Our busy schedule continued in September and October, with two major seminars and the bulk of special classes in self-defense for a group of commercial pilots.

Taiko Drumming

I wasn’t sure what to think when Eric Fennell proposed inviting Marco Lienhard to teach an introductory seminar in taiko drumming — I mean, what could a bunch of utter novices hope to accomplish in three hours? (Well, okay, there were actually some accomplished percussionists in the group, but most of us were utter novices…)

Boy, was I wrong.

This seminar was some of the best fun we’ve had in the dojo and, not only were we able to perform a challenging piece of music by the end of the three hours, we were able to spilt the group into thirds and play the piece in rounds.

This seminar grew out of a chance remark Meik Skoss made to Eric during one of Eric’s commutes to New York City to train with Meik at the Yagyukai. Meik mentioned that he’d always wanted to try taiko, but hadn’t had the chance. That was all Eric needed to launch a search for an instructor.

Eric found Marco Lienhard, an accomplished musician who was born in Switzerland, studied piano and flute in high school, and, after an exchange year in Japan, joined the world-renowned taiko group, Ondekoza. Since 1981, Mr. Lienhard has studied taiko drumming, festival fue, flute and folk dancing with Ondekoza and other festival taiko groups, and he has also studied the nohkan with Master Isso Masayuki, the Shakuhachi with Master Teruo Furuya and later with the internationally known Master Katsuya Yokoyama.

Mr. Lienhard brought with him more than one dozen drums, ranging in size from about that of a snare drum to that of a 55-gallon oil drum. I don’t even want to guess at the value of the instruments he transported to Pennsylvania that day (his insurance company would probably go ballistic if they knew).

After arranging the instruments in the dojo, Mr. Lienhard gave a brief lecture on the history and development of taiko, describing how the drums were originally used in religious festivals to awaken and attract the attention of Shinto deities and spirits, and then took the participants through a series of warm-up exercises that were sufficient to prepare for heavy exercise (little did we know). 

He showed us how to hold the drum sticks, how to stand at some drums (essentially in zenkutsu dachi) or sit at others, and then gave us an idea of what to expect by performing a couple of very dynamic — literally building-shaking — examples of taiko.

Then it was our turn. We started with a (relatively) simple phrase of music. Once that phrase was more or less in hand, we switched instruments and started on another phrase of somewhat greater complexity, and then combined the two phrases. The piece we learned was built in this fashion: learn a phrase, switch instruments, and combine phrases, until we had a lengthy and surprisingly sophisticated sequence. 

About two-thirds of the way through the afternoon, Mr. Lienhard had everyone lie down on the mat and close their eyes, and then he turned off the lights and performed on the shakuhachi. The acoustics in the dojo are normally not the best, but for this particular instance were superb. The haunting melodies filled the room and enveloped the participants, transporting everyone to a private reverie.

After that all too short break, we resumed our places at the drums and proceeded to make enough noise to awaken any and all spirits resident in central Pennsylvania. By the end of the afternoon we were utterly drenched in sweat and absolutely exuberant. We helped Mr. Lienhard load his truck, shot home for a quick shower, and then met at a local Thai restaurant where we ate for more than three hours, straight.

It was an incredible afternoon and evening, and I heartily recommend Mr. Lienhard to any dojo with an interest in learning more about the cultural arts of Japan. Check www.taikoza.com for information on Mr. Lienhard and his seminars.

1^st Annual SMR Jo Eastern Region Gasshuku

We were delighted to be able to host Relnick Sensei and a number of his affiliated dojo for the first Shinto Muso-ryu Jo eastern region gasshuku. Training was held on October 12^th through 14^th, and was attended by Meik and Diane Skoss and members of their Shutokukan Dojo, Dan Soares and several of his students from Frederick, Maryland, folks from the Ithaca, New York dojo of Larry Bieri, as well the usual crew from Itten Dojo.

In accordance with his usual methods, Relnick Sensei commenced the training with kihon (fundamentals). Over the course of the first two days of training, we performed hundreds, if not thousands of repetitions of the 12 basic techniques, in both the tandoku (solo) and sotai (partnered) versions. The incredible degree of detail that was conveyed in this manner denied the participants any excuse that we haven’t been given a very clear idea of what’s expected, and also produced startling improvements in the kata we subsequently practiced.

When, on the third day, we started to dig into Omote, the first set of kata, our initial level of performance was notably more crisp and precise than what had been our best. And things only got better through the course of the day.

We took turns executing the kata, and Relnick Sensei personally supervised every rendition. Every person’s performance was dissected, with everyone else closely attending, so we benefited not only from the comments and corrections we received directly, but from the remarks made to our training partners as well. Again, the sheer volume of information conveyed was staggering, and it was apparent even the seniors experienced several revelations in the process.

Most of the Itten Dojo contingent has been training in jo for just shy of a year and a half, so it’s very early days for us, but I am continually astonished by the depth and sophistication of even these initial stages of training in Shinto Muso-ryu. The process of entering a koryu is unlike anything I’ve experienced. Relnick Sensei speaks in terms of “peeling the onion,” and it is glaringly obvious that there are levels to this experience we can, at this point, only guess at.

While the emphasis of the weekend was clearly on the training itself, social opportunities were not neglected. On Saturday evening, participants were treated to a dinner at the dojo, catered by the same Thai restaurant at which we’d made such pigs of ourselves following the taiko seminar. Again, we ate for hours, feasting on about two tons of appetizers, entrees, and deserts, along with truly wonderful iced coffee.

Following dinner, we sampled the wares of micro-breweries from five states, and were entertained by the musical talents of David Campbell and Joe Montague, members of the Shutokukan who commute five hours from Virginia in order to train. Dave brought the house down with his reworking of an old John Mellancamp tune. In this case, it was “A little ditty ’bout Meik and Diane, two American kids who got together in Japan…”

We did have one scare, though. Brian Hanlon didn’t show up for practice on Monday, but then appeared late in the afternoon. On the drive up from Maryland that morning, his car had suffered a major mechanical failure and rolled, destroying the vehicle and injuring Brian (but not too seriously). We were very relieved to see him, and hope that by this point he is fully recovered.

Aircrew Self-defense

This series of classes continues to exceed everyone’s expectations. With five of the six initial sessions behind us, we’ve been able to provide the pilots with a concise number of practical techniques and principles they can interchange and build on to practice responses to the types of situations they might actually face. Because we provide skilled training partners to receive the techniques, each pilot has been allowed sufficient practice to find several applications with which he or she feels confident. One surprise to me has been that we have been able to train at a far higher degree of physical and mental intensity than I ever anticipated.

In speaking to other aviation departments, the director of this group has met repeated instances of, “What? How many hours are you getting? And the instructors actually let you throw/punch/etc. them?” Evidently, the common commercial aviation response to pilots’ and attendants’ request for self-defense training has been a four-hour course, in which instructors merely demonstrate and describe techniques the “participants” never actually get to try for themselves.

Obviously, we’re doing a lot more than that, and the corporate powers-that-be are pleased enough with the demonstrated results that they’ve funded continuing training for their aircrews through 2003. We plan once a month refresher/enhancement classes to review and build on the baseline skills we’ve established, as well as sessions conducted in the aircraft the pilots fly.

With the experience we’ve gained, we will offer this course of training to other organizations and aviation departments, as well as to non-aviation businesses or groups. Interested parties can contact me at ittendojocho@cs.com for addition information.

Daito-ryu Departs

Regular visitors to this site have by now noticed that our home page no longer says, “affiliated with the Daito-ryu Hakuho Kai.” This is due to the fact our former Daito-ryu study group has decided to strike out on its own. We will certainly miss James Mullins and crew, and wish them the best in their efforts to establish Daito-ryu aikijujutsu in central Pennsylvania.