武神館忍術

Blog Switch

2008-02-22T12:36:00.001-05:00

All posts are now located at http://www.richmondkihon.com

Shima Dojo 02/07/2008

2008-02-08T15:58:00.000-05:00

Doug started with a quick update on the status of his instructor Ed Martin (aka. Papa-san) and the upcoming seminar he was supposed to hold this weekend. The seminar is still happening for a reduced rate with all proceeds going towards Papa-san's medical expenses. Good luck to Papa-san and I hope he has a speedy recovery.

We started class with some of the usual squat exercises and leg stretching. We also did the squatting and punching exercise again. This one had us squatting and throwing left and right punches as we move up and down. We didn't do any further stretching or traditional exercises but instead worked on a series of striking drills that I found were good and will include in my juunantasio/warm-up routine for a bit. The exercises consisted of two people standing across from each other within striking distance. Each one took turns performing a series of left and right strikes at certain targets on the head, torso and legs using a specific fist. The idea was to practice with all of the fists but only had time for the ones listed below.

Fudo ken （ふどけん） to the nose, throat, solar plexus and inside of hips.

Shuto ken （しゅとけん） to the temple (omo), neck (ura) and under ribs (ura then omo).

Shikan ken （しかんけん） above and below adam's apple, solar plexus, under ribs and inside of hips.

Boshi ken （ぼしけん） to the eyes, behind ears, between throat and sternum, ribs and inside of hips.

Sokuyaku ken （そくやくけん） to the stomach, inside of hips and inside of knees.

Shitan ken （したんけん） to the eyes, between throat and sternum, under ribs and groin.

Next, Doug had people demonstrate omote gyaku （おもてぎゃく）, urate gyaku （うらてぎゃく） and musha dori （むしゃどり）followed by him showing a Papa-san version of the same technique. We practiced those six techniques for the remainder of the class.

Doug's schedule has returned to Tuesday and Thursday nights so I will hold class on Wednesday nights.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 02/05/2008

2008-02-06T13:25:00.000-05:00

With the nice weather we've been having the dojo was quite warm. I was also surprised to find Mike had joined us for the night's session.

We started the night with the regular じうなんたいそ followed by some うけみ。 After a short round of follow-the-leader to see where the weaknesses were we worked on よこ　ながれ。Then we worked on ぜんぽう　かいてん、こうほう　かいてん and りょうて　おてん。 I then put a medium sized obstacle on the floor and we proceeded to do おてん、とび、and ひちょかいてん over it.

Next, we worked on some material from the Zero Point Dojo. In particular we worked some distancing exercises, receiving exercises, and basic structure exercises. I've been incorporating some of this in every class lately because it is material I feel I should be working on. I've been doing these exercises before doing kihon training so that by the end of the kihon training we are incorporating the structure exercises into whatever basic was covered. This night it was more おもてぎゃく。

First, I reviewed the model of おもてぎゃく that was introduced during the last class. Then we did a version that Daryl told me he experienced recently that apparently came from some of Kacem's teachings. After that we did another version that was from a Kacem seminar that I attended in NYC.

We finished the class using the おもてぎゃく model against a fully resistant うけ。This allowed us to try to apply the exercises and principles from the Zero Point Dojo. This is how class has been ending lately and I think I will continue this format for a while.

Thanks for stopping by Mike!

がんばってください！

Shima Dojo 01/31/2008

2008-02-01T14:25:00.000-05:00

Why is time in such a hurry these days? Seriously, slow down.

After the じゅなんたいそ exercises I went into the quasi peer evaluation drill. I think I'll refer to this as the "spot check" from here on out. So, for the spot check all we did was ぜんぽうかいてん and こうほうかいてん。 The うけみ was okay for the most part but some of the common trouble spots were: direction, smoothness/quietness, the "landing", and doing the roll that was demonstrated (eg. left back roll instead of right). Now that we knew where some of the week spots were we could continue to fix them. I reiterated the points that I feel are required for good rolling. Then we practiced some ぜんぽうかいてん with and without using our hands. We also practiced こうほうかいてん with and without the hands. The arms/hands often become a crutch for こうほうかいてん。　I also explained a new exercise to hopefully help with こうほうかいてん。 Sit on the ground with your legs extended in front of you. Image a target above your shoulder right next to your head. Pull your knee in to strike the target on the same side of your body (eg. right knee, right shoulder) to propel you through the backward roll. After that we practiced よこながれ and たちながれ。 To wrap up the うけみ we did two rounds of follow-the-leader rolling.

Doug followed with some punching and receiving exercises. Each one had the うけ and とり in close range with a boxing style posture. One would jab and the other would shift back slightly and just touch the fist with an open palm. We did this back and fourth a few times with jabs and cross punches. Once we were comfortable with this the とり could then catch the cross punch in an armbar. I saw several places where the material Rob covered fit nicely and I tried my best to apply those principles. I think I'll revisit this exercise Tuesday to flesh out these principles more.

Next we quickly went through each of the とりてきほんがた with our partners taking turns applying and receiving. Those receiving the techniques were instructed to take うけみ but to look for ways to attack while doing the うけみ。 Class was finished with everyone demonstrating an example.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 01/29/2008

2008-01-31T08:46:00.000-05:00

Welcome to the club Mark!

We're starting to incorporate more juunantaiso into the training because it is something everyone needs. After that we continued to warm up with various ukemi. After the usual zenpou and kouhou kaiten I introduced jun nagare and gyaku nagare. Along with the usual points I emphasized rolling in a straight line. I think one reason why people have a problem with this is a lack of flexibility in the hips, which is just further evidence of the importance and need for increased juunantaiso. I'm also starting to incorporate the follow-the-leader ukemi exercises where we each take turns performing a serious of ukemi and everyone has to replicate the series. Something new that I'm also starting to incorporate is a type of peer evaluation. The reason for this is you may have weaknesses in your taijutsu and not know it unless someone points it out. I hope both of these exercises will help to develop the "eyes" to see what exactly is happening and to obviously identify weaknesses. As a side effect hopefully people will train as if their instructor or whomever to they look to is always watching them and therefore they would try to practice their best. We'll see how things go.

After the ukemi we did a round of sanshin no kata. It had been a while since we practiced it and with Mark there it seemed like a perfect opportunity to revisit it. It was just an introduction to refresh our memories of what each kata is made up of and what they are called. I plan on weening off the ukemi and rolling the sanshin back in since there is only one more ukemi to formally introduce and a few more points to cover before all there is left to do but practice.

Next we practiced more of the kuzushi exercises that are just as much learning for me as it is everyone else. We started with just using the shoulders and incrementally added more control points. Next week I'll bring a training guide and we'll practice the exercises within it.

I then introduced omote gyaku for the first time. We practiced it in a very simple fashion that didn't require much more than just doing a couple of ichimonji no kamae steps. The difficult part seemed to be how to grasp the uke's hand to apply the wrist lock or freeing the uke's grasp on the lapel. This lead nicely into the different levels of being an uke. Using omote gyaku as a model we practiced each of the four levels of compliance/resistance. It was at the 4th level of resistance that the kuzushi exercises were clearly applicable. So, we worked on that for a few minutes. As usual, when the technique fails move on.

We closed class with some free response exercises from a simple jodan tsuki. The only parts that were fixed were the uke's attack, the initial receive on the inside and no dakkentaijutsu. The focus here was more applied kuzushi using a light touch.

Gambatte kudasai!

Shima Dojo 01/24/2008

2008-01-25T10:39:00.000-05:00

There was a pretty small turnout last night with seven of us total. Doug started the じゅなんたいそ with the regular leg stretches. Then we did some squatting exercises and the usual "one person against a wall and the other person pushing against the body" exercises. He then throw something new at us with regular sit-ups and reverse sit-ups. I'm really glad he did that and broke the ice to include some basic "exercise" exercises.

I started off with some deep かまえ which I will continue for a while to help condition the legs. From here I started again with the usual ぜんぽうかいてん and reiteration of the points of making the roll smooth. Then I moved onto こうほうかいてん then たちながれ、again reiterating the points of smooth rolling. We practiced these three rolls starting in かまえ and ending in かまえ。I wanted to get the point across that with a smooth, proper roll you can come up from the roll in かまえ with no effort other than what was put into the roll itself. Often times people will fumble around when attempting to raise up from the roll. Practice and applying the advice that is given is really the only way to get good うけみ。Actually that applies to any activity in life that one wants to improve on.

Next, to change things up, we practiced basic punching and receiving. With the じょだんつき we practiced improving the timing of the fist and foot landing at the same time. We'll have to spend some more time on that. As for the うけながし it was a simple receive and gave the とり something to do. Then I talked about four different types of うけ someone can be and how it is beneficial for the うけ and とり to practice being all of them. These fours types are: fully compliant, partially compliant, partially resistant, and fully resistant. After practicing each type of うけ with おもてぎゃく we practiced applying おにくだき to an うけ that was fully resistant. I repeated something that was said to me long ago and that is if the technique isn't working move on to something else. I then showed some simple examples of taking the structure, the くずし, when the うけ resists おにくだき。Surprisingly I didn't have any trouble applying おにくだき so my partners weren't putting up much of a fight. That concluded my time.

This material was a very different from what I usually open Doug's class with but it happened to flow right into what he wanted to cover for the rest of the night. I will be incorporating more of it though as we move along. By March I will have covered all of the うけみ I want to cover and hopefully I will have repeated myself enough times that everyone will feel very comfortable with hitting the ground rolling. Then we can move onto more interesting things.

Doug opened with a brief talk about tension and how it can apply to the first kata of this year's theme. He mentioned that when the うけ is pulling you on the third step of the kata he should feel as if he's just holding your arm and not pulling your entire body. In other words the とり should offer no resistance to this last tug. So we practiced this last pull a few times.

Next we assumed くみうち with a partner and practiced shifting each other around enough to take the balance and do simple take downs. We practiced this just briefly to lead into the next exercise where we did the same thing except this time the とり was supposed to offer no resistance or tension and to move around with the うけ to prevent any type of throw. This was done with the とりの eyes closed and should be fairly simple to prevent a throw.

Next we did some むとどり。When the cut comes とり pivots to the outside of the attack with your back to the weapon. How you stand in しぜんのかまえ is important to this first step. From there turn back to the うけ to apply おもてぎゃく with the sword or stick.

I believe that was it.

I found it interesting how Doug and I went to two separate seminars and we were both shown some common things.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 01/22/2008

2008-01-24T16:40:00.000-05:00

Johnny and I spent a little bit of time doing うけみ and じゅなんたいそ。I showed all the mobility exercises that I could remember from the recent seminar then went down the list of stuff we did ending with one of the うけながし exercises.

It was colder in the dojo than it was outside. Other than that it was a good time.

がんばってください！

Seminar Review: Rob Renner in Virginia

2008-01-21T16:00:00.000-05:00

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！

Shima Dojo 01/17/2008

2008-01-18T12:51:00.000-05:00

Last night there were eight だん level students and three きゅ level students. After a short stretching session lead by Doug I started off with simple うけみ。From しぜんのかまえ perform a みぎぜんぽうかいてん, stand up and rotate 180 degrees, then perform a みぎこうほうかいてん。After a few minutes we did the same on the left side. After that we practiced そくほうかいてん。After that we practiced ぜんぽうかいてん coming up into いちもんじのかまえ and rotating 90 degrees and performing こうほうかいてん。This made an L shape on the floor. I then talked about how the かまえ you "land" in after the かいてん, which I described as げだんいちもんじのかまえ, allows you to move in any direction and perform any other type of うけみ。I also reiterated the points to aid in performing smooth うけみ。After that we practiced standing in いちもんじのかまえ、shifting from left to right, and moving forward from left side to right side. I also reiterated the points that make up good かまえ。That concluded the warm up and what I feel to be the three pillars of good taijutsu/basics: flexibility, ukemi, and kamae.

Joel shared with us again some material from the recent seminar he attended. First we did the みぎかたうでとんそうがた again. Then he showed us a little trick with a band aid. After that we did migite kubi suji tonsou gata　(みぎてくびすじとんそうがた - right hand back of neck escape form). The spelling and translation of the name here may not be completely accurate but it is clear what happens.

I believe that concluded the class. Good stuff.

がんばってください！

Shima Dojo 01/15/2008

2008-01-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

Joel had attended the Andrew Young seminar at the Tanuki Dojo last weekend and because of this was asked to share the experience with everyone Tuesday. I found that many of the points made were part of basic taijutsu.

He started with the first two kata from the Santou Tonkou no Kata. Points common with the two kata had to do with the kamae and the footwork. For the kamae, the front hand is kept low and in line with the front leg and the rear hand is held up by the side of your head. The footwork did not include yoko aruki but simply bringing your feet together.

For Migi Kata Ude Tonsou Gata he pointed out controlling the uke via his elbow. By pointing the elbow in the direction behind the uke his balance is affected and it opens the body for the kick. The kick should be done by tracing the inside of the uke's thigh from the knee to the target. This principle of tracing body parts to certain targets is basic striking.

For Hidari Kata Ude Tonsou Gata he pointed out again controlling the uke with subtle movements of the arms. For this one extend your fingers to push against the uke's forearm as you touch the uke's shoulder and roll his balance back. This will expose the body. Strike with the knee as you raise your captured arm up above the uke and bring the uke's shoulder down, similiar to o-gyaku. From here use the arm to off balance the uke completely. The principle of maintaining a single line, which is seen in ichimonji no kamae, appeared here as well. The kamae was not ichimonji, instead more like shizen, but similar in the way the body is lined up to the uke.

I don't think anything else we did was a particular kata but just different types of tehodoki. Each had two ukes holding each forearm on either side of you.

Your arms are held by the body. Bend your knees, dropping the body weight and raising the arms at the same time. Your hands should have started with the palms facing back and ended with the palms facing each other. From the crouched position do zenpo ukemi. Zenpo kaiten after that. Pretty basic taijutsu.

Your arms are crossed. From here you rotated towards whichever side the top arm was on. Be sure to affect each uke's balance with your movement and use good kamae.

Your arms are held by the body. Shift all the way to one side "smothering" one of the uke's. Affect the balance and strike as necessary.

I think that was. Good stuff.

がんばってください！

Shima Dojo 01/10/2008

2008-01-11T13:46:00.000-05:00

We had a pretty full class last night with only three kyu level students. I started my portion of the class with a short talk on what I felt were the most basic ingredients for good taijutsu（たいじゅつ）: flexibility, ukemi（うけみ）, and kamae（かまえ）. Each of these skills are connected and if one lacks the others will suffer. I suggested that if you're early to class, which you should be, do your stretching then. Also practice the ukemi and kamae as perfectly as you can with honesty about your skill level. I mentioned a couple of other things before practicing zenpou kaiten（ぜんぽうかいてん）, koho kaiten（こほうかいてん）and ichimonji no kamae（いちもんじのかまえ）。

Doug followed with this technique: Uke（うけ）does katamune dori（かたむねどり）followed by a jodan tsuki（じょだんつき）. Tori（とり）strikes down with the forearm into the bend of the uke's arm while stepping back into jumonji no kamae（じゅもんじのかまえ）. The strike is performed with the same side arm. The free hand can deflect the incoming strike as you assume kamae. I don't recall a specific take down. The reversal to this was as the tori strikes down into the arm move in with the strike. While holding onto the uke's lapel apply a fudoken（ふどけん）to the face while sweeping the leg with ihen no kamae（いへんのかまえ）. You could also just perform ganseki nage（がんせきなげ）or kick the uke's leg out to help with the throw.

Doug then showed the second Togakure Ryu（とがくれりゅ）kata from the Santo Tonko no Kata（さんととんこのかた）: Hidari Kata Ude Tonsou Gata (ひだりかたうでとんそうがた - left side arm escape form). Uke grab's tori's wrist on the same side. Uke pulls tori back three times. The tori resists the first two pulls, the second one slightly less than the first. On the third pull tori pushes the uke's wrist/arm outward and kick's the uke in the groin. Hold the uke's shoulder and drive uke to the ground like o-gyaku. With the arm trapped zenpou kaiten over the uke. Next we did the same thing while wearing shuko.

We finished class with simple senban shuriken（せんばんしゅりけん）throwing. One person was a target while the other walked toward the target throwing them and then walked away while throwing them.

Good times.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 01/08/2008

2008-01-10T10:32:00.000-05:00

The weather has been nice lately so walking into the dojo didn't feel like walking into a refrigerator. Since it was just myself and Johnny at the dojo I didn't really have a limit on the material and since it had been a while since we met I didn't have anything prepared. So, everything we did was new for him.

First off was the うけみ。We took turns playing follow-the-leader with some ぜんぽうかいてん and こうほうかいてん。Then we spend a few minutes differentiating between たちながれ and こうほうかいてん。We finished off with some よこながれ。

Next up was a more applied approach to ぜんぽううけみ、こうほううけみ、and よこうけみ。This consisted of us catching more air by jumping into the うけみ。It was not comfortable and when we return to training outdoors it won't get any more comfortable.

After that was いちもんじのかまえ time. There isn't much to write about standing in かまえ and shifting from one side to the other. Then we worked on moving off the attack line from かまえ。We practiced that solo for a bit then we teamed up with the うけ doing a じょだんつき and the とり moving off at an angle to the inside. We didn't bother with a うけうち or うけながし、just moving and maintaining かまえ。We laid two bo staffs on the ground forming a 90 degree angle to use as a reference point.

Next up was balance breaking. We both assumed くみうち and took turns breaking each other's balance without stepping or striking. After we did that a few times we changed it slightly by not grabbing the gi jacket but just touching with open hands.

Next I tried to incorporate everything we had done up to this point into a simple exercise. Each exercise started with both of us facing each other in しぜんのかまえ with the うけ performing a じょだんつき and the とり performing an うけながし。From this model we did the following:

Shift forward hanging onto the wrist with your front hand and move into ひちょのかまえ to deliver a ぜんぽうげり to the ribs. Assume いちもんじのかまえ covering the うけの front foot and pull him off balance with the hand you've been holding while extending your leg into いへんのかまえ. Effect the balance the moment you hold the wrist. Pull down some when delivering the　ぜんぽうげり and pull outward when assuming かまえ。This was the only one that used ひちょのかまえ and ぜんぽうげり。Everything else you just switched かまえ。

Do the same thing except just take the balance by the using the hand. Alternate which hand takes the balance.

Do the same thing except use your free hand to touch the うけの shoulder and affect the balance.

Do the same thing except apply おもてぎゃく to the forearm as you move into かまえ。

Do the same thing except use your free hand to move the うけの elbow into おにくだき as you move into かまえ。

Do the same thing except as you switch かまえ　after the initial contact get low and place the うけの wrist against your belly and apply むそどり. Assume かまえ then rotate away from the うけ causing him to fall backwards. Maintain the lock throughout.

Same as above except apply a ぜんぽうげり to うけの ribs as he falls.

Same as the second one above except apply a ふどけん to the ribs as he falls.

Same as above except add an おもてしゅと to the head as he falls.

I think that was it. Good times.

がんばってください！

Shima Dojo 01/03/2008

2008-01-04T11:24:00.000-05:00

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！

Kihon Shibu 12/19/2007

2007-12-20T17:05:00.000-05:00

I just realized this was the last class of 2007. Matt joined Johnny and myself for this session since he's got some free time before the next semester. As usual we started with some うけみ、although this time we did it just like I used to do back at the Tidewater dojo. I would do a series of rolls and everyone would repeat them. Then we did some more synchronized そくほかいてん and よこながれ。After that we broke out a padded bo and commenced taking turns doing ぜんぽう、こうほう and そくほ　かいてん under it while two of us held it about waist height. Then we lowered it knee height and did ぜんほかいてん over it. Then we raised it again to do てんとび over it into a ぜんぽかいてん。After that we took two padded hanbos, set them on the floor some distance apart from each other, then practiced ひちょかいてん over the gap. We also laid two padded long bo staffs on the ground to create a landing strip. We incrementally increased the gap until we were doing ひちょかいてん over six feet of space. Johnny didn't dive roll that far but did exceptional for his first time.

Next was the さんしんのかた。We did this the same way as in the previous class. After that was some かまえ practice; standing in いちもんじのかまえ、moving from しぜんのかまえ to いにちもんじのかまえ in different directions, moving forward while switching かまえ、moving backward while switching かまえ、and also doing a basic つき。

We then continued the same kind of exercises from last class. First was the がんせきなげ like movement. Then we did a むしゃどり exercise where from くみうち you step back into いちもんじのかまえ on the same side as the sleeve that is being held. Anchor the うけの elbow as you pivot to the うけの outside. The next exercise was a variation of this one. From かたむねどり step into いちもんじのかまえ straight to the side that is held. At the same time pull the うけの elbow to you to achieve the むしゃどり lock.　At this point reposition your foot behind うけの foot as you lower your かまえ and lift the うけの elbow. The last exercise was also from かたむねどり。Depending on how the うけ is holding either step forward or backward into かまえ while anchoring the wrist to your chest.

That pretty much wrapped it up. The focus wasn't on the locks but instead of just moving with かまえ。

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 12/17/2007

2007-12-18T15:41:00.000-05:00

Last night was just me and Johnny. We started off by practicing three consecutive ぜんぽうかいてん in various directions. Then we mixed ぜんぽう and こうほう　かいてん together. After that we practiced そくほうかいてん synchronized with each other then while each of us held onto one end of a bo. We then did the same thing with よこながれ。We finished up this set of うけみ with そくほうかいてん and じゅんながれ from いちもんじのかまえ。After a short breather we practiced some むとどり with a padded bokken. First we did a てんちとび exercise then a たいさばき exercise. The bokken was then replaced with a padded long bo. That concluded the うけみ for the evening.

Next we went through each of the さんしんのかた to help drill the movements and names into memory. いちもんじのかまえ exercises followed. First up was just standing in かまえ。Next we practiced moving into いちもんじのかまえ while in various grabs. First up was from くみうち moving back at an angle and taking the uke's balance using a light touch on the shoulders.

The second one was from くみうち again. Move straight back into かまえ、then さゆぎゃく back at an angle, then finally さゆぎゃく forward. This exercise inadvertently became がんせきなげ but we did not focus on that. The focus was moving through and maintaining かまえ.

The third one was from かたむねどり。Move straight back into かまえ on the same side that is held. Pivot around your front foot to the outside of the uke's front foot. Step so that your front foot is in line with the uke's foot/knee. Drop down into げだんいちもんじのかまえ using your front arm to help pull the uke off balance.

The final one was the same as the previous one except you step back with the opposite foot.

がんばってください！

Shima Dojo 12/13/2007

2007-12-14T08:55:00.000-05:00

Class started with さんしんのかた as a warmup. Each technique we did started with: Uke does かたむねどり　じょだん　つき (lapel grab with punch). Tori moves back just within reach covering the grab as you assume いちもんじのかまえ on the same side as the attack. Uke strike the tsuki and with the same hand strike the face. Be sure to upset the balance and spine with this strike.

Pivot on your front foot towards your back side as you strike (うらしゅとけん) the inside of uke's arm or just push/pull them down. Control the uke as necessary and maintain かまえ throughout.

With this one it helps to move slightly off line to the outside. Lock the elbow by pushing down on the uke's wrist and holding the elbow joint with your free hand. Shift forward shoving the uke's shoulder into his face. This should place nearly all of his weight onto his rear foot. Use たいさばき to reach the rear leg for a sweep like a reverse がんさきなげ。A cross step or a shuffle step should do the trick but I prefer よこあるき。Control the uke as necessary and maintain かまえ throughout.

With this one after the uke strike hang onto that arm and forget about the strike to the face. Bend and raise the uke's arm so that the elbow points up and do がんせきなげ。An elbow （しゅきけん） strike can be applied here. Control the uke as necessary and maintain かまえ throughout.

Points Doug mentioned the past two classes were to be light on the feet so that you can dance with the uke. Don't forget about your elbows. Move just within reach. Drill a hole into the middle of uke's forehead with your intent.

After class Doug tested Mike for shodan and he made it. Congratulations Mike.

がんばってください！

Shima Dojo 12/11/2007

2007-12-12T09:18:00.000-05:00

Doug and Michelle are back from Japan and had lots to share about their experience. Class started with a short talk about what the training was like in Japan. Then we went into the first kata of Kukishinden Ryu, Seion. First we practiced regular Seion then we practiced a couple of variations. None of the variations involved a kick. The first one had the tori using his elbow and footwork to take the uke's balance. The second one was much like the Shinden Fudo Ryu kata Nichi Geki. As uke moves in strike the back of his hip to break his attack and with the free hand strike down against the collar bone or ryumon kyusho. After this we played with the timing of uke's attack by moving just out of reach of his attack to make taking the balance easier.

Next we practiced the second kata Suiyoku. After that we practiced using the elbows again. This time against just two punches. Receive the first punch lightly　then when the second one comes advance with the free elbow covering uke's attack. Control the space and balance. Doug mentioned locking the spine out via the shoulder.

That concluded class and Doug then tested Shane for shodan. Several people were involved in the test and he passed. Ed and Michelle were also awarded nidan. Doug received godan while in Japan. Congratulations to everyone.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 12/06/2007

2007-12-12T08:38:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday was a larger mix of students and we covered much of the same material. We started with ぜんぽうかいてん　from しこ。After that we focused on the finer points of　ぜんぱかいてん and こうまうかいてん。After rolling around for a while it was requested that we give the knees a break so I suggested we practice some てんちとび。By the look on Mike's face that was not what he had in mind. Therefore we only spent a few minutes on that. Next up was the いちもんじのかまえ practice. Then to change things up entirely we practiced the いちもんじ　むとどり from ぎょっこりゅ。This was probably the most complicated thing some of them had seen before so we practiced it a bit solo before with an uke. Then we all lined up and took turns evading the cut. After this we spent a little bit of time on assuming ひちょのかまえ then a line drill on moving from いちもんじのかまえ to ひちょのかまえ。We then made a little exercise of this movement. Uke and tori are in いちもんじのかまえ。Uke throws a じょだんつき and tori receives to the inside then shifts forward moving into ひちょのかまえ and performing a ぜんぽう　そくぎゅくけん　げり。We finished with everyone lining up and taking turns being both uke and tori.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 12/04/2007

2007-12-06T17:37:00.000-05:00

With Doug in Japan he asked me to cover his classes this week. Tuesday had four students covering a wide range of skill. While still sticking to basic, basic stuff I tried to keep everyone's interests up. We covered the following material:

しこ
ざがた　ぜんぽ　うけみ
しぜん　ぜんぽ　うけみ
ざがた　こうほう　うけみ
しぜん　こうほう　うけみ
ぜんぽ　かいてん
いちもんじ　の　かまえ
たいさばき
よこ　あるき
ななめ　こうほう　あるき
しほ　てんち　とび

We did several different types of drills of these skills and I believe everyone had a good time.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 11/28/2007

2007-11-29T08:58:00.000-05:00

After a string of no shows two guys that have shown interest in training have finally appeared. Ernie's first class was Monday actually. Vaun's first class was Wednesday. Ernie returned for Wednesday's session and Johnny finally had some free time and made an appearance.

As usual with any new blood we started from the ground up. The only difference was we started with instruction on the bowing in procedure since we're in a formal dojo. After that it was onto ぜんぽううけみ(zenpou ukemi), both ざがた(zagata) and しぜん(shizen) forms. We followed that with basic movement from せいざのかまえ(seiza no kamae) into げだん　いちもんじのかまえ(gedan ichimonji no kamae) and then しこ(shiko) "knee walking". After that we covered ざがた　ぜんぽう　かいてん(zagata zenpou kaiten) then combined the しこ(shiko) and かいてん(kaiten) into an exercise.

After that we got to our feet and walked back and forth across the dojo a few times to cool off from all the rolling around. The only points made about walking were to keep your back straight, maintain your balance and make sure you're stepping with the heel-toe pattern. Then we did a simple leg exercise. Starting from しぜんのかまえ(shizen no kamae) take a large step forward and rotate your rear foot to the outside creating a slim body profile. Then pull your rear leg to your front and repeat, alternating sides. After that we added a basic punch from the hip up to the face. Next we took turns practicing this punch against a bag.

Next we went practiced standing in いちもんじのかまえ(ichimonji no kamae) with a mental checklist of things to lookout for. We also briefly practiced shifting from left to right. Then we covered walking forward in いちもんじのかまえ using よこ　あるき(yoko aruki). To wrap things up we went back to the ground and covered こうほう　うけみ(kouhou ukemi).

We went over the bowing out procedure then bowed out to end class. I had a good time and it was great seeing new and old faces.

がんばってください！

Kihon Shibu 11/07/2007

2007-11-08T09:18:00.000-05:00

Last night it was just Tim and I so I showed him some of the things I've been covering since I started the training group. We went over zenpo and sokuho kaiten, hicho kaiten, the relationship between zenpo ukemi and zenpo kaiten, ichimonji no kamae, the relationship between ichimonji no kamae and hicho no kamae, tsuki, zenpo geri and the sanshin no kata.

Some things were a little bit different from what he was used to but he's on board with trying new things.

Gambatte kudasai!

Shima Dojo 11/01/2007

2007-11-02T11:43:00.000-04:00

In Doug's absence I taught class to the handful of people that showed up. We started class with zagata zenpo kaiten followed by some stretching. Then we worked on ichimonji no kamae, moving forward in ichimonji no kamae while switching sides from left to right, yoko aruki from ichimonji no kamae moving forward and backward, jodan tsuki, the zig-zag line drill solo and with uke, zig-zag plus yoko aruki line drill, koho kaiten, zenpo ukemi, zenpo ukemi against a wall, koho ukemi, muto dori using ichimonji no kamae and yoko aruki, and muto dori staying in place but evading the cut.

Gambatte kudasai!

Shima Dojo 10/30/2007

2007-10-30T23:02:00.000-04:00

We did the usual warm up routine of sanshin no kata and stretching. Afterwards we did the ichimonji drill where the uke does a jodan tsuki and the tori moves into a mirrored ichimonji no kamae to the outside of the attack. We then did the same kamae to the inside of the tsuki. From the opposite side kamae we also did musha dori, ganseki nage and muso dori. We also did a transition from musha dori to ganseki nage.

After that we did another kata from the Kukishinden Ryu and a couple of variations of it. The attack was migi jodan tsuki, hidari jodan tsuki, migi zenpo geri, hidari zenpo geri, and finally another hidari jodan tsuki. The tori responded with hidari jodan uke nagashi, migi jodan uke nagashi, migi fudoken tsuki, migi gedan uke nagashi, migi jodan uke nagashi, and finishing with musha dori dropping to the rear knee (in this instance the left knee). One variation was replacing the musha dori with muso dori. The other variation was after the second jodan uke nagashi hang onto the wrist and apply omote gyaku as the first zenpo geri comes. Also do the keri kaeshi that I don't know the actual name of. You can optionally add a fudoken tsuki to the face at this point.

In the kata Doug mentioned the tori's distancing starting large and getting smaller as the attacks progressed.

Good stuff. Congratulations to Dave on receiving godan.

Gambatte kudasai!

Shima Dojo 10/25/2007

2007-10-28T00:51:00.000-04:00

The first half of the class followed the same format as the previous one. We started with stretching then sanshin and mixed ukemi among two uke nagashi drills. After that we revisited Chikusei from the Kukishinden Ryu Sabaki Gata followed by some variations. I don't quite remember all the details but here's the gist.

The first variation had the tori apply musha dori against the uke's final tsuki. With musha dori applied grab onto the uke's free wrist with the hand that has musha dori so that one arm controls both of uke's arms. Rotate away from the uke so he falls forward.

The second variation had the uke doing a katamune dori before applying the zenpo geri and final jodan tsuki. I believe the tori did the normal uke nagashi to each attack but after the last uke nagashi you held onto the wrist and with your free hand struck the inside of the uke's knee on the leg opposite the wrist you just grabbed. The idea was to open the uke's hips up and in turn rotate the shoulders. The arm that you are holding you want to rotate/twist so the uke is turning towards you and making it easy for you to extend their arm like an armbar and drop them on their back. Kicks at this point are welcome.

The last variation that I remember was performing a type of keri kaeshi {need to lookup}. When the uke performs the zenpo geri shift to the outside so it moves past you then extend your leg to catch the uke's balance.

Gambatte kudasai!

Shima Dojo 10/23/2007

2007-10-24T13:07:00.000-04:00

We began class with sanshin no kata followed by a series a stretching exercises. Doug added a new exercise where you would stand a little more than arms length from a wall, lean forward to put your hands on the wall and then walk down and up the wall with your hands bending your knees as you went down. We repeated that a few times stepping further away from the wall.

Next we lined up and did zenpo kaiten across the dojo in both directions. Then we paired up and did a ichimonji exercise from the last class. Uke would throw a jodan tsuki while the tori would move from shizen no kamae to ichimonji no kamae to gedan ichimonji no kamae.

Then we lined up and did koho kaiten across the dojo in both directions. Then we paired up and did sui no kata with a partner. After that Doug showed a counter. As uke, when tori approaches with the omote shutoken shift back, catch the hand and apply omote gyaku.

After that we lined up for the last ukemi: zenpo kaiten followed by koho kaiten. Then we paired up and did ka no kata with a partner. After that we did another counter where the uke receives the uke nagashi atemi such that you can move that arm over to catch the incoming ura shutoken on the outside and apply muso dori.

Next we practiced a basic ura gyaku followed by a basic counter. The counter was when the tori would begin to apply the ura gyaku you stepped behind the tori's foot and forced your hand behind and around the tori's head.

We wrapped up the class with a kata from the Kukishinden Ryu. I believe it was Chikusei from the Sabaki Gata. Uke throws a jodan tsuki, a jodan tsuki, a zenpo geri and another jodan tsuki. Tori performs an uke nagashi on the first two attacks, holding onto the wrist after the second attack. When the zenpo geri comes tori applies omote gyaku to the uke's forearm while at the same time performing a gedan uke nagashi to ensure the attack is defeated. A jodan uke is applied with the same hand to the final tsuki. After that fudoken to the uke's face as you reach over to setup ura gyaku. If the uke resists the omote gyaku this should come easily. Apply ura gyaku as you strike the uke's ribs with a fudoken or happaken. Grab flesh and apply a simple sweep to drop the uke face first.

There were two variations on this. With the first one the tori would apply a musha dori like gyaku instead of ura gyaku. The hand that would do the ura gyaku does the musha dori as you step behind the uke and control him. With the second one the tori would move in and apply a simple sweep to the uke to drop him on his back instead of the ura gyaku. This would occur after the last uke nagashi when the tori would strike the uke in the face.

That was a lot of material covered in one class.

Gambatte kudasai!

Shima Dojo 10/16/2007

2007-10-17T11:12:00.000-04:00

This class was much like a typical Kihon Shibu class. We started out with sanshin no kata to get the blood flowing. We followed that with a few stretches targeted at the hips. Then we worked on zenpo kaiten. Zenpo kaiten should be performed just like you were going to do zenpo ukemi. From shizen no kamae kneel onto one knee while turning it inward some, place the same side arm down as in zenpo ukemi and propel yourself with the opposite side foot. Next was koho kaiten. From a seated posture extend one leg and bend the other. Perform the kaiten by rolling over the shoulder opposite the extended leg. Then we strung the two together by performing zenpo kaiten, rotating in place, then performing koho kaiten.

Next we worked on ichimonji no kamae. With a partner one would assume ichimonji no kamae while the other would look for any openings and check our footwork. Then from ichimonji no kamae we practiced a jodan tsuki. Again our partner would check for errors.

The following exercises were applications of ichimonji no kamae. Before beginning there was a short talk about the role of the uke. The uke is training just as much as the tori. Therefore the attacks the uke performs must be sincere, otherwise, what are you really defending against?

Uke: Ichimonji no kamae, jodan tsuki.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. When the uke performs the jodan tsuki you assume ichimonji no kamae. The kamae is the same side as the tsuki with your front hand to the inside of the uke and the rear hand to the outside of the tsuki. From there drop into gedan ichimonji no kamae toppling the uke. A variety of atemi may be applied with the most obvious being omote shuto.

Muso Dori
Uke: Cross katate dori.
Tori: As soon as the uke has you step back into ichimonji no kamae so that the hand that was grabbed is the rear hand. Then pivot on your front foot around 90 degrees to the outside. Your front knee and the uke's front knee should line up. Drop into gedan ichimonji no kamae.

Omote Gyaku (Kukishinden)
Uke: Katamune dori.
Tori: Grasp the wrist and step back into ichimonji no kamae (same side).

Omote Gyaku (Classic)
Uke: Katamune dori.
Tori: Step back into ichimonji no kamae (opposite side) as your front hand pushes against the uke's wrist away from your body. Use the rear hand to force the uke's grip free by pushing it upward and away. Step back with your front foot into another ichimonji no kamae as you apply omote gyaku.

Muto Dori
We did three of these. The first was from shomen giri. The tori just rotated on one foot to evade the cut. The second was from migi kesa giri. The tori kneels and rotates hidari towards the cut. The third was from hidari kesa giri. The tori kneels and rotates migi towards the cut.

Good stuff.

Gambatte kudasai!

Kihon Shibu - 10/08/2007

2007-10-09T11:52:00.000-04:00

We're finally back on our regular schedule and it's about time. With the change in season our whole training session is in the dark. And with the lack of rain our training spot has turned into a dirt pit. With all the grass gone the rocks, sticks and other debris have made themselves known.

We started the night out with combinations of three types of ukemi. After that we practiced zenpo kaiten from a more upright position as opposed to getting low to the ground first. Then I introduced tobi kaiten. Or at least tried to. We didn't have anything to really roll over and it was dark so that may have made it harder.

After that we did our first "applications of ukemi" exercise. All that amounted to was me doing the kihon torite gata with Johnny as uke. Now that the ice is broken we'll probably do this during every session.

Next was an uke nagashi drill. We started from shizen no kamae in front of each other with about an arms length distance between us. We both assumed ichimonji no kamae. The uke would throw a jodan tsuki and the tori would just evade. We focused on starting in good kamae, throwing a proper tsuki and evading with good kamae. We alternated left and right sides and uke/tori roles. After doing that for a while we added the uke nagashi and continued the drill until it was about time to go. With the last ten minutes or so we went through the sanshin no kata to clear up any questions.

This time we got a bit more dirty and were a bit more physical but had a great time. Things are moving along well.

Gambatte kudasai.

Shima Dojo 10/04/2007

2007-10-05T10:35:00.000-04:00

It's always refreshing to resume training after a break. I wasn't the only one either because Tim showed up and we trained together for the first time since Daryl moved in June.

Class started with sanshin no kata. Then we broke off into pairs and practiced insdie jodan uke nagashi followed by a tsuki with the same hand, back and forth across the dojo, very similar to jumonji no kata. Next was the same exercise but to the outside. Next we did gedan uke nagashi followed by a jodan uke nagashi in response to uke's zenpo keri and tsuki. The jodan uke nagashi was performed with the rear arm in a jumonji like position. We've done this before. The last exercise was a zenpo keri and tsuki with the tori performing a gedan uke nagashi to the inside then a jodan uke nagashi to the outside.

After these exercises Doug had one person demonstrate a kihon happo or sanshin technique and everyone practiced that for a bit before Doug showed a henka or shinkin version.

Chi no kata. The henka/shinkin was from a one hand cross grab.

Jumonji no kata. The henka/shinkin was from a boxing style posture with a cross punch.

Oni kudaki. The henka was ura oni kudaki aka onu kudaki.

Next Doug showed the following technique. Uke performs jodan tsuki and tori step forward and to the inside with a ura shuto. This was expanded with an additional tsuki with the rear hand to the uke's ribs. This was done either simultaneously or just before the shuto ken atemi.

Class was finished with a kata from Kukishinden Ryu, the name of which escapes me. Uke performs migi tsuki, hidari tsuki, migi zenpo keri and migi tsuki. Tori performs inside uke nagashi for each except for the last one which is to the outside. Hanging onto the uke's wrist move into the uke to apply hon jime (I believe that's the one). The uke will resist with a shoulder shrug in which the tori will move the arm to strike with a shukiken to the ribs followed by stepping over the uke's leg to apply a throw whose name I don't know but it went like so. Maintaining control of the wrist rotate the arm upward as you step over the uke's leg. Hold the uke's arm close to your body as you drop to the knee on the leg that stepped over the uke's leg. The uke's knee should be locked out. Apply the throw. Two additional things: you can trap the uke's foot by bringing your foot around like a gedan ichimonji no kamae or apply the throw with your other shoulder.

It's been really slow getting back into the swing of things but next week I intend on resuming the regular training schedule.

Gambatte kudasai!

Karasukage 09/27/2007

2007-09-28T14:31:00.000-04:00

Since this was the last class with Joe for a while a lot of people made it out. I have never seen the dojo that full before so we took the training outside into the dirt. Karasukage, Shima, and Buke dojos were all together plus Jeremy from Hampton.

The focus was the same as when I visited last and that is controlling the uke from the moment contact is made until you are done. This was accomplished by taking the uke's balance immediately upon physical contact, using gyakus, and striking when the uke is weak.

As usual the night was long and sweaty. It was a bit more dirty than normal though but always a good time. Hopefully we can all continue to gather in Joe's absence.

Gambatte kudasai!

Kihon Shibu 09/03/2007

2007-09-05T11:25:00.000-04:00

We spent a lot of the time working on ukemi. We started with zagata zenpo and koho kaiten then shizen zenpo and koho kaiten. We also practiced zagata and shizen zenpo kaiten in the forward, forward-left, and forward-right directions. After that we practiced shizen sokuho kaiten and more koho kaiten. Next I introduced yoko nagare kaiten and we spent quite a bit of time on that and the differences between it and koho kaiten. After that we spent some time walking then turning to perform koho kaiten.

Next we spend a little bit of time practicing ten tobi from ichimonji no kamae. With this exercise we weren't aiming for height. We just wanted to get comfortable picking up both feet simultaneously with little jumping action. After we were comfortable with that we practiced switching the kamae in mid air. We didn't do any applications of this tobi sayu ichimonji no kamae but I told Johnny why you would do it. We'll save applications for later.

Then we practiced moving from ichimonji no kamae to hicho no kamae. We took turns with this exercise: one would do the exercise while the other would verify that no excessive movement was involved during the switch from ichimonji no kamae to hicho no kamae. After a few rounds of this we gave our legs a break and practiced moving from shizen no kamae to ichimonji no kamae in the cardinal directions: N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW. We expanded on this exercise by having one of us stand in shizen no kamae with the eyes closed while the other moved around to some location and called out to the other. Upon hearing the call we would move into ichimonji no kamae hopefully pointing at the uke. I just made this exercise up on the spot so I'm not sure how much value it has yet. I went first and after my turn was over I realized that I never talked about stealth walking because I could clearly hear where Johnny walked to before he called out. For his turn I made sure I was quiet to make it more interesting. We only did one round each of that exercise and next time I'll be sure to discuss moving silently beforehand. That exercise was a good segue into a brief talk about intention training. I talked about what intention training entails and how that exercise would be a good candidate for it but that was it. We'll revisit that subject later.

Next we practiced some more ukemi. This time I introduced yoko nagare and we practiced it along side zenpo and koho ukemi. Then we practiced some more yoko nagare kaiten. I believe that concluded the evening. Good times.

Gambatte kudasai!

Shima 08/28/2007

2007-08-28T23:11:00.000-04:00

Four training days in a row, I'm on a roll. Class actually started on time so I was late. I'm not sure what Doug was doing when I arrived but when I jumped in here's what happened.

Uke: Ichimonji no kamae tsuki to face.
Tori: Move into ichimonji no kamae as if you were receiving from the inside but receive to the outside. In other words receive to the outside as usual except use the sayu (left/right; symmetry) of the kamae. Shift forward to strike the face. Sometimes we would move straight into a tsuki from the outside. You can also receive so that the uke's arm is caught in an armbar. Expanding on this receive with ichimonji no kamae and shift for a tsuki to uke's head and follow up with another tsuki to the butsumetsu as you move through.

Uke: Ichimonji no kamae tsuki to face.
Tori: Receive to the inside with jumonji no kamae. With your rear hand apply ura gyaku. Use atemi where applicable.

Uke: Ichimonji no kamae tsuki to face.
Tori: Receive to the inside with jumonji no kamae. With your rear hand apply ura gyaku. Pass the gyaku to your other hand while switching kamae. Use taiken with your hip to take the uke down.

Uke: Ichimonji no kamae tsuki to face.
Tori: Receive to the inside with ichimonji no kamae as usual. With the rear foot apply sokuyaku geri to the inside of uke's front knee as you switch kamae then sokugyaku geri uke's rear leg. Use atemi where applicable.

Uke: Ichimonji no kamae zenpo geri to suigetsu.
Tori: From shizen no kamae move to ichimonji no kamae to the outside of the attack receiving the attack with keri kaeshi then applying sokugyaku geri to the groin.

Uke: Ichimonji no kamae zenpo geri to suigetsu.
Tori: From shizen no kamae rotate in place to the outside letting the attack slip past you and extend your front leg back to receive the uke's attack. From there sokuyaku geri to the groin.

Uke: Katamune dori, zenpo geri, tsuki.
Tori: Receive the katamune dori with ichimonji no kamae, shift and gedan uke the geri, shift and jodan uke the tsuki. Remove the dori by applying ura gyaku. Shift in and strike the uke's chin with happken or shakoken. I don't know if the timing of the gyaku was with the jodan uke or with the happaken/shakoken. Taiken with your hip while pulling the uke's arm across your body throwing the uke.

Uke: Katamune dori, zenpo geri, tsuki.
Tori: Receive the katamune dori with ichimonji no kamae, shift and gedan uke the geri, shift and jodan uke the tsuki. Remove the dori by applying ura gyaku while you shift towards the uke and juji geri uke's rear leg. Strike the uke's suigetsu as you place your foot back down after the juji geri then rotate away from the uke while you drop to your rear knee bringing the uke down. Maintain ura gyaku throughout.

After class Doug gave his first Bujinkan shodan test. I, among others, assisted in being uke (and tori for some things) for Calvin while Doug gave instructions on what he wanted Calvin to perform. Something Doug did that I found interesting was had Calvin be uke for the kihon happo to see how well he received the techniques. Calvin did well and was awarded the rank of shodan. Congratulations Calvin. Gambatte kudasai!

Kihon Shibu 08/27/2007

2007-08-28T16:46:00.000-04:00

The Ninja Summit was fun but it's back to the basics for Johnny and I. Last night we worked on zenpo and koho kaiten. We did it a little bit differently though by starting in a crouched position on the balls of our feet. This method seems like it may be easier for complete newbies to learn. I just need some newbies to test it out on. After practicing zenpo and koho kaiten separately we combined them by going from zenpo kaiten, rotating, then performing koho kaiten.

Next we practiced standing in ichimonji no kamae. From shizen no kamae assume hidari ichimonji no kamae, move back to shizen no kamae, then into migi ichimonji no kamae. It's quite the workout if you're not used to it.

We followed that up by practicing shikanken tsuki from ichimonji no kamae. We practiced slowly being mindful of our body's structure.

After that we revisited the exercise of moving around the compass from ichimonji. Last time we focused on just getting around the compass and this time we focused on how we move from one stop to the next, using the hips to move the whole body.

Next we combined the tsuki and the evasion exercises. One of us would perform the tsuki while the other evaded. The focus was on performing your role the best to your ability and not really worrying about the other. All the tori had to do was get out of the way in time. We moved slowly so no one got clobbered.

I wrapped things up by showing the last of the sanshin: ku no kata. Johnny did a pretty good job of remembering the other four kata. Now that he has seem all five we can practice them together.

Gambatte!

Karasukage 08/23/2007

2007-08-24T10:21:00.000-04:00

It was time again to visit my hombu and as usual it was a good time with lots of sweat, very little blood and never any tears. We had a special guest in Mr. Brown, long time martial artists and father of fellow buyu J. Brown, whose job is sending him back to Japan. The Ninja Summit may be the last time I train with him for a while so I'd better make it count!

Class started with a little bit of ukemi: three sets of three types of ukemi. I don't remember the exact combination or order but I know we did tobi kaiten, zenpo kaiten, koho kaiten, gyaku nagare, sokuho kaiten and I may have thrown a yoko nagare in there somewhere. Tenchi tobi muto dori was next followed by the night's lesson.

Uke: From ichimonji or jumonji no kamae tsuki to face.
Tori: From shizen no kamae evade to the outside using yoko aruki or other taisabaki and gently take the balance before striking at just the right moment. Control the uke as they go down. This later became slightly evading to the inside and striking when/where the uke is weak. We also played with using a weapon as a distraction. Striking when the uke is weak is done with body language and control of the uke's balance.

Uke: From ichimonji no kamae tsuki to face.
Tori: From ichimonji no kamae step past the uke to the outside being sure to maintain contact with your arm or body. Once you're behind the uke strike with shukiken to the nearest kidney. This can be done with either elbow.

Uke: Katamune dori then zenpo geri.
Tori: Evade to the inside or outside and strike when the uke is weak. Control the situation.

Uke: Katamune dori then tsuki.
Tori: Move the uke's elbow to take the balance and strike with sokkiken, fudoken, boshiken, etc.

Finally we practiced a three person exercise. The tori in this scenario was a third party to an altercation between two others. The uke would attack the innocent bystander with ryoumune dori or katamune dori with a fudoken tsuki or knife tsuki. The tori had to save the day.

Good times as usual.

Gambatte!

案山子

Kihon Shibu 08/15/2007

2007-08-16T12:55:00.000-04:00

Last night was the first class in the last two weeks and Allison's first ever. For Johnny and Allison I kept things simple. We started out with some much needed junantaiso. After that I had Johnny demonstrate zenpo kaiten then promptly told Allison that what he did was our goal and that we probably wouldn't reach it tonight since her experience with this was nil. Therefore we started literally started from the ground and didn't get up. The same went for koho kaiten. Normally we would have spent more time of that but since Allison didn't have a gi and the grass and insects were taking their toll we left the ukemi at that and moved onto introductory kamae.

Naturally, ichimonji no kamae was the chosen kamae and we spent some time getting a general feeling and idea of what this posture is supposed to look like. I tried not to be too specific because you can't overload newbies but at the same time when you're new you don't do everything correctly so you have to pick certain things to correct and over time whittle away at it. We practiced standing in kamae, shifting forward and backward from left to right in place, and moving forward from left to right kamae.

To help reinforce the kamae we did a simple punching drill with the focus mits with the focus on the alignment of the body and using the legs to propel the fist. After that we switched back to taisabaki and did some zenpo and koho yoko aruki from ichimonji no kamae. We wrapped up the evening with chi no kata.

It was good to be training again and everyone had a good time.

Gambatte!

Kihon Shibu 08/01/2007

2007-08-02T11:55:00.000-04:00

We were all over the place last night so I'll try and recall what we did.

We kicked off the evening with chi, sui, ka, and fu no kata. That lead us to a short exercise on one of the first things you do in four of the five sanshin and in nearly everything else we do: stepping off the line of attack. We practiced stepping off at a 45 degree angle by imagining a large compass beneath your feet. In shizen no kamae you would be standing in the center. Step back into ichimonji no kamae and you would be facing north with your rear foot on the south point or your body on the south line. If you were in hidari ichimonji you would be moving to the right in a counter clockwise circle. Your first step would place you facing northwest with your body/feet on the southeast line. The next step would place you facing west with your body on the east line, etc. We did this in both directions a few times.

We then lined up and as a pair practiced zenpo and koho kaiten back and forth across the yard. After the ukemi we practiced some atemi. Since fu no kata was the most recently introduced kata and it uses a boshiken, we broke out the punching mits. After a short talk on the boshiken we took turns striking the mit with a boshiken from ichimonji no kamae exactly the same as when we practice the standard fudoken atemi. When then did a simple application of this ken.

With uke and tori in ichimonji no kamae, uke performs a fudoken tsuki to the tori's face. Tori then evades with a gentle uke nagashi before rocking in with a boshiken to the ribs. Pretty straight forward. Be sure to evade correctly and maintain contact with your arm.

Next was the formal introduction to hira no kamae followed by a simple application. Uke is in ichimonji no kamae and performs a fudoken tsuki to tori's face. Tori is in hira no kamae and steps to the outside of the attack and strikes the uke's head/face with either a fudoken or happaken. The evasion was practiced two ways. The first being the tori moves from hira to hira and the uke pretty much runs into the atemi. The second being the tori moves from hira and does a more proactive atemi by shifting/leaning into the atemi. I mentioned the various targets of the head and which fist would be appropriate with this exercise. We then expanded on this exercise to include a sokuyakuken keri with the rear foot after the initial strike. Again, being aware of the target and the ken being used. We're not just throwing punches and kicks hoping they land on something.

Next we took this exercise and turned it into an atemi drill against one of the nearby trees. Pick a tree, gauge your distance and assume hira no kamae. Move off the line of attack striking with happaken followed up by the sokuyakuken keri. I chose a tree that was skinnier than the others we practice with so that the happaken atemi would be applied to the side of the tree much like the side of someone's head. It's probably better on the wrists too.

Finally, I formally introduced jumonji no kamae and the jumonji no kata from the kihon kosshi sanpo.

Gambatte!

Kihon Shibu 07/30/2007

2007-07-31T09:54:00.000-04:00

Last night we started with performing the three basic kaiten (zenpo, sokuho, koho) in stride with your walk. After that I reintroduced jun nagare and introduced for the first time gyaku nagare. Naturally, that one was a bit more difficult because you're typically rolling from a higher position and therefore carrying a lot more momentum. As usual though if you break it down and practice slowly you'll get it.

Johnny then happened to mention cartwheels and since we were about at that place in the progression of ukemi I thought we'd go ahead and do them. We did migi and hidari oten from shizen no kamae and zenpo oten from ichimonji no kamae. Next was tenchi tobi from shizen no kamae. First we did two forms of ten tobi then chi tobi. After that we did zenpo tobi and koho tobi from ichimonji no kamae. Then we did zenpo, koho and sokuho tobi from shizen no kamae.

Next we revisited the chi, sui, and ka no katas of sanshin gogyo no kata and I introduced fu no kata. Then we did some uke/tori drills to practice the gedan uke since it was new. We did that from a low tsuki aimed at the stomach. We followed this with some jodan uke practice.

We wrapped up class by applying a counter attack to the uke's tsuki that incorporated basic atemi and taisabaki. Each attack was a tsuki to the face and each receive was done to the inside and outside. The first exercise was performing a jodan uke then moving through hicho no kamae to position for a sokugyakuken geri to the lower ribs (butsumetsu). The point here was being able to position yourself to perform an effective geri. The second exercise was performing a jodan uke then applying an omote shuto to the uke's arm as you switch from migi or hidari ichimonji no kamae taking the uke's balance with kamae and atemi. The point here was being able to fluidly switch from one ichimonji to another and properly place your lead foot/leg into position to affect the uke's balance.

Those last two exercises were a direct application of some of the taisabaki we practiced during the last class.

Gambatte!

Kihon Shibu 07/25/2007

2007-07-26T14:17:00.000-04:00

First class in a while started off with a viewing of the Kobudo no Kihon dvd. I haven't seen the video before last night and didn't know exactly what it was about. To my surprise it covered pretty much everything the Richmond Kihon Shibu is about. Actually, that material was advanced for what I've been teaching lately. We're still in the very beginning stages. Last night was the first official class for the group and this is the first official blog post about it.

So the video lasted about an hour although it seemed much longer. Maybe that was because the first 30 minutes was spent doing everything possible to not look like a threat to Simon, the vicious guard dog. Actually, he's not vicious, as long as he likes you.

Again it was Johnny and myself and we started the night by first going over how to wear the gi and tie the obi. Then me moved into practicing zenpo kaiten, koho kaiten and sokuho kaiten from shizen no kamae. Next we practiced fudoken tsuki from ichimonji no kamae followed by zenpo kaiten. Then we practiced sokuyakuken zenpo geri from ichimonji no kamae. The focus here was maintaining the integrity of ichimonji as the atemi is performed. I also spoke briefly on hicho no kamae being the transitory kamae between the starting and ending ichimonji no kamae. The rest of the night was spent on taisabaki. We practiced two ways of switching between hidari and migi ichimonji no kamae. One where you stay in place and another where you advance forward. Then we practiced two forms of moving sideways in ichimonji no kamae. This lead nicely into moving forward and backward while switching between hidari and migi ichimonji no kamae. After that we practiced moving forward and backward without switching between hidari and migi by using yoko aruki. We practiced two forms of koho yoko aruki, one form of zenpo yoko aruki, and one form of naname koho yoko aruki, all from ichimonji no kamae.

I think that was about it. We went through a lot in about 1.5 hours and it went quickly. I can't wait to get back into the swing of training.

Gambatte!

Shima 07/17/2007

2007-07-19T09:10:00.000-04:00

Class begun with sanshin gogyo no kata and then moved into practicing jumonji no kata from the koshi kihon sanpo. This was done in the usual format of the tori in the center with everyone else lined up to be uke. After that round we did it again slightly different. Now when the uke throws the first attack you forget about the uke nagashi and go straight for the boshiken. When the second attack comes you go straight for a fudoken tsuki to the face. Doug talked about the uke performing ukemi in response to the tori's atemi. Rather then being a tough guy and taking the punch, just go with it. So, when the uke was struck by the fudoken he or she would perform gyaku nagare, or gyaku zenpou kaiten. Optionally one could perform an oten. We noticed several opportunities to sneak kicks in as the uke would perform the ukemi but we didn't do that. I think it would be easier with the oten than the kaiten because less thought would be involved. With the oten one is likely to accidentally kick the tori but with the kaiten one has to think about kicking the tori.

Water break.

Next we moved into practicing tsuki komi, first with the boken, then empty hand, then with the rokushaku bo. With the boken and bo we did both versions, seimesen and shisen. It was nice to use a bo because everything lately has been sword or empty hand. Then we did tsuki kake with the boken. The boken and empty hand versions were the same as the last time so I won't go into that.

Seimesen Tsuki Komi with Rokushaku Bo
Uke is in ihen or jodan no kamae and does the standard attack. Tori is in shizen no kamae. Step off the line of attack and angle the bo so that the uke's face runs into it.

Shisen Tsuki Komi with Rokushaku Bo
Uke is in ihen or jodan no kamae and does the standard attack. Tori is in hira ichimonji no kamae. Step back and lightly parry the attack. Shift in to tsuki the uke in the face.

Gambatte!

1967 - America's First View of Ninja?

2007-07-07T13:03:00.000-04:00

Edit: It has come to my attention from a reliable source that You Only Live Twice does NOT have Soke Masaaki Hatsumi in it or involved at all! So this whole post is BS. Oh well, it was a pretty cool movie anyway.

You Only Live Twice - The James Bond film released in 1967 in which Bond's mission takes him to Japan, turns him Japanese, and gives him a couple days of ninja training. Soke Masaaki Hatsumi served as a ninja advisor and according to the IMDB entry for the film he starred, uncredited, as the photo assistant on the train to the character Tiger Tanaka (cool name!). That was the reason I rented the film but when I watched it the first time I didn't recognize Soke at all. After learning which scene he was in I went back and captured these shots.

Man he's young! He is unrecognizable as Soke to me.

Here is the photo he was told to look into. The bad guy's boat is named Ninpo!

The film is standard Bond stuff but here are screen shots of things I found interesting or ninja related.

Successful Japanese guys have samurai armor in their offices.

Training time.

Machine gun jutsu.

You only live twice was an enjoyable film, to me at least. That may be because of my affinity for ninja and the Japanese culture so I gave it 4 out of 5 "shuriken" on netflix. It's worth a spot in your queue too.

Gambatte!

Shima 06/07/2007

2007-06-08T14:40:00.000-04:00

We started the class with sanshin gogyo no kata then went into the practice of applying omote gyaku and urate gyaku from hicho no kamae with a few kicks involved. The idea was to apply kicks while maintaining your balance and applying the waza. After that we practiced tsuki komi with and without the sword and tsuki kake with the sword. It was a very hot and sweaty night. Good times though.

Gambatte!

Shima 06/05/2007

2007-06-06T08:38:00.000-04:00

There was a fairly large group last night with about 14 total. That's partly because Kelly is back and partly because it was Daryl's last training session at Shima Dojo. He's off to Toronto in a week so he had the floor last night. We started with various combinations of zenpo and koho kaiten followed by a daijodan shomen giri muto dori. We used that muto dori movement as a basis for each of the kihon torite goho from a tsuki.

Omote Gyaku
Evade to the outside shifting back and slightly tugging the uke's hand/wrist to disrupt his balance. Apply omote gyaku while striking the uke. Omote shuto, boshiken, zenpo sokugyakuken geri...

Urate Gyaku
Evade to the inside shifting forward striking the face, shift back taking the hand and apply urate gyaku. Trap the foot, boshiken, fudoken, shakoken, zenpo sokugyakuken geri, hongyaku, takeori...

Musha Dori
Evade to the inside shifting forward striking the face and apply musha dori. Urate shuto, boshiken, juji geri...

Oni Kudaki
Evade to the inside shifting forward striking the koe or suigetsu and apply oni kudaki. Cover the knee. Zenpo sokugyaku geri, juji geri...

Ganseki Nage
Evade to the inside shifting forward striking the face, move in and apply ganseki nage. Urate shuto, zenpo sokygyaku geri...

With all there are plenty of opportunities to apply additional atemi.

Class was really fun with all those people in attendance and Daryl did a good job keeping the energy up. Good times. Sayonara and good luck Daryl! We'll see you around!

Gambatte

Karasukage 05/30/2007

2007-06-01T09:15:00.000-04:00

Tonight we covered just a handful of the Togakure Ryu methods of survival. Most of the techniques involved the use of the shuko. First we did various tehodoki with shuko. This was henka of the various ude tonso gata.

Kaeshi dori
Uke: Daijodan shomengiri
Tori: Zenpo kaiten into the uke kicking to the hara, groin or leg while covering with the shuko. Koho kaiten away. When you koho kaiten disarm the uke. Unleash shuriken or metsubushi if necessary. Some would say it's always necessary.

Ken nagare
Uke: Daijodan shomengiri
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae. Quickly move into uke's space with a migi shikan ken to the hara and assuming a migi gedan ichimonji no kamae. Koho kaiten away disarming the uke. I don't remember how the shuko is used here.

Atekomi tonsou gata
Uke: Daijodan shomengiri
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae. Quickly move into uke's space with a migi shikan ken to the hara and assuming a migi gedan ichimonji no kamae. Several take downs are available: you can stand up in between the uke's arms; reach up with the shuko, etc.

Ichinokamae
Uke: Daijodan shomengiri
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae. Move in from the outside striking the uke's hand with the hidari shuko and striking the uke's face with the migi shuko. Pull the two points apart.

Ittoh dori
Uke: Daijodan shomengiri
Tori: Migi ichimonji no kamae. Switch to hidari ichimonji no kamae as you catch the blade. Lock the blade with the shuko. Kick to the hara, groin, or ribs as you take the sword.

Kubisugi tonsou gata
Uke: Migite kubisugi
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Reach up and grab the uke's hand as you turn and strike the ribs with an uke nagashi. Apply ura gyaku in an up-down motion to get the uke away from you.
1. Uke: Migite kubisugi
  Tori: Shizen no kamae. As you turn strike the ribs with an uke nagashi while rotating your head under and to the other side of the uke's arm. Apply ura gyaku. This is basically a shortcut of the kata.
2. Uke: Migite kubisugi
  Tori: Shizen no kamae. As you turn strike the ribs with an uke nagashi followed by a fudo ken. Tenchi tobi into the uke's leg striking the knee with your rear foot and the top of the thigh with your front foot. This one is kinda hard to practice safely.
3. Uke: Migite kubisugi
  Tori: Shizen no kamae with sword. This was actually the first one we did. Tsuki the uke's hara with the saya, draw the blade as you turn around and cut the uke down. Stay low.

As always I had a blast. Gambatte!

I'm always curious to the spelling and meanings of the techniques, which I'm sure many budoka are, so I looked at the materials I have on the Togakure Ryu and found this category of kata spelled two different ways: santo and zanto. Plugging both of those into my favorite dictionary and got the following:

三徳 (さんとく)
Santo - Three primary virtues.

竄匿 (ざんとく)
Zanto - Diving under cover and hiding.

Because this is Togakure Ryu I would put my money on zanto being the correct spelling but of course the video spells it santou. My notes show zanto tanko no kata meaning "escaping forms" and the video doesn't say what san tou ton kou means and more than three kata are shown. Usually when this happens you just look at the kanji but the kanji in the video don't match any I saw in the dictionary. Also, tonso is "fleeing" so I would guess "zanto tonso no kata" is a more accurate description. Oh well. This is part of the training.

Other terms.

首筋; 頸筋 (くびすじ)
Kubisugi - (noun) Back of the neck

首筋を違える (くびすじをちがえる)
Kubisugi - (expression) To wrench one's neck

遁走 (とんそう)
Tonso - fleeing; escape

Kaeshi - This spelling didn't return an exact match but the variation kaesu is congruent with the general meaning of kaeshi.

還す (かえす)
Kaesu - to send back

返す (かえす)
Kaesu - to return something

反す (かえす)
Kaesu - to change; to turn over; to turn upside down

Shima 05/24/2007

2007-05-31T08:31:00.000-04:00

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.

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

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

2007-05-22T16:39:00.001-04:00

Japan, originally uploaded by mojmir_ch.

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

Karasukage 05/10/2007

2007-05-11T11:26:00.000-04:00

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

2007-05-03T13:33:00.000-04:00

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:

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.

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.

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.

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!

Shima 04/26/2007

2007-04-27T13:43:00.000-04:00

We started with solo sanshin no kata then did an exercise similar to the one we did last time. One individual stood in the center of the dojo and applied ichimonji no kata to everyone else in turn. The kata was supposed to be applied with more of a shinken and flowing feeling. So instead of performing two distinct moves the kata was blended into one. Next we did simple counters/escapes from omote gyaku, urate gyaku, and musha dori. After that we reviewed some sword work. First we did tsuki komi and its sayu gyaku. Then we did what looked like the kiri age kata but we didn't use a kiri age cut. Uke performs daijodan shomen giri and the tori applies a tsuki to the face with or without a kai from seigan no kamae, the uke reacts by retreating and the tori follows through with a do cut to the left while stepping left. The sayu gyaku was cutting and stepping to the right. Next was kocho gaeshi. After that the uke attacked with kesa giri and the tori, from hasso no kamae, countered with the same cut aiming for the uke's front wrist. Calvin and I also practiced that from daijodan shomen giri and gyaku kesa giri. We wrapped up class with an unarmed defense against daijodan shomen giri. Tori baits the uke with his posture, switches to the outside to capture the hands and disarms the uke. Good times.

Gambatte!

UR 04/23/2007

2007-04-24T10:45:00.000-04:00

Last class at UR for me. It was fun and hopefully those few students will continue. We did the sanshin no kata solo and with a partner. Then we did some free response exercises where the uke gave to attacks and the tori had to evade and perform something from the sanshin or kihon happo.

Good times. Gambatte!

Shima 04/17/2007

2007-04-24T10:36:00.001-04:00

I went to Doug's on that Tuesday to coordinate travel and sleeping arrangements for that weekend's seminar in Bedford. It's been a while since I trained there and it was good to see old friends again and meet new ones, namely Russell. The material covered was...

We started with solo sanshin no kata. Then we each took turns mixing each of the koshi kihon sanpo with something from the kihon happo against everyone in attendance. It was a good, simple exercise. After that we alittle muto dori. Uke performed daijodan shomen giri and tori evaded to the side and disarmed the uke. Then we did the same thing but armed the tori with a tanto. Lastly we did something with no weapons. I can't remember if Doug showed something specific or not. I just remember Russell and I doing free response training.

Good times. Gambatte!

UR 04/16/2007

2007-04-24T10:23:00.000-04:00

Second to last week for the UR class. If I remember correctly we did the sanshin no kata and koshi kihon sanpo with an emphasis on hicho no kata.

Gambatte.

UR 04/11/2007

2007-04-13T11:42:00.000-04:00

Wednesday's class was kinda slow with only two students and three instructors. We did the usual stretching and ukemi. Then we covered the basic muto dori again from Monday's class. After that we did jumonji no kata and finally introduced hicho no kamae.

Gambatte!

UR 04/09/2007

2007-04-11T09:52:00.000-04:00

Class is still going fairly well. Those who have stuck with it have made a lot of progress. Daryl is back in the driver's seat and we covered one basic muto dori movement then used that in a basic tehodoki gata. Then we moved into the following simple technique:

Uke: Migi tsuki to the face.
Tori: From shizen no kamae rotate to the outside dropping back into hidari ichimonji no kamae as you lightly catch the wrist. Apply takeori and oni kudaki as you step forward switching to migi ichimonji no kamae.

Good times. Gambatte!

UR 03/28/2007

2007-03-29T09:48:00.000-04:00

Another small class with one-on-one instruction. This is good because WE get to talk less and train more. We practiced zenpo and koho kaiten, the ichimonji line drill but with a gedan uke nagashi, omote gayku and urate gyaku. Good times.

Gambatte kudasai!

UR 03/26/2007

2007-03-27T09:54:00.000-04:00

We practiced the usual ukemi then a couple of ichimonji drills, then jumonji no kata from the kihon torite gata. The jutaijutsu of the evening was urate gyaku. We did two forms of it: one that was similiar to hon gyaku and then the typical one. We finished with omote gyaku. The class is nearly finished with only a month left.

Gambatte!

UR 03/21/2007

2007-03-22T15:17:00.000-04:00

It was a really small class last night with only three students. With Daryl out of town that left one student for each teacher. We practiced zenpo and koho kaiten, oni kudaki, musha dori and introduced jumonji no kata.

Gambatte!

UR 03/19/2007

2007-03-20T12:14:00.000-04:00

I took the helm for class last night and it went well. We did the usual stretching and practiced zenpo and koho kaiten; two ichimonji line drills, one for taisabaki practice, one for uke nagashi practice; two versions of ichimonji no kata from the kihon kosshi sanpo; and I introduced omote gyaku from the kihon torite goho. They seemed to really enjoy it. Good times.

Gambatte!

UR 03/14/2007

2007-03-16T00:38:00.000-04:00

The classes are going by so fast. We practiced the sanshin gokyo no kata, an ichimonji line drill, ukemi and musha dori. Good times.

Gambatte!

UR 03/12/2007

2007-03-13T13:18:00.000-04:00

Spring Break is over and class is back in session. Attendance has tapered off and leveled out at five or six students. It's good to be back after more than a week of no training. Not even Saturday classes for me.

Yesterday we did some sanshin gokyo no kata, zenpo geri, ukemi and musha dori. The time went by way too fast. As always it was good times, good times.

Gambatte!

UR 02/28/2007

2007-03-01T13:50:00.000-05:00

Last class before Spring Break. Not surprisingly it was a small group. We covered the sanshin gokyo no kata again and then whatever each group wanted. Good times.

Gambatte!

UR 02/26/2007

2007-02-28T15:38:00.000-05:00

Attendance has dropped. One guy had to quit because he had a pretty bad wrist injury from a previous martial art. I'm not sure what's up with the other guys. Maybe it's because this is the last week before Spring Break. If this keeps up it'll be an all girls class.

We went over all of the sanshin no kata. After Wednesday's class (tonight) they should have plenty to practice over the break.

Gambatte!

UR 02/19/2007

2007-02-20T09:14:00.000-05:00

Things are moving along nicely. We've shown zenpo, koho, and yoko nagare ukemi, zenpo and koho kaiten, chi no kata, yoko aruki, jodan uke nagashi, zenpo geri, ichimonji no kata, oni kudaki and various taisabaki drills. Good times.

Gambatte!

Shima Class 02/15/2007

2007-02-16T16:31:00.000-05:00

When I arrived they just finished sanshin no kata. The topic was more Kukishinden Ryu Shoden waza. Before that we did two movement exercises. The first was from a punch. Step forward and to the outside of the attack raising your rear hand to meet the uke's elbow. Perform yoko aruki and fudoken or boshiken the ribs. The second was from a series of punches and kicks. Evade in ichimonji no kamae either to the inside or outside.

Sei On

Sei On with katana and jutte. We've done this one before.
Uke: Daijodan shomen giri.
Tori: Shizen no kamae with jutte. Step forward and to the inside striking the uke's thumb on the rear hand with the jutte. Capture the other hand and step across the uke while driving the jutte into his neck. Control the weapon as the uke goes down and strike him to the temple with the jutte. Disarm the katana. I was stepping across with my rear foot and capturing the hand with takeori.

Sui Yoku
Uke: Right tsuki, left sokuyaku keri.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Uke nagashi to the inside of the tsuki, uke nagashi to the inside of the keri and "bounce" that attack off the leg and into the Dragon's Gate. You can use either boshiken, sanshitan ken or just grab the collar bone. At the same time your other hand should be grasping the uke's forearm and applying omote gyaku. Drop to your rear knee as you off balance the uke. Restrain the uke.

Don't remember the name.
Uke: Migi tsuki, hidari sokuyaku keri, hidari tsuki, migi tsuki.
Tori: Uke nagashi to the inside of each except for the last one. Uke nagashi to the outside. Control the arm with your front hand as you move in switching from migi ichimonji no kamae to hidari ichimonji no kamae. As you move in disrupt the uke's balance with your front knee and fudo ken the uke in the face as you reach across and grab the inside of the left lapel. Apply hon jime and take the uke's balance. Control the arm and step back with your front foot allowing the uke to fall down. Shutoken the uke in the face as they fall. Restrain uke.

Same as above but a little different.
Uke: Migi tsuki, hidari sokuyaku keri, hidari tsuki, migi tsuki.
Tori: Same as above except when you punch through and attempt hon jime the uke "shrugs" your arm off. When that happens step in front of the uke's leg with your front foot, apply an armbar with your shoulder, and drop to your front knee applying the throw whose name escapes me.

Gambatte!

UR 02/12/2007

2007-02-13T11:21:00.001-05:00

Attendance has been really good. The teacher-student ratio has been 1:2 the past few classes. We're going to be switching rooms starting next week because of the scheduling conflict with the dance group. Other than that things have been great and everyone has been doing well. Good times.

Gambatte!

UR 02/07/2007

2007-02-08T23:46:00.000-05:00

My first Wednesday class at UR and the turnout has been pretty consistent. Richard leads the Wednesday session and he did well for his second day. All of the administrative stuff is out of the way and the only thing left is working out a time slot that doesn't conflict with any other group and is still convenient for the students.

Gambatte!

UR 02/05/2007

2007-02-06T15:43:00.000-05:00

I'm really enjoying this class, which is a little surprising because I thought it would be boring. But there is nothing like starting from the beginning to see what you really know.

Gambatte!

Shima Dojo 02/01/2007

2007-02-02T15:34:00.000-05:00

Since no one other than myself, Mike, and Ed showed up for class we pretty much just hung around throwing shuriken and cutting foam noodles.

Gambatte!

University of Richmond (UR) 01/29/2007

2007-01-29T23:39:00.000-05:00

The first class of the semester and my first class where I'm assisting teaching. The other guys have been doing this for a while now and know the routine but even though it was new for me it felt pretty familiar. That's because it reminds me of when I first started. The training was offered at a gym with a bunch of newbies. I don't really want to train at such a low level but I said I would help out and I know it would be good to get back to the most basic level again. The only thing to do is keep going.

If you get confused, forget the confusion and just train. A quasi-quote from Soke.

Shima Dojo 01/25/2007

2007-01-26T00:09:00.000-05:00

Some more Kukishinden Ryu Dakentaijutsu Shoden Gata. There were also a couple of weapons techniques to mix it up.

Sei On (Life Sound)
Uke: Kumiuchi.
Tori: Kumiuchi. Drop back into ichimonji no kamae pulling uke with you by holding onto the wrist. At the same time move your front hand to the closer lapel/collar to attack the neck with a boshiken. Use a push-pull action here. Apply a sokuto keri (knife edge kick) to uke's front leg just above and to the outside of the knee. Place your foot down behind uke naturally and drop to your rear knee pulling uke over. You can punch uke's face with your rear hand as they fall and break the elbow with front your knee.

Sui Sha (Water Wheel)
Uke: Migi tsuki, hidari tsuki, hidari sokuyaku, migi tsuki.
Tori: Ichimonji no kamae uke nagashi each. Be in close at the last attack. Smack down and grab the uke's front shoulder/collar area with your front hand while holding uke's wrist with your other hand. With your front foot kick the inside thigh of the uke's front leg then twist and kick the other thigh with the same foot and apply a judo ashi guruma like sweep as you pull the uke over. Henka: Instead of the sweep wrap your leg around the uke's leg (ashi makikomi) and pull up like hicho as you "throw" the uke's shoulder and arm up and over.

Uke: Daijodan shomen giri.
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae with jutte. When the attack comes move in switching to migi ichimonji no kamae striking upward with the jutte to the uke's hands. "Bounce" off and strike the face with the jutte like an omote shuto.

Uke: Daijodan shomen giri.
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae with jutte. When the attack comes move in switching to migi ichimonji no kamae striking downward with the jutte to the uke's hands. Shift in with the fork to the uke's neck. We covered this in a previous class.

Uke: Lapel grab.
Tori: Shizen no kamae with bo. Hit uke in face with bo and take him down. :-)

Kubi Wa (Neck Ring)
Uke: Migi tsuki to face then migi sokuyaku keri.
Tori: Hidari uke nagashi to the inside. Switch from hidari to migi ichimonji no kamae and fudoken or shikanken the inside of the thigh while maintaining contact with uke's wrist. "Bounce" your hand around to boshiken or sanshitanken the ryumon kyusho. Pull uke around as you drop to your rear knee.

Uke: Lapel grab and tsuki to face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae with kasari fundo. Drop back into ichimonji no kamae and uke nagashi with kasari fundo. Throw kasari fundo around uke's neck and move into jumonji no kamae rotating away from uke and taking him down to his back/side. Pull the kasari fundo tight and pin his head/neck with your rear knee. Keep your back straight, especially if the uke is still holding onto your lapel. Doing this can also apply an arm bar.

Gambatte!

Shima Dojo 01/23/2007

2007-01-25T10:33:00.000-05:00

With the new year almost a month old we're getting into the routine of mixing in basic taijutsu with an emphasis on Kukishinden Dakentaijutsu. This class was a good mix of students with two mukyu and several kyu and dan grades. We started with the usual sanshin no kata with an emphasis on performing as if wearing armor and therefore making larger more pronounced movements. Then we covered the basic kamae: hira, hira ichimonji, hicho, seigan, and kosei. Notable differences with the kamae were the fists were usually in shikan ken and hicho kept both feet on the groun. Then we did zenpo, koho, and sokuho kaiten with the same idea of wearing armor. After all that we went into the first two of the shoden gata: sei on and sui yoku. Good times.

Gambatte!

Kaceminar Review @ Shima Dojo

2007-01-19T11:39:00.000-05:00

Last weekend was the Kacem Zoughari Shinden Fudo Ryu Shoden and Jutte seminar and this week has been the review. I haven't been training in a while and it was good to start again on a night with all new material. Daryl lead the review and here's what was covered:

Juttejutsu
When holding the jutte in the normal fashion your thumb should be pressed against the area below the fork much like a koppo ken. When held in the reverse fashion nothing was said about how the fingers should be. However you're holding it though it should always be hidden. There were a couple of notes about kamae with the jutte. In ichimonji no kamae the jutte can be held in front of you with either hand in the reverse fashion and it should be hidden. You can also hold it with your rear hand hidden behind your leg. If you're facing a swordsman you should not extend your forward hand but instead place it on the inside of your thigh. A sideways jumonji no kamae was shown with the jutte too. In jumonji no kamae you would hold the jutte in the reverse position and it's easy to conceal. When handling the jutte you should be able to change between the forward and reverse hand grips with ease.

Uke: Daijodan shomen giri.
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae with the jutte hidden behind your leg in the forward position and the fork on top. Shift to the outside slightly and bring the jutte straight up to intercept the sword. The jutte should travel from its hidden position straight into the sword. Some describe as a chi no kata movement. I think of it as a punch. Rotate the jutte so that the fork is against the blade. Move across the uke taking his balance.

Uke: Daijodan shomen giri.
Tori: Hidari jumonji no kamae with the jutte fork facing the outside. When the cut comes shift forward raising the jutte up to deflect the sword much like the bo ukemi. At the same time strike under the uke's arms into the chest. Timing is obviously important here. Trap the back of the blade with the jutte fork and drive the jutte and blade into the uke's groin. You can use your free hand/arm to assist.

Uke: Daijodan shomen giri.
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae with the jutte hidden behind your leg in the forward position. When cut comes immediately move in switching kamae and bringing the jutte up to the uke's hands. The timing here is important and the movement must be quick to interrupt the cut. Your kamae should be low to give you room and time to move. If the uke flinch's use the jutte like an omote shuto against the uke's hand/wrist/head.

Uke: Migi tsuki to the body.
Tori: From shizen no kamae drop back to the inside with hidari ichimonji no kamae with your front hand lightly touching the uke's attack and your rear hand bringing the jutte up to strike the wrist from below. Shift forward driving the fork into the uke's wrist. Move the jutte up driving the fork into the uke's armpit while switching to migi ichimonji no kamae and locking the uke's knee or trapping the foot with your front foot. Rotate the jutte upward taking the balance so that the uke falls onto his back much like the hanbo techinque whose name escapes me. Maintain control of the wrist the entire time and finish with take ori and/or a strike with the jutte. In any restraining move you can position the jutte between your body and the uke to free up one hand.

Uke: Migi tsuki to face.
Tori: Jutte in left hand. From shizen no kamae drop back into hidari ichimonji no kamae to the inside of the attack performing an uke nagashi with the jutte. Shift in and move the jutte over the top of the uke's arm to perform musha dori with the jutte.

Uke: Migi tsuki to face.
Tori: Jutte in right hand. From shizen no kamae drop back into migi ichimonji no kamae to the outside of the attack performing an uke nagashi with the jutte. Switch to hidari ichimonji no kamae as you move the jutte over the top of the uke's arm to perform a reverse musha dori with the jutte. Trap the uke's leg with your front leg to help prevent the uke taking ukemi or move backwards while applying the gyaku.

Uke: Migi tsuki to face.
Tori: Hidari ichimonji no kamae with jutte in right hand in a reverse grip. Uke nagashi to the inside of the attack. Shift forward bringing the jutte up and placing the fork into the bend of the uke's arm. Switch to migi ichimonji no kamae and you drive the uke off balance and to the ground. Pin the arm with take ori.

Taijutsu

Uke: Shizen no kamae migi lapel grab.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Cover from below with the left hand. Drop back into migi ichimonji no kamae and reach over and grab the hand with your right hand. Attack the kyusho near the thumb. Switch to hidari ichimonji no kamae and apply hon gyaku placing your front foot behind the uke's foot. Kick the uke's groin or rear leg with your right foot. Place your right foot behind you and drop to that knee taking the uke down onto their back. Force the uke onto their stomach using your knee that is up by applying an armbar.

Uke: Shizen no kamae migi lapel grab.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Drop back into migi ichimonji no kamae as your use fingers to attack the kyusho on the uke's forearm. This should cause the uke to move with you and to keep his elbow/forearm close to your body. Shuto ken the neck or shako ken the face at the same time. Grab the shoulder as you drop back to your right knee. Keep the uke's arm in line with the shoulder as you drive the shoulder into the ground.

Uke: Shizen no kamae migi lapel grab and hidari tsuki to face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Cover with the left hand, drop back into migi ichimonji no kamae and uke nagashi with the right hand. Reach over and grab with the right hand. Switch to hidari ichimonji no kamae and apply hon gyaku placing your front foot behind the uke's foot. Transfer the gyaku from your right hand to your left hand and pull the uke off balance. Do this by pulling the arm down and away from the uke when the gyaku is transferred between hands. This releases the hon gyaku and allows the uke to fall. Otherwise the uke will want to rotate away from you because of the pain and that changes the balance.

Uke: Migi tsuki to stomach.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Drop back into migi ichimonji no kamae and catch the hand with your left hand while striking down with the right. Grab the hand with your left hand and keep it in front of your stomach. Move forward by switching to hidari ichimonji no kamae. As you switch kamae move the uke's hand that you're holding in front of your body to the right then left so that when the transition is complete the hand is out of the way and behind the uke. At the same time shuto ken the neck or shako ken the face taking the balance like the previous technique.

In each of these restrain the uke or destroy him with take ori.

Dave's Last Class @ Shima Dojo 12/19/2006

2006-12-23T13:56:00.000-05:00

Supposedly last class before he moves to Colorado...today. For his last class we covered the basics of the rokushakubo: how to spin, strikes up, down and sideways to the head (I forget the Japanese terms), strikes to the do, two different ashi barai, a basic receive from a daijodan attack and a kata combining a number of those movements both solo and with a uke armed with a boken. Then we covered some basic restraints that can be applied from omote gyaku and urate gyaku. After that it was a simple counter to omote gyaku then pizza, soda, and cake and the obligatory group photo. Good luck in Colorado. I hope everything goes well and come back every now and then to share your experiences.

Gambatte!

Richmond Class (Doug) 12/5/2006

2006-12-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

In preparation for the Shima Dojo DKMS Review this weekend we did each technique of Shinden Fudo Ryu.

Gambatte.

Richmond (Doug) 11/28/2006

2006-11-30T14:15:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to the new shodans. Class was standard fare with sanshin no kata then the kihon happo and koshi kihon sanpo. Good stuff.

Gambatte.

Richmond (Doug) 11/2/2006

2006-11-07T13:30:00.000-05:00

Forgot to post this one...

We started with the sanshin no kata, then moved into doing the kihon happo blindfolded, which was great because I always enjoy training that way. After that Larry and I got suited up in our makeshift samuari armor (i.e. TKD chest pad, mits, shin, and forearm guards). We did some ukemi then a few SFR kata. Good times.

Gambatte!

Richmond (Me) Class 10/24/2006

2006-10-24T22:35:00.000-04:00

I covered the material from the seminar Doug Norman gave last Saturday. Thanks to Doug for giving me the opportunity to share and to everyone in attendance for being there.

頑張って

2006-10-24T16:43:00.000-04:00

武神館道場忍術

For the characters to appear users of Windows XP need to have the East Asian language fonts installed. Go to the Windows control panel and open the Regional and Language Options utility. Select the Languages tab and check the box for "Install files for East Asian languages." You'll need the Windows XP installation disc for this.

Richmond (Dave) Class 10/23/2006

2006-10-24T13:52:00.000-04:00

Dave covered some taijutsu from the last Ohio (L. Molitor) seminar and the last DC (J. Christian & R. Flanagan) seminar. We covered several different approaches to the Shinden Fudo Ryu Musan kata among other things.

Uke: Tsuki to stomach.
Tori: Receive to the inside with gedan uke nagashi. Shift forwad with a fudo ken to the face as if doing chi no kata as you raise the arm to pass underneath it. Rotate 180 degrees as you pass underneath. Drop your weight as you shuto the back of uke's arm.

When you take the uke down you drop to your front knee and catch the uke's arm against your hip. You can also snake your arm around like ganseki nage to help restrain the uke.

When you move underneath the arm continue to spin and switch hands so you're facing the same direction you started but you're holding the uke's wrist with the other hand. Use the uke's wrist to pull him off balance. You can use your rear foot to aid in this.

Capture the arm like ganseki nage as you shift forward after receiving the tsuki. With the other foot step forward to the inside of the uke's space and lock the uke's arm out with muso dori. With the rear foot kick the uke's leg that is in front of you as you step through for ganseki oshi.

Same as above except the uke begins to take ukemi and you prevent that by moving further to the side laying the uke out flat.

We also worked on locking the spine up and taking the balance by placing one hand on the shoulder and moving the uke in various directions (mostly downward) to remove all "play" in the spine.

We also worked on taking the balance from kumiuch by moving the uke's balance around a small area searching for a breaking point.

Richmond (Dave @ Doug's) Class 10/19/2006

2006-10-23T12:04:00.000-04:00

Dave continued with the sword material. The focus here was koto ryu sword which had a lot of iaijutsu. I believe this was everything.

From a kneeling position (left knee down) leap up and draw with dogiri switching your kamae. Keep torso straight and cut before your feet land.

Uke and tori are walking towards each other on the right side. At the right distance draw to the neck, move into hasso no kamae and cut down to the closest knee. The attack to the neck is really just to take the uke back and off balance.

Same as above except after the inital cut yoko aruki and move into kasumi no kamae. Cut down to the closest knee and noto as you move 360 degrees to view your surroundings.

Same as above except at the right distance draw the blade underhanded cutting with dogiri. Rotate the blade to cut shomengiri as your rotate to the outside. Regrip the tsuka and drop your weight as you cut the neck.

Same as the first one above except you're walking on the left side of the uke. At the right moment step in front of the uke as you draw cutting the neck, move into hasso no kamae and cut closest knee.

Same as the first above except the uke reacts by raising the tsuka as a guard. Advance and cut either leg.

Same as above except you are receiving the attack. You guard with the tsuka then throw your weight and sword downward. When your sword is pointed towards the ground draw it. When you raise up tsuki to the neck.

Same as the first above except you are armed with metsubushi. At an appropiate distance throw the metusbushi then draw and attack. This was also done with senbanshuriken and boshuriken. The senbanshuriken were thrown with the hand moving in an upward arc from the hip to the target.

Richmond (Dave @ Doug's) Class 10/17/2006

2006-10-19T16:23:00.000-04:00

Dave attended the Luke Molitor seminar last weekend in Ohio and he covered that material. I think this was everything.

Uke: Attacks with diajodan shomen giri.
Tori: From seigan shift to the inside cut to the kote, shift to the left cutting the other kote, finish with do-giri.

Uke: Attacks with diajodan shomen giri.
Tori: From seigan shift to the outside then move in switching your feet and doing a push cut across the arms affecting the balance. Hook the bottom of the tsuka on the inside of the uke's front elbow. Rotate in front of the uke trapping their front arm against your body and under your right arm. Continue with a kesa giri to the neck.

Same as above except once you're in reach around and grab the mune and drive the blade into the uke's neck.

Uke: Attacks with diajodan shomen giri.
Tori: From seigan shift to the outside with your blade on top of the uke's blade. Rotate your blade so the mune is down as you move the uke's blade to your left affecting the uke's balance. Your blade should be guarding you. Rotate it back so the mune is down. Your blade should be underneath the uke's as you move into daijodan "throwing" the uke's blade away from you and over the uke exposing his side. Finish with do-giri.

Uke: Tsuki to chest.
Tori: From seigan shift to the left and receive with jodan uke. Use your elbow and body to "throw" the uke's blade back and away as your stand up for kesa giri or do-giri.

Uke: Tsuki to face with spear.
Tori: Seigan no kamae. Shift to one side and cut the fingers or kote. I idea is the blade sticks to the shaft.

Uke: Tsuki to face with spear.
Tori: Seigan no kamae. Shift to the right and cut into the spear, blade gets stuck. Brace the tsuka against your hip and reach under grabbing the mune securing the spear. Shift to the left to upset uke's balance and attack with the shoto.

Uke: Tsuki to face with spear.
Tori: Seigan no kamae. Receive to the right with jodan uke. Grab the spear with your left hand. Rotate to your right 360 degrees maintaining contact with your back against the staff and cut one handed do-giri.

Shiho Giri
From hasso no kamae. Do giri, do giri, then tsuki or shomen giri.

Richmond (Dave @ Doug's) Class 10/12/2006

2006-10-18T16:41:00.000-04:00

Dave attended the seminar Lauren hosted so he went over that material. What I remember...

Receiving punches with your elbows down and your hands up lightly touching the uke's arm with your elbow. I'm not sure about the weight distribution on the feet but I think it was more forward.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Move to the inside with ichimonji no kamae and receive with your forward arm/elbow. Holding onto the arm shift forward along your line taking the uke's balance and doing yoko aruki with your rear foot stepping behind your front instead of the usual way of stepping in front. Three variations were done from here. 1) Apply ganseki nage as you drop to your rear knee. 2) Apply musha dori. 3) After moving forward move back in the opposite direction moving the uke's arm up and shoulder down so that the uke twists and the uke's back is towards you.

We did an exercise on taking the uke's balance using the movements in the technique above. After the yoko aruki you place the uke's hand on your knee to keep him from falling.

Koku
The difference here was when the kick comes you twist to avoid it and spring right back to catch the foot/leg with your knee/foot. You have to be quick with this movement.

Renyo
I don't remember anything being different about this kata except more emphasis was put on using your elbow to lock the uke's arm and control him.

Richmond (Doug) Class 9/28/2006

2006-10-03T10:34:00.000-04:00

It has been few days now but I'll try my best to recall what happened after the ukemi and sanshin...

Uke: Double lapel grab.
Tori: Grab the flesh behind the elbow to control the uke. Use the uke's elbows to take the balance. If they attempt to kick you should be able to take them off balance easily.

Uke: Tsuki to face, same side kick to stomach, opposite hand tsuki to stomach.
Tori: Step to the outside with ichimonji no kamae and perform an uke nagashi to the outside of the elblow. With your free hand lightly touch the uke's wrist. Slightly evade the kick sorta like in koku. Perform a gedan uke nagashi with the free hand to the incoming punch. Apply omote gyaku. EDIT: There is a shuto to the neck before the omote gyaku and this is called saka nagare. Thanks Dave.

That's really all I can remember. That and Matt showing me how to do backflips. I won't be training this week but when I'm back I'll have backflips down within a week. :-)

Gambatte!

Richmond (Dave @ Shima) Class 9/26/2006

2006-09-27T10:25:00.000-04:00

Doug was unavailable for some reason so Dave took over. We pretty much covered the same stuff from Monday and the previous week. Most of that material has been a review from the recent NJ seminar. A quick list of the material covered most of which is on the 9/18 post:

Koku

Koku henka. Also in 9/18 post. When the kick comes receive it lightly with your leg. That means don't avoid it and kick back but instead catch it with your leg. Holding onto the uke's arm you can drop to your rear knee rotating away from the uke taking them down. TRY: I wonder if you can get the arm to come under the extended leg and tie 'em up that way.

Also in 9/18 post.
Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Receive to the inside step forward with an omote shuto to the neck, place your hand on the shoulder and use your eblow to take the uke's balance by the chin. You can step behind with an osoto like movement if necessary. This was also practiced from two punches.

Also in 9/18 post.
Uke: Tsuki to face x2.
Tori: Receive to the inside on the first, on the second move forward so you're parallel with the uke. Kick one or both legs. These kicks are like the ones Roger showed and this move is similiar to one from a Kaceminar.

Also in 9/18 post.
Bo vs. sword techniques.

Moguri Gata. Also in 9/18 post. Matt showed pulling the uke's arm as you drive your boshiken into the kyusho where the thigh meets the groin. Ouch!

I think that was pretty much it.

Gambatte!

Richmond (Dave) Class 9/25/2006

2006-09-27T10:04:00.000-04:00

Lately Dave and I have been doing some randori with padded bokkens and safety goggles. When we're not trying to kill each other we do free flowing defenses from a specific attack. After the tori has tried a few the uke will then change the attack slightly or counter the tori's attack. We strive to get a rhythm of unknown attacks and defenses where we are flowing naturally with each other. Good fun. Once inside we briefly covered the first four kata from shinden fudo ryu for Tim. Dave mentioned with shiden fudo ryu you want to use your right hand for most of the techniques or use only hand if not the right. The point being one hand is always controlling your sword...I think. I have to double check on that. Then we went over koku and some material from the latest seminar. What exactly, I don't remember. We also went over a flowing/throwing technique Dave was shown last time he was in Roanoke. It went like this: Uke comes in with a double lapel grab. The tori raises the uke's elbows/arms up creating a sort of bubble and rotating/disappearing within that space so the uke throws himself more or less. Not an easy thing to "get" having not been there when it was shown. We spent some more time with the fourth kata uryu from shiden fudo ryu since Dave and I both saw the Sean Askew version of it online. Good stuff there. Make sure to crank that wrist. :-)

Gambatte!

Richmond Deep Run Park 9/23/2006

2006-09-25T11:13:00.001-04:00

This Saturday lesson is lead by Daryl and I'll be assisting whenever I can. Shane was there and a new girl with experience in other arts whose name is Taya or something. We covered basic principles of uke nagashi and ukemi.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Drop back into ichimonji no kamae and allow the hand to move from the hip straight up to the kyusho on the uke's arm. The point being this was a simple receive.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Move straight into the uke using your forearm to deflect the attack upward. The point of this was to show a different kind of "uke nagashi" where you're not receiving away but receiving forward. Sort of the opposite of the previous one.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Receive to the inside of the attack at a long distance. Catch the wrist lightly with the front hand and shift to the outside rotating the wrist upwards and disrupting the uke's balance. The point here is to stay out of reach of the uke while taking the balance using a single point of contact.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Move to the outside of the punch catching the wrist with the rear hand. Move in applying takeori and optionally sweeping the leg. The takeori could be moved into omote gyaku. This is sort of the opposite of the previous one.

I think that was pretty much it. With all of these it was important to maintain your space and ensure that your movements are having an effect on the uke. After that we covered basic ukemi and otoshi.

Gambatte!

Richmond (Doug) Class 9/21/2006

2006-09-22T13:53:00.000-04:00

Since an entire weekend has passed since this class took place chances are good I'll leave something out. Here's goes...

Class began with the usual sanshin no kata and ukemi. We practiced some additional ukemi, both zempo kaiten and koho kaiten, from urate gyaku and omote gyaku. We also did zempo otoshi, koho otoshi, and yoko otoshi from a light push. We expanded on the technique from last week where you evade the punch to the outside and grab the tricep and do an armbar. This time from two punches receive the first the same way and with the second also receive it to the outside but with your front hand strike the chin from below with a fudo ken/boshi ken/sanshitan ken then finish with an armbar.

From kumiuchi or double lapel grab rotate one of the uke's elbows upward toward the sky and bend the other one across the front of the uke. Turn your body away from them and either step across them to perform a little hip throw or step away taking their balance.

After this I think we covered the danshu and danshi kata but I don't remember how they went. Oh well.

Gamabatte!

Richmond (Doug) Class 9/20/2006

2006-09-21T12:19:00.000-04:00

This was the largest class with 15 people including Doug. We did the usual sanshin no kata and ukemi. I'll try and recall the things we did.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Barely move off the line of attack to the outside. Catch the wrist with the rear hand and grab the tricep muscle with the front hand. Roll it over and place it on the ground. When grabbing the muscle use your finger tips to grab first then roll it into your palm. Move as if punching the ground rather than pressing against the back of the arm.

Uke: Tsuki to face two times.
Tori: Receive the first to the inside. On the second one go for the rear arm and apply musha dori.

Same as the previous one except when applying musha dori if it doesn't work switch to musou dori with a leg sweep/throw.

I'm pretty sure we did more but that's all I can remember.

Gambatte.

Richmond (Dave) Class 9/18/2006

2006-09-19T10:10:00.000-04:00

Dave covered some material from a recent seminar. Some of it made sense, some didn't.

Uke: Daijodan shomengiri
Tori: Shizen, gedan or hira no kamae with staff. Step straight back into ichimonji to the outside of the cut striking down with the staff. Immediately flip the staff to strike down to the uke's head. Step around to strike the leg. I think the way it was orginially shown was the first step was across and in the path of the cut. Not sure about that. The uke could parry the second strike making the third necessary. We also practiced it receiving to the other side of the cut.

Uke: Punch to face.
Tori: Shizen with staff. Hold the staff with the same side hand as the attack and hold it so that you give the uke an openining. When the attack comes have the staff on the outside of the attack. Place the staff against the back of the arm and hold the staff with the other hand using your arm/elbow to bar the uke's arm. Now the uke is supposed to throw another punch and you then handle that and wrap the uke up with the staff. We had trouble with this one because depending on how you caught the arm and how hard or soft you barred the arm it changed the uke's attack options. One thing for sure though was you could just take the uke down using the armbar and staff to take out the leg. Kinda like tsuki iri from the stick fighing book.

Uke: Diajodan shomengiri
Tori: Hira with the staff. This is basically tsuki iri from the stick fighting book. The main point here was controlling the sword.

Uke: Punch to face then kick. Same attack as for koku no kata.
Tori: Receive the punch and just barely evade the kick so that you catch it with your thigh. Holding onto the punching arm and dropping down to your free leg take uke's balance. We also practiced applying a big omote gyaku from here.

Uke: Two punches to the face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Receive to the inside of the first punch with ichimonji. On the second punch shift forward so you're standing next to the uke. With your rear leg kick each of the uke's legs then apply omote gyaku to the uke's rear hand.

Moguri Gata
Uke: Two punches to the face.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Receive to the inside of the first punch with ichimonji. On the second punch go into a really low kamae as you step forward with a boshiken to the inside of the uke's rear leg. Step on that foot too.

Uke: Front kick.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Rotate to the inside and catch the leg with your rear hand so the uke's leg is across your back. Use your free elbow against the uke's knee to take them down.

I think that was pretty much it. Hopefully we'll go over some more of this in Doug's class since they all went too.

Gambatte!

Richmond (Doug) Class 9/12/2006

2006-09-13T16:13:00.000-04:00

Doug's class was more or less a repeat of the previous one on 9/7/2006. A new guy, Nick, who lives across the street and would occasionally watch through the window decided to come try it out. He has wrestling experience and is somewhat stocky and would be a good addition to the training. Hopefully he returns on a regular basis. It's not like he has to travel far. :-)

The differences in this class from the previous one were instead of koku we worked on renyo at the end. At the begining we worked on a couple of drills practicing evasion. We did ichimonji no kamae and hira no kamae from a punch; hira no kamae from shomen giri; jumonji no kamae from a punch; and jumonji no kamae from a karate style side kick.

That was pretty much it.

Gambatte.

Richmond (Dave) Class 9/11/2006

2006-09-12T15:53:00.000-04:00

Black belt class at Dave's with Daryl and myself. We started with some sanshin no kata against an uke. Chi, sui, fu, and ka were pretty much standard. There were sight variations with the strikes and take downs. Ku no kata was different in that when the attack came we used yoko aruki from hicho and kicked with the rear leg. It flowed really well and I'm happy to have it in my toolbox. After that we did ganseki nage because that's everyone's favorite kihon and we did a basic counter. Before you're about to be thrown dive into the space next to their leg and either clamp onto it or cover yourself with your free arm. With the other arm be sure to grab the uke's clothing or something to throw them. Hang onto them and follow up with kicks and whatnot. After that we did basic multiple attackers. The setup was the tori was in a corner with two uke's attacking with one punch from the front. Timing is important on this and also how well the uke's perform their role as an uke. The tori needs to evade the initial attack and determine if he wants to bait the next attack or just deal with each uke one at a time. Our focus was tangling the uke's up together. The tori had to be sure to protect himself from the first uke and still leave an opening for the second. That was fun. Next we went inside and did a basic ground fighting move. The tori is on the ground with the uke in between your legs with one arm on the ground about to hit you. With the closest hand hold onto the wrist. Pull yourself up to the uke and wrap your other arm around their shoulder and underneath their arm and grab your own wrist. The uke may attempt ukemi so have your legs wrapped around to prevent that. With your opposite side foot you can place it against the uke's knee to help pull yourself out from underneath. This is an armbar and a shoulder lock so you must maintain pressure as you're moving into position. After that we did some randori and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gambatte.

Richmond (Doug) Class 9/7/2006

2006-09-08T10:17:00.000-04:00

Last night we covered a nice range of basic material. We started the evening with zempo kaiten, gyaku zempo kaiten (?), and sokuho kaiten. Then we went back and forth across the dojo doing daijodan shomen giri. We weren't stepping through with the cut though we were keeping the same side kamae and cutting. This was to get the shoulders warmed up. Then we practiced some leaping which I haven't done in a while. Doug stood in the middle of the dojo with a kyoketsu shoge. He swung it around while we each took turns practicing tenchi tobi. We did three heights: ankle, knee, and hip. After that we practiced leaping forward and backward from ichimonji no kamae. Doug attacked our forward leg with a padded bo. First we did the standard koho tobi. Second was a koho tobi where we switched kamae. I guess that would be gyaku koho tobi. Finally we did gyaku zempo tobi. After that we paired up and went through omote gyaku, urate gyaku, and oni kudaki, switching partners with each kihon. We ended class with koku from Gyokko Ryu. Good times.

Gambatte.

Richmond (Doug) Class 9/5/2006

2006-09-06T10:13:00.000-04:00

I've been to Doug's dojo many times and last night was my first class with Doug teaching. We started class off gathered in a circle and performed the sanshin no kata. After that we paired up and went through the koshi kihon sanpo. Doug had us practice it in the typical fashion and then with the uke having more intent with the purpose being that your distancing and timing should change to reflect the change in the uke's attack. He also had us be aware of additional strikes you can add or remove in the kata to suit the situation. Before each exercise he asked the class what the main point of the exercise was. For ichimonji it's moving your whole body and taking an angle off the line of attack. For jumonji it's using your legs and hips to shift off the line of attack and to shift into the counterattack. For hicho it's using your balance. I'm glad he brought these points up because it's one of those things that seems so obvious but unless it's specifically spelled out you may not see it. Or you may see it and not get that the point of the kata is to teach that specific 'thing'. I don't always make that connection but I think if you try to make these connections in your head the taijutsu becomes more alive because it won't be just muscle memory.

Gambatte

Richmond (Dave @ Shima) Class 8/31/2006

2006-09-01T10:35:00.000-04:00

Tropical storm Ernesto is bringing alot of rain to our area and last night it brought much cooler temperatures which we all appreciated after this past weekend. Attendance was good last night. Richard showed up and Tim brought a friend with no previous ninpo experience. Dave taught class.

We skipped ukemi and went into the sanshin no kata; some of it anyway. We started with chi no kata. Starting from shoshin no kamae shift forward and step through with sanshitan ken. There should be a straight line from your rear foot up to your strike. The proper angle is probably 45 degrees. I don't know for sure but that angle appears alot in this art and if you look at a 90 degree triangle the hypotenuse is 45 degrees. There were three ways to move with the strike. 1) Step forward and through. 2) Switch step. 3) Step backward. After that we did sui no kata. With sui no kata Dave showed two different ways to move with the omote shuto. The first is stepping through like usual. The power comes from the rear leg and this is more linear. The second was like the switch step and the power comes more from swinging your rear leg around. This was more circular. After trying both the concensus was that the linear step was more powerful. Dave then showed how the circular step is perfect for when you have a knife. When using a knife keep it hidden when you receive. As you're moving in show the knife to your uke. If they react like a normal person would (i.e. lean back to get away) that exposes the neck and the cut is easy. Then I showed it with the concept that Roger brought back from Japan. The idea here was to keep your energy/focus moving forward. Even though your retreat to receive the attack you're attacking at the same time. This encompassed two concepts already shown. The footwork is linear and you can use your shuto just like the knife. Doug felt this was along the lines of Shinden Fudo Ryu. This lead into another way to do ichimonji from the koshi kihon sampo (i.e. sui no kata with a partner). Dave showed a Shiraishi way of doing it. With this you set yourself up before the attack by sliding your foot back. When the attack comes you receive but don't give up any ground. I've done with version with Lauren before.

I think that was it for the sanshin no kata. I'll try to recall all of the techniques we did.

Uke: Tsuki to face
Tori: Receive using the Shiraishi ichimonji. Shift to the outside taking the uke's balance by sliding your receiving arm into the inside of the uke's elbow. Then apply all sorts of daikentaijutsu and kihon happo (e.g. omote shuto neck, fudo ken ribs, boshi ken ribs, knee ribs, ganseki nage, musha dori).

Same as the previous one except you have a katana. This time receive with the sword's tsuka by stepping back with the left foot. Shift over taking the balance like before. Strike to the face with the kashira (end of tsuka) as you draw or before you draw. To prevent the uke from drawing the blade use your thumb. Cut with kesa giri to the neck, do giri to the body, or drop to your knee cutting the uke's leg with kesa or do giri.

Uke: Shizen no kamae
Tori: Walking towards uke. At the right moment fudo ken to the stomach, shift in with an elbow strike to the chest (I forget the name of the spot), step around with the rear leg and omote shuto to the neck. Another option is to fudo ken to the stomach, elbow strike up to the chin, and elbow strike straight down to the collar bone.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Jumonji no kamae. This was the jumonji from the koshi kihon sampo that Anthony showed at the summit. When the strike comes you move forward and to the outside to intercept the strike. Rotate to the outside using your front foot as the pivot point as you strike the face with the same hand. This movement is like one of the ichimonji moves we did earlier. A variant on this was doing a backfist strike to the face with your rear hand as you open your arms. This is the "Wolverine" kamae. You can also use your hands as if wearing shuko.

That's all I can remember at the moment. If anyone from class reads this and sees that I omitted some techniques let me know. Or if you remember something differently leave a comment. Good times.

Gambatte.

Edit: 9/05/2006
Dave emailed this.

The main point concerning the Sanshin I was trying to make:

Be aware with the switch step you can move forward or you can move
back. I think the most basic and important way for someone learning
basics is to switch step by stepping forward (meaning step back then
step forward). The back leg provides driving power coming up from the
Earth. This is not to say you cannot apply power other ways. The
other one is not wrong, just not basic _in my opinion_ . Engrain that
movement first then work on the switch step going backwards.

Kihon Happo - Ichimonji - Gyokko Ryu - circular movement - and
you

The principles of the Sanshin should feed in and prepare you for the
Kihon Happo. If you move your back leg as you strike the neck you are
abandoning a lesson from the Sanshin. The circular movement of Gyokko
Ryu is indeed still there if you are doing it correctly. A recent copy
of Ichimonji from the TenChinJin I was reading actually says to step
forward as you strike as well. If you hang your shuto strike on the
neck and spin the back leg it's like you need to use you weight for
power and this may work if you have a knife or are bigger than your
opponent. If the opponent is larger it may be better to drive with
your back leg planted. In general I think it's better to study the
'small man' Taijutsu no matter your size.

Richmond (Shima Dojo) Class 8/29/2006

2006-08-31T10:45:00.000-04:00

The ninja summit was the previous weekend and everyone had a good time. This was my first class at the Bujinkan Shima Dojo although I've attended several events there in the past so I am familiar with the dojo and it's family. Guest instruction was performed by Skip, one of Papa-san's students. He hung around for a few days after the summit. The usual suspects were in attendance. Skip went through the same routine he has for class back home. We started with ukemi including breakfalls. Then we went through several different kamae. Next was sanshin and kihon happo. After that we did a couple of koto ryu techniques which is Skip's favorite ryu. After class Dave and I faced off with padded bokkens.

I had a good time and feel very comfortable being back in Richmond. I'm looking forward to training with old and new friends.

Gambatte.

Arlington Class - 8/22/2006

2006-08-23T14:32:00.000-04:00

Roger just returned from Japan and it was he, Lauren, and myself. Forget everything you think you know about taijutsu. That is not how's it done over there these days. OK, it's not quite like that but it is really different to me. That may not say much though since I've never been to Japan or trained with any of the Japanese shihan. Shizen no kamae is different. In self defense shizen is the most useful kamae. That particularly isn't news but what is news is that the other kamae are really just transitions from one shizen to the next. Actually, that isn't news either. That principle has always been known but it just doesn't seem to be practiced and I guess the reason for that is in my experience ichimonji is the dominate kamae and not shizen. Seiza no kamae is the same as shizen no kamae.

Attacking while retreating is important. Move in to strike at the same time you're evading your uke's attack. Even when evading maintain/claim that space you normally would have open. It's as simple as extending an arm. Control the rhythm of the fight. Attack in between beats. One of my previous instructions taught this also and that has been the only other time I've heard this point. Ikken hasso (one fist inifite ways) is important. Using the feet like hands is important. Especially when doing suwari gata. Spinning kicks are cool. One of my previous instructors did them and I loved it. I think I saw Kacem do a couple at a seminar before too.

If you want to be the best mimic the best.

Gambatte dattebayo.

Arlington Class - 8/17/2006

2006-08-18T14:31:00.000-04:00

So summer is pretty much over and that's fine by me. The weather in July was too hot. For this class though it was just right. In attendance were me, Tim, Sam, Lauren, Daniel (new dude with previous experience), and Tony (dude with alot of other MA experience and watched and talked more than trained). While waiting on Lauren we did the regular ukemi. Once she was ready to go we did the Shiraishi-sensi style zempo and koho kaitens, and sokuho kaiten. The difference with this sokuho kaiten though was we didn't point our foot in the direction of the roll. The point being to simulate tripping over something. That requires you to roll from a higher point than usual. Then we did two variations of moving from shizen to ichimonji to oten. The first one was typical: from shizen, drop back into ichimonji then oten away. The second was sliding one foot back first to check the environment then moving into ichimonji then oten. We also did a koho kaiten as part of the oten.

The focus was and has been teachings from Shiraishi-sensi. He's got a simple rule when it comes to taijutsu: footwork first, then spine work, then hand work. Another rule is to take 'baby' steps. And another more general training rule is to give yourself options and mobility. With those in mind here are the techniques we attempted.

Uke: Double lapel grab.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Raise both hands up to meet uke's as you shift your weight back to one side. Step back into ichimonji on the other side as you raise your outside elbow applying an armbar. That same arm should be able to grab uke's opposite wrist. If not hang on with the other hand. The uke's hands should be in front of you still. Shift into the uke and with the free/rear hand lightly grab the shoulder. Move your rear foot back slightly to create an open space. Drop down to the knee closest to the uke and pull them into that open space.

Uke: Kumiuchi.
Tori: Kumiuchi. With your weight on your rear foot place your front foot in line with your rear. Shift your weight onto your front foot as you drive your elbow into the base of the uke's sternum. Extend your hand into uke's face as you blade yourself as if doing some sanshin. With your rear hand hold onto uke's wrist as you bring your rear foot forward and place it to the outside of the uke's foot. Give yourself some space with that foot placement because you'll be dropping down to that knee. Rotate to drop down to that knee. The rotation should apply an armbar with your shoulder. Pull the uke's wrist/hand to the inside of your hip. The knee/leg you drop down to could lock the uke's knee.

Uke: Kumiuchi.
Tori: Kumichi. Take a small step towards uke with your rear foot. Place the same side hand onto uke's shoulder. This provides cover. Fudo ken uke's face in an upward motion. With the same side foot lightly kick uke's knee. Place that foot down in the space between uke's feet. Fudo ken again to uke's face with the same hand. Follow through with an elbow strike. With your rear leg create an opening for the uke to fall into. After the elbow strike "punch" straight to the ground bringing uke into that space. That one, two, three combo should be a smooth continuous flow.

Uke: Kumiuchi.
Tori: Kumiuchi. With the rear hand raise the uke's elbow slightly. Do this by keeping your elbows in and turing your spine in that direction. Bring your other hand over and hold the uke's forearm/wrist. Keep your elbow raised. Shift forward and reach over your arm to lightly grab the uke's nearest shoulder. Rotate your spine towards uke as you urate shuto the neck. Bring that hand under your arm holding the shoulder and grab the back of the arm. Create and opening with your rear leg. Drop to the knee closest to the uke pulling the uke into that space.

Uke: Seiza no kamae.
Tori: Fudoza no kamae. Uke lunges for a lapel grab or tsuki. Rock back receiving with the same side hand. Your feet should unfold so that the same side foot is on top. Use the bottom foot to keep them at bay and use the top to move the knee off the line of attack just enough to expose the armpit. Sokuyaku keri right into the armpit. Use your foot or knee to apply an armbar to lay the uke onto their stomach. Do as you please from there.

Clearly there is a theme here. Create spaces that you pull the uke into. This is done by following the three rules and taking baby steps. Or not.

Gambatte.

Springfield Class - 8/8/2006

2006-08-09T12:10:00.000-04:00

Tim picked me up and then we picked up Lauren and headed to Jong's. Jong and Gino were there. The weather has been nice lately. The mosquitoes were not though. We started with the usual ukemi: zempo, koho, and yoko nagare. Jong had us doing koho kaiten alittle bit differently. Usually when I do koho kaiten when the roll is complete to get into gedan ichimonji I swing the free leg around to the front. Jong had us come up already in that kamae. It was a bit awkward because usually when I roll the forward leg becomes the rear knee that is planted and to get into kamae without moving my other foot I have to move that knee. To do that type of roll you have to extend your foot out and shift your body onto that rear knee as you come up.

After the ukemi we did a round of sanshin no kata and then worked on some kihon happo. First we did regular omote gyaku. Then we did it without using our hands. This was really just an exercise on taking the uke's balance. Musha dori was next. That was it for straight kihon happo.

We did a few of moves from a lapel grab with a punch. For each of these you moved into ichimonji as if applying an uke nagashi to the inside of the incoming punch. First was using your forearm/elbow to deflect the incoming punch and using your hand in their face to take their balance while applying omote gyaku. Second was doing the same thing with your forearm but using omote gyaku to pull the uke closer to you and with your free arm applying musha dori to the uke's free arm. Third was the same move with the forearm except rotate back towards the uke as if doing the gyokko ryu omote gyaku and then using your other hand move the uke's elbow up like musha dori and rotate back to your originial position. Takeori is good here. The fourth and final move was the same with the forearm except this time you went straight in with an urate shuto to the collar area to take the balance.

After that Lauren showed a koto ryu thing we've done before at her place. The uke and tori are walking towards each other. Once you're in range do an omote shuto to the arm or neck, move across in front of the victim, apply another omote shuto, then koho tobi. I can see this being done to a sword carrying samurai. The first strike would be to disable their arm from drawing the sword and on the second strike you could draw their sword with your free hand as you leap away. Or not. Who knows.

Good times.

Springfield Class - 7/25/2006

2006-07-26T11:37:00.000-04:00

Me, Tim, and Bhanu went to Jong's class last night. It was Bhanu's first time, Tim's second, and my first in a while. Jong and Gino were there and a new girl named Kristen from Illinois or Indiana; I don't remember which.

We started with ukemi; basic zempo, koho, and sokuho kaiten. I've been neglecting my ukemi lately and the ground there isn't as comfortable as it is at my place so my body didn't like it at first. It didn't take long to get back into the flow though. After that we did the sanshin gokyo no kata. Kristen did ka and ku slightly differently. Bhanu did them all differently. Haha, just kidding man. After that we did three kihon moves: omote gyaku, hon gyaku, and oni kudaki. To finish the evening we did two exercises involving taking the balance.

Uke: Diajodan shomengiri.
Tori: From shizen no kamae. Step forward to the inside of the cut and maintain shizen no kamae. Step across in front of the uke taking their space and capturing their arms with your arm. Capture from below. Keep your shoulders facing the uke when you step in front of them. With your free hand you can affect the spine using the uke's shoulder or head. Also apply appropiate footwork.

Uke: Double lapel grab.
Tori: Use the uke's elbows to take their balance.

I had a good time. It was nice training with them again since it's been over a month since I was there last. Gino was promoted to 8th kyu so congratulations to him. This Sunday me, Tim, and Bhanu might do some paint balling. That'll be a different kind of training. Gambatte!

Columbia Class - 7/25/2006

2006-07-25T11:04:00.000-04:00

First actual class I've been to in a while. Most of my training lately has been at home with one, maybe two other people, hence no posts. Last night was an actual class though hence this post.

After wasting 20 minutes or so driving around trying to find the spot and getting all sorts of mis-direction we finally arrived. Class had already begun and I'm assuming some ukemi took place. What was covered was two techniques from the last seminar with Kacem: sei on and I think sui sha. There was another technique in between those but I don't remember it being shown at the seminar. This was really great because we got to work on the fine points of the techinques.

Uke comes in and grabs kumiuchi. As uke is coming in drop into ichimonji on the inside of the attack while applying a boshiken to the side of the neck and pulling the uke's sleeve towards you. The timing is important. You must be moving into kamae before they touch you. Pulling the sleeve is important with the boshiken in the neck. Uke's balance most be loaded onto the front foot. Their torso should be curved away from you like they're sticking their ribs out for you. You must maintain ichinen with your whole body: legs, hips, and shoulders. Do hicho and kick downward at an angle to the side of the knee right above that knot on the tibia bone on the outside of the leg. It's like applying a shuto with your foot to the knee joint. Uke goes down and you follow as needed.

I don't remember this second technique from the seminar. It's the same as the sei on except that either your kick doesn't work or you just opt not to do it. Step forward all the way behind the uke. Place your foot past the uke's rear foot. Go down onto that knee like you're doing gedan ichimonji. The foot you extended should hook around the uke's foot. As you kneel down you're throwing the uke over your hip and they should land flat on their back. It's important to have the first part down otherwise the second part will be crap.

Uke's throws two punches and one kick alternating sides. Uke nagashi to the inside of each punch. When the kick comes hold onto the last punch grabbing the sleeve or forearm. Apply a gedan uke nagashi to the kick. Your distance should be medium length and your angle should be that your kamae is pointed towards the uke's spine straight on. Your kamae should be perpendicular to the uke's kamae. This requires sliding your foot over some from it's position after that last uke nagashi. It's kinda like going from a right ichimonji to a left. Strike down onto the uke's shoulder with happo ken and grab with your free hand. At the same time pull the uke's arm, using the shoulder attack and the hold you already have, to your hip as you slide your rear foot to your front foot. You should have the uke's weight onto their rear leg (the one the didn't kick) and you should be able to do hicho. As if doing hicho take your front foot and hook it around the uke's front foot; the one with no weight on it. This move is like the previous technique. Now kick up and out as if kicking someone's chin and at the same time rotate the arm/shoulder upwards like a bo. Once the uke is falling extend your leg to crush the groin. Sui sha means water wheel.

I had an excellent time. Gambatte!

Arlington Class - 7/1/2006

2006-07-05T11:27:00.000-04:00

The weather was nice and we had a good number of people. Two of them were new guys. We did a lot of different things and I'll try to remember them all. We started with the usual ukemi but with a couple of twists. One was doing a back roll into the prone position. The idea being you had a firearm pointed at someone the entire time. The second was doing yoko nagare but instead of taking whichever foot you normally start with take the other, rotate it 90 degrees and step back with it then roll.

We then did some simple muto dori where you just move to either side of the sword and cover the hand. We then took this a step further with taking down the uke. Roger then showed a specific movement:

Uke: Diajodan shomen giri.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Step forward to the outside and extend your forward arm to catch uke's arm. Rotate toward uke and take them down. You can bring both arms underneath uke's arms and clamp down on them like a praying mantis, take their balance then devour them.

We worked on a few different uke nagashi/ichimonji exercises. One was something we've done before where you initially move your foot back for ichimonji while keeping your body in shizen no kamae. You would be moving your foot before uke's attack. Then when the attack comes you simply shift back into ichimonji, do dojan uke, shift over your front leg, yoko aruki with the rear foot twisting your body and omoto shuto. Keeping the spin straight was stressed here. That means keeping your head facing forward at all times so when rotating your spine your head moves too.

Next we did uke nagashi with a whip-like motion of the arm. We also did it with more of a circular/90 degree step instead of the usual 45 degree step back. The last one we did was a regular uke nagashi but with a leaping omote shuto to the arm. We also did a three hit combo: uke nagashi, shifting punch with the other arm, then using the twisting/yoko aruki action we practiced earlier to deliver the omoto shuto.

That's all I can remember at the moment. Gambatte!

Arlington Class - 6/24/2006

2006-06-26T09:14:00.000-04:00

It was a pretty nice day; kinda cloudy and not too hot. There were only five of us making it the smallest class of Lauren's that I've attended. The majority were newbies too. We covered a lot of stuff and I'll try to remember it all.

As usual we started with ukemi. One thing we did differently was forced ourselves to do zempo kaiten when our leading foot was not pointing in the direction we were going. It was basically sokuho kaiten from shizen no kamae.

Next we did three basic tehodoki moves from a same side wrist grab. The focus being just getting the hand free and using taijutsu.

Move to the outside. Later we continued this to apply an armbar and throw. I don't know the name of that technique.

Rotate your hand to gain position for something like ura gyaku, etc.

Lower your body and position your hand parallel to uke's forearm and raise up as you lock the elbow and then do something like ganseki nage.

We also did some balance breaking exercises. The only one I can remember is taking the shoulder. I don't remember what the setup was.

Uke: Tsuki to face.
Tori: Uke nagashi to the inside, shift in and from hicho attack both legs. It seemed to work best if you mirrored the position of the uke's feet. That way when you move into hicho you'll be in the center of their open legs.

Uke: Double handed lapel grab.
Tori: Cover with both hands then replace your hands with your elbows. Use the elbows for control. Lower your body, use taijutsu, and strike with the free hands.

Uke: Single hand lapel grab and tsuki.
Tori: Shizen no kamae. Cover with the same side hand. When the punch comes receive it with your other hand. Guide it to the uke's other hand and capture both hands. Use your elbow to control and strike with your other free hand.

There are probably a couple of other things I'm forgetting and if they come to me I'll edit this. Good times as usual. Gambatte!