the perfect partner for demo videos. As fate would have it, however, he and his wife Angela have returned to China.  :D Then there was Thabo- my first student. Aiya... If ...

I was actually going to write a post about Musashi Miyamoto and challenge you to take a leaf out of his book and test it at the dojo (in kumite) until the news reached me about Baby Metal's new song that got played for the first time yesterday during their epic as always performance in Yokohama yesterday. The song is playing in the background as I am typing now. You can give it a listen here. https://youtu.be/769vz2_8HTE Now I have decided to tell you about the other music I have discovered with strong martial arts themes. I have never known about Sia until a video got posted on my G+ timeline that featured Mahiro Takano (we all know her and love her, right? I still want to see a grown up do kata like her...). Don't care much for the song, but seeing Mahiro in action is always inspiring. https://youtu.be/t2NgsJrrAyM Now- on to something that is more to my taste. Anime fans will remember the Ninja Drama, Bassilisk and its moving opening theme by Japanese Metal ...

I have started reading about martial arts at the age of 9. Back then I was told that a book will not be of much help in my training. Later, at 14, I joined my first dojo and I was told to leave the books because it will not help. Funny thing is- there were times when the dojo was the laboratory in which I have tested the theories presented to me in these books. I soon realised that one can simply not expect to find all the knowledge in the world in one place. I am sure many of you will recognise these two books in the photographs. One was a Christmas gift in 2000 that had changed the way I practice for good. The other I have bought to satisfy my curiosity about how Bruce Lee would actually fight. In the martial arts community I have found the jocks and the nerds just as you would in High School. I strive to be a balance of the two. The insights a good book have to offer might just be that little something extra that you have never even known to look for....