Kacem Seminar NYC May 27-28, 2006

I attended the seminar with a couple of friends and had a great time. I enjoy visiting the Big Apple and the training was great. I'm planning on seeing Kacem again in July when he visits DC. Good times, good times. :-)

Springfield Class - 5/23/2006

In attendance was Gino, Brian, Jong, and a new guy, Nick. Class started as usual with ukemi. Most of our ukemi was practiced from the kneeling or seated position. At this point Nick appeared so we switched to the basic zempo kaiten from ichimonji. We then went into the sanshin no kata. After that we pretty covered the same material from last week. Nick seemed to like it as stated he would return. It will be good to have him around because he has a different body type from everyone else.

Springfield Class - 5/16/2006

Traffic was not an issue this time so I arrived early enough to warm up. In attendance was Jong, Chris, and Brian. We started with the usual ukemi then we did the following:

1. 
   Uke: Lapel grab, punch to face.
   Tori: Don't worry about the lapel grab. When the punch comes reach over the arm that is holding you to either receive the punch or disrupt it by attacking the face. This traps the hand. Use your elbow to bend the uke's arm. The balance should be taken easily from here.
   


2. 
   Uke: Lapel grab, gun pointed at you.
   Tori: Rotate away from the attack and use your forward arm to bend the uke's arm at the elbow. Use your elbow to bend it. This bending of the elbow should take the uke off balance and bring him closer to you. The gun should be close enough to take control of it. Grab the uke's hand with your forward hand and use your other hand to leverage the gun as you rotate into the uke. This will peel the gun out of the uke's hold and give you control. The uke's trigger finger is highly likely to get trapped and broken whether it's in the trigger guard or not.
   


3. 
   Same as previous except bring the gun up to the throat and force the uke down with it. Control them as they fall and while they're on the ground.
   


4. 
   Seated version of the first technique.
   

The following were all actual kata. I believe it was the jutaijutsu portion of Shinden fudo ryu. I didn't get the names but I will later.

1. 
   Uke: Straight punch to face.
   Tori: Shizen no kamae. Receive to the inside in a jumonji or hira like kamae, not ichimonji. Your rear hand should be with the attacking hand and your forward hand on their should. Kick to the groin with the forward leg then apply o-gyaku and drop straight back. Go down to the knee as needed. You may also drive the uke into your rear knee or leap back with o-gyaku. Add strikes wherever appropriate. :-)
   


2. 
   Uke, Tori: Kumiuchi
   Tori: Shift to the left in ichimonji pulling uke off balance. At the same time use your right hand to pull their lapel across the neck. When the uke resists step in for a standard hip throw. When you move in don't grab the arm until you're in place. Grab the shoulder.
   


3. 
   Uke, Tori: Kumiuchi
   Tori: Similiar to the previous one except instead of moving back shift in. Twist the uke's torso with your hands. As they resist move your arms in a windmill motion as you rotate to the right. This movement is going with the uke's motion. Your left arm should be underneath the uke's arm and your right arm to the outside of the uke's arm or on the shoulder. Drop to one knee as you throw as needed.
   


4. 
   Uke, Tori: Kumiuchi
   Tori: During the struggle switch hand positions. With the hand on the lapel strike into the chest to off balance the uke. As they regain their balance use the momentum to rotate and throw. Again, control one of the shoulders.
   


5. 
   Uke: Straight punch to face.
   Tori: Receive to the inside and kick to the groin just like the other one. Immediately move into the kick-throw. Control the outside shoulder and pull the upper arm with your other hand (the one that received). I don't remember the name for this throw.
   


6. 
   Uke, Tori: Kumiuchi.
   Tori: Switch hand positions. With the outside hand attack the kyusho point on the inside of the bicep raising that arm. Draw your other hand across the throat/face to the opposite shoulder. Begin the armbar as you kick the leg closest to you out. At this point the armbar is there and you can drop to a knee.
   

In most of these holding onto the shoulder with one of your hands is preferred. Also, add additional strikes where applicable.

Richmond Sword Training - 05/13/06

I went down to Richmond for some sword training and sushi with the old gang. Good times. Photos are up in the flickr group. A link to the group is on the left under Links. Below is my birthday gift to my sister.

ninja monkey

Soke on BBC Three

Springfield Class - 5/8/2006

I didn't get any training done at all last week and was excited for this class. Due to heavy traffic I was about 40 minutes late so I couldn't do my usual warm-up. When I got there they were still rolling so they either started late or I missed something unique. I found what I missed was two promotions and some tree scaling. Brian from Brian F's class got his yon kyu and Brian from Jong's class got his shodan. Congratulations to them.

In attendance was Brian, Brian, Brian, Chris, Jong, Gino, and myself. It was good seeing Brian and Brian again since I stopped going to the Round Hill class for a while. It was even better actually training with them which I didn't really get to do in Round Hill. Sorry for breaking your glasses Brian.

Doing things with a shinden fudo ryu feeling was the topic of the evening as it will be for the rest of the year. From what Jong is saying this feeling is doing everything with less; less movement, less effort, a sort of less is more attitude. Sometimes its described as laziness. That's nothing new. What was new though were punches from the side. We were never facing the uke for the first two or three things we did.

1. 
   Uke: Straight punch to the face/head. The punch is blind sided.
   Tori: Shizen to the side of uke. Shift to the outside past the blow and strike to the body. The other hand is up as a guard or for an additional strike to the kidney or ribs. Jong stated the feeling to this is chi no kata. We also practiced it with footwork like chi no kata. That obviously changed the striking.
   


2. 
   Uke: Round/hook punch to the head. The punch is blind sided.
   Tori: Shizen to the side of uke. Rotate into hira no kamae or ichimonji no kamae facing the uke depending on the distance and strike the bicep with a fudo ken or shuto ken. You must get low to avoid being clocked. The timing of your strike is something I want to investigate.
   


3. 
   Uke: Round/hook punch to the head. The punch is blind sided.
   Tori: Shizen to the side of uke. Rotate into hira no kamae and get below the attack. You're basically ducking beneath the punch and striking upwards to the face. Take the balance and enjoy. Remember to keep your other hand alive!
   


4. 
   Uke: Straight punch to the gut.
   Tori: Shizen facing the uke. Receive the punch and "catch" it with one hand while throwing a fudo ken to the face. The "catch" is passive meaning you're hand is like a bucket and the fist lands "in" it. Scoop the hand out to the side, strike the arm upward, move underneath and continue the kata. I forget which one it is exactly. One from the first level of shinden fudo ryu.
   


5. 
   Uke: Lapel grab then punch to face.
   Tori: With the same side arm trap the hand with the upper portion of your arm and put your hand up in their face. This blocks their path for punching you. Do whatever.
   


6. 
   Uke: Straight punch to face.
   Tori: Immediately bring your arms up, one receiving the blow the other with a fudo ken to the face. Do whatever. We did this last time I believe.
   

Training was fun and I had a good time. It was nice actually training with Brian and Brian. I hope they start coming more often.

Gambatte.

Interesting documentary.

1998 Tennessee Taikai Clip

Clips from upcoming Hatsumi movie.

Supposedly the entire movie will be available on this guy's website at the end of this month.

Arlington Class - 4/29/2006

I was out of town so I couldn't make class but I was thinking about training.