[Nordskogen] Sorta OT question

[Patrick Anderson]

This is seriously off topic.

Some of you may know that I train in the Japanese sword arts. One of the
arts I train in is the Hyoho Niten Ichi Ryu. Its a sword style invented
by Miyamoto Musashi. (If you've read the Book of Five Rings, it details
some of the ways this art is practiced.) I was lucky enough to be able
to go to Calgary last fall to learn from a Master of this art. (Its a
traditional Japanese art. There is the head of the school who gives out
certificates of "total transmission" or mastery to a few people. The guy
I trained with is an expatriate Brit who went to Japan about 30 years
ago, and has been training in this ever since. He has one of the
certificates and is either the second or third "ranked" guy in the
school in the world. For those of you who understand this, he has a
menkyo kaiden given him by the previous Soke and approved by the current
Soke.)

The Niten is traditional kenjutsu. It is a combat sword art. We train
with bokken (and actually although any type of bokken can be used, a
specific style of bokken is preferred). 

A couple of gentlemen who have trained with me, and myself, are thinking
of bringing this Sensei to the Twin Cities area to give a seminar. If it
follows the normal patterns, the seminar would be a Thursday evening,
Friday evening, all day Saturday, all day Sunday sort of thing. The cost
would probably be about $250 per person. (Plane tickets from the
Philippines where he lives now are not cheap.) It would likely happen
late August of 2008. I have no idea where it would be held, but it could
be as far out as Hudson.

I have a rough estimate of the interest I'd get from some of the sword
schools in MN, but I was just curious if there would be any SCA
interest. Could you email me privately if you would be seriously
interested in such a thing? Before we three front the money to get our
sensei here, we'd like to see if there is any interest from other folks
to make sure this is economically feasible.

Thanks all,
Patrick


-- 
Patrick Anderson
andvaka at eml.cc
"I have horses in my stable. I have sons fit to fight.
I will bring this to your table, if you ride with me tonight."
     Runrig - From the North