UR 02/26/2007

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

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

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.

1. Sei On
   


2. 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.
   


3. 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.
   


4. 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.
   


5. 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

1. 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.
   


2. 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.
   


3. 
   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.
   


4. 
   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.
   


5. 
   Uke: Lapel grab.
   Tori: Shizen no kamae with bo. Hit uke in face with bo and take him down. :-)
   


6. 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.
   


7. 
   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

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

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.

1. 
   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.
   


2. 
   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.
   


3. 
   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.
   


4. 
   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.
   


5. 
   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.
   


6. 
   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.
   


7. 
   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

1. 
   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.
   


2. 
   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.
   


3. 
   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.
   


4. 
   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

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

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

Gambatte.

Richmond (Doug) 11/28/2006

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

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

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

武神館道場忍術

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Richmond (Dave) Class 10/23/2006

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

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

1. 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.
   


2. 
   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.
   


3. 
   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.
   


4. 
   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.
   


5. 
   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.
   


6. 
   Same as the first above except the uke reacts by raising the tsuka as a guard. Advance and cut either leg.
   


7. 
   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.
   


8. 
   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

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

1. 
   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.
   


2. 
   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.
   


3. 
   Same as above except once you're in reach around and grab the mune and drive the blade into the uke's neck.
   


4. 
   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.
   


5. 
   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.
   


6. 
   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.
   


7. 
   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.
   


8. 
   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.
   


9. 
   Shiho Giri
   From hasso no kamae. Do giri, do giri, then tsuki or shomen giri.