Broadsword II

My weapon for this year is Chinese Broadsword… again. I have decided that every time I have a grading year I will choose this as my weapon, and I will add a new section to my form, so this go-around it will be Kayley-Broadsword-II (definetely need to workshop the name). I think it will be a really cool way to measure my growth in between each grading, to see how the way I build forms changes: what motions am I doing, where am I generating my power from, what things am I paying attention to during the building process? Additionally how has the way I’m doing the form changed (especially when doing the older section): How has my timing changed, how am I doing the transitions, has my intent changed? 

I started building out some of the sections and already there is a huge difference compared to Kayley-Broadsword-I. When I made that form, it was my first year on the I Ho Chuan team and my first time EVER making my own form.  It took me ages to try to string together sections and I was overwhelmed with possibilities for the next technique. This time around not only are things going faster, but I am having way more fun! I have started developing my style more and more, so coming up with the next move feels more intuitive, it feels less like testing out puzzle pieces to see which one fits best, and more like I’m painting (I already know what I want the big picture to look like, and based on my knowledge and experience I know which colours to use where and how to transition between them). 

One thing I’ve been focusing on while building it, is trying to push myself to use the sword in ways I haven’t yet. I’m trying to get creative with what sort of techniques I can do, and the motions I want to use to achieve my intent. My first form had quite a few simple slashes and lots of repetition so I want to move away from that and see where else the broadsword can lead me.

I wanted to touch on my hand form for the year as well, but this took me longer to write than I expencted (guess I still have plenty of rust on my blogging skills), and I don’t want to spend all night finishing it, so look out for that in a future blog!

Current Total

Push-ups

1184

Sit-Ups

365

AOK

30

Km

48

Blogs

2

Sparring

0

Hand Form

9

Weapon Form

21

Repair Relationship

0

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