As Shane Duggan is away on his honeymoon, I took his class last night, focusing on kihon waza or basics. We spent an intensive 2 hours looking at zenpo kaiten and koho kaiten, along with variations such as jun nagare and gyaku nagare. After this we looked at power generation in basic punching and some basic bojutsu.
– Alex Meehan
Class: Monday 25th August
With the new high ceilings we took advantage and broke out the naginata to look at a few techniques. It was shown how kamae, kamae, kamae is all important and can lead to proper excution of blocks, cuts, capturing, deflections etc. We also saw how grip and the knees are used with a structured posture. The swordsman’s perspective was also looked at as well as some features of the kamiyari, the bisento and the nagimaki that make them the same but different.
We then did some unarmed gyaku waza based on circular motion and generally winding uke up. We worked in the idea of decending from the center to capture uke’s center where kicking, punching and even agressive ukemi helped to disable them. It was intersting to see how certain features that have been drilled trhough TYR training have come out stronger in everyones technique.
Thought provoker: What are the the naginata kamae?
– Ali Martinez
Just a quick note to say thank you very much to everyone who helped make the embu on Saturday a huge success. A massive number of people turned out in Dun Laoghaire to watch our 40 minute presentation, and the whole thinkg really came together nicely. It takes guts to stand up in front of hundreds of people and perform budo, so well done to everyone again for all your hard work.
There are more pictures on the dojo discussion forum.
On Saturday August 23rd, a group of teachers and students from a variety of Bujinkan Dojo in Ireland will give an embu or demonstration as part of the Festival of World Cultures taking place in Dun Laoghaire this summer.
If you would like to get a broader of view of some of the skills we practice (or you’d like your friends and family to see what you’re up to when you’re out training.) the embu is free to watch and open to all.
EVENT: Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu Embu
LOCATION: The gardens of the Royal Marine Hotel, Dun Laoghaire
DATE: Saturday, August 23rd
TIME: 5pm
COST: free
The website for the festival itself is www.festivalofworldcultures.com/
Class: Thursday 21st August
New Dojo
This was a packed class in the new dojo and everything went well. Of course it’s not fully kitted out yet but the space has the same useable mat area as the old place but with much higher ceiling and plenty of storage. Along with the welcome area, ladies changing room and lots of other features it will become a fanatstic dojo in no time.
We studied some of the walking techniques of Takagi Yoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu with the various strikes and kicks and gyaku waza that these entail. A lot of this was opportunistic in nature and shows how windows of maximum potential open and close for tori through movement, distancing, angling, strikes and timing.
After class a few of us went down to do the final clear up of the old dojo and Matt showed us some of his shotenjutsu skills * wink wink.
Thought provoker: There were many style of kicking shown within these techniques – back, scoop, forward, side, heel, ball, stomp etc Did you spot them? Do you practice these on their own?
Ali Martinez
Class: Monday 18th August
Old Dojo
As the Bujinkan Meehan Dojo has new premises in Rathgar instead of Rathmines – 5 mins away – this was the last class in Kennilworth Lane.
We looked at a fast pace Kihon Happo taking advantage of rhtymn breaking, openings, footwork, shielding, angling, distance and generally everything we’ve been studying this year. We got as far as musha dori before tea-break. With this sort of jiyu-waza we could see the importance of basics.
After tea we had another look at the demo practice with the added practice of framing everything in the proper order with everyone weapons-ready and in the correct sequence. It turned out well.
After class a lot of us went down to the new dojo to have a peek and some of us will help out the next few nights with readying it for training on Thursday. Check www.happobiken.com for directions.
The new dojo looks excellent with lots of added floor space, ceiling height, changing rooms, storage and we all agreed it could turn out to be fantastic training environment.
Thought provoker: How will you help to make the new dojo a great place to train?
– Ali Martinez
i all,
I’d like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to a couple of relevant dojo notices.
1 – No training on Wednesday August 20th
Shane Duggan won’t be around to teach his class next Wednesday (August 20th) but he has a great excuse. (Congratulations Shane & Emma, well done!) While Shane is away on his honeymoon, I shall be taking his Wednesday evening class, starting on Wednesday August 27th.
2 – The dojo is moving.
We get the keys of the new dojo premises on Monday, but training will be at 5 Kenilworth Lane as normal this coming Monday regardless. The first class to be held in the new dojo will be on Thursday August 21st. You can find directions to the new dojo at this address. Hope to see you there!
3 – 2008 Embu – mark your diaries
On Saturday August 23rd, a group of teachers and students from a variety of Bujinkan Dojo in Ireland will give an embu or demonstration as part of the Festival of World Cultures taking place in Dun Laoghaire this summer. If you would like to get a broader of view of some of the skills we practice (or you’d like your friends and family to see what you’re up to when you’re out training.) the embu is free to watch and open to all. The website for the festival itself is www.festivalofworldcultures.com/
(For people taking part in the embu, there is a rehearsal this Saturday in Clondalkin at 1pm in the Scout Hall. See you there.)
– Alex Meehan
Class: Monday 12th August
The Embu practice session was the usual examination of performance and zanshin that we’ve been doing recently. Like Alex said we should be doing this until it’s second nature.
After tea we practiced some Kukishin Happo Biken with a look at a technique that had a lot of kamae, ukemi, and kiri in it and various strategies for the swordman to polish. Very much a mini-chess game with all moves having their inherent openings.
Thought provoker: What kihon were in the kenjutsu waza we studied last night?
– Ali Martinez
Class: Thursday 7th August
I lead the ukemi so we did some Shizen -> Shizen rolling as well as some hefty dive rolls over various uke. Again we honed our TYR practice for the demo and much was said from guests Phil and Glen, who hadn’t seen our demo before, on presentation, entrance, using the stage, theatrics etc.
After tea we had some Tai no kata practice from TYR which involved some interesting attacking methods as well as sutemi waza, while still keeping the light and bouncy feel of this school of martial arts.
Though provoker: When’s the last time you looked at your syllabus? It’s “yours”, right?
-Ali Martinez
Class: 05/08/08
We checked out some close-range versions of Hicho no kata, looking at how to close in and take balance before and because of, striking. This sort of tai-sabaki became useful with some techniques against a tanto attack making use of whole-body movement as the hands secured the weapon. Some of the movements naturally leaked over from our recent study of Takagi Yoshin Ryu. We then continued to study this in demo format and Alex made a particular point of asking us to practice kiai if we are to use it in the demo. The kyu grades explored some of the TYR waza further and myself and Alan continued to work on shinobi zue waza working out ways of handling the chain in a dramatic yet controlled manner for the Embu.
Thought provoker: How will you practice your kiai?
– Ali Martinez
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