protectivearts

DAGGERS

What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fearful symmetry? William Blake was writing about a tiger (tyger) but we are speaking of daggers. The dagger is made with a fearful purpose and a beautiful symmetry. The dagger is defined by its symmetry around the long axis and by its emphasis on the point overContinue reading “DAGGERS”

PUNCH TO THE FACE

A punch to the face is what Mulligan sensei called a high affect encounter – jodan tsuki scares most people. Jodan and jodan tsuki are both covered in earlier posts. This morning presented the classic karate punch, meaning the fist is twisted at the final contact and the elbow is turned point out, forearm parallelContinue reading “PUNCH TO THE FACE”

MIYAMOTO MUSASHI

In an interview, Nishio sensei unapologetically labeled Musashi as “the lowest form of human being.” Understandable. Nishio looked at how little human emotion and human engagement Musashi exhibited; he never married, never started a family, and spent a life dueling to test his skill and mettle. Musashi manifested a coward’s response, by developing skill fromContinue reading “MIYAMOTO MUSASHI”