Kihon, kihon, kihon, and more kihon. Basic rolls, punching, kicking, kamae, taisabaki and sanshin. More rolling than anything else, though; my other stuff is getting pretty good, but my rolls are still crap and improvement is coming along very slowly. At my level that's pretty much all there is to do.
Just as an aside - why aren't you doing this with a drawing sword instead of a live blade? Again - for everyone else out there... it is better to only use a live blade when you are completely comfortable with a drawing sword. They hurt plenty and will leave plenty of nasty marks without being a 3 foot razor blade... As for me. Ichimonji. And related stuff. -Daniel
Mr Weidman sah, good question. I find that when training with a bokken and/or a mogito exclusively as I tend to do, I (personally) tend to find that bad habits creep into my movements. There's no serious danger, right? Same with punching a target. If I'm not occasionally punching a target, I might find sloppy habits developing that could result in a broken wrist or something similar. One of the things I found recently was that when in certain kamae with the sword, I was allowing the cutting edge to angle uncomfortably close to my direction. By training a little with the shinken (extremely slowly and carefully!), it's helping me to remember just what it is I'm waving around and to learn respect for the weapon again. It's not something I do often and it's not something I recommend that people do without the direct supervision of their instructor (apart from me that is! ) All I'm practicing in this way is basic kamae, transitioning between those kamae and basic cuts with no power, just to check my body position in relation to the blade. I'm not practicing iai with the shinken because bluntly (pardon the reverse pun), my iai isn't anywhere near good enough - those skills are practiced using a bokken and/or mogito.
Soke has been admonishing all of us in the Bujinkan to work on cultivating a playful feeling in our training, irrespective of our rank, time spent training or skill level. As you can imagine, this is quite difficult and not all of us get it but it is certainly something that is within our reach. It may be easier to have this playful sense if you are not squeezing any bees. The damned things sting and it's difficult to play when you've been stung too many times.
This is something I really enjoy too, though perhaps some would interpret playful as "doing what you like" or "anything works". Personally I find this playful feeling when I´ve really improved beyond just copying a technique/kata. All of a sudden things come alive and that´s when the playful feeling arrives Regards / Skuggvarg
I feel playful when I find something 'works' I don't always know what I've done but if it worked, all good. I think it's the feeling of something feeling right, rather than feeling wrong and awkward. When it feels right it's more fun/'playful'.
I go to class three times a week, stretch and meditate daily, lift twice a week, and have been teaching myself Japanese.
I've also been working on my modesty. I think you'll find I'm the most modest person you'll ever meet, in fact if there was a World Modesty Champion you lucky people would be reading his words right now.
