Seminar Review: Rob Renner in Virginia

If you're a member of the Bujinkan and hang around people that go to Japan on a regular basis, and have been doing some for some time now, then you've probably heard that the training over there is very different from the training in the U.S. It's not different just because it is a different culture or because the people there are simply better by virtue of living there. It's different because the material being taught, the stuff that occurs in a regular class is completely different. At least that's the impression I received after this weekend's seminar with Rob Renner.

The material he covered you would never find in a book or in a video or on the web. Google does not index this material. And even if it did you would not understand it simply by watching or reading. The kihon he showed is not in the Ten Chi Jin Ryaku no Maki or in anyone's kihon happo video that I've seen. This stuff I might describe as kihon no kihon: foundation's foundation. Maybe it's just me and I never learned the true basics but these fundamentals make the traditional basics a lot more interesting.

Throughout the seminar the focus was taken away from the actual technique, which, in my experience, a lot of people focus on. Instead the focus was put on destroying the structure of your opponent. This isn't the same as taking the balance. Taking the balance isn't that difficult usually and with a good uke he or she could still launch one final attack before having to take ukemi. When you take the structure though, the kuzushi, the uke literally doesn't have a fighting chance. At least that was the case when I was Rob's uke. I'm not that good though so your mileage may vary.

Most of the seminar was spend on getting a feeling for kuzushi, both your own and your uke's but we also spent time doing exercises that will help increase your mobility; get you familiar with your body, what it can do, what it's range of motion is; learning to move joints independently of one another; and moving in and out of the distance where the uke is either just barely touching you or not. These points were shown through the examples of some basic skills such as uke nagashi, oni kudaki, omote gyaku, ura gykau, ganseki nage, and a few other examples. Along with these basic examples more complex ones were later practiced with knife attacks and multiple attackers.

One important thing that was constantly being used throughout the seminar was the body's proprioceptive system. All I'll say about this is it is the reason why an uke reacts the way he or she does when they are in the hands of someone like Rob.

The mobility exercises, the structure manipulation and the ability to take advantage of the body's proprioception system are all linked and should be practiced. I feel when these three things, along with kamae and understanding of the traditional kihon all gel together, you can really do something special with your taijutsu. It appears this type of training can only be had by training with Hatsumi-sensei and those close to him. I plan to make my first trip to Japan for training in the Fall of this year.

I'd like to thank Rob Renner, Roger D'Souza and Lauren Brandstein for a great weekend.

がんばってください！