Update on Merriman Sensei's 50th Anniversary

The flyer advertising Merriman Sensei's 50th Anniversary event should come out soon -- I think we're waiting on finalizing the buffet menu with the hotel. The event will run February 26-28, 2010, at the Phoenix Crowne Plaza Airport hotel. Basically, an informal meet and greet Friday evening, beginning around 6:00 PM at the hotel lounge, with morning and afternoon seminar sessions on Saturday. Then, a buffet dinner Saturday evening. Last, grading Sunday morning, ending before lunch. All of this at the hotel, which has free 24-hour shuttle to/from PHX airport.

"Keri" Versus "Geri"

A student asked for clarification: Why mai geri and not mai geri. The answer involves a nuance within the Japanese language.

Geri and keri mean the same. In the Japanese language, certain beginning sounds of words change depending on whether the word begins a phrase or is a later part of a phrase. When we use "romanji" (English letters) to represent Japanese words, this occurs with the G/K sound, as well as the H/B sound. So, mae geri (geri is in the middle of the phrase), but keri waza (keri starts the phrase).

An H/B example would involve harai otoshi uke (downward "sweeping" block) and ashi barai (foot "sweep").