Had another great training session tonight. We had a new member train with us for the first time this evening. We began with some dakentaijutsu and taisabaki for a warm up, then worked through omote gyaku, and ura gyaku. We spent some time working on omote gyaku ken sabaki and some henka of that technique. We finished off the evening with hoteki no waza from the koto ryu koppojutsu. Great night with some great training.

Today we reviewed the 2nd kyu testing materials in its entirety, we also worked on some of the deeper aspects of the Omote Gyaku as well as some of the variations to the technique. Great training all of us learned a great deal.

Back in Washington and training with the Trinity Bujinkan Training group tonight. We worked on some of the things learned while I was training down in California. We reviewed some of the kihon happo, specifically oni kudaki, muso dori, and jumonji no kata. We discussed some deeper principles of training as well as some variations of drills for Randori that may help sharpen awareness skills outside of the formal dojo environment.

While on vacation I had the privilege of training with the Azusa Bujinkan Dojo. I had a great time meeting and training with them. We reviewed some fundamental kihon happo techniques that needed some minor tweaks as well as some advanced choking applications which include hon jime, gyaku jime and sankaku jime.

Many thanks to Shidoshi Clum and all of his students for the great training opportunity.

Back to training, worked on Oni Kudaki, Omote Gyaku ken sabaki, and Hone gyaku. Reviewed the finishing pins from last training and continued on with hanbo techniques

Took a week off from training but I was able to pick up a copy of Soke Hatsumi's newest book, The Complete Ninja, great read so far, highly recommend

Well Dusted the mats off and went back to indoor training, no video of tonight's work. Focused more on oni kudaki, and the advanced hanbo techniques from last week. Also work on some finishing pins like go dai ichi and take ori.

Training Day !!! Well Last outdoor training day of the summer, by 730 it was pretty dark so it will be indoors till spring ! Worked on Omote and Ura Oni Kudaki, and some advanced hanbo techniques from the Kukishiden Ryu. Video coming soon !

Training Day

Another Great Training Day, The weather in Olympia, Washington has been great all summer long. We will be working with the Tanto for the next few months and did some introductory training against basic knife attacks with evasions and disarms. Reviewed the Sanshin No Kata, as well as Hon gyaku, and a henka of omote gyku.

Awesome Training today, we had a new guest join us this evening but it was definitely a schedule conflict since one of ours members was going over his test material. But other than that all was well. We reviewed all of the 8th kyu material and test requirements and reviewed some basic taihenjutsu, and taisabaki. Loving these last few days of summer. I have a feeling the weather will be coming soon and we will back to indoor training for the winter.

Best Ice Bucket Challange Yet !

Rener Gracie performs the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge in a Gracie Breakdown. As usual it is pretty funny

Guess what? Training day - Today was great training, we started out by leaping in with both feet to the kihon happo. We have been studying various aspects of omote gyaku over the last few months and really had some great randori in training with it today, we covered static omote, grabbing from a punch and the wrist escape version. We then trained in Shito no Waza from the Shoden no Gata scroll of the Koto Ryu Koppojutsu which includes defense of a hon jime (collar choke) a koppo ken to the kasumi (temple) and a omote gyaku to the ground. It was great training in that everyone did a great job and was very fluid with the technique after the last few months of training.  No video for today :(

Metamoris 4 !!! is today check it out at the link below and stream live for some awesome no points submissions only jiu jitsu. After watching it my favorite match was Saulo Ribiero v. Roderigo Medeiros, reminded me of an old school judo match as they were in full gi and a majority of the match was grip fighting while standing with a few amazing throws.

Training Day - Had some great training today and I actually remembered to set up the video camera to record some of it, I will post the clip below in a few days when I finish editing. We also had a new person join us so we reviewed some of the Bujinkan basics including ukemi and taihenjutsu rolling, Safety First ! We then went to some dakentaijutsu with the kiten ken omote shuto and then practiced the sui no kata from the sanshin no kata. From there moved to kihon happo and the basics forms of ichimonji no kata and omote gyaku, and finished up with the omote tehodoki wrist escape. Full day but great training.

Training day !! Today we went over all of the 3rd kyu material and one of us took the third kyu test. The test went really well a big thanks goes out to all who helped in the training. Material for 3rd kyu includes sword Kamae, but we also practiced kaitens with a sword as a bonus, the Nage Waza portion was great as well, love all of the variation of the base ganseke nage. We also had some great henka of omote gyaku which included executing he technique from a punch and outside circular movements.

Training day, worked extensively on kaitens with a sword, I think in the future a lot more emphasis should be placed on ukemi and taihenjutsu techniques with weapons as the alter the techniques but also provide great insight into ones own body mechanics and helps increase focus on fundamentals. Had a brief introduction to the suwari gata concepts.

Some interesting insight in some randori style application of omote gyaku, and some great exposure to an unscripted attack defense.

Training Today, Reviewed 8th kyu material, with an introduction to the kihon happo, some extensive work on basic Omote Gyaku. Worked on Sword kamae and flowing through various stances. Had some great training with Kentai Uchi and visualizing body mechanics. Great Training

Tired and sore from a long night of gracie jiu jitsu the night before we decided to train today ! only two of us could make it out but we had a great time going over some of the 8th kyu material and expanding on some of the techniques beyond their basic forms.

A few of us had the opportunity to do some cross training in Gracie Jiu - Jitsu, Ryron Gracie (grandson of Grandmaster Helio Gracie, the founder of Brazilian Jiu-jitsu) was in town and hosting a seminar.

We had a great time and learned a ton, my mind was pretty well blown at the end of the 3 hour session with all the new and intricate techniques we were learning. Some of the material was solely for sport jiujitsu but there were also a lot of great fundamentals that apply to real life conflict that we learned and were practicing

Overall it is always a pleasure to be able to train and receive instruction from an amazing martial artists regardless of their specific training. BJJ is not that far removed from JJJ which is a descendant of the Samurai styles of ancient japan so we did not feel too far from home.

 

 

Had to bust out the white belt again !

Training Day ! Today we were joined by 3 new people for a few hours of great training. we spent some time discussing the fundamentals, concepts and theories of Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu. We went over Chi and Sui no kata from the Sanshin no kata forms, Dakentaijutsu we focused on the kiten ken / omote shuto. We also did some introductory level work with the omote gyaku and explored a few of its concepts. Overall a great training day.

Below is a video that shows a man disarming a bat wielding attacker. This is a real, live street fight and shows great technique. and restraint. Caution strong language at the beggining may offend some viewers.

Post by Active Self Protection.

Training Day ! well the weather held out for us it was a beautiful morning for training. It started to downpour about 10 minutes after training. One of our newest members took his 9th kyu test and performed extremely well. With very solid taihenjutsu skills and a fluid proficiancy with kamae, and dakentaijutsu. After testing we had some in depth training on Musha Dori, with a brief overview of Ganseke Nage to finish off the day.

Well a reprint of a old book has recently been released on amazon. I just got my copy in the mail and I have only thumbed through it so far but it is a cool piece of Bujinkan History. This booked is articles and original issues of the "Testsuzan" magazine printed back in the 80's. It contains some great information and pictures on Ninpo Taijutsu with interviews from Takamatsu Sensei. It is a little older reference material when compared to the newer Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu Teachings but it is a great piece of history and a must buy in my opinion if you train in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu.

Link to the book on amazon - Here

Training Today, went back to the basics and did some extensive work on some Dakentaijutsu. Mainly the Fudo Ken and the Omote Shuto. Work them in taisabaki as well as against a static target. Also went over some Hanbo Kamae, and basic striking. The rain stopped long enough for us to train but the ground was pretty wet.

It is always interesting training on various surfaces, from dirt to concrete to slippery grass. It definitely takes its toll.

Training Day ! We had a new person train with us today. He has experience training in the Bujinkan so he picked things up very quickly. The weather was absolutely gorgeous so we went to the park and trained outside. We did a brief introduction and overview and then worked on some of the basics.

Ukemi and Taihenjutsu - Zenpo kaiten, naname zenpo kaiten, koho ukemi, zenpo ukemi, koho kaiten, sokuho ukemi

Sanshin no kata - I personally need to practice these more. it felt like it had been a while.

Kihon Happo - Omote, and ura gyaku.

Muso dori, ganseke nage.

We also went through step by step Danshu no Waza from the Gyokko Ryu Jo ryaku no maki scroll

News article about a stabbing of up to 20 people in a Pa School. At least guns are not to blame, goes to show that it is not the weapon that is the problem but the person. Just because we dont carry swords anymore doesnt mean we should know how to defend ourselves. Click the link for the whole story !!

Stabbing Story

Below is a video of a student attacking a teacher and the teacher restraining him, it is over the student allegedly selling weed in the classroom. A good example of a need to train in Jujutsu, Japanese or Brazilian. The teacher goes for a single leg takedown and doesnt get it. I saw a good opportunity for a Saoi Nage.

One of the weapons we train in the Bujinkan is the Shuriken. There are several types and styles, usually you see a flat (hira) 4 pointed senban shuriken as the traditional togakure ryu style shuriken. Those are well and good and we practice with them. I also spend a lot of time training with Bo Shuriken (more like throwing darts) and throwing them in the style of the Meifu Shinkage Ryu Shurikenjutsu. That being said I had an amazing day where I was completely relaxed and focused, everything I threw was on point and extremely accurate, it was a great day.

Training day ! We took a really in depth look at Ganseki Nage and its application in its base form. We also expanded a little outside of the technique and look at other ways that this technique can be set up.

Muso Dori was next on the list, we explored pulling the balance of the uke in some various ways as well as defending against potential attacks. We reviewed the Kihon Happo and went through omote and ura gyaku as well as Oni Kudaki.

A long time was also spent on advanced forms of taisabaki and using smaller movements to evade attacks. An interesting topic that came up is that while evading one tends to wait for the uke to attack. This is fundamentally flawed as if you make smaller movements then the attacker is closing distance to the point where if you wait for an attack they are dictating the outcome and will make contact. One should not wait for an attack but progress in their movements to prevent an attack and that way the tori will then dictate the outcome and control the engagement on their terms.

It is always good to see some positive press out of the MMA World. The link below is to an article where former UFC fighter Pat Barry help save a woman who locked herself in her hotel room. While it sounds kind of silly good for him.

UFC Fighter Saves Woman

Below is a video clip from a 4th kyu test. This clip is only the highlights and does not show all of the techniques required for 4th kyu and a lot of the commentary has been removed. Hope that you enjoy !

Some of the techniques show are Hicho Kaiten (diving rolls), Koppo Ken (thumb knuckle fist), Hicho Geri (jumping kick), Ashibari (leg sweeps), Geri Kudaki (destroying a kick), Takeori, and the bofurigata staff twirling drill.

Training Day - Today we really focused on a lot of ukemi and taihenjutsu with our ground falls and rolling. All of the various rolls were practice with and extra emphasis on the sokuho kaiten as it can be a bit tricky. We also practiced the arm locks and throws from the 4th kyu curriculum. Takeori is a great technique that was picked up on fairly fast by all trainees, Oogyaku is a little more difficult to execute due to the speed and change or arm positioning and height. A two handed version where the tori controls the uke's shoulder is a lot easier to execute and it would appear that the one handed version is way more difficult.

We also worked on some Gracie  Jiu Jiutsu and other grappling / ground fighting techniques.Specifically we worked on trap and rolls from the mount, passing guard, rear naked choke submissions, taking the back and mount control. One key element we worked on is when taking the back go for the over under for better control and to wear out the opponent. if you go for a RNC too soon they can lay flat and have better defense against it than if you roll them over.

Training Day, worked on Kamae flow drill and the feeling and attitude associated with the different Kamae. We work on our taisabaki (evasion) started slow with 1 punch combos then moved on to 2 and 3 punch variations for our Kentai Ichi (fist/body harmony) we then spend things up a little bit for more realistic training. Worked on basics of omote and ura gyaku and how they translate when disarming a knife attack.

 

Also worked on lessons 1-7 of the Gracie Jiujitsu curriculum, safety note – do not lean forward when bringing someone back into closed guard from  punch block 3 and 4, I got head butted (KeiKaKu Ken) in the jaw and almost knocked out.

Took part in a webinar over the weekend with Shihan Phil Legare from takesaigi.org. Topic of conversation was the western influence on martial arts and the importance (or lack of importance) that should be placed on obtaining rank.

My thought is it depends on your goals in training. If you want to learn some self defense techniques and feel good about yourself with your new found confidence then maybe black belt is a good stopping point. Shihan Phils stance is that once you get a black belt all you have done is learned the basics. I think that if one wants budo to be a way of life then you are never done training regardless of what you know or how good your taijutsu is

These are the people we martial artists need to surround ourselves with other with the same life goals. and understand that Bujinkan budo taijutsu is a way of life and not just some techniques. The true beauty of it is that it is a undefined way and a path that each individual must make on their own.

Training Day, apart from the usual ukeni and taihenjutsu we had a stong emphasis on Ganseke Nage and some henka (varioation) of the technique. This has got to be one of my favorite thorws since it can be applied from a clinch with a underhook from close distance which in a confined space it is good to refine techniques like these. Also trained a lot with muso dori and explored henka with it as well. We trained in the technique by itself and included other aspects. We worked through hicho no kata in its pure form. The issue is starting form hicho no kamae does not seem natural so we also trained in starting from Shizen and falling back into hicho for the gedan negash (lower block) that begins the technique