July 18, 2003 practice
Takeuchi-ryu: It was kind of a big class. We had three people: Scott, Joel and Chris; who was back from the Mainland. We did a quick warm up and then went through some atemi: uraken, nukite, shuto, shomengeri, seiken. Then we did Kogusoku #1 and #2, and jujutsu: Tsukigaeshi Muso. After regular training, I showed Joel and Chris how to hold a bokken and Kenjutsu Saide #1 Makko mengiri.

Iaido: It was kind of a big class tonight for iaido too, so we had to focus on basics for the beginners. We had a new student show up beginning from tonight, Efran. We focused on kihon, Seitei Iai #1, #2 and #3.

Reminder: No class next week due to a PTA meeting at the community center, but a final class for this summer the following week, and then we take our August break.

Thoughts: It was certainly better to have more people training in Takeuchi-ryu. But if it gets any bigger, we will have to find a bigger location and perhaps a place with mats, too. Iai too may need a bigger room, especially when the beginners obtain iaito and use them instead of bokken.

July 11, 2003 practice
Takeuchi-ryu: A quick warm up, then we went through some drills: jumping and switching feet, and atemi: uraken, shomengeri, seiken, yokogeri, shuto, nukite, strike to suigetsu. Then tehodoki (breaking grips) and jujutsu: komidare no kata: 1. Kote gaeshi, 2. Kata hiji otoshi, kumi-uchi #2: tezaru. Shinbo bojutsu: kihon and #1: shitabarai.

Iaido: meditation. Practice on their own. I worked with the two beginners on Seitei iai kata #2, Ushiro. Then we did Seitei Iai #1 and #2 as a group, and finished with massage.

Thoughts: The Takeuchi-ryu students are learning fast now but I think it is because I have tried to focus more on teaching just a couple of techniques each night and focusing on them, and teaching a lot of basics, kihon, and movements before the actual kata. I talked about how Kancho said jujutsu is a lot of "feinto," or feinting, going one way to make the person want to go another way, which is where you want him to go in the first place.

The older iai students need to focus more on basics (kamae, focus, etc.). They know a lot of kata but still have to have their stances and basic strikes worked on. It is neverending.

July 7, 2003
There was no practice last week,July 4, as all members were informed, due to the annual Mo'ili'ili Hongwanji Bon Odori Dance, which is held on the grounds of the Mo'ili'ili Community Center.

Wayne and Clark's Excellent Adventure
Clark and I are still recovering from our trip to Japan in June 2003. For one week we were involved in various Urasenke Tea Ceremony events, in Kyoto and Tokyo. For another week, both of us were off on our own individual ways and also went together to train a couple of times at the Butokuden and Choufukan Dojo. We also met a fellow Takeuchi-ryu American student in Tokyo, Andii Antis, and his lovely friend, Naoko. I saw some old friends, one of whom I hadn't really seen or talked to in over a decade, and we had a lot of excellent food of all sorts!

Wayne (left front), Clark (right front), and the former grand tea master of Urasenke, Sen Soshitsu XV Daisosho (standing, right). Standing left is a student of tea from Beijing, China, studying at the Urasenke Gakuen in Kyoto, Japan, Laurie Wong and Tammy Yoshikawa from Hawai'i, and a tea student from Kyoto.

There were so many wonderful moments, it's hard to pick any single one or two out as very special. But a partial list can indicate how packed the itinerary was:

I went on a day trip walking and bicycling, to see the ancient burial tumuluses in the Kashiawara and Asuka areas, south of Nara, and spent a great time in the Kashiwara Archealogical Museum. I visited Nara and walked throught its main temples and the Nara National Museum, toured some favorite sites of Kyoto, visited a friend's grave at Koetsuji Temple and had tea with the head priest's wife in a chashitsu overlooking the temple gardens, trained with the Choufukan dojo mates and iaido at the Kyoto Budo Center, visited the Raku Ceramics Museum and met the current head of the Raku tradition, Raku Kichizaemon, visited Sen No Rikyu's (the founder of the Sen schools of tea) grave in Daitokuji, had tea at Konnichian (the headquarters of Urasenke tea), attended a lecture/demo by Otake Risuke sensei of the Tenshin Shoden Katori Shinto-ryu school of martial arts, saw a special exhibit of esoteric Buddhist artifacts at the Kyoto National Museum from Koyasan, had shojin ryori food at Ikkyu; a restaurant near Daitokuji, had Kyoto traditional food at Minoko; a teahouse (chatei) a few yards from Yasaka Shrine, had the best pickled foods at Junidanya, visited the Tokugawa Museum in Nagoya, went to Sengakuji (the burial place of the 47 Ronin), attended an investiture ceremony for the new grand tea master of Urasenke; Zabosai Oiemoto, at Meiji Shrine, was at the special Kanto area banquet for Zabosai at the New Otani Hotel which featured a celebratory dance by the master of the Kongo Noh school and a speech by the Prime Minister of Japan, Koizumi Junichiro...And that ain't the half of it!!!!