>According to Utena in Duelists of the Rose, the point of the
>Institute Duelists' Society "is to create a venue for weapons artists
>of all different styles and traditions to test themselves against one
>another, to face diverse opponents in a freestyle contest." (even
>though it was really created just to give Utena an excuse to go about
>openly armed). From that, I assume that IDS members practice their
>various weapons-based martial arts with and against each other.
>

(SNIP!)

> Gryphon considered this, nodded again. "Fair enough. You're right
>as far as it goes - you're not a master yet, so you have no business
>taking a student." He smiled a little, glancing from one girl to the
>other. "But a collaboration of equals, enriching the styles of both -
>that's integral to the roots of the Asagiri Katsujinkenryuu. Tetsuo
>Asagiri and Talar Kem were just such a pair, and look what -they- made
>together."
>
>It seems to me that the IDS presents Kate the exact same quandry she
>was faced with when it came to practicing with Utena - many people,
>some with very large differences of style from Kate's, leading to
>multiple opportunities to both learn and teach, not just to spar.

And the quoted section I left in seems like a blanket permission for Kate to spar with anybody that she chooses. The IDS is not a student/teacher relationship, but a fight between equals.

As I understand it, Juri, Miki, and Saionji are Utena's equal or better in swordsmanship, or they wouldn't have been on the Ohtori Academy Student Council. (Well, I'm not too sure about Miki or Saionji at this point, but that's my own opinions bubbling through.) In any case, this could easily be used as reasoning to allow Kate to spar with them, though she won't take anybody as a student at this time.

And I suspect that Gryphon would approve for another reason entirely. The IDS presents a spread of styles. Even if Kate doesn't learn her opponent's attacks, she needs to learn defenses against those attacks, and practice them. Or, at least, she needs to understand that when a fencer/kendoka/Minbari with a fighting pike does X, it means Y, and that's why Gryphon taught her defense Z.

Peter Eng
--
Why do the Minbari call those things fighting pikes, anyway?
Looks like a collapsible quarterstaff to me, even if the style isn't quarterstaff.