The Dojo is open!

I have recently had the privilege of hosting Marco Pinto from Portugal. Marco is licensed to teach the Shoden Mokuroku of TSYR and is one of the senior members of the Kai. It was with great pleasure and pride that Marco was the first to bow in and train on the mats of my newly-built personal dojo here in little ol' New Zealand.

Te Miro Dojo

Marco came down from Auckland with Jules (a friend and fellow TSYR member) on Wednesday afternoon to see the dojo and get some extra training in between seminars. We spent the afternoon working through the tachiai tanto toriageru (standing tanto disarms). Marco is an excellent teacher and a powerful technician of the art. It was an honour to have one-on-one instruction with him.

Wednesday evening is the Hamilton dojo's normal training time, so we headed into training after dinner to join Chris and Pete on the mat. Wednesday nights are traditionally sword-work so Marco took us through the batto kata and aspects of one of the kumitachi kata. He made some great technical points and he worked on refining our technique.

It was then home to bed.

The next morning Jules and Marco trained some more in the dojo. They worked on the Gyakute kata from the Tachiai Kansetsu (standing joint locks) forms. I was a bystander for this session as I had my two daughters to look after but I still managed to observe and ask questions from time to time. I said it earlier but I must mention just how polished Marco is as a teacher. I would ask him for the main lessons of a particular kata and his answers were succinct and confident. His understanding of the waza is obvious in his movement and explanations.

Marco demonstrating waza.

The dojo held up admirably. The robust sprung floor and new tatami handled the impact of thrown men with ease. For us the falls were comfortable. Considering the size of Marco and Jules (I was the light-weight) it was a good test and both men agreed that the floor was great for TSYR.

The three of us after the Wednesday afternoon session.

I am very happy with the outcome of the visit. It was exciting to have Marco be the first to teach and train on my mats and I am thankful to Jules for providing the opportunity. I hope this is only the beginning. The dojo is open to any TSYR members and my wife and I have plenty of room for people to stay over. I see the dojo as part of my contribution to TSYR and it provides another place in the world where we can come together and enjoy this koryu bujutsu.

House of knives!

Saturday training was a blast.
We concentrated on just a few of the strengthening exercises and then got straight into some techniques where both opponents are on their knees. Some of it was very aikido-esque and it made my life a little easier. One technique are pretty much yonkyo.

After that we trained in tanto work. Now, the techniques taught in this martial art are nothing like what we do in aikido. They are nasty, nasty techniques, most have the neck as their target. I really enjoyed the effortless way that the knife winds around a limb or torso. Scary stuff! All the other practitioners have been studying these techniques for a while so they had plenty to teach me. I was taught five kata where both opponents have a knife. The person that receives the attack (and ultimately wins) holds the tanto in a reverse grip. There are five more kata where the tanto is held in a forward (normal?) grip. I am yet to see those.

What I am really enjoying about TSYR is how all the principles are clearly taught and applied in each kata. Be it a sword, tanto or unarmed. There is a consistency and martial viability that is lacking in some aikido.

I am also enjoying my aikido training in that, the body movement principals I'm picking up in TSYR are translating nicely into my aikido.

I can't wait until tomorrow (Tuesday). On this night I teach aikido to some teenagers at my school. Then I drive to my own aikido training. Finally after that I have one hour of TSYR training. A full but extremely exciting night.