How do I get started with learning lightsaber forms?

[Master Lucien Kane]

Raises hand OOH OOH!!! I have studied a lot on Juyo lol.

Juyo is incredibly kinetic, but staccato... meaning the attacks aren't necessarily fluid. As with Ataru your entire goal is to make things fluid like a river, taking the path of least resistance to become an unstoppable force.

Juyo is more like the Ocean beating against a cliff face. There's almost no rhyme or reason. There is, but it may not be evident to your opponent, as a matter of fact that's what you're banking on.

[Master Nero Attoru]

Raises hand OOH OOH!!! I have studied a lot on Juyo lol.

Juyo is incredibly kinetic, but staccato... meaning the attacks aren't necessarily fluid. As with Ataru your entire goal is to make things fluid like a river, taking the path of least resistance to become an unstoppable force.

Juyo is more like the Ocean beating against a cliff face. There's almost no rhyme or reason. There is, but it may not be evident to your opponent, as a matter of fact that's what you're banking on.

Sorry Lucien, I should have included you!  I just wasn't sure of your specialties... I know Artorius is a big user of Vaapad (for him its second only to Soresu) and I saw some Juyo in a TPLA vid.

That said, great description!  If I had to go with one word for Juyo it would be "unstoppable"... unlike Ataru or Djem So, which have a degree of control, Juyo is best utilized by a master swordsman who can add the extra fuel emotion provides and just cut loose.

[Master Lucien Kane]

Yeah Juyo is unstoppable force... That is why the Jedi frowned on it so much... Think about it this way... Juyo would directly relate to what Special Forces guys are taught for combat... Brutal application of precise force... You hit harder and faster than anyone else until your enemy stops moving... Then you move on to the next opponent... rinse and repeat.

To be able to spar with Juyo or Vapaad in mind is dangerous in and of itself, I recommend gaining a lot of control before you do so.

I need to do a video where I free form all seven forms to show where my curriculum is going, and to give sample teasers of what I've been working on... I may do that Monday.

[Master Nero Attoru]

Yeah Juyo is unstoppable force... That is why the Jedi frowned on it so much... Think about it this way... Juyo would directly relate to what Special Forces guys are taught for combat... Brutal application of precise force... You hit harder and faster than anyone else until your enemy stops moving... Then you move on to the next opponent... rinse and repeat.

To be able to spar with Juyo or Vapaad in mind is dangerous in and of itself, I recommend gaining a lot of control before you do so.

I need to do a video where I free form all seven forms to show where my curriculum is going, and to give sample teasers of what I've been working on... I may do that Monday.

Very nice man, I'd love to see it!

About Juyo, I agree completely - a Form like that is something only a VERY experienced swordsman should practice, especially against a sparring partner.  The whole point of the Form is to let go and unleash that killer instinct, focused through the practiced technique of a skilled warrior, so to bring that into a practice scenario is very dangerous.

[Darth Nonymous]

how may i get in contact with them?

Same way. Shoot me an email. Or ask something here.

[Darth Pelage]

Very nice man, I'd love to see it!

About Juyo, I agree completely - a Form like that is something only a VERY experienced swordsman should practice, especially against a sparring partner.  The whole point of the Form is to let go and unleash that killer instinct, focused through the practiced technique of a skilled warrior, so to bring that into a practice scenario is very dangerous.

I've had a sparring match with a friend of mine that started slow, but ended up ramping up the speed and power. I'm not going to claim that we used Juyo in our sparring match, but we definitely pushed past our physical limitations through sheer force of will alone. Our ultrasabers held up amazingly well, considering that our missing slashes and sweeps carved through the dense dirt of the sparring area. Channeling all of our inner darkness into the fight, lasting several hours without a single break. While it was pretty awesome and scary as hell, we definitely paid for it with sore bodies the next day.

[Master Lucien Kane]

The thing you have to remember about Juyo... and the thing that people forget about Juyo is this... It's not blind rage or just unbridled aggression. It's focused aggression... Like a cutting torch. A cutting torch doesn't do anything but heat up your material until you focus it. Juyo is precise aggression channeled specifically at a target. The strikes may be unconnected, but there is still no wasted movement.

Also be careful when engaging in full force sparring like that, it only takes one of those strikes to ruin your day... and possibly your week.

Just giving a little plug at safety here lol.

[Vadajah]

So would there be any way to learn Juyo without being a skilled swordsman? Unfortunately its the only actually do-able style that i like and would feel most comfortable with

[Darth Nonymous]

So would there be any way to learn Juyo without being a skilled swordsman? Unfortunately its the only actually do-able style that i like and would feel most comfortable with

You can do anything you want. But keep in mind, that the type of out look and stately Juyo advocates is just wildly swinging a weapon around, if you have no skills to build off of.

I am curious, what do you mean by "do-able"?

[Vadajah]

theres a form i believe is called tarakata or something close to that which involves blocking with your blade then bringing the blade into the saber and releasing the blade back out just before you strike the body which obviously cant be done with US

[Thonolan]

Yes, That would be Trakata[/u]. One of the techniques was to fool your opponent by moving your blade in for a block, but at the point of contact, disengage your blade and dodge. Thus, leaving them off balance and open to attack.

It would not be something that you could make actually happen.

If you were fast enough, you could move in to the block, but at the point of contact dodge and release your wrist, allowing your opponents blade to push yours out of the way. It would really only work once in a duel, and only if the person attacking is putting everything in to the swing.

I also wouldn't suggest doing it, since the swing would need to be pretty beasty to throw the person off balance, you could end up hurting your wrist.

[Master Lucien Kane]

You just learn to utilize the strength of your opponents strikes against them.... It's textbook Djem So... redirecting your opponents attack back at them. You take the strike and use it to fuel one of your own.

Just learn the basics, and then apply Juyo to that, I'm just saying safety is key, as an avid Juyo practitioner, you need to learn a lot of control before you go romping around utilizing a brutal form in friendly sparring matches.

[Master Nero Attoru]

You just learn to utilize the strength of your opponents strikes against them.... It's textbook Djem So... redirecting your opponents attack back at them. You take the strike and use it to fuel one of your own.

Just learn the basics, and then apply Juyo to that, I'm just saying safety is key, as an avid Juyo practitioner, you need to learn a lot of control before you go romping around utilizing a brutal form in friendly sparring matches.

I concur 100%.  There's a reason Vaapad and Juyo are considered advanced Forms, and that is the mindset aspect.  You can definitely learn different aggressive techniques that Juyo employs, but it won't truly be Juyo until the internal requisite is met, and that is what makes sparring so dangerous.  This is why we stress that you learn control before employing it.

Not to mention rage-driven combat without technique is MUCH easier to counter and defeat.  The reason for the Form's deadliness is that it's focused rage, as Lucien has said.

My advice would be to work on Shii-Cho for a while, then study other aggressive Forms such as Ataru and Djem So.  Juyo is distinctly different, but definitely takes parts from both of those styles... so IMO they would be a good place to build a foundation (after Shii-Cho of course).

[Vadajah]

Well i wasnt going to go into Juyo blindly and just channel anger against my foe, i was going to have some basic coaching on strikes and control and what not but just not a super in depth form that would be Juyo too far away from reach you know?

[Master Nero Attoru]

Well i wasnt going to go into Juyo blindly and just channel anger against my foe, i was going to have some basic coaching on strikes and control and what not but just not a super in depth form that would be Juyo too far away from reach you know?

That was my point really.  Start with the basic strikes of Shii-Cho, and then give those techniques a specific focus - on aggression - to prepare yourself for Juyo.  After that it's a matter of learning to harness that anger.