We’ve been anticipating a busy fall and winter, and things are certainly shaping in that direction. Summer culminated with a trip to the west coast, and a variety of seminars and special events are on the schedule over the next several months.

SMR Gasshuku

Alan Starner, John Butz, and I had the great fortune to attend the 2^nd Annual Pan-American Shinto Muso-ryu Gasshuku at Port Townsend, Washington. The “juniors” portion of the seminar was held over three days — August 24^th through 26^th — and was preceded by two days of training for the seniors. The site for the seminar was Fort Worden, a former coastal artillery battery that was converted to a conference center and was used for the filming of An Officer and a Gentleman. We trained in a field beside a hanger built in the 1920’s for observation balloons; the hanger was the set for the climactic karate duel between Richard Gere and Lou Gosset in the film.

We stayed in Victorian-era barracks and, between training sessions, had the opportunity to explore massive artillery emplacements, a museum, and a beautiful beach.

Training, led by SMR menkyo kaiden Phil Relnick, was equally spectacular. Heavy emphasis was placed on the Omote and Chudan sets — the Itten Dojo crew are working in the first set, and I’m guessing we did at least 120 repetitions of each kata we’ve so far received, on top of hours of practice of the sotai kihon. Participants were divided into groups according to kata sets, and seniors were assigned to supervise each group. Relnick Sensei worked his way through all the groups, making corrections and teaching new kata when appropriate.

The camaraderie was also quite unlike anything we’ve experienced previously. Despite our very junior status and the fact this was the first time we’ve met other folks in Relnick Sensei’s line of jo, all were exceptionally welcoming and a great deal of fun to be with, on and off the field. When weapons crossed, the exchanges were as intense as anyone could wish, yet all egos seemed to have been parked at the gate. People just burned reps during the day, and kicked-back every evening. I’m really tempted to mention by name some of the standout folks we met, but the list would quickly hit 30 or so, and would be limited to that number only because time didn’t permit us to interact closely with everyone.

“Chicks with Sticks”

More recently, Diane Skoss led a weekend of training for the female members of the Shutokukan/Itten Dojo jojutsukai. Rosanne, Deb, and Tanelle made the trip from our dojo, and from the sounds of it spent about as much time laughing as training. In spite of — or perhaps because of — the high spirits, all participants made substantial progress and were enthusiastically back in the dojo here at the first opportunity to practice what they’d learned.

This event was a prototype for a national gathering of the “better half” of the line next year, so stand by.

Air Crew Self Defense

In the wake of 9/11 last year, our dojo was contacted by the aviation services department of a central Pennsylvania based corporation with the request we provide a course in self-defense for their pilots. After meeting with the director of aviation services and one of the pilots with a military background (former infantry officer) to discuss their objectives and the practical results that could realistically be achieved in a course of this type, we agreed to the project.

Collaborating with Meik Skoss, we developed a syllabus for twelve hours of training, divided into two-hour “modules.” At this writing we’re one-third of the way through the course, and the experience has so far considerably exceeded the expectations of the instructors, not to mention those of the pilots. None of the men or women pilots train in martial arts, but all are very willing to work, and the decisiveness they must possess in order to fly jets and/or helicopters translates well to the dojo. (I have a private pilot’s license to fly just single-engine, propeller driven aircraft, so these pilots are like demigods to me…)

I had some concern with teaching several throwing techniques, even though only my own students would be serving as uke — I was worried that the pilots, not wanting to take a chance on hurting anyone, would be too careful in applying the techniques. You’ve probably seen this: a junior student feels a throw starting to work, freezes because he doesn’t want to hurt his training partner, and the uke comes vertically down onto his head (half the time with the junior underneath). My students were all primed to expect this situation and deal with it, but nothing like that happened. Once the pilots start a technique, they finish it.

Our curriculum is founded on fundamental forms of proper movement, with responses to probable types of threats deriving from movement possible within the interior of a corporate jet. We’re also addressing situations that might develop in more open areas, presenting responses in an escalating ladder designed to encourage minimal use of force in any particular situation, and — in conjunction with some of attorneys resident in the dojo — providing advice on formalizing a corporate policy on use of force in self-defense situations.

If the course concludes as successfully as it has gone so far, the director of aviation services has hinted a recommendation may be made to the corporate headquarters that this training be made available company-wide, and she is also encouraging us to market the training to other aviation departments and companies in the area.

Seminar Planning

We have two major events already on the calendar for 2003. First, Ellis Amdur will visit at the end of January for an aikido seminar — details of this event are available on the Seminar Schedule page.

At the end of  March, Chuck Clark and his son, Aaron, will be here to teach an introduction to Jiyushinkai Aikibudo. We met Aaron and a bunch of the other Jiyushinkai members at the SMR Gasshuku last month, and in addition to being superb martial artists they were a great bunch of people. The Jiyushinkai system is based on Tomiki aikido and judo and, judging from the results they produce in students, their curriculum and instructional methodology is particularly effective.