ANST - bokken & shinai

[j'lynn yeates]

On 22 Jun 98, at 13:33, SCOTT A WAGGONER wrote:

> Yep, back when I was knight marshal of Gate's Edge, the only armor we had
> at the time was mine. So for practice i had to dress the new fighters in
> my stuff and used my bokken to attack with since the only rattan sword
> with basket hilt was in their hands. It worked pretty well, but I wouldnt
> try it for the long run.

there was a time locally, years back, when bokken where quite common in the off-site 
(non-official) practices in certain circles... used to do a fair amount of sparring with 
them working on specific points of form, only armour used (if at all) were kendo gloves, 
with understanding that participants had enough control to pull blows and had 
adequate target control to spar safely.  they were particularly popular for working on 
two-sword forms ...

for general training / instruction always liked the shinai.  makes loud noise, makes it's 
presence felt, but does little if any real damage ... good for quick strikes to show open 
slots or other weakness in defense.  also have found the useful for wading in and 
breaking up canine/canid fights when necessary - though i try to stay neutral (g) ...

current pup' (the rott/wolf) enjoy's a rousing game of "weasel whacking" ... human goal -
 whack the weasel (a light tap to shoulders or flanks) before the weasel can catch the 
shinai or the humans forearms (his favored target ... followed by back of legs).  good 
practice for the human and the four-foot. 

and beyond that some of my farther out-there aquaintances have found other uses for 
them  (++g)

'wolf
... the street finds uses for things

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