Dale what you do to further the cause for Budo Taijutsu. You deserve a medal or something.
Yeah, it was pretty hard on me but I persevered. . .
I first demonstrated the shuko/sword thing with judan Joel Everett, the instructor for the Bujinkan Sacramento Dojo: I needed someone who knew his way around a sword to add realism to the whole thing, and none of my folks were available during that time window (morning). It would not have been at all the same without him there.
I was pleased that I had the opportunity to explain before doing it that what was important was the TACTICS that allow you to take the blade at the right place; and they were startled to realize that we were going to be actually moving around, jockeying for distance & positioning, as in a real fight. We did it totally "cold", had not practiced it with each other at all before the crew arrived or anything.
They were rather stunned for a moment by the "KRANG!!" of steel on steel. Especially because, since Joel was giving me such a "real fight" feeling, it didn't even
occur to me to "just stop the sword". Without even thinking I continued to flow, reversing the blade and "cutting" across his neck as I threw him. We did about 20 takes of that as they shot from different angles.
Then it was Kari's turn; and what she lacked in form & technique she made up for in sincerity when trying to split my skull. (We went from a stationary start and I didn't "kill" her at the end.) Again, we did it totally "cold" without practicing it together first.
The afternoon session featured Adam & Jamie coming in and watching a class in progress for a bit (we managed to get about 25 people in, from 5 dojo altogether). We were working on a Kukishin ryu kata; we'd also been told that Adam & Jamie might just observe for a while before asking questions, or they might want to actually participate a bit. They watched a while, Adam asked some questions, then said he'd like to try this stuff out. When I invited him to join in on the kata we were working on, he said he'd rather just attack me and try to kick my @$$ and see what would happen.
What happened was him basically falling down on the floor and not understanding how it was happening. Twice, though I did something a little different the second time. (Quote: "That really felt weird!!) Then he wanted me to use a weapon of some kind (he didn't specify) and see what would happen with that. I said okay, came back a minute later apparently unarmed, and said "Let's go" and he went for it. As he was getting up I showed him the weapon, which he had never seen or felt; and he then had the cameraman get a good shot of what would have been happening with the weapon at each stage in the same sequence of movements.
I don't know what else will be featured on the show, and don't have a "need to know". I think they're playing with mizugumo, and I know they're doing something involving catching arrows; not sure what else may be featured. I am, however, VERY sure that Soke will be pleased with how the Bujinkan comes across on the show.
I should have the exact release date in about a week, right now it looks like it will be sometime in April.
