International Shuri Ryu Association Okinawa Kobudo Training Seminar - Fort Wayne, IN

Saturday morning came too soon. Getting up at 3:30 am is definitely not an easy task for anyone, no matter how disciplined they may be. Taking a quick shower to wake up, I grabbed the rest of my gear for my short trek to Appleton to meet up with Sensei for 4:30 am. Today we will drive through 3 states to get to Indiana for the International Shuri Ryu Association Kobudo Training in Fort Wayne which was hosted by Hanshi Robert Bowles, 10th Dan in the Shuri Ryu System.

Sensei and I had 6 hours to get to know each other, for anyone who knows me, I can be quite the conversationalist, I’m pretty confident Sensei was not bored for our 6 hours there and back. We laughed and we joked, we talked about life, our children, his work, my family, martial arts, pretty much everything under the sun. He even took a small detour into Chicago to Ontario Street just to let me say I’ve been in Chicago. We continued our trek and finally reached our destination with only a few minutes to spare, time to dawn our gi and get into the ball room for our 5 hours of training.

We worked the Ecru, which looks much like a paddle. Traditionally this was used as a paddle for the fishermen of Okinawa. If you can envision post world war, where all weapons were taken from the countrymen, they used whatever they used in their typical lives and turned it into a weapon. This paddle was a common sight for the little Ryu Kyu Islands since many of the men fished to add food to their tables. Looking at my fellow students holding onto these paddles I was actually able to imagine our Kobudo forefathers as they set out for their days on the ocean finding food. The Kata we were taught had a very long Japanese name, which I will get Sensei to tell me after. We worked it in segments, Hanshi teaching us, us performing, starting over, adding more, and starting over, we did this over and over and over, until the kata was completed. Definitely gives me so much respect for all Kobudo martial artists. We worked this kata for an hour and a half. Over and over, technique after technique being applied. Once we had it completed. Hanshi wanted all of us to perform it with his count, and letting us know that we were about to make history. He was shooting footage for his 2nd DVD coming out on Kobudo kata. So all in unison on his count, we executed the precision moves he had just taught us, knowing we had to perform as perfect as we could because we would be in his video.

After a short break, we started working the sai, the three pronged sword. Hanshi Bowles was consulting with his two assistant Chief Instructors, Glenn Wallace and Mr. Sheraton (these two individuals are wearing the white and red belts in the pictures and have trained along side Hanshi for well over 25 years) in the meantime, we did our practice drills, Tae Kyo Kyu No Sai with low blocks, mid blocks and high blocks, over and over and over. We also did some practice with the sai, on the four levels, which are standing, kneeling, sitting and laying down on the floor, having to keep the sai moving and executing blocks and strikes and continuously moving as if you were defending against an attacker… I wish I had video taped this section because to the observer must have seemed comical. All seminar participants executing blocks and strikes and as Hanshi hit his sai together to make a tinging sound we moved to the next level. Always blocking, evading, and striking. TING.. next level, to our knees, moving from knee to knee, then TING… sitting on our butts, moving and still striking with our sai, then TING, laying on our backs, squirming away from our imaginary opponents, always defending, then TING, back to our butts maneuvering away from our opponents, hitting and striking, blocking, always manipulating our sai to make it look good for Hanshi, TING, back to our knees, crawl walking and executing blocks, and then finally TING back to our feet… walking, evading and dodging, always working our sai. At this point, we were exhausted. Then we sat as Hanshi illustrated the kata we were to learn. I will get the exact spelling of this ancient form from Sensei. After demonstrating the kata for us, we all stared with mouths agape. That was the longest sai form I’ve ever seen in my whole history in the martial arts. Very overwhelmed we all started the first segments, Over and over we practiced just like the ecru, teaching us a segment, practicing the segment, adding more, starting from the beginning putting it all together, teaching, practicing, adding to beginning, this lasted for over an hour. During this hour my body was really rebelling, lack of sleep, sitting in a car for 6 hours, not eating anything, my blood sugar dropped drastically. The floor started to pulsate in my eyes. I was experiencing ringing in my ears, and on the verge of fainting from the heat that was generated in the ball room. In the martial arts you always want to work to your very peak, always striving for perfection, always trying to prove your endurance, but many martial artists lose touch with that and don’t listen to their bodies and hurt themselves in the process. I’m a very proud person, always wanting to appear stronger than what I am, but I knew that if I didn’t stop I would be face down on the floor going into diabetic shock. I bowed, walked around the ballroom on the outskirts, and headed for the corner, many of my fellow students had stopped their practice and whispered their concern to me, I said I was fine to carry on. Getting to the corner, Hanshi had apples and granola bars for our break time and I knew I had to get fast sugar in me, so I took an apple and watched the last ¼ of the kata being taught. My vision was clearing, and my fatigue was replaced with some energy from the energy bars and fluids. After this sai training was over, Hanshi called for another break and at this time, I walked over to him and apologized for stepping off the training floor. Letting him know of my blood sugar issues. He smiled and said that was fine and he was happy I was feeling better, He had also asked me if I was taking part in the bo training. I said, “Of course I am, I won’t miss it for the world.” He bowed to me and let me continue with my break. Sensei came over to ask how I was feeling and we talked, he was concerned but was happy I was sensitive to my limitations.

After a 10 minute break we were all set to do the bo, Hanshi started with some self defense real life applications, I worked with Sensei, disabling his attack by a hit, and moving my bo down into the crook of his arm, twisting and stepping and manipulating him into a take down. We did this with a few techniques. We were almost out of time, so Hanshi split us into three groups, he talked about the 3 kata bo forms he had wanted to teach and we were able to choose which one we wanted to learn. For the most part, my fellow classmates were black belts, so of course they didn’t want to learn a brown belt bo requirement form. I opted for that one, Sensei took a more complex bo form and went with that group of students. The young man who was left to teach us was Colin Brown, this 17 year old boy was phenomenal. He had just been promoted to Sho Dan (1st degree black belt in Kobudo, the previous evening) Very respectful, very disciplined and a student of Hanshi Bowles. He taught how he was taught, being trained under the Chief Instuctor of Shuri Ryu and the founder of the International Shuri Ryu Association definitely has it’s perks. Excellent teacher for such a young person. Extremely proud to have trained with this great person. We walked through this bo form and it was pretty much over.

We stood in line and waited for Hanshi to bow us out. We had the awards ceremony as we stood waiting to bow out. Each participant received a certificate signed and dated by Hanshi. Sensei Joe was called before I was, so I was prepared for my turn to walk up and accept my certificate and shake Hanshi’s hand. Hanshi then called for everyone’s attention and we all bowed out for the day.

Great Seminar, great feeling, definitely going back in the future. Hanshi Bowles is having a spring seminar similar to Hanshi Abele’s symposium, a buffet of martial arts knowledge to be taught and learned, a seminar where you can hand pick which aspects of the martial arts you would like to learn, from ancient Chinese herbs to pressure points, mixed with our physical elements of kata, weapons and discipline. Definitely something I would like to take part in.

Transformations

Lessons to be learned and understood in the martial arts are to be learned by your rank. Tuesday's class came and went and the lesson learned then was that I needed to give myself a little bit rope, not to try so hard for perfection because when you trying to envision yourself as a black belt when just starting out, it isn't conducive to your training as a lower rank. Performance, technique and mental ability all rolled into one when you're nervous is another issue.

Yes, I was extremely nervous. I had never experienced a Shuri Ryu promotion so I wasn't sure what to expect, that in itself give you anxiety for the unknown. Throw in wanting to perform at your absolute best for your spouse just makes it worse. I was a wreck.

Class began, and Sensei did the warm up, same warm up we've done from day one, light stretches, a bit of cardio, and then he made us do stance drills with footwork across the dojo floor. Then he had each of us line up across the floor to do Ippons, Tom doing his higher ones, Ippon 12 and up, Karla doing Ippon 8 and up, and me starting at Ippon 1. He watched as we performed, watching and making us do over should we forget. With my nervousness, I had forgotten about my footwork, and yes, I had to do mine over a few times. Once Ippons were over, same drill with the Kihons, not only was I struggling with my technique but Karla was having difficulties as well. Maybe that's why Sensei had us do it this way because I realized that no matter how hard you practice you will still struggle whether you're a white belt or a green belt. Once this was over, Sensei moved to kata... he gave me a break to catch my breath and also the time to watch other's perform their kata, showing me without telling me to follow their example. Tom performed a new kata he was just taught, Dan Enn Sho. Watching him pause and move through his kata had me thinking about where I should pause, then it was Karla's turn to perform her newest kata, Eppi Sho. By the time it was my turn to perform Wunsu, I knew I was ready, the mistakes I made during Ippons and Kihons were gone, the nervousness gone, all replaced with my main purpose of performing Wunsu to the best of my ability as a white belt who was being promoted to a yellow.

I started the kata confidently, executing my strikes and punches with precision, visualizing my opponent attacking me, forgetting completely that there were people watching me. Snapping my head before I turned, seeing the imaginary attack coming in and responding. When I executed the "tiger turning into the dragon" technique I had paused slightly to show my hand forms, transitioning into the dumping motion of my opponent over my head, doing my spin and step over and finishing my opponent off with a ki (energy yell). Ending the kata with crispness and finality. I was happy, I performed it like I envisioned it. No mistakes.

We also did our self defence techniques, I was only taught the releases for my yellow belt promotion, no locks.

After this was done, Sensei went into his office telling me to take my white belt off, and he came back with my yellow, and had me put it on, giving my husband my white belt to hold on to. So quickly the transition happened that Rob didn't have time to take pictures. My classmates congratulated me and they were asked to work on some self defense. Sensei always gives me a choice in the direction of my training, he said I could pick what I wanted to do next.

Because of my trip to Canada and this being my last class until the holiday season was over, I had thought about what I wanted to learn, because my next step was either Ippons, Kihons, another Kata called Anaku, I thought it would be best to work on my self defense only because I had the foundation of my 5 techniques and we were just adding the locks to the existing ones I had. Sensei was pleasantly surprised I had picked to work on that. After completing the locking techniques to the existing 5 that I had, Sensei told me I had just finished my requirements for blue belt. Just like that. So when I get back after the holidays I will be getting more Ippon, more Kihon, another Kata (Anaku) and some new elements called Taezu Naru Waza. Then I will be ready to transform into a blue belt.

Body Mechanics and Breaking Things Down

Tonight was a very good night. We did our regular warm up, did some Tae Kyo Kyu Warmups, also did Ippon and Kihon, pretty much everything I'm needing for my promotion next week. Went through Wunsu with Sensei watching me and adjusting hands for my advanced techniques, also reassuring that my guard hands were present before my blocks (the advanced technique he's been teaching me). The thing about Sensei is that he will continue to ask, "Do you have any questions?" You don't want to come off as you know it all, so I always say, "no questions for now, but I'm sure there will be in the future." which always makes him smile. Then I practice, and VOILA, I have a revelation, and of course he always wants to know what I just found out. Tonight during one of my Wunsu performances, I had faltered on the part where the "tiger turns into the dragon" thats what I call it.. just sounds cool... but it's where I'm in horse stance, and I'm blocking a double throat grab and countering with a shirt grab simultaneously grabbing the person's inner thigh to throw them over my head, and spinning around and finishing them off. I faltered on the spin. Sensei right away corrects these things, that's what makes him such a superb Sensei, he truly wants his students to be better martial artists than he is. And his critiquing is done in a gentle manner, he shows what I did, imitating what I just did and I actually see where my errors are, then he shows me an alternate way of doing it, and explains the body mechanics of why its more effective this way. So the spot I use to falter at, I don't any longer.

After our regular training was done, he decided to teach us something else, the Principles of Angles, Weak Angles versus Strong Angles. He talked and illustrated with two bo forming an X on the floor, then he stood over them in a horse stance, explaining that facing him in a front stance the opponent would have the advantage, then he switched stances, and we had to let him know what we thought, what was the weak angle and why. Everything Sensei does has a purpose so once we understood the concept, we applied it to a situation. Sensei told me to line up his angles with my angles, but my leg going behind his, and then stepping into a long stance, with my back leg, going even further back, which actually hooks his leg, and dropping him backwards onto the floor. It's kind of hard to envision... so I will explain it this way, standing facing each other, you walk close to the person, standing side by side, hip to hip, put your leg on the inside of his leg, and slide your foot which is inside his leg back, it makes his knee buckle... then of course, he added on the shirt grab, as you walk up to him, you grab his shirt, one hand on each side of his lapels) chest area, continue to walk, and simulatenously sliding your leg in to hook his and drop his body to the floor... I didn't even have to use any effort. And Sensei was laying on his back. It was truly amazing. He saw the look of shock, surprise and pride on my face. Pure body mechanics and a bit of science... this sport is exactly what my soul needed. It amazes me the more I go to my classes, the more I learn, the knowledge is actually seeping into my whole being.

My Sensei.... MINE!!!

Well got to class and realized at 5:45 that I was going to have Sensei all to myself again. I love when I'm the only student in class because he does more advanced stuff with me and also lets me dictate what I want to learn that day.

I wanted to be more fluent in the attacker's portion of Wunsu Bunkai. We worked on this for a good portion of the class. First we performed Wunsu Kata together 2 times, Sensei making sure I wasn't have difficulty with the new nuances he taught me on Tuesday. Then I was the defender for 3 rounds of the kata. Sensei correcting stances, explaining techniques and making sure I understood it. Then it was my turn to finally do the whole attacker's series on Sensei. We did this several times, stopping and talking about the technique, how it felt as we moved in our choreographed fight/dance. As Sensei defended, having 15 years + experience in this particular style, I was amazed at how fluid he was. Just by watching him perform, I anticipated what my role was. It was finally clicking. I understood and gained much more knowledge. Sensei completed the kata and asked me if I had observed anything during the wunsu bunkai, I told him that I was always off his center line, always made to move to get back in line. With that answer I received a huge smile as my reward. As we performed again, more and more questions started to emerge and the more questions I asked, the more answers I received. I was transforming into a sponge and I was loving it!!

We discussed the augmented block/knife hand guards at the end. Sensei corrected the position of my back hand to make it reverse parallel with my lead hand. As he did this, I asked him once again, why? Then he said later on there will be applications to the augmented block... and also gave me insight saying, "anytime there is an augmented block, strike, etc.. we know that something else is happening behind the scenes, you will find out later as you advance so keep that in mind."

I love having Sensei all to myself, yes I am still a white belt, preparing for my yellow belt in the next few weeks, but when we have our one on one class times together, he makes me feel like an equal.

Advancement in the new future...

Sensei has decided to add the subtle nuances into my Wunsu Kata now. Those would be more advanced variations to the same thing, now that I know the order of the sequences, have the footwork, stances, timing, and hand positioning down, he's now giving me another item to work into the kata to make it even more powerful and efficient. This normally doesn't happen until you're a green belt, but since the previous experience in the arts, Sensei feels I'm ready to add these items in. For the most part, its an easy thing to do now... basically what he wants me to do is to have a guard hand out before I execute a block in my kata... makes the technique more efficient, more accurate and more powerful. I'm not sure if he thought he was doing the right thing by teaching me this tonight, but when I did the first technique without a hitch, I saw his body language say that he made the right decision. He was definitely happy that I was able to do it. He told me to continue with the kata as he watched and critiqued the kata as I did it.

After doing all the new advanced adjustments. He smiled, looked me in the eye, and said, you're ready for your promotion. Your promotion date is sent for the Tuesday before Thanksgiving. So after several months of training, many hours of classes, several trips to Canada, I will be finally ready to step out of my white belt and into a yellow belt. After that, I will go for my blue, then green, purple, brown then finally black... but lets just concentrate on the next few weeks... I have a long way ahead of me, but the foundation is laid, now I'm ready to start building.

Learning from your mistakes and loving this deadly art.

My Saturday morning started a bit different than normal. I got to the dojo at the regular time on Saturday, which is 7:30 am. Driving into the parking lot, I am met by being the only car in the lot. Instantly I backtrack in my head to see if I may have missed something Sensei had said. Did he say there was no class on Saturday? No. Hmmmmm… I wonder what’s up this time. As I sit and wait, I’m thinking over and over to see if there was any clue of him not being here today. Since I have no phone numbers I can’t call either. No one had left me an email saying there was no class. It’s now 7:52. Then I see John pull into the parking lot, he gives me a wave from his spot. Then I see Tom… Okay, Tom has a key, maybe something came up and there was no time to shoot anyone a quick email. Tom opens the door and him and John go in, I’m still fumbling with all the stuff I’m bringing to class. Having my arms loaded up with my gei, bo, sai case and sai, nunchaku and purse, once I know everything is secure I head towards the dojo across the parking lot.

Tom is busy turning on all the lights as I get inside. He’s talking away about what we’re doing today, saying since Sensei’s not going to be there, we will do review of all weapons and go from there. Since it’s close to the official start of class, I went into the change room and got into my gei.

Grabbing my bo, we all got onto the main training area to bow in. After doing a quick warm up using the bo, Tom also did some drills across the floor to get some cardio to start our blood moving. After that, Tom decides to incorporate into our drill the new move that I will be executing in my Tsue Sho Bo Kata. It’s a complex technique that when looking at it as an outsider, resembles a helicopter motion over the head, with a downward strike, another helicopter motion over the head and switching the side you’re striking on. We walked across the floor getting this technique down.

Being over zealous in the martial arts sometimes is a bad thing, especially when practicing your weapons. With any technique, you should go slow, concentrating on the technique before you try to be an expert at it without laying the foundation. Over confidence is also a bad thing. Executing this move across the floor and walking seemed to come naturally after repetition. So I decided to pick up some speed. Making the pretend helicopter whirl… BAD MOVE! As the bow came over as I stepped, my hand wasn’t in its spot from the last move, which caused the bo to richochet off the side of my head close to my ear. Yeah… that was really smart!! When getting hit your automatic reaction is to react. Well I tensed my neck muscles and felt my whole neck spasm. So as I type this, my neck is very sore, not just on one side, but along both of the muscles that lead to my back. It will go away after much TLC.

After getting this move down to Tom’s satisfaction we incorporated it into the bo form, Tsue Sho, which is a brown belt requirement. With everything thus far, I have come to realize that what is taught to me has another application that makes it even more difficult to execute. That is why we do the baby steps, learning the more complex things to add onto more complex things. We practiced the form to my last stopping point, then added this new element, which I will refer to as THE HELICOPTER technique. After doing my last block, Tom shows me the next sequence of moves, just telling me to watch. His foot pivots out from side horse stance into a front stance but it’s deeper, looks like he’s lunging (leopard stance) as he does this the helicopter technique is executed, as his knee drops and becomes stationary he executes the first strike, then whirls the bow to the other side of the body for the other strike. He turns to me and says, now you’re turn… I’m still in head shake as he says this. As I start, I’m looking to him for guidance, he walks me through the sequence by talking to me as I do it. Coaching me with his words. Telling me to pivot my foot, getting into front stance, then dropping my knee, starting the helicopter, striking, as my knee stops, then doing the reverse helicopter over my head and striking again. I DID IT!!! He tells me to practice these sequences to build muscle memory.

He leaves me for a small time to check on Tom and Karla. Without him there, I feel my achy head throbbing. When you’re doing something the pain goes away so I start to move, practicing until he comes back. Tom and I have grown to know each other quite personably, we always question each other about the techniques, always wanting to know why… so of course, when he comes back I have questions. Why do we do this, what is the bunkai for this, etc. As I have him stand in front of me while executing my new taught sequence, I’m aiming at his body as I try to gain a better understanding of why. Doing the first strike, slowly, I tap his knee, then finish executing the sequence, he grins at me and says, you know if you would have been going faster with more power, my kneecap would be on the other side of the room, with that little tap I felt it go up my body.

This particular style is so beautiful, it has become an art form to me, but with much practice, proper training and a bit more strength and power, the martial arts can be a deadly adversary to have on your side.