Sounds like a perfect example of high consequence flow arts. Like juggling, poi or hooping with very sharp teeth. During my time studying martial arts in China, I fondly recall a fellow student attempting to learn the meteor hammer -- essentially a metal ball on a length of string/chain/rope.
Much appreciated for writing about your experience. Those kinds of weapons seemed so daunting to me to even begin considering actually learning ha!
Fascinating Leslie. The life parallels you've highlighted resonate, but I feel like I'd hurt myself quicker with that thing in my hands than I would my real life. : )
Practice weapon is made of rope, duct-tape wrapped plastic dog toy and plastic replica of the blade. Has all the same functionality but much less dangerous.
..."the only thing we can do in chaos is remain balanced, untangled, and resilient amidst the unpredictability."......what a rad way to slow down...great read!
Leslie, one day, you will teach me how to use the kyoketsu shoge. So glad you included that video because I was like okay, I need to see this in action ASAP to understand it.
Sounds like a perfect example of high consequence flow arts. Like juggling, poi or hooping with very sharp teeth. During my time studying martial arts in China, I fondly recall a fellow student attempting to learn the meteor hammer -- essentially a metal ball on a length of string/chain/rope.
Much appreciated for writing about your experience. Those kinds of weapons seemed so daunting to me to even begin considering actually learning ha!
Wait wait where is the link to an article about training in China? That sounds super interesting.
Pre-WOP and pre-Substack, but here's something I wrote awhile back when it was somewhat fresh: https://arkabrotherhood.com/blog/season-china-study-kung-fu/
This is so cool! I love how you documented your experience. The photos make it really tangible too. What an amazing time it must have been.
Fascinating Leslie. The life parallels you've highlighted resonate, but I feel like I'd hurt myself quicker with that thing in my hands than I would my real life. : )
No one is spared from the tangle. But everyone should try it!
do you learn with the actual weapon???
Practice weapon is made of rope, duct-tape wrapped plastic dog toy and plastic replica of the blade. Has all the same functionality but much less dangerous.
..."the only thing we can do in chaos is remain balanced, untangled, and resilient amidst the unpredictability."......what a rad way to slow down...great read!
Leslie, one day, you will teach me how to use the kyoketsu shoge. So glad you included that video because I was like okay, I need to see this in action ASAP to understand it.
What a beautiful lesson.