Welcome to Gaia! ::

I'm pretty sure he's not the original person who said that either, sounds really familiar to me. Or maybe he said it without having heard it before.


But, my answer to the question, "Because." I don't learn martial arts from a teacher, I learn from my own experience, which is why I started getting quiet after about page 2. There's not much of a choice around here, only a few karate places. Most of which are laughable at best, seeing as you literally buy your skill from them. Spend a week in, pay $200, congrats on having a blackbelt.

I spar with people because it feels right. I have the urge to do so alot, though its rarely met. Its also a good stress reliever, and it provides me with skills should I ever need to defend myself or others. I may not be able to swing a katana with surgical precision, but I can hold my own against someone with training.

Ideally, I'd learn an art like what Shinta is studying. Something that teaches you all weapons, but places somewhat of an emphasis on the sword, since that's the weapon that appeals to me most. While I would love to learn how to use a bo staff or how to throw shuruken, I've never felt the urge to just pick one up and wield it.

Not in a killing spree way or anything, its kind of hard to explain. The best way I can think of to describe it is like phantom limb syndrome, where if someone gets a limb cut off they sometimes feel as though its still there. Same principle, I'll go through my day and sometimes feel as though there's a sword in my hand, or that there should be, even if my hand is completely open. And the feeling isn't limited to just my hand either, it also includes most of my arm, as if the muscles should be supporting that weight.

That feeling is probably what's driving my desire to dabble in blacksmithing, so I can eventually make the sword that I feel. I've tried describing it or drawing it before to find I'm unable, so I'll just find out what its like by making a few custom blades (probably a year or so after I start, since I plan on working up to swords from knives) and comparing how they feel.

If and when I get to that level, I'll be sure to tell you. Ideally, I want to be able to mix wootz steel so I can make a true damascus blade rather than just the acid treated ones you see on the market today. We know the chemical composition of wootz now, and there are plenty of places to buy materials for it, so I'll just have to find out the right smithing techniques.

And thanks for telling me more of your art, I'll see if I can find someone around me that's able to teach it, but I doubt I'll find anyone that's not several hours away. I wish you the best of luck in your current training though.

Aye, and don't forget not to rush things. I had some other thought that went with that, something about how rushing things usually messes them up, but its Thanksgiving and I'm hungry. I guess my stomach's messing with my brain now.

Two quick questions on kenjutsu though. I know it'll take years to master, but if someone has some natural skill how long do you think it would take them to progress to your level? And secondly, does your Maestro know of a list of schools or teachers for it across the states? I'll admit, I didn't look too hard (a quick Google search before I was pulled away for other things) but aye. What I did find wasn't too helpful, having very few people listed at all, and mostly in New York or California or some other place too far to be of any use to me.

Sure, that could work. Email's normally not my thing, but meh. I'll probably remember to check it after sending a message for something like that out.

If me and my friends lived there, you'd have 3 members join at least. But, if I remember correctly, you're in California, which doesn't exactly appeal that well to any of us.