I studied shuri-ryu for several years when I was younger, and a little bit of aikido and tai chi chuan; the latter two are not really my style, but the control and balance were helpful.

As far as weapons go... shuri-ryu is Okinawan, and favors blunt weapons -- or more honestly, former farming implements *grin* -- over, say, swords, when weapons are used at all (it is an empty-hand style, after all); what little weapon training I picked up was mostly tonfa, with a bit of staff thrown in for good measure. I loves me some good staff work, and wish I was better at it.

I've been teaching myself throwing for the past couple years, as well, and might compete someday. Maybe. Right now it's just knives and axes and spikes thrown for fun in the yard, and as demonstration occasionally for organized groups. (My wife and I used to run RenFaire games, which is where most of that came from).

And then there's firearms. I prefer rifles but seem to be better with handguns, go figure. I've taught rifle safety in the Boy Scouts. My shooting partner routinely pits the ace (so to speak) at 500 yards; I'm aiming to match him someday. Need more range time.

--sofaspud
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