Temple Training

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Zengosayuu no Shisei (All Directions Posture)
Rank: "E"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: A stance with a sword held vertical.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Zengosayuu no Shisei is a Gyakusatsu stance that allows the user to rapidly respond offensively to enemies from all eight angles of attack. The user brings his/her sword upright until the hilt is in front of the shoulder matching the dominate hand that is held at the apex. This stance is also used to transition into the Kousou no Shisei when striking by sloping the blade slightly to the rear. The user's feet are positioned opposite of the hands with the dominate foot in the rear and the other foot in the forefront.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/5


The fifth posture of the Gyakusatsu style was known as the Zengosayuu no Shisei, and was another offensive posture, which could be used as a starting position to transition into the Kousou no Shisei. The principle of the posture was to allow the user to launch an offensive from any of the eight main angels of attack and the stance reflected that.

His blade was brought so that hilt was in front of his shoulder and his feet moved to be shoulder width apart, right foot slightly in front of the left, while his left foot slid back slightly. Footwork and stability was key to the posture, allowing him to shift into any of relevant strikes, but he wouldn’t learn such techniques till later. For now, though, he allowed his master to inspect his posture and corrected the faults in his posture that was pointed out by his master; he needed to have his blade directly in front of his shoulder, not as far out as he had had it, and his left hand needed to be at the very top of his hilt; he had it slightly too low.

They were simple to fix and as he started to drill, he made sure to not repeat his earlier mistake. This time his drills involved the full process of drawing his blade and transitioning into the posture as quick as possible. After several dozen repetitions of the drill, his master suddenly barked at him.

“Transition to Kousou no Shisei, now.”

Having been moving to sheath his sword, Hikaru had to stop his movement and move back to take up the overhead posture.

“Always be alert.” His master scolded. “One of the major principles of this posture is that it allows you to transition in to the Kousou no Shisei, so we shall practice it.”

Sufficiently scolded, Hikaru made sure that sure that he continued to pay attention as his master had him continue his drills, making sure that every time that the transition was called, he could make it without issue. Finally, after ten or so minutes of drilling, his master told him to stop. He had shown that he had got the posture down and he was ready to move on.

[Nekomata Minh]

+5/learned

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Satsugai no Shisei (Killing Posture)
Rank: "E"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: A stance with the sword still sheathed at the hip.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Satsugai no Kamae is the most advanced stance of the Gyakusatsu and offers the highest peak of speed when unsheathing the sword. The user holds the sheath with the left hand at the hip and the handle of the sword firmly with the right hand. The shoulders are relaxed and kept even without pivoting the torso. The feet are aligned forward and the lead knee bent with a sixty-forty weight distribution.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/5

Having been taught five of the six stances of the Gyakuastu, his master had deemed him ready for the last and most advanced of the stances, the Satsugai no Shisei. Unlike all the other stances, this was a stance for when one had yet to draw their blade, and was based around off allowing the person to achieve a high level of speed when they pushed off.

Given that he was left handed, he had been forced to reverse the pose that his master had shown him, not that that was difficult. His left foot, not his right as would be the case for a right hander, went out front, while his right was behind him. He then shifted his weight so that just over half, maybe around sixty percent of his body weight, was rested upon his left leg; the rest was supported by his right, and to allow him to better push off, he bent his knees. The rest of his body was fairly relaxed, his shoulders were back but not tensed so that his torso wasn’t turned but front on and his right hand held his sheath at his hip, the hilt gripped firmly in his left hand.

A tap at the back of both his knees told him to bend them a bit more and a pull on his shirt told him to straighten his back; a few more minor corrections and his master stepped back and instructed him to practice assuming the stance. Returning to a loose standing position, Hikaru waited for several seconds before dropping back into the stance, and after a few seconds to allow for any corrections, he repeated the process; rising, then dropping into the stance.

There was nothing fancy with the training, just constant repetitive movements, but he didn’t complain. The point of the drills was to reinforce the stances and make sure that he would be able to do them instinctually, so he continued to drill without complaint. On and on he drilled, repeating the motions over and over until he lost count of how many times he had done the drill.

[Nekomata Minh]

Yeah, this one works too...

+5/learned

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Kibatsu Genron (Principles For Striking)
Rank: "E", "D", "C", "B", "A", "S"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: Training that strengthens offense with a sword.
Special: ---
Drawback: These combat principles only apply to Gyakusatsu techniques.
Description: Kibatsu Genron is the lesson in which a swordsman learns how to use his/her sword in order to break through an opponent's guard or otherwise defensive measures. This type of offense not only learns how to penetrate an enemy's defense, but also incorporate a knock-back effect upon striking.
• E Rank: At this level of skill the user only understands the mechanics of breaking enemy defenses.
• D Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are E-Rank and lower.
• C Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are D-Rank and lower.
• B Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are C-Rank and lower, as well as knocking the target back up to two meters.
• A Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are B-Rank and lower, as well as knocking the target back up to five meters.
• S Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are A-Rank and lower, as well as knocking the target back up to seven meters.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/5

With the six stances of the Gyakusatsu style under his belt, it was time for Hikaru to move onto to learning the principles of attacking with his blade, or what were more commonly referred to as Kibatsu Genron. For his first lesson, he was being instructed in the most basic of strikes, an overhead cut, and how to perform it properly; there was more to the strike then just bringing the sword down on the head or shoulders of an opponent.

So, there he stood, sword held over head, listening to his master as he explained how the strike was meant to work.

“Remember, power is not necessarily key but technique is.” His master said. “The overhead strike can be imagined as casting a fishing line; you swing the blade out and use your right hand and shoulders as levels, brining it down until it makes contact with the head or shoulders of an opponent. Like so.”

Hikaru watched as his master demonstrated the cut, then copied it. A firm step forward with his left leg to help give him reach and momentum was followed by the swing of the sword, using the principles that his master had outlined; not too much power, shoulders and right hand acting as a lever to help bring the blade down in a controlled fashion. He practiced the strike several more times, each time adjusting the strike as if he was aiming for a different part of the upper body; shoulders, neck and head.

Once he had demonstrated he understood the strike his master had a dummy brought out for him to practice upon, allowing him to have an actual target with which he could make sure his strikes were on target. The addition of an actual target also made life considerably easier as he could make any adjustments to the overhead strike, such as moving himself to ensure a clean hit and allowing him to adjust how much force he put behind his strike.

After an hour to so of practice, he stepped back from the dummy. His arms were sore, and he was ready to move on to the next stage of the Kibatsu Genron.

[Nekomata Minh]

+5/learned

[Nickerly]

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Kibatsu Genron (Principles For Striking)
Rank: "E", "D", "C", "B", "A", "S"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: Training that strengthens offense with a sword.
Special: ---
Drawback: These combat principles only apply to Gyakusatsu techniques.
Description: Kibatsu Genron is the lesson in which a swordsman learns how to use his/her sword in order to break through an opponent's guard or otherwise defensive measures. This type of offense not only learns how to penetrate an enemy's defense, but also incorporate a knock-back effect upon striking.
• E Rank: At this level of skill the user only understands the mechanics of breaking enemy defenses.
• D Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are E-Rank and lower.
• C Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are D-Rank and lower.
• B Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are C-Rank and lower, as well as knocking the target back up to two meters.
• A Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are B-Rank and lower, as well as knocking the target back up to five meters.
• S Rank: At this level of skill the user is capable of penetrating defenses that are A-Rank and lower, as well as knocking the target back up to seven meters.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/10

The next stage of the Kibatsu Genron involved the learning of the rest of the main strikes of bladework; fore and back hand strikes with one or two hands, and thrusts. Learning such strikes would allow him to have him more versatility in his strikes, then he had with just the overhead strikes.

The first strike he would be learning and practicing would be the forehand strike. The two-handed version of the strike involved him stepping forward with his left leg, then bringing the bokken across his body in one of several general angels: a straight horizontal strike across the body, a more diagonal cut which would run from shoulder to hip, or an upwards strike which ran from hip to shoulder. He practiced the each of the types of forehand strikes on the dummy several dozen times; the strikes slowly wearing down on the dummy as the wooden blade chipped away at the wood of the dummy.

After he had practiced the two-handed forehand, he moved onto the one-handed strike, which simply involved adjusting the position of his hand and rotating his body more to compensate for the loss of strength that the second hand gave him. Once again, he practiced the strike on the dummy, getting used to the difference between the one and two-handed forehand strikes. Happy that he had gotten the forehand strikes under his belt, he moved on to the second of the three strikes; the backhand.

The backhand strike was similar to forehand strike in that it shared the three general strike angels as the forehand strike, but the footwork was completely different. For the backhand strike, either the nondominant foot when launching the strike, or the dominant foot was brought back so that it was behind the nondominant foot. The first was offensive in nature, while the second was highly defensive, used to force an opponent back, and as before, he practiced each of the strikes several dozen times on the dummy, getting used to the footwork and the feeling of the strikes. After that he moved onto the one-handed version of the strike, which again involved more twisting of the body to increase the strength of the attack; although the one-handed strike was much faster to perform then the two-handed one.

The final strike he would be learning to perform in the second stage of the Kibatsu Genron, was the thrust. Unlike the two previous strikes, the thrust was almost entirely one-handed; thrusting two handed exposed too much of the body to be performed normally, and only a very skilled swordsman could perform a two-handed thrust safely. More than the others, the thrust relied upon good footwork and speed; you couldn’t just step forward with the thrust, you had to lung, to give yourself the maximum reach which would prevent an opponent from backing away.

As he practiced the thrust off to one side, several circles were painted upon the dummy, indicating areas that he was to aim for with the thrust; heart, throat and several other spots across the body. He practiced the thrust for some time, thrusting at each of the individual targets several dozen times, making sure that he could hit them perfectly and quickly enough to his master’s satisfaction.

When his strikes all up to the satisfaction of his master, he was instructed to stop and rest. He would not be progressing any further with the Kibatsu Genron until he had reached the rank of Chuukai, so instead he would be moving onto something else.

[Nekomata Minh]

+10/learned

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Yobousen (Guarding Against Attacks)
Rank: "E", "D", "C", "B", "A", "S"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: Training that strengthens defense against attacks.
Special: ---
Drawback: These combat principles can only be applied to weapon attacks.
Description: Yobousen is the lesson in which a swordsman learns how to use his/her sword in order to block attacks from another sword, polearm, or other bladed weapons. With each progression in skill levels, the user becomes able to block or deflect stronger attacks with better efficiency.
• E-Rank: The swordsman only has elementary knowledge in how to properly defend him/herself.
• D-Rank: The swordsman is capable of blocking or deflecting E-rank weapon attacks.
• C-Rank: The swordsman is capable of blocking or deflecting D-Rank weapon attacks.
• B-Rank: The swordsman is capable of blocking or deflecting C-Rank weapon attacks, as well as push the opponent off balance for 3 seconds (half turn).
• A-Rank: The swordsman is capable of blocking or deflecting B-Rank weapon attacks, as well as push the opponent off balance for 6 seconds (full turn).
• S-Rank: The swordsman is capable of blocking or deflecting A-rank weapons attacks, as well as push the opponent off balance for 12 seconds (two turns).
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/10

Defence for a swordsman was just as important as offence, and as such the principal of Yobousen was a crucial element of the Gyakusatsu style; his demonstration against the older student had shown him that. His first proper lessons would cover the basic parries and blocks that could save his life by blocking an opponent’s sword, then eventually move onto more advanced blocks and the like, all of which would be done under the watchful eye of his master, who would be directing these lessons.

“The first block that you’ll be practicing is the simple parry, using the side of your blade and back of your blade to parry.” His master said, demonstrating the blocks and the parts of the blade that they made use of. “Remember, don’t use the edge of the blade to block unless necessary. It will block but it should be avoided. Now, let’s see you perform each of these blocks.”

Hikaru copied the parries that his master showed him – an overhead block on the back of the blade, using both hands, and then high and low parries for his left and right side. After practicing each a dozen or more times his master stepped forward and had him do live practice, launching a number of strikes – slow enough that he could actually block – for him to parry; though it wasn’t that simple. He had to identify what parry was required and then act quickly enough to successfully block his master’s bokken.

“Good” His master said. “Now, we shall focus on blocking lower strikes; this time it best you block with one hand, namely the hand on the side that is being struck at. I shall show you why.”

Paying attention as his master demonstrated the basic lower blocks, which involved pointing the blade downwards and catching any income strike away relatively close to the body. He could also see why holding the blade one handed was necessary for such blocks; it would be too awkward using both hands if the blow was aimed at one’s ankles, twisting the body in such a way that it was vulnerable to other strikes.

Having seen the parries, Hikaru practiced them, parry his master’s blows. They were hard parries to get down given that he had to lock his wrist and use quite a bit of strength to block any blow; if he didn’t use enough strength than his blade would be pushed back right up against him and potentially, his blade would be pushed to the side, leaving him vulnerable.

They continued the practice for some time, allowing Hikaru to get fully used to the basic parries and blocks. Once his master was happy his progress, he stopped, waiting for his master to begin the next lesson.

[Nekomata Minh]

+10/learned

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Seikouhou (Frontal Attack)
Rank: "D"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The swordsman uses a horizontal-diagonal sword combination.
Special: ---
Drawback: Can be dodged/evaded relatively easily if not timed correctly.
Description: Seikouhou is a Taijutsu technique where the attacker moves towards an enemy with a left-right horizontal slash followed by a 1:00-7:00 diagonal cleave.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/10

The first true offensive technique of the Gyakusatsu he would be learning was called the Seikouhou, which was essentially an empowered forehand strike designed to cleave an opponent from shoulder to hip. It was a strike, that if mistimed could be dodged with relative ease, and as such much of his training with the technique would be about getting the timing of it right.

To that end, he found himself sparring against another student of the temple, a girl a year or two older and a head or two taller than him. She had been instructed to actively defend herself to a limited degree, forcing to get his timing of the strike perfect. Blocking an overhead strike, he pushed her sword to the side and stepped forward, swinging his sword down so that it would connect with her shoulder and slide down her body.

However, she deftly stepped back out of the path of his sword, so that it harmlessly swung past. Growling in annoyance, Hikaru was forced back onto the defensive as the girl counter-attacked. His reach was too short to effectively strike at her before she stepped out of the path of his strike and she continually dodged any strike he launched at her. How was he meant to master the Seikouhou if he couldn’t land the strike in the first place?

“This has nothing to do with your height and your reach.” The voice of his master cut in. “Your transition between defence and offense is slow and your strike not fast enough to catch your opponent. Only by improving such aspects of your technique will you be able to strike her successfully.”

Holding up his hand to the girl to stop, Hikaru stepped away and began to practice the strike by himself, working on the areas his master had pointed out to him. For the first area, he worked on getting the movement into an attack after blocking faster by improving his footwork during the transition and for the speed of his strike, he worked on switching between a two-handed block and a one-handed strike.

Stepping back up to the girl, Hikaru took his position and they resumed their spar, but this time he made sure to make full use of the changes he had come up with, so when the opportunity came for him to strike using the Seikouhou, he managed to strike the girl across the body before she could retreat.

“Good.” His master said from the side. “Now, do it again.”

They repeated the spar a number of times, allowing Hikaru to completely get to grips with the timing the Seikouhou needed to be successful. A few times, Hikaru messed up the timing of the strike but the more they sparred, the better he got with executing the strike and after a while, his master held up a hand for him to stop.

“Good.” His master said. “Remember such timing and the Seikouhou will work for you.”

[Nekomata Minh]

+10/learned

[Nickerly]

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Nibai Sutoro-ku (Double Stroke)
Rank: "D"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The swordsman uses a feint and striking sword combination.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Nibai Sutoro-ku is a Taijutsu technique where the attacker moves towards an enemy with a feint striking attack in order to draw attention away from the second striking attack at the enemy's head.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/10

The next technique of the Gyakusatsu style that he would be learning was known as Nibai Sutoro-ku, which was another offensive technique designed for a Shogakusha like himself to learn, preparing him for more advanced techniques when he advanced in rank. According to his master, the Nibai Sutoro-ku involved the use of a feint strike to draw an opponent’s technique away, before switching the direction of attack and launching a second strike aimed at the enemy’s head. Of course, the feint had to be convincing otherwise an opponent would simply see through the ruse and be able to defend themselves against the second blow, and the transition between the feint and actual attack had to be done fast enough that there was no chance that the opponent could put up an actual defence against the blow.

To that end, Hikaru had come up with a plan to split the training of the technique into three parts. First, he would practice the feint to ensure that all potential feint strikes were convincing enough, then he would get the transition from feint to the overhead strike fast enough that it couldn’t be dodged, and then finally he would practice the whole technique together. And to help him with his training, he had asked for the help of one of the other, more experienced students; they would tell him if his feint was believable or not and then when he actually practiced the whole technique, would allow him to judge if his speed was fast enough.

When it came to having a feint that was convincing enough to distract an enemy so that they left their head unguarded, the feint would have to be aimed at a different part of the body, but not somewhere where he wouldn’t be able to get the second blow off in good time. With all that in mind, a one-handed side slash aimed at the shoulder seemed to be the best strike to act as his feint; it was close enough that he could transition into a two-handed downwards slash, and was an area that a swordsman always had to defend. So, he had his feint, and now he had to make it convincing, while not overcommitting to the strike. He tested the strike out several times against his sparring partner, getting feedback after each time. It seemed that the best way to make the feint convincing was to make the strike fast; it would force an opponent to respond to the strike automatically, while still allowing him enough control to switch to the actual strike.

Having gotten the feint under control, he moved onto speeding up the transition from feint to actual strike; given that he was switching from a one-handed strike to a two-handed strike, the actual transition between strikes wasn’t difficult; all he had to do was to flick his wrist back so that the blade didn’t make contact with the opponent’s, while bringing his left arm up so that his right hand could grab the bottom of the hilt. To improve his speed, he simply spent some time practicing the movement, while the other student transitioned from guarding his shoulder to an overhead block to give him a time limit that he had to perform the transition in.

After a while, he was consistently getting performing the transition between feint and actual strike at the speed required, so he moved on to performing the whole technique together.

Having worked on each of the parts, the technique blended together with ease and he only had to practice it a few times before he was happy with how he was going. He felt confident in moving onto something else.

[Nekomata Minh]

+10/learned

[Nickerly]

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Gyakufunsha (Reversed Killing Thrust)
Rank: "D"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The swordsman parries an enemy's attack and counter-attacks.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Gyakufunsha is a Taijutsu technique where a swordsman is on the defending end of an enemy attack. The user will parry the attack to the side and immediately pivot around in order to follow through with a reverse thrust at the enemy's chest or abdomen. From there the user has the option of simply pulling the sword out of the enemy or ripping it out for additional damage.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/10

The trend for offensive techniques continued when his master explained to Hikaru the next technique that would be learning to perform. The Gyakufunsha was, unlike everything he had learnt so far, a counter-attacking technique and not purely offensive. It involved defending yourself from an opponent’s attack, parrying the blow and then pivoting around the enemy and striking them from behind with a reverse thrust into the chest or abdomen. The user than withdrew his blade, either simply withdrawing it, or ripping it out; the second option was done to inflict even more damage to an opponent.

According to his master, training for this technique would be split into two parts; first, working on the parry so that the opponent couldn’t launch their own counter-attack when he pivoted behind them, then secondly, practicing the pivot and the reverse thrust. Then finally, he would put all the parts together and practice the whole technique.

The most crucial part of the technique, the parry would have to ensure that an opponent’s sword would be so out of the way of the pivot, and while for a right-handed swordsman, that might be relatively easy, for someone left-handed like him, he would have to adapt the parry he used. Upon experimentation and his master’s advice, he narrowed his down his options to two parries; first a parry that was more aggressive than the second by blocking a blow early and stepping to an opponent’s left, and second, a simple redirection past his body, towards his right side, that would allow him to pivot around an opponent’s dominant arm. Each was situational in their own right, and his master made sure that he practiced for some time, getting used to each of the parries and making sure he would choose the correct parry depending on the type of strike that was being parried.

Next, came practicing the pivot and the reverse thrust. The execution of the pivot had to be timed exactly as the opponent’s blade was parried, and the spin around, done quickly. Luckily, he was fast enough to perform the pivot and the timing was not as hard to get down. The reverse thrust involved reversing the direction of the blade during the pivot and then a quick and powerful thrust. The change of the blade’s direction took a bit of practice to get used to, and practicing the actual thrust took some time to get a hang of; aiming at the stomach area was chancy in relation to if he would hit something important or not. So, he had to practice over and over, thrusting into areas such as the stomach, the intestines and other critical areas.

The final bit of practice was to practice the act of twisting the blade as he withdrew it, an act which would inflict more damage on an opponent. Then he practiced everything as one fluid technique, another student acting as his stand in for an actual technique. Proving his he fully understood the technique, his master nodded. He was ready to move onto something new.

[Nekomata Minh]

+10/learned

[Nickerly]

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Wakare Tsuppari (Parting Thrust)
Rank: "D"
Skill: Taijutsu
Effect: The swordsman uses a parry-thrust sword combination.
Special: ---
Drawback: ---
Description: Wakare Tsuppari is a Taijutsu technique where the swordsman is on the receiving end of an enemy's attack. Before the attack could land, the user would use a parry and move the attack away from him/her. Immediately after parrying the attack, the user would use a two-handed sword thrust at the enemy's chest or abdomen.
Limit: Gyakusatsu

Post 1: 0/10

The next technique that he would be learning under his master was known as Wakare Tsuppari, the parting thrust, and was similar to the Gyakufunsha in that relied upon parrying an incoming blow to create an opening for the attack; a two-handed thrust aimed at an opponent’s chest or abdomen. Learning to execute the technique would be split into two individual parts before he put the practiced the whole technique: first, the of redirection of the incoming attack; parrying and moving the opponent’s blade away from himself. Then, he would practice the two-handed thrust, getting his timing right so that he struck before the opponent could put up their own defence or move away.

Though he had yet to truly learn how to redirect incoming attacks – he would learn how to when he was promoted to the next rank – his master showed him the basic principles, explaining what to do it as he did so.

“So, first catch the blade with your parry, then redirect it by using the opponent’s momentum against them.” His master explained, demonstrating the general actions a number of times so that he could fully understand it.

Nodding in understanding, Hikaru practiced each of the basic redirections for several moments, his master providing assistance. For overhead strikes, he redirected them either side his body, stepping past them, while for most other strikes he redirected them into the ground or past his body, using the momentum of the strikes to force an overextension. He continued to practice the redirections for some time, building up the speed with which his master launched his strikes so that he could get used to reacting at a faster pace.

“Good” His master said as they broke off. “Now, let’s move on to the thrust.”

Hikaru nodded as he began to practice the two-handed thrust under the watchful eye of his master. The thrust had to have speed, power and accuracy to be truly effective and decided to tackle it in separate areas; speed and power first, and then accuracy as it was the easiest to improve.

As for the speed and power of his thrust, Hikaru first practiced quickly withdrawing his blade from whatever position it ended up in as part of the redirection, quickly returning it to a central position so that he could strike. Next, he worked on stepping closer towards his master with a quick step forward, simulating stepping into an opponent’s guard once their blade had been pushed past. Such a step with all of his weight being shifted onto the balls of his feet would give him a great deal of momentum when he lunged out for the thrust and as a result, more power behind his strike, while also increasing its speed.

Next, he worked on the actual speed of his thrust; speeding up the speed with which he lunged out with his blade, his arms shooting away from his body as quickly as possible so that his potential opponent could move back and out of his reach. Combined, the several elements meant that he was able to transition from the redirection and into the actual strike itself quite quickly, which was what he wanted, while increasing the power with which he struck with.

Finally, he worked on his accuracy, practicing striking at an opponent’s chest – where he tried to strike vital areas such as a lung – or their abdomen.

Given that it was the easiest part of the training, he spent considerably less time working on his accuracy as he had the other parts, and he quickly moved onto putting everything together into one continuous movement, not the disjointed parts he had been practicing.

“Good” His master commented as he demonstrated the complete technique. “You have done well, now let us move on.”

[Nekomata Minh]

+10/learned