FABULOUS FOOT PILGRIMS

Goodman Foot Pilgrim and Goody Foot Pilgrim wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving!

HAPPY HAND TURKEY

Happy Hand Turkey to you and yours!

BATTLE at the EDGE

I participated in my first karate tournament. With only four-and-a-half months of a martial arts journey it felt a bit soon, but I was encouraged by my sensei and other students to attend and it was an in-house tournament.

In the adult novice division of "The Battle at the Edge," I took third place in kata (out of three) and first place in kumite. It helps to have a sparring partner at home. The Child also took third in kata and first in kumite in their division.

It was a good and fun day at my first tournament and would have been so even without bringing hardware home.

Watching the black belts compete let me know how far I still have to go and grow on this martial arts journey.

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I wasn't particularly happy with the results of my kata, but I know the places where I faltered and what I need to work on. Additionally, I didn't fail at it; I just have some areas that I need to polish. I especially need to work on where I place the weight during my back stance and making sure that my knife hand block (shuto uke) is strong. 

I was pleasantly surprised with my sparring. I tried out different techniques to see what worked best and discovered that some of those were hand techniques. I wasn't sure that I would be able to land some of the strikes I did, but apparently I was quicker than my opponent enough times to win the match. I see a lot of practice in my future, but it was a morale boost to take first place.

REPORT from PLAGUELAND

I have severe cedar allergies. Hanging over my back yard, but residing in my neighbor's yard, is a beautiful Western Red Cedar. Late fall and early winter is its favored time to pollinate. Another such tree sits outside my office window at work. For the past few days, I was suffering as my body once again attempted to adjust to trees that were doing what they were made to do.

But I also needed to be out in the world. At work. In the karate dojo for practice. At a karate tournament. I needed to be certain that it was indeed allergies and not COVID, so an at-home test it was. Fortunately, it was negative.

NEW JERUSALEM WELCOMES HER KING

"New Jerusalem Welcomes Her King," acrylic paint and papercut paint chip samples on cropped and colored photograph, 2021, by Troy Kehm-Goins. Photograph, 2020, by Jacob Bentzinger, via Unsplash.

And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. —REVELATION 21:10-23 

A piece of art to celebrate the end of the church year, Christ the King.

THE WAY of the EMPTY HANDS

I've been reading about the philosophy and wisdom that underlies the physical and material components of karate-do, "the way of empty hands." I'm seeking the concepts and ideas that underpin the practice in the dojo—how the kihon (basics), kata (forms), and kumite (sparring) are knit together.



Bushido: The Samurai Code of Japan by Inazo Nitobe is an attempt by a scion of a well-known line of samurai to bridge cultures. It examines the seven foundational precepts of bushido, "the way of the warrior"—justice, courage, benevolence, respect, sincerity, honor, and loyalty—and their similarities and differences to their counterparts in the West. It's an especially interesting read as Nitobe, who was a practicing Quaker, is well-versed not only in Zen Buddhism and Shinto, but also Christianity and classic texts of Western culture (the Greeks, Shakespeare, and the like).

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Karate: The Art of "Empty Hand" Fighting by Hidetaka Nishiyama and Richard C. Brown provides a layout of the core principles and pieces of what constitutes karate. It covers the history of karate; basic stances, strikes, blocks, and kicks; how such techniques combine in kata and kumite; and various types of self-defense. I'm especially intrigued by the "family trees" that show how various hand techniques, foot techniques, stances, and postures relate to one another.

My favorite passage that I've encountered so far is the following: "This speedy block [knife-hand block, shuto-uke] is a technique unique to karate. It is used in a wide range of situations, mainly to defend against an attack to the solar plexus. However, beginners often experience difficulty in performing it properly." I can confirm that last line!

—

So the journey, even though it has just begun, continues. The path widens and lengthens a bit, even as some of the landscape starts to appear as familiar. I notice a few landmarks that I remember from my college days. I hope they help to guide me.

INKTOPODES of INKTOBER

Troy's Work Table participated in the "classic version" of Inktober 2021. I started on time, but finished a few days late. Some of the themes were challenging to figure out how to incorporate within the mythology of the Inktopodes but I didn't let that stop me. I just needed some extra time to sit with themes such as pressure, tick, leak and figure out how I wanted to illustrate them as small cephalopods.

ALL HALLOWS EVE

Happy Halloween from Mortimer.

SIX IPAs of SUMMER

These were six of my favorite IPAs of summer.

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G'Knight, an Imperial Red India Pale Ale by Oskar Blues Brewery.

12 ounce bottle served in a pint glass.

8.7% abv.

The pour is a hazy orange-red body, with an off-white head.

The nose is beery, biscuity, and citrusy.

The tongue is biscuit, butterscotch, candied orange, malts, and the faintest hint of cherry cordials.

It has a medium mouthfeel, but with a "thick bite" to it. Medium finish. The high alcohol content is hidden rather well. This is excellent.

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Bubble Wrap, a Hazy IPA by Crux Fermentation Project.

12 ounce bottle served in a pint glass.

6.2% abv.

The pour is a hazy, buttery yellow body and half-finger-thick white head.

The nose is apricot and tropical fruits.

The tongue is bitter papaya, tangerine, flower petals, and a faint hint of butterscotch. There's also a bit of both lemon and wheat lurking in the background, which become slightly more prominent as it warms.

The mouthfeel and finish are medium. Bitter fruit flavors fade, leaving more butterscotch candy. This IPA also dries a bit on the finish. Out of the six, I think of this ale as the "champagne" of the bunch.

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Slide Tackle, a Hazy IPA by Pelican Brewing. It's also a collaboration with the Portland Thorns FC.

12 ounce bottle served in a pint glass.

6.7% abv.

The pour is like melted butter (hazy gold) with a white head.

The nose is berries and orange.

The tongue is berries, mango, orange, bitter leaves. 

The mouthfeel is medium. The finish is fairly short. This has a fruity essence and is quite enjoyable. It was an excellent beer that accompanied me to a couple of Cannon Beach campfires near Haystack Rock.

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Beak Breaker, a Double IPA by Pelican Brewing.

12 ounce bottle served in a pint glass.

9.0% abv.

The pour is a hazy butter yellow body with a finger-thick white head.

The nose is citrus, both orange and lemon.

The tongue is bitter orange and then some extra bitterness.

The mouthfeel is medium with a long bitter finish. It's bitter goodness and then some. The higher alcohol content is masked.

—

IPA, an India Pale Ale by Buoy Beer Company.

12 ounce bottle served in a pint glass.

7.5% abv.

The pour is a translucent golden-orange body and an off-white head.

The nose is bright, citrus, berries.

The tongue is malty, biscuits, bitter orange, and orange peel.

The mouthfeel is medium. The finish is long and bitter and lingers for quite some time. Can you say orange zest? This is a good solid IPA.

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Mel's Magic IPA, an IPA by Iron Horse Brewery.

12 ounce bottle served in a pint glass.

6.8% abv.

The pour is a translucent golden-orange body with a thin white head.

The nose is orange and butterscotch.

The tongue is orange, orange peel, light butterscotch, and bitterness. But it's "baby bear" bitterness: in other words, just right.

The mouthfeel is medium. The finish is medium, with bitter orange diminishing into butterscotch. This is my current "go to" IPA and likely will be for quite some time. Excellent.

YELLOW BELT

This afternoon, I tested for my first belt rank advancement in Shotokan Karate. I passed! Now I take what I have learned so far as a white belt karateka and build upon it as I wear my newly earned yellow belt (and the rank of 8th kyu).

In the dojo to which I belong, for each belt rank advancement, we have to earn eight stripes—techniques (kihon), knowledge, kata (forms), drills, versatility (weapons), kumite (sparring), self-defense, and momentum. For techniques, I had to know three basic stances and three basic blocks. For knowledge, I had to know how to properly tie my obi (belt), the meaning of basic terms related to starting class (yoi, kiotsuke, rei, yame), and how and why we bow into (and out of) the dojo. The kata I needed to learn was Taikyoku Shodan. The drill set was an offense-and-defense combination performed with a partner—an upper strike to the head on offense countered by a rising block on defense. The weapon I needed to know about and how to use was the yawara stick (also known as a kubotan). I had to know a simple sparring combo—a backhanded strike to the temple immediately followed by a lunge punch to the solar plexus. I had to know a series of five ways to break free of a wrist grab for self-defense. Finally, I had to perform a squatting backward fall for momentum.

Some of these came easy to me. For instance, I quickly earned the knowledge, self-defense, and momentum stripes. Some stripes were more challenging. I struggled to learn the choreography of the kata. I had to slowly learn the components, thinking through them carefully, and then likewise learn to not think about the moves. I found shuto uke (knife hand block) confounded me for the longest time. In fact, it still does a bit.

I have found karate classes to be something that I look forward to attending each week. I enjoy the physicality and the exercise. I am tolerating the camaraderie. I get the chance to challenge both my mind and body, and then figure out how to use them together to work through the "puzzles" of this martial art.

—

I only have 80 more stripes to earn (10 more belt ranks to earn, since two of the kyu share belts) before achieving my first dan black belt. (Then there are nine more dan levels of black belts that follow!) 

This yellow belt is a baby step in my martial arts journey, but I'm not focused too far into the future. I've chosen to live in the now and enjoy what I'm doing.