I massively suck at weapons too. Admittedly it's something that doesn't personally interest me.

Quote Originally Posted by Raptormesh View Post
There are paired Katas as well, but that's pretty advanced stuff called koryu where it becomes more practical(for 15th century Japan at least) using shinken so mistakes can be a danger.

Myself, I got into Iai to discipline my mind, and to focus.
Fair enough. And I can appreciate you wanting to perfect your techniques and form too; even if weapon arts aren't something one learns for self defence, if you're gonna learn it you might as well do it right! A former colleague of mine is one of the top ranking Kendoka in NSW and he also practises Iai.

Do you guys ever do demonstrations at Medieval/Renaissance Fairs? I'd love to see that -- I find that they're all too often very Euro-centric, and it'd be nice if they included elements of other cultures from that same historical period. Though technically the modern Gi and certainly your belts wouldn't be historically accurate... but ignorance may be on your side. Cos I know if you go to these events with a European persona, other people will ruthlessly nitpick everything! (e.g. "Look at that person in Elizabethan gown with a Byzantine belt! Har!!") ... oh, and I've been told that in Western European martial arts, a white belt means you're a Knight, so you'd^I'd be likely to get challenged if I walked around one of those in my Gi!