>>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.

Sparring, yes. But what I was reading into things was that part of Kate's original problem with a sparring fight between equals with Utena (requiring her to feel the need to get permission from her Sensei to do so) was that their styles of fighting were so different that, as Kate said, she would be put in the position of both learning and teaching, and as a Journeyman she's not supposed to be doing that sort of thing with anyone but her Sensei.

>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.

I wasn't really questioning anyone's ability in their chosen style, but rather wondering about the learning and teaching of other styles, intentional or not. There always comes a time when you're spending time practicing or opposing or just observing someone of a different style, whatever your art (martial or not, sparring or not), that you will start learning different things from them, and they you. Your style gets "contaminated" by them, they get contaminated by you, and in A Rose for the New Year Kate semed to be very concerned about this inadvertent contamination. She even went to the extent of asking permission to train with someone whose chosen sword style was much different from hers.

Seeing the wide range of styles presented by the members of the IDS, I was thinking that maybe Kate would have the same concerns about training with them as she did about training with Utena. But, as was answered in another message, it isn't a concern because she's not spending very much time training with them at all.

>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.

Oh, no question about that.

Regards,

Jeanne