This blog is moving!

Hi all,

As some of you may be aware, the Bujinkan Meehan Dojo has a new website, located at www.happobiken.com and bit by bit, it’s been coming onstream over the last few weeks.

The new dojo logo

Unlike previous websites that the dojo has published, this is a far more professional affair built on a content management system that allows us to do all sort of interesting web 2.0-style things. One of them is host a blog, and for that reason we are moving the dojo blog from wordpress to our own server.

This gives us several advantages — we can publish certain blog entries that only active dojo members can see etc — but it also allows us to take the content created here and add it to the main site. It makes sense to do this for lots of reasons, so this will be the last post on this blog.

The new blog is located at the dojo’s main web address, and the title of the latest blog entry along with a link can be found on the main home page as well as via a link at the top of the screen. Please update your bookmarks to visit the blog there, and for those of you who subscribe to this blog via RSS feeds, please note we will have a feed up for the new blog shortly, allowing you to continue to use a feed-reader to stay in touch.

The address of the new website and blog is www.happobiken.com

Thanks

Alex Meehan

Event: October “Tenchijin” workshop

On Saturday October 4th, there will be a one day workshop in Rathgar focusing on kihon waza, or basic techniques.

In particular, this workshop will concentrate on the first two books of the Tenchijin Ryaku no Maki, or Scrolls of Heaven, Earth & Man. This is the instructors manual created by Hatsumi Soke in the 1970s. This book is made of three distinct sections, concentrating on:

• Ten Ryaku no Maki (Scroll of Heaven): Rolling, breakfalling, leaping, sanshin no kata, kihon happo no kata, kamae, muto dori and the use of various fists as adaptive weapons.
• Chi Ryaku no Maki (Scroll of Earth): Hand and body escapes, hand locking and restraints, kneeling techniques, locking techniques, throwing techniques, strangling techniques
• Jin Ryaku no Maki (Scroll of Man): various kata taken from the nine schools taught in the Bujinkan.

This workshop is open to all Bujinkan students, subject to prebooking a place via e-mail or by leaving a comment here. The workshop will cost €35 and will run from 11am to 5pm/6pm. In particular I’d like to encourage some of the newer members of the dojo to come along and meet the other students who they might not yet have met. While this workshop is aimed at my students, others are welcome to attend as well.

There are 16 places available in total for this workshop and as of today, as of today, Tuesday September 30th, there there are 0 places left out. If you’d like to be placed on the waiting list in case someone drops out, drop me a mail or leave a comment here.

– Alex Meehan

September 2008 training schedule

September dojo schedule

Week one
Mon 1st – 6.30pm to 7.30pm Beginner’s course concludes
Wed 3rd – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 4th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 9th – No training – final work being completed on the new dojo.

Week two
Mon 8th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 10th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 11th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 13th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

Week three
Mon 15th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 17th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 18th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 20th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

Week four
Mon 22nd – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 24th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 25th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 27th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

Week five
Mon 29th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)

(Classes led by AM – Alex Meehan, SD – Shane Duggan, RD – Rex Dunlop)

August 2008 training schedule

August dojo schedule

Week one
Sat 2nd – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

Week two
Tue 5th – 6.30pm to 7.30pm Beginner’s course continues
Tue 5th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 6th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 7th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 9th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

Week three
Mon 11th – 6.30pm to 7.30pm Beginner’s course continues
Mon 11th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 13th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 14th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 16th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)
Sat 16th – 1pm to 3pm Embu rehearsal for dan graded students in Clonskeagh

Week four
Mon 18th – 6.30pm to 7.30pm Beginner’s course continues
Mon 18th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 20th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD) CANCELLED!
Thurs 21st – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 23rd – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)
Sat 23rd – 5pm Public demonstration in Dun Laoghaire

Week five
*Move to new dojo this week*
Mon 25th – 6.30pm to 7.30pm Beginner’s course continues
Mon 25th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 27th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 28th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 30th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

(Classes led by AM – Alex Meehan, SD – Shane Duggan, RD – Rex Dunlop)

Of particular note this month:

1 – Embu Reheasal Saturday August 16th
There will be a full rehearsal for the embu on Saturday 16th in Clonskeagh from 1pm to 3pm. Details and directions will be published on the forum.

2– Embu (Public demonstration) Saturday August 23rd
The embu we’ve been preparing for takes place on Saturday the 23rd at 5pm in Dun Laoghaire in the grounds of the Royal Marine Hotel.

3 – Move to new premises.
We shall have the keys of the new dojo from Monday 18th but I anticipate the first class being held there on Monday 25th. Closer to the date of the move, I’ll post maps and directions and stuff here.

Announcement: the dojo is moving!

So I have some news. The lease on Kenilworth Lane, where the dojo is currently located is about to run out and so I have been looking for a new space for us to train in for the last few months. Last week a suitable looking place came up on daft.ie and I went to see it.

Following some negotiations with our new landlord, the deal is done, and in around one month’s time, we’ll be moving in. I’ll post the full address and maps of how to get there closer to the date, but for now I’ll say that it’s located in Rathgar, around five minutes from where we are now.

So what have we gotten? Well, this place is a major improvement on several significant fronts from where we are now. It has:

* 800 square feet of training space.
* A 4.5 metre high ceiling.
* Gas-fired central heating and hot water.
* A changing room.
* A store room.
* Seperate toilet and WC
* A functioning burglar alarm
* Roller shutters to keep it properly secure.
* A small walled back garden (Aprox 60 square feet, and a glazed entry area.)
* A small gravel courtyard out front

So I can’t express strongly enough how happy I am about this. For six years we’ve used ramshackle sheds up lanes that have been freezing in winter, roasting in summer and leaky in the rain. This is a much better facility by a long shot.

Touch wood – if everything goes to plan, when the renovations I have in mind are complete, those days should be behind us and we will have one of if not the best training facility in the country.

– Alex Meehan

New DVD: Hontai Takagi Yoshin Ryu with Shihan Ed Lomax

The more observant amongst you will have noticed that we’ve been doing a lot of Takagi Yoshin Ryu in my dojo lately – it’s a temporary thing, as our theme for the year is still ninpo – but we’re preparing for an upcoming demonstration and it’s one of the topics we’ll be showing.

As part of that preperation, I dug out a DVD I got as a present from Australian Shihan Ed Lomax a few years ago, that was filmed in Tasmania in 2002 at a seminar he taught with Shihan Duncan Stewart.

What’s on it? It contains:

• A ‘warm-up’ master class on the Kihon Happo no Kata
• The Omote Gata – 13 kata
• The Ura Gata – 3 kata
• The Eri Jime Gata – 8 kata
• Bits of the Sabaki Gata
• Bits of the Tai no Kata

In addition, there is a 20 minute interview with Ed covering topics such as the difference between Takagi Yoshin Ryu and the Hontai Takagi Yoshin Ryu, the godan test, the progression of the Bujinkan Dojo in Japan and the west over the last 20 years and many interesting anecdotes.

At the time this DVD was filmed, Ed was living in Japan and studying full time with Hatsumi Soke. This DVD has become a budo ‘cult classic’ amongst those who have it – it’s really really excellent, and Ed has now said we can make it publicly available, so it’s available in the webstore.

– Alex Meehan

Reminders!

Hi all,

Two things are looming on the horizon, so I thought I’d take this opportunity to post two reminders.

1 – The first is that we have a new beginner’s course starting this coming Monday, July 14th. Anyone interested in joining us here in Rathmines needs to drop me a mail and most importanly, attend at least one class before the course commences. Read more about that here.

2 -Secondly, this year is amazingly the 10th year that my dojo has been open. It feels like about two – it’s been an amazing ongoing journey since we started training in Trinity College in 1998, and if anything, I feel like we’re accelerating as time goes by rather than slowing down. The training speaks for itself, but in addition, we’re going to get together this Saturday night for dinner at a restaurant in town. The full details are on the discussion forum so if you can, log in there and check it out.

If you don’t have access (some people have problems with accesing forums from work computers) drop me a mail and I’ll fill you in. Hope to see you all there!

– Alex Meehan

Class schedule change

As Rex Dunlop is currently travelling, please note I’ll be covering for him tomorrow, so I shall be teaching at the Rathmines Dojo from 11am to 1pm.

See you there . . .

– Alex Meehan

And it’s done . . .

Hi all,

As posted elsewhere on this blog, we’ve made a DVD with Doug Wilson Shihan when he was over for a seminar in Dublin in May, and it’s now finished.

So you can get it here.

Enjoy!

– Alex Meehan

July 2008 training schedule

July 2008 training schedule

Week one
Wed 2nd – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 3rd – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 5th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (AM)

Week two
Mon 7th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 9th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 10th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 12th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)
Sat 12th – 10th Anniversary Dojo party!

Week three
Mon 14th – 6.30pm to 7.30pm new beginner’s course starts
Mon 14th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 16th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 17th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 19th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

Week four
Mon 21st – 6.30pm to 7.30pm Beginner’s course continues
Mon 21st – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 23rd – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 24th – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Sat 26th – 11am to 12.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (RD)

Week five
Mon 28th – 6.30pm to 7.30pm Beginner’s course continues
Mon 28th – 8pm to 10pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)
Wed 30th – 7pm to 8.30pm Beginner and intermediate training (SD)
Thurs 31st – 7.30pm to 9.15pm Intermediate and black belt training (AM)

(Classes led by AM – Alex Meehan, SD – Shane Duggan, RD – Rex Dunlop)

Of particular note this month:

1 – Saturday 5th
Rex Dunlop will be away for this class, so I will be taking it for him.

2– Dojo birthday party!
More details on this on the Dojo discussion forum, but suffice to say, keep your diary free!

3 – Workshop at the Rathmines Dojo
There will be no workshop at the Rathmines Dojo in July, because many members of the dojo are going to the Paris Taikai, there is a two day seminar with Sveneric Bogsater on the 26th and 27th in Trinity College and I shall be at a wedding one of the other saturdays – basically – it’s too busy. The workshop shall return in August.

– Alex Meehan