Shima Dojo 01/03/2008

First class of the new year and first one with the new class format. I covered the first 30 minutes and Doug covered the rest.

First thing was simple しこ with a focus on かまえ, meaning all your body parts are arranged the way they should be. Next was ぜんぽうかいてん from しこ。 After that we two ぜんぽうかいてん、one right after the other. Then we practiced こほうかいてん from げだんいちもんじ。Then we combined ぜんぽうかいてん and こほうかいてん。 The focus of this うけみ was on the feet: how they are orientated when you complete the かいてん and whether your toes were alive or dead. After that we did the うけみ from いちもんじのかまえ between two long staffs to help emphasize direction. That concluded my lessons and Doug covered the following.

He started with a short talk on the theme of 2008, とがくれりゅ, then we went into some simple いちもんじのかまえ and じゅもんじのかまえ practice. The first technique used these two かまえ。

• Uke - Attempt a full nelson hold.
  Tori - Assume じゅもんじのかまえ affecting the balance and preventing the hold. Lightly grasp the last two fingers of one of uke's hands. Pivot around this hold and assume いちもんじのかまえ delivering an おもてしゅとけん strike to the head.
  

The second technique we did empty handed a few times before incorporating しゅこ claws, しゅりけん, and こだち。

• Uke - Two jodan tsuki.
  Tori - Receive the first one on the inside then catch the second one on the inside to perform an off balancing throw.
  


• Do the same thing with the しゅこ。
  


• Do the same thing with the しゅりけん。Receive the first tsuki with the しゅりけん in one hand and when the second tsuki comes step back and allow the uke to punch the しゅりけん held in your other hand. Throw them if you wish.
  


• Same as before except receive the second tsuki with the blade drawn and attacking the body. Let the posture and movement of your body draw the sword. In other words, use たいじゅつ。
  

That concluded the first class of 2008. It was nice training again and my new indoor tabi are cool. ありがとございます　ジョニーさん！

がんばってください！