Getting back on the horse (mat)

It's been awhile since my last post. However, my training has not stopped despite the passing of sensei. In fact we have not missed a single training session. Somehow being on the mat with others who knew sensei allows us to capture his essence. I have been wondering what to write about. The culture of our dojo has changed now, as to be expected. I think this post will simply be an opportunity to reflect on some of those changes.

The first point I would like to mention is that I have realised how much I relied on sensei to make sure I was doing everything correctly. I did not own my learning as much as I could have. In fact I think many members of the dojo feel this way. As a group we have had to take up the mantle and forge ahead providing our own direction. One of us is a licensed instructor but the reality is we are all learning this art together and the knowledge and skills as a collective are now more important than simply relying on one exceptional martial artist to pull us along. This means taking turns running certain aspects of the class. For example we have been asked by the senior member to take turns leading the body conditioning exercises at the start of every Saturday class. We all adhere to the main principles of the exercises but each have our own take on them. It has been interesting to see and hear the others' interpretations of them.

The second change to the group as a whole is that, for me anyway, the group is now tighter for having gone through the grief of losing sensei. I have two young children and they are associating with these people more often. It is nice to know they will most likely grow up around people who I trust and respect. I am trying to involve myself more in the other activities outside of the training sessions. Make my presence felt by the others to show my full support. Of course this is limited by family and work obligations.

This brings me to my third point. I didn't realise it at the time but the eight or so other people I train with on that mat I count as friends. I don't say that lightly. I keep a very small group of people in my 'friend zone' and I feel privileged to count my dojo partners in that group. Of course the strong support from Toby Threadgill and hombu also mean we still have a source of guidance and structure in place to continue growing in our practice.

So on the whole the passing of sensei has strengthened the group. It is something very positive for us to take from such a sad experience. I am a realist about this though and some people had been shaky on their commitment when sensei first passed, mostly from shock I expect but we have supported one another and I hope for the sake of the art and for the effort sensei put into us, that we don't lose too many people. Of course like me, some of the others have attacked their training with even more vigour than before, determined to keep the flame burning.

The passing of a great man.

On Thursday night (22nd May) I received devastating news. My sensei and friend, Robbie Smith passed away suddenly in his home. It has left the dojo members and the greater budo community reeling.

R.I.P. Robbie Smith Sensei.

Having had some days to reflect and mourn I wish to celebrate the good things this man did for me and budo in general.

I would like to start with a comment I wrote on this post back in 2012. I had written this:

"Not only is Robbie an exceptional martial artist he is also an incredibly nice guy."

Such a simple yet no truer sentence. As a teacher and mentor he was patient, kind and had a way of working out what each individual student needed to work on to get better. He set his standards high for his students and even higher for himself. 

Through his effort and expertise Robbie grew a small TSYR study group into one of the strongest TSYR branches in the ryu. He selected quality people who he then invested time into and turned us into a tight group of not only martial art enthusiasts but also good friends. I gave up my aikido training to concentrate solely on TSYR and it was what Robbie had to teach me that sealed the deal. I lament that I couldn't glean more from him. He had so much more to teach. 

NZ TSYR branch with Threadgill Sensei.

Such was the caliber of Robbie's technical ability that Toby Threadgill spoke of being fortunate to have had such a student want to train under him. This speaks volumes for Robbie's abilities as Toby travels the world and has seen what budo talent is out there. 

His technical ability was first apparent in his karate. Robbie held the rank of 7th dan on Wado Ryu karate.

One statement mentioned from the many Facebook posts since his passing has been this one, from Takagi Sensei, 8th dan Wado Ryu:

"Robbie, according to Takagi Sensei, was a true budoka in every sense of the word. He exemplified all that was good about Wado and the Wadokai was a better organization for having Robbie as a member." 

As a teacher he was patient and had an eye for detail. He could distill the essence from a movement and drill the components to make an overall technique stronger or more precise. He enjoyed the sword-work of TSYR as he often said it was new and exiting for him. 

Robbie was very humble. An example of this was when he traveled to Japan for an instructor's seminar for karate. Upon his return his students discovered that he had gone to grade for his seventh dan and had told nobody that he had achieved it. They discovered this at a later date. 

If anyone was to praise him he would brush it off or pass it onto someone else. He simply didn't accept praise. 

In my opinion Robbie saw karate as his work and career but TSYR was where he could really enjoy being a budo student again. However, in both pursuits he put in his all with passion and pride.

It is a great loss to his family, friends and the budo world.

Robbie, may your training continue wherever you may be and that you watch over our own training and keep us on the path.

Koru Dojo - New Zealand

Recently I attended a training camp with seven others in the beautiful Coromandel of New Zealand. We stayed at the Koru Dojo built and hosted by David Lynch and his wife Hisae. The dojo is the perfect place for a small group of serious budo students to sleep, eat and train. It is built onto the main house and David and Hisae are very welcoming and great conversationalists. To top it all off, they have a hot tub to relax the muscles after a day of training.

We drove to the dojo on a Friday and trained in the afternoon. We then had dinner prepared by the wife of one of the budoka who is a professional chef!  The food was exquisite. We socialised in the evening and drank wine and sake until about midnight.

The next morning we started with a pre-breakfast training session consisting of conditioning exercises. After a hearty breakfast we trained through to lunch. Then it was onto afternoon training, dinner and then more sake.

The third day started with conditioning exercises before breakfast again, we then fueled up and trained through the morning. We then packed up our gear and cleaned the dojo. For the final lunch of the weekend we walked into the bush and ate near a waterfall. 

Then it was final farewells and back in the cars for the trip home. 

Over the whole weekend we covered such things as sword and tanto disarms, kumitachi, kumitanto, battojutsu, taijutsu and even a bit of shiatsu for aching bodies. 

In the Koru Dojo, NZ.

It was a fantastic weekend full of earnest training and lots of laughs in the breaks. 

While sensei's away...

Sensei is away for the weekend.
Today's training session was lead by our sempai, Chris. However, Chris is very inclusive during these sessions. He believes we all have something to offer. He asks another senior member to take us through warm ups and the conditioning exercises. Then he asks me to go through the finer points of ukemi due to my aikido background. As an added extra today, he asked a newer member of the group to demonstrate how he creates kuzushi for body throws. This member has vast experience in this sort of thing and Chris decided to call upon the man's knowledge and it was great. Finally, Chris took over and covered two sets of exercises that focused on subtle body stuff. The first set of exercises are used to teach subtle, balance-breaking. The second set is a set of escapes. They are mostly from wrist grabs but there are some from full body grabs as well.
I always value these sessions without sensei as it is an opportunity for us to slow down and check the finer details of our techniques. It allows us to reinforce what we have learned and generate questions for sensei upon his return.

Sword Mechanic.

Recently training has focused on kenjutsu and battojutsu on Wednesday evenings. On Saturday mornings we have been working on taijutsu kata and idori. Things are really starting to click. I'm retaining more and more of the kata now and the new kata are easier to remember as the TSYR principles underlie all the techniques.
Recently we were split into two groups. One group worked on the Shoden kumitachi and another group worked on the first set of the Chuden kumitachi and then moved into the first few kata of the next set. There is so much to learn (I seem to be always thinking this). As always I must work on obtaining the correct mindset for TSYR sword work. The physical application of the kata is only the beginning, the intent and mental application is just as important.

As I have been training I have been delving deeper into the bits and pieces of a sword. For a while now I have been determined to remove the mekugi (bamboo pin) from the handle of my sword. Ever since I have had the sword the mekugi has been jammed in so hard I have not been able to get it out. Armed with a hammer and two blocks of wood, I took my sword outside and placed it across the blocks. Then using a modified roofing nail I hammered on the pin until it finally moved. It took many more strikes before it loosened and was knocked out. Before anyone growls at me, I didn't have a mekuginuki at the time and I was being careful.
I discovered that hole of the tang through which the pin went through had gouged into the pin jamming it in there. So I made a new mekugi out of a bamboo chopstick. I removed the handle and checked the tang. There was some corrosion where the tsuba had been rubbing against the metal so I sanded that back and put some sword oil on it. The tang is long and is almost the length of the tsuka, which is an indicator of a good sword, I believe.
I reassembled the handle and put the new pin in. Good as new!

Working the kata or am I?

Some interesting things have been happening in my training lately. For a long time I thought I worked the kata but lately I am beginning to think the kata also work me. Let me explain.
There is a sword kata where I am dropping down into my front leg. However, there is no drop when done correctly. After talking this through with sensei it has become apparent that my hips are not square from the beginning and to perform the technique with the right structure I am dropping into my front leg which results in me squaring my hips.
Another example is during batto (sword drawing). Near the end of each kata the hips should be square and for a long time I was straining my left ankle during training. I finally realised that I needed to square my hips by moving my left foot out to allow room for the hips to open. No more pain in the ankle while I train.
A final example is during the taijutsu kata. Moving about the spine is important for TSYR movement and over time I am finally feeling when I am moving into a posture of imbalance so I self-correct.
In all of the examples above the constant repetition of the kata have changed my positioning or body posture along the way. As the principles of the art embed themselves in my psyche my body is automatically correcting small things I am doing wrong. It is exciting.

So I really feel the kata working me the more I try to work the kata. Weird.

Levels of Training

Today's training was challenging in many ways.
First, the weather made for very humid conditions and it felt like we were training in a Sauna. Within minutes of warming up we were sweating heavily. Secondly, Sensei split the group into two groups with the theme of developing a strong focus between partners during the kumitachi. The group I was part of was asked to work through the two shoden kumitachi but with emphasis on complete focus from beginning to end. We were also asked to challenge each other with faster attacks. The result was a very intense class that fatigued us quickly due to the concentration required. It is to be expected. Sensei is trying to lift our game.
Time and time again, I hear or read about going back to the kata. This is an example of this. We all have much to learn from the very first kata. We now know the kata but aspects have yet to be internalised. It really felt like we were doing something completely different. It was invigorating and challenging at the same time.
After this, we worked on the first of the chuden kumitachi. This was done at a slower pace as not all of us had done these techniques before.
Once again I find myself reflecting on just how much more there is to learn in this art. I am excited by what may lie ahead.