Licenses, gardens and the dojo.

 This post is going to be a bit of a rambling one. Lots of things have occurred on my martial arts/Japanese front lately that I would like to reflect on. 

First of all, Tobin Threadgill - the kaicho of Takamura-ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu - has released a list of names of kai members who have gained various levels of teaching license. This is the first time he has done this and the current pandemic has brought this about. Normally, he would offer licenses in person as he travelled the world. Obviously, this is not possible right now so he has followed a traditional approach that other budo follow whereby after the Japanese New Year (nowadays celebrated on January 1st), names of people are released who have gained promotions. This usually occurs around Kagami biraki (Opening the Mirror ceremony) on January 11th. 

It was quite a large list, the kai has over 200 members as far as I know and by far the largest group of license recipients were people who have obtained a chuden (second tier) teaching license, my instructor, Chris, included. Two other members of the Oceania group were granted a Shoden (first tier) teaching license, bringing the total number of licensed instructors in our area to five!  It also means we have two study groups becoming branch dojos. This is great for the growth of our area and the kai in general. 

What is even more exciting is that our two most senior instructors, Brent from the U.S. and Marco from Portugal, have been granted one scroll each from the Jodan (third tier) license. This represents their combined ability to teach the entire technical curriculum and is very important in ensuring the koryu can be fully transmitted. 

This weekend, to top it all off, Chris and a few of us from the Hamilton dojo are travelling to Auckland to train with those members there. It will be a good way to start the year and consolidate the NZ group. 

Closer to home, I have begun extending the Japanese garden. I felled three small trees which dropped leaves all year around. I was constantly removing the leaves from the existing Japanese garden, not to mention my gutters blocking up on the house. It was a relief to drop the trees and this gave me an area to extend the garden. 

The new area cleared for planting.

Once I had conditioned the soil by weeding it and adding fertilizer, I covered it with weed matting. The next decision was what to put in it. My elderly neighbour use to be a rock hound when she was younger so has many rocks in her garden. She had mentioned that I could use some if I needed so I went to talk with her and chose a rock she was willing to part with. 

The rock is actually petrified wood and the texture on this piece is amazing! I am very lucky to have such a generous neighbour. The rock is placed in the prestigious position of being the first part of the garden a visitor sees when they arrive in our driveway. Once the rock was placed, I went to a local nursery to buy plants. Two azaleas went in as well as some native ground cover plants called Pratia "Blue Stars". My wife had bought me a Griselinia plant which is a native New Zealand shrub. At the Hamilton Dojo we use this plant in place of Sakaki on either side of the Kamidana. Up until now I have been using artifical Sakaki leaves in my own dojo, but I can now use Griselinia. I have planted this shrub near the back of the garden.

Plants going in. 

One space remains in the garden for my feature plant. In each section of the Japanese garden, I have a taller specimen. In the first section I have a miniature Japanese Maple, in the second, clumping bamboo. The third section is exposed to strong winds so I am thinking of either a dwarf pine, Japanese Plum/Apricot or weeping cherry. Unfortunately, the last two plants are not available until our winter (June/July) so I may have to wait to completely finish the garden. As with the other sections, the empty spaces will be filled with white river pebbles. 

The final piece of news I have is that my friend Jules has finally pushed me into renovating the genkan of my dojo. Its been five years since the dojo was built and I have not done anything significant to the genkan. So recently the two of us took the walls back to the framing, removing the old sections of wall that still remained. Then we started to plan what we needed for new walls including insulation and lighting. 

Jules hard at work pulling the old wall lining down.

We also removed the old oil-stained carpet that was on the floor (the last owner was a car enthusiast) and Jules took it all away. I recently purchased some new lighting that I hope to put up when we line the walls. 

Above is a photo of the lighting I purchased. The black set of three LED lights at the top and the single at the bottom are what are going into the genkan to replace the standard fittings. 

So as you can see, it has been a productive month and there is still plenty of work to do. 

Stay safe, everyone. 

A great weekend of training.

Threadgill sensei was once again in New Zealand to assess our progress and further our training. I have had a great two days on the mats

There was the usual Friday night open seminar in Auckland where sensei demonstrated his skill with both sword and unarmed. I was not able to attend this but by all accounts it was enjoyed by those attending and sensei showed some new things he had not shown before.

The rest of the weekend we trained at the Hamilton dojo.

On Saturday morning Threadgill sensei spoke of shinto and its relationship with Shindo Yoshin Ryu before taking us through the first set of the kumitanto. The knife work is fun but teaches just how dangerous knives can be and why it is foolish to think that disarming a skilled knife-wielder would be an easy task (or even something you should contemplate).

In the afternoon we worked on sword disarms. A set of kata that teaches important body skills, distancing and timing.

My wife and I invited the group out to our house for Saturday evening and it was a night of great food, laughter and sensei telling his fabulous tales. The last of the guests didn't leave until after midnight. 

Threadgill Sensei and the rest of the crew relaxing in the evening.

I had the honour of sensei seeing my personal dojo for the first time. Some of the other TSYR members had not seen the space either and of course, like any good martial artists, they had to get on the mats to try them out. 

On Sunday morning we worked through the second set of the kumitanto. The knife is held in a different grip compared to the first set allowing for interesting techniques.

That afternoon we worked through battojutsu. The sword draws are very demanding as sensei is after precision. It is these techniques above all others we did this weekend that cause a lot of sweat and tears. They take a lot of concentration and sensei is very critical of our performance in these movements.

After the battojutsu we worked on one defense against a sword takeaway and then ran out of time for anything else. People were very tired by then.

The mood of the seminar was very positive. We had fourteen people there on the first day and only one less on Sunday. We also had one person from Australia looking to become a deshi of the school. The atmosphere was jovial and up-beat. People were training hard but enjoying themselves at the same time. With enough people of different shapes and sizes to work with it was very enjoyable.

Threadgill sensei said that he could see improvement in our teacher which is good news for us because if our teacher improves we benefit as a group. 

Everyone who was there was enjoying each other's company and I felt that the camaraderie and good will has not been this strong for a long, long time. It was exciting to be part of.

It is my hope that we carry on this good will in our training and that the various groups that attended train together more often to strengthen TSYR in this part of the world.

The Bar is Raised.

I have recently finished two full days of training (approximately 6 hours a day) with Toby Threadgill. He was back with us, here in NZ and was in top form.

I managed to train both Saturday and Sunday, but there was a Friday night open seminar and  more training on the Monday for those who could take time off work.

So what was the training like?  Well, those attending were members of TSYR. The Hamilton dojo members were the most experienced with the Auckland study group joining us. Threadgill sensei was in good spirits and was showing some great stuff, his expectations of us were high. 

Saturday morning session was dedicated to Tachiai Kansetsu Waza - Katate. Sensei gave some great tips on how to refine our technique. I found this training to be a mixed bag of experiences. If I ended up practicing with one of the less experienced members of the group then I felt I ended up teaching more than refining my own technique. If I was partnered with someone of experience then I could really explore some of the ideas sensei was suggesting. Either training helps improve the quality of the students in general, so I didn't mind. 

The afternoon session started with batto (sword-drawing). This training is tough because Threadgill sensei wants precision in these techniques. It is a matter of repeating movements over and over again and adjusting small sections of the draws. Sometimes by millimetres. It was only the second time I had even been tutored by sensei directly about my batto and it was great. 

After critiquing our batto, sensei asked us to move into the first set of the Shoden kumitachi. He asked myself and one other person to demonstrate each kata before critiquing us and then letting the rest of the class practice. I can tell you that it is a very humbling experience to be asked to demonstrate a technique knowing full well that everyone is watching and sensei is most likely going to find fault in what you are doing. 

Sunday morning saw us back with the Tachiai Kansetsu Waza. This time the Gyakute set. I really enjoyed the tips and advice sensei gave for these techniques. I came away feeling like I had made improvement on many of the techniques. I am finally getting to a point in my training that I can make the corrections sensei asks for sooner than I used to. My body control is much better and my structure is improving. 

After lunch it was onto a further two Batto techniques. Again, sensei has a very high standard when it comes to sword work and we were pushed hard. 

Following the sequence from the day before we moved into kumitachi and sensei put me and the other guy back in the spot light. The second set has some very difficult techniques and we were beat on about those ones. 

Despite the high level of training, I remember some positive moments. While practising our sword cuts, sensei spotted me after one particular cut and said "Dean, that was OK." Believe me that is good praise from sensei. At the end of that afternoon sensei also said to us that "you are starting to look like swordsmen."  Again, high praise, coming from sensei. 

When Threadgill sensei visits it is an opportunity for him to see us improving as a group. It is important that he can see improvement and that we are not wasting his time by inviting him out to NZ. I believe he is happy with our progress and we now have 6 months to put his recent advice into place and improve some more. I felt that he really started to push us this time and he even played around with some freaky jujutsu from time to time, it involved advanced sensitivity and body mechanics. That stuff is mind-boggling but inspiring at the same time. One thing he said more than once is that we needed to start adding flow to our taijutsu techniques. We had the 'big dots' so now we had to start putting them together in a smooth sequence. 

All in all he pushed us right to the edge of our abilities and that can only promote growth. 

Shindo Yoshin Ryu and Wado Ryu Karate

It is this time of the year again, when the Kaicho of TSYR, Toby Threadgill visits New Zealand to teach at our dojo. This year, the seminar was different. Norma Foster a 7th Dan in Wado Ryu Karate joined Toby in teaching at the seminar. The goal of this seminar was to show the connection between the two martial arts.

Foster and Threadgill Seminar 2015

The founder of Wado Ryu was a man named Hironori Ohtsuka and he had studied Shindo Yoshin Ryu to a high level. This influenced his style of karate. This influence can still be seen in some of the techniques in the modern budo. Norma and Toby spent the weekend explaining some of these connections.

On Friday night Alan Roberts hosted a two hour session at his dojo in Auckland. This was an open seminar and gave interested people the opportunity to see Threadgill sensei in action. 40 people came to train and hear what Threadgill sensei had to say.

On Saturday morning Foster Sensei and Threadgill Sensei co-taught at the Hamilton dojo and explained how the modern budo (Wado) has its roots in an older koryu bujutsu (TSYR) and the links can be shown. It was an interesting morning and I was able to try my hand at some fundamental Wado Karate techniques. Needless to say I was a fish out of water as I have had no experience in such things. It was humbling and challenging.

After lunch we split up and Norma Foster continued training the karateka and Toby Threadgill taught the TSYR practitioners. Threadgill Sensei took us through throwing drills and some kata that had recently been moved into the Shoden curriculum.

Sunday morning saw us working in our split groups again and the TSYR group began working on kneeling techniques. Threadgill sensei imparted some great gems of wisdom and technical advice.

In the late afternoon, the two instructors had a Q & A session with everyone.

Overall it was a great weekend and everyone was happy but very tired afterward.

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Enter the Kaicho, yet again.

Toby Threadgill.
Takamura Ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu.

TSYR Kaicho, Toby Threadgill was back in NZ for about 6 days. He arrived on a Thursday and had a day's rest before we started our closed seminar on Friday.

Friday training started with kuzushi no kata. These are a set of verbally transitted kata that teach important balance breaking principles. Sensei decided to take it up 'a notch' and made them more challenging as we refined them and performed them with a higher level of connection and alertness.

After lunch we practised battojutsu (sword drawing). This is always challenging and I had an argument with my sword. It was refusing to do as it was told resulting in jerky movements and ugly cuts. I find this a demanding practice that requires precision and patience. Both of which I lack at times.

Saturday training started with chuden hand escapes which are done from idori (kneeling). I find these kata fascinating. Lots of good internal principles can be learned and applied in these kata. Lots of tips about moving tension around the body and correct use of the hara to develop power.

After lunch was batto torikaeshi which is how to protect yourself against someone attempting to take your sword. Again, sensei refined what we were doing and added another layer. He was teaching us how to make our technique softer and lighter. This of course makes it more powerful in the long term. Many of these techniques make the uchitachi believe he has control of the sword but he never does. He does not realise this until he finds himself in a compromised position and often with the blade of the sword coming at him! We looked into mental disruption as well by using our swords instead of bokken to get a better understanding of the dynamics between ken and saya. Something that cannot be achieved with bokken alone.

Sensei showed some henka. I had the privilege to be on the end of one of these versions and it was exciting!

Saturday night was the official social gathering where we go to a restaurant and eat and be merry. One of our members always brings a good supply of sake.

Sunday was an open seminar in Auckland. I did not attend this but it was very positive by all accounts.

Then sensei was back at the Hamilton dojo for the TSYR members to work through their training Monday Tuesday and Wednesday. I had a day with my two daughters on Monday but was able to get to the morning sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Tuesday morning focused on the kumitanto. I enjoyed these very much and once again Sensei Threadgill was in top form as he showed us how to refine these movements and I felt, once more just how powerful his connected strikes can be. For the first time in my life I had both my feet lifted from the ground as I was struck. I have witnessed such feets on video and often think the person receiving the strike is taking a fall. But to actually have my own centre taken so strongly was amazing.

Wednesday morning saw us take a look at the tanto disarms. This is a set of kata I struggle with to some degree. Again Sensei was on hand to make corrections and also took us through some sensitivity drills to try and get us to make our techniques lighter.

Its always great to see those who travel to Hamilton to train with us as well. It is quite a commitment to make every seminar and it is a credit to those members.

It was a great experience and I learned many things. I now have plenty to think about in the coming months before Sensei Threadgill's next visit in 2015.

Enter the Kaicho...and his students!

I have just spent a weekend training with the headmaster of TSYR, Toby Threadgill. Now, he has been over to New Zealand quite a few times but never with some of his senior students in tow. We had the pleasure of training with Marco Pinto of Portugal, Brent Carey from Hombu Dojo, Colorado and Douglas Walker from Portland, Oregon. These three men hold Shoden teaching licences and could teach a seminar by themselves. 

How would I describe the two days I attended? EXHILARATING! 

We covered tanto disarms, kumitachi, taijutsu and kumi tanto. Just being on the receiving end of an attack from one of these guys is an experience. They bring another level of intensity to the training. 

Threadgill Sensei was at his best. His techniques were subtle and he took my centre so early in a technique that he had me from the moment of contact at times. Better still he had great ways of explaining how to do some of the stuff he was doing. 

The members of the Hamilton dojo are progressing as well. No matter who I had as a training partner on the mat, I was working with a competent martial artist. It made for a fulfilling experience.

So thank you to all those who stepped onto that mat over the weekend. My training was better for it.

Enter the Kaicho

I have just spent a weekend attending a small seminar with Toby Threadgill, the Kaicho (head of the school) of Takamura-ha Shindo Yoshin Ryu. As I only started training in February this year, it is the first time I had meet this man in person. I had viewed some video footage of Toby prior to the seminar and heard accounts by other members of our group as to what to expect. However, actually meeting and training with the head of our school was an exciting and eye-opening experience.

Training began on Friday evening and was open to the wider martial arts community. I was honoured to have my aikido instructor attend as one of those outside the normal training group. All other attendees had a background in aikido, karate or jujutsu. Some people had flown in from Australia. The theme was internal strength and Toby took us through some of the conditioning exercises that help align and build the body. He then asked us to partner up and try some pushing exercises that help explore the application of correct structure and internal strength. Now, I have been exposed to these exercises for most of the year, I find them challenging and yet, have noticed how they are affecting my posture and how I generate power. What was really fascinating was when Toby demonstrated applications of this stuff on volunteers. As Toby manipulated and off-balanced people with what appeared to be little or no effort, the look on their faces was priceless. In fact from now on I will call it, ‘the face’. Time and time again he would get people looking at him in disbelief or amazement as they tried to work out how he took them off balance.

We started a full day of training on Saturday at 9am. Some people from the night before were allowed to stay on even though it was a closed session. They had flown from another country after all. The first half of the day was working on our knees practising escapes from holds or strikes. After lunch we switched to kumitachi (paired sword kata), those not from TSYR were split from the rest of us to work on some sword basics while we went through the first two basic sets of sword kata (note, I use the word basic very lightly – these kata have few movements but are hard to get the subtleties of). When Toby wasn’t with the visitors, he was walking among us critiquing and slowly breaking down what we were doing wrong in each kata. At one point he had us all sit down and called me and another member up to demonstrate one kata. He then proceeded to explain how wrong it was. It was a humbling experience but an important one. That night was a BBQ and then into Sunday.

9am start again on Sunday starting with more knee work, we did this until the lunch break. I had an opportunity to take ukemi from my instructor as he showed Toby what he knew of some of the kata. Great fun. The visitors were taught more of the internal strength exercises and applications. After lunch was kumitachi again. This time more advanced sets. For me and some of the others, these sets were unfamiliar and started to tax our mental stamina. By about 4pm some people started to make more mistakes, were tripping and their timing was going. We were getting tired. During this time, of course I got to see ‘the face’ from some of the visitors again. I never tired of it. At one point Toby was showing how he can take a sword from someone’s hands no matter how hard they try to stop him. He systematically let each person have a go and each time he would whip the sword away leaving them with ‘the face’.

Sunday evening involved some official TSYR events and then farewells. I believe that those who came to see us from outside the Kai (school) went away feeling they had been part of some quality budo training. Personally, I met some great people, experienced some amazing things and feel inspired to dive into my own training harder.

Stay tuned for more blogs as I break down the seminar some more.