A Very Jujitsu Summer

What is more barbarian-esque then to smash ones opponents wrists, elbows, shoulders?  How about throwing them to the ground and breaking their fingers?  Crushing their windpipe?  Well, obviously this all appeals to me, so I joined Jujitsu.  I've done martial arts off and on ever since high school, and they all have a special place in my heart.  But there's something just... joyful... about the beautiful devastation that can be created from Jujitsu techniques.

(See?  Joyful.)

That photo was taken at Camp Kodenkan, an amazing Danzan Ryu Jujitsu camp in Duluth, MN.  It's a long weekend full of beating the crap out of each other, drinking, ziplining, and wreaking havoc.  In other words, it's wicked fun. 

(If this is your idea of "wicked fun".  It is for me, anyway.)

I also got to cut things to bits with a razor-sharp katana.  Sadly, I have no photos of that.  How often do you get to cut things to bits with a katana, though?  Not terribly often, and it's pretty badass.  I managed to slice a pool noodle like cheese, and slice a bamboo mat in tiny pieces.  The black belts kept reiterating that the bamboo mats are roughly the density of human arms, which helped the visualization immensely.

(Visualization.  It really helps with the technique... and the maniacal grin is just a bonus.)

Not only did I get to do amazing shit, but I also got to meet amazing people.

(These people, to be exact.)

I was a white belt at camp, but soon afterward I had my blue belt test.  In Danzan Ryu, the belt order is white, blue, green, brown, black.  And after black, there's black and red which means you're so awesome that even black belt isn't enough to adequately indicate your badassery.  So I'm now a blue belt!  Yay! 

 (I'm the one on the far left in case you couldn't tell.)  :P

My test went well, and I didn't let the nerves get to me too much.  That's the trick- adrenaline can mess up your focus and get you to mess up, but it's important to learn how to either A. control your adrenaline or B. be able to do techniques correctly while under its influence (ideally, both).  Otherwise if you ever have to use it in a real situation you might make a fatal mistake.  Which sounds like a lot of pressure, and it kind of is.  When you do Jujitsu you're doing a lot of self defense training, which means you're thinking a lot about what to do if you are attacked in real life, and you have to deal with the fear and realizations that come with it.  Not only do you have to learn the techniques but you have to train your "flight, fight, or freeze" response and learn how to think through your actions while in a panic-inducing situation.  Tests are little mini-versions of that.  In one of the camp classes, a gun and knife defense class, they used real (but obviously not loaded) guns (instead of the wood replicas I'd worked with before.)  The fact of it is that a real gun is hella intimidating when pointed at your head and it's difficult to act because you instinctively understand that any action you take might get your head blown off.  It's so important to learn how to act even with that weight on your mind.

So, Jujitsu is not only fun, but important too.  If, of course, you want to be a badass warrior (and really, why wouldn't you?)

(It's good to have goals.)