Where You Find It

If you are looking for some serious, no BS, training DVDs I would suggest you check out the ones available from either Pete Kautz or James Keating. I will provide links to their websites at the end. I have just ordered the newest four disc set from Pete on Bowie Knife techniques. You might remember that a year ago I did a blog on the terrific Bowie Knife Fighting Seminar that I attended, taught by Pete and a few of his senior students. The DVDs convey the same quality of instruction at a reasonable price compared to the expense of travel and lodging of a live class. Do I wish he was holding a live seminar again? Sure, but you learn to take what is available and find wisdom where and when you can.

In a similar vein, I recently had a visit from a man, his son, and two grandsons. The youngest grandson was extremely bright and also fascinated with Samurai culture and History. A mutual friend, Mr. Yamaguchi, recommended they contact me as the local authority on kenjutsu. Whether I am an authority or not is certainly debatable. But as far as I know I am one of the few people in this area practicing or teaching any form of Japanese swordsmanship. So when they arrived I led them down to my dojo. I changed into hakama and keiko gi so that I could demonstrate a few of the techniques and kata that I practice. I figured they would find this more interesting than sitting around my kitchen table looking at pictures of Samurai in a book. It seems like this was a good choice because the questions from both the adults and the kids were numerous. They also commented on the rack holding fencing foils and small swords, the bo staff and Yari (spears) standing in the corner, and the Bowie trainers lying by the blackboard. When they asked about the poster of a custom M-4 Carbine I explained that a warrior must know how to use all forms of weapons.
As they got ready to leave the grandfather offered me some money for my time. I politely declined, explaining to him that my sword teachers had always shared their knowledge freely with me, and I did likewise. He said that sharing something this rare for free was in itself quite unusual. Well finding a school of ancient Japanese swordsmanship in a small rural western NY town is pretty rare, but it is what it is. You find knowledge where and when you can. If you are ever out my way call me, and we’ll go down to the dojo.

http://www.alliancemartialarts.com/
http://www.jamesakeating.com/