Arts of the Samurai

The U.S. National Martial Arts Alliance tournament we are sponsoring on April 27th, 2013 will be held at the Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, 9132 Kingston Pike, Knoxville, TN 37923.

TIMES: We will start at 10:00 a.m. with the Black Belt Meeting.

EVENTS and COMPETITORS: As of now, we will showcase the following events: Open-Handed Forms, Weapons Forms, Musical Forms, Synch Forms, Point Sparring, Chanbarra, and Breaking. We will break into divisions as needed per age and gender with advanced, intermediate and beginner; adult Black Belt will be broken into 3rd Dan and under and 4th Dan and up (men's and women's). Medals will be awarded for 1st-3rd places and certificates for 4th place. This is an Alliance Sanctioned Event, so we will be turning in points for all U.S. National Martial Arts Alliance competitors.

There will be some lunch and snacks and drinks available. Black belts who judge will have fees waived. Cost is $35 for all events.

SPARRING: This will be point sparring: 1 point for a kick or hand technique to a legal target area.(The fingertip ends of the gloves do not constitute a legal technique, this is for the folks that shake the gloves down past their fingers and use the length of the glove to hit their opponent with) The legal target areas are the chest, abdomen and sides of the head. Penalty areas are the face, top of the head, the neck and below the belt. No point areas include the back and the arms.

Contact - any undue snapping of the head, swelling, blood or redness constitutes a disqualification. Students are expected to exhibit control commensurate with their experience. Contestants must stay in the ring: if one foot is out of the ring, that person can be scored upon but cannot score a point on their opponent. No points are scored outside the ring, and the contestants will be cautioned by the judge to stay inside.

Rounds are 3 minutes or 5 points, whichever comes first. Black Belts may have moderate contact and may use the face as a legal target area IF there is a consensus at the black belt meeting that this is to be allowed.

BREAKING: Breaking is on an ABC round (standard for Alliance). Contestant will announce their breaks, with up to 5 stations, and they may use wood, concrete, brick, block, etc. (Glass, ice and fire are prohibited.) If they break everything on the 1st hit, they stay in the A round. If they miss once, they go to the B round. If they miss two or more times, they are in the C round.

Breaks are scored for difficulty. At the end of the division, people in the A round will have their scores compared and the highest score wins. If no one is in the A round, it drops to the B round and the person with the highest score wins. If no one is in the A or B round, then the highest score in the C round will win. So, a person breaking 3 single boards would win if they broke all three on the first try, and everyone else missed at least one. However if someone else does more difficult breaks and also does not miss, they would win.

CHANBARRA: Chanbarra is soft sword sparring. Except for cups, we provide all equipment including headgear, but you are free to use your own equipment, if you have it avaialble. Both hands must remain on the weapon at all times or disqualification can happen. Legal striking areas are the head, chest, arms, hands, legs, and groin. Each legal hit is one point.

These will be 3 minute rounds or 5 points, whichever comes first. Strikes with the chanbarra that count will be anywhere along its length (except the tip, the first 2 inches) and the "point" or end when it is used in a straight thrust.
 

Please feel free to ask any other questions that you feel will help you or your students prepare for the tournament. You may email me here: Sensei Toni McSorley.

Just follow this link: GIFT CERTIFICATE, then click the PayPal button to make your payment.  You'll receive a Gift Certificate that you can email or give to that Special Person! Show the women in your life how much you really care about them. 

300 years ago, the former samurai Yamamoto Tsunetomo wrote Hagakure, a masterpiece on the art and values of these much-revered Japanese fighters. Ever since, warrior chiefs have preserved it as a moral and practical treatise for themselves and their samurai retainers. Once closely guarded and shown to just a chosen few, it is now available to us all in this visually breathtaking new version.

Whereas Machiavelli’s The Prince shows how to succeed amid treacherous political intrigues and Sun Tzu’s The Art of War reveals battle strategies for bloodless victory, Hagakure offers fascinating insight into Japanese ?warrior-ness”?a mindset steeped in Zen-Confucian philosophy. Yamamoto Tsunetomo tells his readers how to foster courage, serve selflessly, become a skilled master of your own destiny, and infuse life in the here and now with beauty, ?while still acknowledging its transience. His timeless wisdom and profound aphorisms reflect important principles that still apply to life today. This illustrated edition of the classic text is an essential and stunning addition to any home library. 

Some reviews of this book:

• “This is probably the finest English edition of the Hagakure that I've ever seen. The full color illustrations are phenomenal. This is one of my prized pieces of my entire book collection. great for study, Japanese literature collections, and would make a great gift to anyone interested in Samurai Code or Japanese art.” 
• “After reading several versions of the Hagakure, I found this book to be the best version available today. The book itself is quite a high quality and the hardcover gold leafing is pleasing to look at.” 
• “The content has excellent references, both in the comparison of Musashi's life compared to Yamamoto Tsunetomo's life, it was well written and gives the reader a reason for the different insights into the code of Bushido. The pictures in the book are quite good and gives the person who has never read the Hagakure or seen too many Japanese history books a bit more of a culture view of the Samurai. The conversion of the translation may leave some readers confused, but will ultimately give the reader "food for thought." Upon reading several more times it will begin to make sense.” 
• “Would highly recommend this version of the Hagakure over any other version presently released and would make a good addition to anyone's library.”