Shima 05/24/2007

I postponed going to Chesapeake until today so I went to the Shima Dojo instead. It was a really small class with only four of us plus Doug. I believe we started with sanshin gokyo no kata then some tehodoki exercises. I don't know if there are offical names for these other than generic descriptions.

1. Uke: Single hand cross grab of the wrist (katate dori).
   Tori: Move into ichimonji to the side the attack is coming from.
   


2. Uke: Single hand cross grab of the wrist (katate dori).
   Tori: Bring your hand straight up underneath uke's chin, optionally striking it, while stepping forward locking out the knee. This will drive the uke straight back. You can also choose not to lock out the knee and instead strike it from the side causing uke to "buckle" in place.
   

After that we did a couple of the Kukishin sword katas followed by trying to apply those principles from the sword kata to a similiar taijutsu scenario. Then we did an exercise where the tori applied two successive strikes against the uke's initial punch (ie. uke nagashi followed by fudo ken) followed by a couple of flowing exercises where you tried to feel, take and direct the balance of the uke through their attacks.

Good times. Gambatte!

Noguchi Sensei

Japan, originally uploaded by mojmir_ch.

Great photo added to the Budo Taijutsu group on flickr.com

Karasukage 05/10/2007

So I went back to my home dojo for some much needed perspective, bruising, and good old training. It was good seeing old faces and new ones. We started with the way we used to do ukemi, which is, I do a series of ukemi and everyone tries to repeat what they saw. After that is was the up, down, and out of the way muto dori. Then we did a lot of exercises that emphasized using your intention, both projecting and receiving.

We went from shizen no kamae into whatever kamae fit for you from an uke's punch and projected the intent to stop the fight at that moment. Then we worked specifically with ichimonji no kamae. After that performing uke nagashi with the same intent. We got a little more physical after this point. From shizen no kamae the uke performs the classic lunging hook to the side of your head. Simply raise your arm to block it without moving, strike under the chin and use shakoken to the face to take them down. This was a type chi no kata. Then we did one of the basic koto ryu katas. Uke tsuki with a knife and tori just barely rotates to the outside to evade and capture the wrist. Smash the hand and apply omote gyaku. The more intention the better. Then we did additional intention exercises.

I was out really late and got beat up nicely. Can't wait 'til next time.

Gambatte!

Shima 05/01/2007

Tuesday was Paul's birthday so class was kinda short but there was a large turnout. It was the largest of any regular class that I'd seen there. We started with solo sanshin no kata and then continued with the shinken flavored torite kihon gata. We did jumonji and hicho no kata. After that we did a kata from the Kukishin Ryu (not sure which) that went as follows:

1. Uke: Seigan no kamae.
   Tori: Hira no kamae. Uke throws migi tsuki to the face and you uke nagashi to the inside. Uke throws hidari tsuki to face and you uke nagashi to the inside again. Uke throws a migi zenpo keri and you uke nagashi the thigh as you shift forward. Uke then throws another migi tsuki to the face and you uke nagashi by shifting into jumonji no kamae with your hands switched from their usual position. You uke nagashi is really just a block/catch to apply either oni kudaki or ura oni kudaki. You can then either kick or knee the groin or stomach and then step behind to take the uke down. The oni kudaki can be replaced with musha dori.
   


After that the movements were less complex.


2. Uke: Seigan no kamae. Migi then hidari tsuki to face.
   Tori: Hira no kamae. Uke nagashi up for the first one, uke nagashi straight down for the second one, then do whatever.
   


3. Uke: Seigan no kamae. Zenpo keri to stomach area.
   Tori: Hira no kamae. Move to the outside with hira no kamae while pushing straight down onto the uke's leg right above the knee.
   


4. Uke: Seigan no kamae. Zenpo keri to stomach area.
   Tori: Hira no kamae. Apply keri kaeshi.
   

That took about an hour and a half and then it was food and socializing.

Good times. Gambatte!