Bo Hojo-undo Group 3 and sparring

[trosanelli]

These sparring techniques are great! My students love practicing them.

They are very impressive at public demos. Way better than people whirling sticks.

Question - It's obvious the clearing move opens the opponent for the counter but also can dislodge the Bo from their hand. You get this dislodge effect if you clear away from the palm. The Gedan attacks clears the opposite way and makes you vulnerable to a counter attack. Is there a reason for doing it the opposite of the other clears?

[hempev]

@trosanelli The hojoundo uses switching of hands to get practice with both sides, but sorry, I am not Shihan, so I cannot give you technical reasoning. Also, I do not know what you mean by "clearing move" - do you mean uke or uchi?

[trosanelli]

@hempev - Sorry for not being clear. I was referring to a blocking side after the second gedan block, Shihan performs a "clearing move" to get the bo out of the way for the counter attack.

[AllOfUsLoveSpam]

How to block a poke to the foot?

[hempev]

@AllOfUsLoveSpam Gyaku gedan harai uke, usually at the same time as lifting the forward foot since the sweep passes in front where the foot "was"

[AllOfUsLoveSpam]

@hempev

I have another question. In your dojo/class, have any weapons broken? That is, in full power combat, can a weapon break, even if it is of good quality?

[hempev]

@AllOfUsLoveSpam Cheap ones are the most likely to break, but a sempai did break a Shureido tonfa in class doing pushups. I've already had a few bo break, but again, they were not very expensive!

[AllOfUsLoveSpam]

@hempev

So, in REAL combat, is it uncommon at all to see weapons break?

[hempev]

@AllOfUsLoveSpam I haven't had anything break in bunkai, which is the step before any sparring, but I have not done sparring, and Shihan has broken some during that. I imagine if you use any weapon in life-or-death combat, the greater force is more likely to break it, and obviously wooden weapons will do this before metal ones! Tonfa have been used against swords, and they can survive a direct strike, but pretty soon they are shredded - no personal experience, just what I have seen and read.

[AllOfUsLoveSpam]

@hempev

Even in the real-time demo, the weapons look like they will break any second!

[hempev]

@AllOfUsLoveSpam There is some give or play to a wooden weapon that is expected.

[ZDWario]

I love the normal speed demos.

serious striking...yikes :/

[Lee94503]

Sounds like he counting in Korean.. you must do taekwondo or something.

[hempev]

No, he is speaking in Japanese, but only one syllable, so ichi sounds like each, roku sounds like rook or ruke, shichi sounds like sheech, and hatchi sounds like hach. Sometimes his ju sounds like ji, but I think ji is also used to mean 10 (there is a Japanese weapon called jitte or jutte, both translate to mean "10 hands"). Shihan has done judo, karate, kobudo, and iaido, but I don't think any Korean derivations of these.

[Kapuzina1337]

@hempev i did the same when i was counting...breathing out and saying "ichi" is impossible xD just used "ich"

[hempev]

@Kapuzina1337 Yeah, you can almost say eechneesanshigorooksheechhachk­yoojoo

as fast as 12345678910 in English!

[MrJesus666]

@hempev i've heard of a korean version of iaido. and there is a video on youtube of it. i forget the actual name of the art but the man doing it is a sword immortal apperntly? and there is a japanese man next to him doing iaido. so as to see how both arts are almost the same.

[lawrencealcantara620]

question about the stance; are the knees BOTH bent? and is it spread 50/50 weight on both legs?

[hempev]

If you are talking about zenkutsudachi, then the weight is 70/30 forward biased, rear leg straight, both feet pointed forward (rear one is very hard for me, so it usually is not directly forward). The forward foot is as far ahead as the length of the lower leg, hips held low and spine perpendicular to the ground, not leaning forward. This is the most common stance when using the bo, but not the only one.

[jimmymoltesanti]

great video, so are the others.

I have a question: is the jo staff also part of kobudo?

[hempev]

Maybe in other dojo - we don't use it, but it is a kobudo weapon.

[Meadras]

He teaches classes, right? It would be awesome to study under him

[hempev]

He teaches other sensei, not classes for the average student, except for iaido (swords).

[matatmat]

LMAO

at 2:12 he says fuck

[hempev]

Ummm, no, he says "rook" which is how you pronounce the first syllable of roku, Japanese for the number 6. We only use single syllables in counting, so you'd also hear ichi (1) sounds like "itch", shichi (7) as "sheech", and hatchi (8) as "hatch". I've never heard Shihan Nishiuchi use a swear word.

[matatmat]

oo kool, are you japanese or somethin?

[hempev]

No, it's just something you have to know to function in our class.

[skillzmay]

nooo, he says funk

[hempev]

I doubt Shihan has ever said "funk" - this martial art may be Okinawan, but he is Japanese, so you have to know how to count in Japanese to keep up. Sorry to leave you behind.

[josquin8524]

the balance of the older man is far better. The younger man is constantly correcting his steps. Look at their feet. The older man is just great!

[frickinM0F0]

thx for the help i know the basic blocks and attacks thx too u! :)

[Illuser]

Huh? So far from all the videos I have seen his words are more than clear! By the way, spankings for the young man for the disrespectful bows! (Eye-to-eye contact.) Great tutorials by the way. :)

[hempev]

No, the entire upper body, including the eyes, are kept as one as you bend at the waist to bow. The bow is stopped at the point the opponents feet are just at the edge of the perpheral vision, and timing is a normal inspiration bowing down, normal expiration straightening up. The young man is a black belt and would never have gotten that far if he didn't bow to Shihan Nishiuchi's standards. This is discussed in my clip entitled "Bow, Sit, and form a Fist for Karate", starting at around 4:15

[Illuser]

Ahh, sweet. I understand. I never realy new of that method of greeting. I was always taught that not making eye-to-eye contact with the person in front of you is an insult, as if thinking less of them. Although in our culture bowing and not looking at one in the eyes could easily be passed as humble. Thanks for the tip. :)

[glamiss]

in kata you would not look at the opponent. when you are practicing on your own, there is no one there. but when you are fighting / sparring / paired off, you must never lose them from your field of vision. otherwise *smack*

[hempev]

Well, you would be looking at your *imaginary* opponent at all times! We get corrections if we look at: the floor, our feet, our hands, our weapon, the opponent's weapon, anywhere but indou or jinshu, and Shihan can tell where we are looking even when there is no-one in front of us.

[hempev]

Is it the accent or the terms? I guess I've gotten use to both! He *is* writing books on kobudo if you'd rather read it!

[WUTANG826]

idk what he is saying but its cool i guess