[paydayuscf]

Dear All,

I have been sent a CD-Rom (by another KWF member) of the now-infamous Chikara Dojo.

For those of you who don't know they are a 'kenjutsu' group that practice Shinkage ryu kenjutsu (tachi, naginata, yari) but their lineage is hotly disputed by all with the dojo remaining silent and the knowledgable KWF members calling shenanigans. One main point of this is the 'bokken sparring' that the members engage in (along with their 'Sengoku Classic' competition) that most consider inappropriate (let alone dangerous).

This video is in the public domain as it was given out without charge as a promo video for the dojo. I ask you all to download it 'for personal use', view it and then delete it. This way copyright infringement can not be inferred (I have done my homework!).

I haven't received the video yet, but please subscribe to this thread as the video will only be available for a short time. As soon as it arrives in my mailbox, I will post the video for all to 'appraise' and comment on.

Regards....

[Txaizdxx]

I watch the video from that dojo awhile ago, but now they delete it from that site.

I applied anyway. Onegaishimasu.

[CalBettaulp]

I wouldn't mind seeing it for a laugh.

Count me in, i'll watch then purge.

[pavlik]

Ok so i've never heard of these people and I just went to their website and...... OH MY GOD! What a bunch of charlatans!

Sensei Hunter.... who built his own naginata (actualy blade one not a bokken or bamboo one) in his dads garden shed, and cant even iron the creases in his own hakama!

Iaido with Shinken for begineers...... Say what? Also students have to buy there own "live" blades. From where exactly? The local car boot sale?

Bloody hell.

Oh yeah, and Shinkage Ryu aparently is 'old' .... you dont say.

[dselectronics]

Gee, mixed opinions here.

Though I want to see these files, I hope the files aren't too long.

Wasting our Kendo bandwidth on such baffling budo....

... just seems *wrong* somehow.

[XinordiX]

Count me in, i'll watch then purge.

Hehe, I don't care whether you delete the file or not - the important thing is I asked you to...!

[Uciaucrx]

Hehe, I don't care whether you delete the file or not - the important thing is I asked you to...!

So far the website has been great fun, its a real laugh. much needed light entertainment on a boring day.

The photos are hilarious, i love the boken vs boken showdowns of doom. Very Seven Samurai *cough*

[VastDrura]

I don't mind watching the video. At then I know how YSR doesn't look like (and I would like to see some bokken sparring )

[k5wTvu9f]

Gotta say I don't see much point to this. We've already seen what they look like, and as far as I know, the illustrious Mr. Kilgore is not leading the school anymore.

What's the point of these videos except to point and laugh? If you want to do that, there's tons of videos like this out there. Just go to youtube.com and search for Kenjutsu (the "Kenjutsu season", "kenjutsu demo" and "bohemian samurai" clips, for example), you'll see similar skill shown there. The whole shmegege about Chikara was, IMHO, because of their teacher, his claims, his attitude on various boards, and the curious appearance of a number of people who claim to be disinterested parties, support Chikara dojo, and turn out to be associated with them. Have you read swordforum.com lately? It's like some students have taken it upon themselves to try and organize a revolution, to get support for their school or something. Doesn't seem to be happening, and I'm not surprised.

Anyway, those videos are cringeworthy, sure. And I don't get why the "we're more hardcore than you/we don't need Japanese people to teach us/we'll bust you up if you question our authenticity/we don't need connected teachers, we can learn from books and TV/we don't do wussy kata, we do full on sparring" folks always end up looking more like cheerleaders twirling sticks than deathly serious warriors (see the stick twirling in the videos mentionned above, for example). But I don't see the point of distributing the Chikara videos, except to smirk at them.

I'll still probably end up downloading them and viewing them, though. I'm like that, I guess

[DoctorAlexandro]

I don't mind watching the video. At then I know how YSR doesn't look like (and I would like to see some bokken sparring )

BTW, am I the only one that always reads "Yagyu Shingan Ryu" when reading YSR? For some reason I always think the abbreviation is Yagyu Shingan Ryu and that Yagyu Shinkage Ryu has to be spelled out... Course there's no standard list of acronyms for koryu, is there?

[Deengealf]

What's the point of these videos except to point and laugh?

There's the educational and encouragement value! Until yesterday, my kids had only seen kendo and the fancy slick hollywood swordplay (ala Last Samurai). My son has been waffling on whether it was good or not. The swords idea is cool, but it's so plain and boring not like the cool sword stuff, and it takes forever to get any good.

So, last night we watched a couple of those video clips, and I had him compare the performance against what we've seen as sandan and above kendo. There were indeed many good laughs, but he also came away with more appreciation for kendo.

[GogaMegaPis]

Hey Scott,
Count me in for the car wreck factor.

Count me in, i'll watch then purge. And when you're done purging Jon, don't forget to go back and delete the file! (They kinda have the same effect on me)

[Junrlaeh]

Hey Scott,
Count me in for the car wreck factor.


And when you're done purging Jon, don't forget to go back and delete the file! (They kinda have the same effect on me)

Hahahaha

yeah I'll try to remember!

[Noxassope]

Peeps, the CD-Rom arrived in my mailbox this morning. It will be live within 24 hours. A word of warning. It's the same bullshit as before, with some highly chuckalicious iai thrown in for good measure.

The good thing is that there are contact details on there for anyone interested in attending the dojo...

[Acalsenunse]

is it possible to post it in a format that mac users can read? basically anything other than .wmv will do. thanks in advance.

[Controller]

Hehe, I will post it as a wmv specially for you mac users.

[tmobmobfil]

not funny.

[sandyphoebetvmaa]

NOT THE CHIKARA VIDEO but funny nevertheless - and specially for neko:

http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/t...rash-different

/hijack

[Finanziamento]

LOL that was great. but given a choice, he's still using a mac. go ahead and post your video so that 95% of the population can view it. i'll just go over to a friends house to view the chikara video.

[Wxrxnhar]

Feh... reading the manual is the only answer for either mac or pc.

I have laptop versions of both, and they're both money pits that overheat, weigh too much and loose data just when you need it the most.

Both run the ever critical Adobe products the same way... though the color IS better on mac. The pc is better for 3D and CAD... but beyond that?

Just means to an end.



Now WHERES that Babboon-budo you promised us?? mmmmm?