2003 got off to a fast start at our dojo with Kagami Biraki and a special class for practitioners of Shinto Muso-ryu jo. The New Year’s observation and demonstrations have been covered in a separate article, so I’ll share instead a little about the jo practice.

SMR Jo

One of the regular weekly practices at the Shutokukan Dojo of Meik and Diane Skoss is held Sunday mornings from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon. Since many of the Shutokukan folks were already coming to Itten Dojo for Kagami Biraki, the practice for January 5^th was held here, instead. In consequence, it was the largest “regular” SMR jo training session ever held at our dojo, with participants from five states attending.

The combined Shutokukan Dojo / Itten Dojo jodokai

With so many potential training partners, persons working in the Omote and Chudan sets of kata had opportunity for a lot of variety in their practice, while newer students just getting started with the kihon still received considerable personal attention.

Left: Meik instructs Kevin Cantwell and John Mark in a Chudan kata. Right: Meik and Diane sneak in some practice of their own.

Left: Randy Manning and Tanelle Yenkevich begin work on the jodo seiteigata. Right: Alan Starner assists Susan Farrell with her introduction to Kuritsuke from the sotai kihon.

Aikido with Ellis Amdur

For a number of years, I’ve been very fortunate to be able to impose on Ellis Amdur for advice and assistance in the development of our dojo. Despite substantial differences in background and affiliations, Ellis has always been unfailingly helpful and cordial — it was Ellis who provided sound guidance on ways in which new students could best be integrated to the dojo, and Ellis again who facilitated our first meetings with Meik and Diane. Without his personal involvement, it’s safe to say our dojo would not have enjoyed the opportunities opened to it in the past two years.

Considering this debt, it was ’way past time to invite Ellis to our dojo for a seminar.

Ellis arrived on the afternoon of January 24^th, and the next day was introduced to three-dozen people who descended on the dojo for the chance to train with him. Thanks to announcements on E-Budo.com and AikidoJournal.com, we had participants from as far north as Syracuse, New York, as far south as Richmond, Virginia, and as far west as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For open seminars of this type, Ellis likes to focus on aspects of practice that may be useful to individual participants regardless of the particular style of aikido in which they regularly train.

After a warm-up — developed by Ellis by modifying slightly a set of Chinese exercises — we started with ukemi, and learned that Ellis differentiates between ukemi designed for practical self-defense and ukemi designed for aesthetic appeal. He doesn’t think much of ukemi designed for aesthetics.

An aesthetic forward roll usually involves a squared-to-the-front entry and a track of body-to-mat contact that starts with the lead arm, then crosses from lead shoulder to opposite hip. In the process, there are points at which injury to shoulders or lower back are more likely than is the case with a “practical” forward roll which, due primarily to uke turning his head back toward nage and holding this position, tracks from shoulder to about the mid-level of the back. The roll isn’t as pretty, but it is far more natural and much easier to train, and considerably more likely to be executed effectively in an emergency.

By Ellis’s definition, there is no such thing as backward ukemi. The only time a backward roll might be used is at the stage of practice of a technique such as shiho-nage that it is overwhelmingly obvious to uke that nothing bad is going to happen. Until that point, uke sets up for a forward roll or breakfall. To receive a technique with a backward roll, Ellis teaches an entry that is reversible at any point in the ukemi (in accordance with the Feldenkrais system of movement, Ellis notes that any movement that is not reversible is not natural).

We concluded the ukemi section of the seminar by learning a method of receiving techniques such as ude-osae (ikkyo) and then the pattern of drills Ellis uses to teach his approach to ukemi.

Next we started on the proper use of atemi in the execution of aikido technique. Ellis maintains that atemi ought to be available at any point in a technique, and applicable without distorting the form of the technique. This section constituted the bulk of training over the two days, with examples drawn from irimi-nage, shiho-nage, and ude-osae. Different forms of atemi were applied to achieve kuzushi, facilitate entry, shape uke for the throw, or in lieu of a throw.

Left: Jim Sorrentino provides the attack, while Ellis applies an atemi prior to his entry for the technique. Right: Fred Little takes one in the chops as Ellis elaborates on the principle to be practiced.

The final section of training involved ways to reverse or counter several fundamental techniques. This was especially valuable training, as it addressed directly ways to train safely in the face of a practice “partner” who, out of malice or plain stupidity, places his uke in a dangerous situation. Some of the counters were subtle and elegant, while others provided some serious airtime for the recipient.

Ellis conducts drills and guides training during different parts of the seminar.

Following a question and answer session during which participants could query Ellis on any matters related to training or particular trouble spots they might be experiencing, Ellis and Meik presented a demonstration of Toda-ha Buko-ryu, a system of naginatajutsu in which they are both licensed. This was the first time any of the participants had seen a live demonstration of this dynamic and elegant koryu, and the demo contrasted appreciably with the short peek at Araki-ryu Ellis had provided the day before (Araki-ryu is just plain scary; the kiai alone would be enough to make you pack up and go home, were it not for the fact you’d likely never get the chance).

Ellis and Meik demonstrate Toda-ha Buko-ryu.

In addition to Ellis and Meik, I’d like to thank all who participated and made this seminar possible. Ellis will be coming back in the future, so there will definitely be further opportunities to train.

“Toshiie to Matsu”

Early in January, Wayne Muromoto surprised us by sharing a tape of a Japanese historical drama currently airing on Hawaiian television. Toshiie and Matsu presents the life and times of Maeda Toshiie and his fiercely devoted wife, Matsu, whose lives were intertwined with the three great generals of the unification of Japan: Oda Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, and Tokugawa Ieyasu. Toshiie eventually rose to become the second most powerful person in Japan, controlling fiefs producing an annual income, in modern terms, in excess of $600 million.

All told, there are something like 50 hour-long episodes in this series and, if what we’ve seen is any indication, every one is spectacular. While the historical details are certainly played with to some degree, I’m told that the portrayals of the major characters are very close to what historians consider an accurate standard and that the context of the series, the clothing, armor and weapons, personal interactions and manners, and overall portrayal of life for the bushi class are “spot-on.”

This series is already available in Asia on DVD, but with Chinese subtitles that don’t do most of us much good. Watch for it with English subtitles, because Toshiie to Matsu is not to be missed.

Semantics: Aikijutsu or Aikido?

When we trained within the Yamate-ryu, we understood the art to be a derivative of Daito-ryu and at that time the practice was described as aikijutsu. Because we no longer train in the Yamate-ryu, and because our practice has been considerably revised under the influence of Meik and Diane, and now Ellis, whose expertise in taijutsu is primarily in the area of aikido, we have decided from this point to use the more generic term of aikido to describe what we do.

Regardless of the label we attach to our in-house aikikai, we are most concerned in our training with proper, effective technique, and a syllabus that facilitates engaging practice and credible self-defense skills.