Sunday, February 17, 2008

American Bo Form

I'm struggling with the new kata. It's great fun to have a bow (like a long staff). My son and I have spent way too many hours doing "creative" kata in the backyard and learning the basics. So far, one broken glass but no windows or eyes. We started with a broom handle and poker queue stick but now have store-bought bows.

I did get a video of Stefanie doing the kata but it's a little too fast to follow and I filmed it with the camera held sideways. I haven't yet figured out how to rotate it. And I'm finding it very hard to transcribe. Anybody got a great video? Here's a slower one that has only the start (and it's also sideway - PLEASE - if you see me holding the camera sideways - give me a Boot to the Head).





Here's the sequence that I've figured out so far.
  1. The Bow is held on right side, vertically. Tip the bow forward, bow, return to start.
  2. Spin over head to hold it out to the right, on one knee, left hand outstretched
  3. Bring it over head while putting 2nd knee down, lowering the bow horizontally in front of you.
  4. Bow to knees, spread knees slightly, drop then raise head
  5. Step up with left knee while bringing bow over head to the right, strike forward, back, spin over head bringing it behind the head from the left side and overhead strike forward finishing on left
  6. Stand by putting on leg up then down, forward back on left, to the right and back,
  7. Turn 90 to the right taking a small adjustment with the right foot to the right, spin bow over head to the right side, forward, back, to the left, back over head, then strike finishing in hard bow with the right leg forward
  8. High dragon (poke up to the guy on horseback) forward, then low dragon (poke the guy on the ground) backwards
  9. Turn the body 180 making only a slight back (left) foot adjustment step to the left. Hit with the bow to the left, back to the right, hit up, hit down, hit to the left, bring it over the head and down while stepping forward with the right foot into a hard bow - aieesa
PS - For you linguists out there. You might have noticed the confusion between the word bow (as in a long staff) and bow as in what we do from the waist to show respect. I am hyper aware of these issues since one of my alternative identities is as Mayor of SpellingCity.com where I obsess over issues like homophones, homonyms, and "Same spelling, different sound, different words" (which I can't seem to find a name for).

1 comment:

Blackbeltmama said...

Hey there,

The long staff is actually spelled "bo." I used to call it "beau" and I attribute that to my five years of french classes. ;-)