Kenjutsu basics seminar, 3-11/12-05 Cleveland, Ohio area

[Don Roley]

March 11th & 12th, 2005

Cleveland, Ohio Area

Luke Molitor, Happo Biken Menkyo Shihan

Kenjutsu Kihon Seminar

Jess Attilli of the Godaiko Dojo, and Jack Mann of the Kazoku Dojo will be hosting a two day seminar on aspects of kenjutsu and bikenjutsu taught by Luke Molitor of the Jigoku Dojo. Mr. Molitor has a vast amount of knowledge and experience in the Japanese warrior arts and ways, still has not returned some books he has borroweed from Don Roley and splits his time between Japan and Texas furthering his training under Soke Hatsumi Masaaki. He is also a trusted, personal student of Nagase Hiroshi, Someya Kenichi, and Nagato Toshiro as well as being ticklish. He was once foolish enough to try to bring a Chinese- made sword into Japan, but has never stood out in the cold for hours hoping to be seen on CNN. The Kukishin ryu is a complete Japanese feudal military system with its origins dating back over 600 years.

For More information on Luke Molitor and the Jigoku Dojo please go to: www.jigokudojo.com or ask Don Roley for the REAL story.

This seminar will encompass beginning techniques of etiquette, postures, movement, proper cutting, mindset, basic forms, and cutting practice - with the primary focus of the seminar being on the mechanics of cutting correctly, and specific drills to instill the correct feeling of the Kukishin ryu sword methods. There will be personal, hands on instruction for each participant at every level- especially if you are cute. At the end of instruction there will be an opportunity for tameshigiri, traditional test cutting practice, for students.

The entry fee will include a rolled and soaked target of tatami omote (rolled straw floor mats). More targets may be purchased in addition to what is provided. Additional targets are available, please contact us before the seminar. Due to the nature of the seminar attendance will be limited, so be sure to pre-register to reserve your place. Please bring a fukuroshinai (leather covered shinai), shinai, and/or bokken (wood training sword) for training. Live weapons used for tameshigiri must be inspected before the seminar starts. When you register, please inform us if you intend on bringing a live blade with you as well as your blood type.

For more details, please contact Jess Attilli at –

[email protected]

 

[Kizaru]

.... Japanese warrior arts and ways, still has not returned some books he has borroweed from Don Roley

Erotic magazines don't count as "books", lend at your own risk.

... also a trusted, personal student of Nagase Hiroshi, Someya Kenichi, and Nagato Toshiro as well as being ticklish.

Tee Hee!

He was once foolish enough to try to bring a Chinese- made sword into Japan,

Well, we can't all be as perfect as you...what kind of exam did you say you had to go through when bringing a Japanese sword into Japan???

Do I recall you not needing to eat bran flakes or any other kind of fiber for a month?

but has never stood out in the cold for hours hoping to be seen on CNN.

Who the heck would do that??!?!!?!

For More information on Luke Molitor and the Jigoku Dojo please go to: www.jigokudojo.com or ask Don Roley for the REAL story.

Okay. You've got my interest...tell us the REAL story...

....hands on instruction for each participant at every level- especially if you are cute.

So I guess that means you won't be getting any "hands on instruction"?

... When you register, please inform us if you intend on bringing a live blade with you as well as your blood type.

Blood type? Huh? Is that like a Japanese personality test or something?

 

[Dale Seago]

Erotic magazines don't count as "books", lend at your own risk.

I'm sure Luke will be happy to return those, as doesn't need them anymore anyhow: When he was last here, a couple of months ago, he wanted to see the sights of San Francisco so one of the dojo women took him to this neat place called The Power Exchange.

:boing2:

 

[Kurohana]

Attend if you can, I attended his Daikomyosi Seminar last weekend, and had a blast. Luke is very knowledgeable and some of what was taught turned on the "light" in my mind.

 

[Dale Seago]

It should also be noted that he's not just a sword guy!

 

[kenanderson]

Mr. Seago,

He's definitely not just a sword guy, although he is the best with a sword that I have ever witnessed either on video or in person. I have had the fortune of experiencing training with some very notable figures like Stephen Hayes, Phil Legare, Jeff Prather, and several others, and have found them all benefical in some way. But I have found Mr. Molitor to be far and away the best that I have trained with, not only in technical skill, movement, and knowledge, but also the feeling and heart he demonstrates in his training and teaching. If you have the opportunity to experience his teaching, take it. You can't do much better. Unless you can get Mr. Roley to come to America and have him bring his special reading material. But that is another type of training.

 

[Don Roley]

Unless you can get Mr. Roley to come to America and have him bring his special reading material. But that is another type of training.

Oh, and wouldn't you just love to be there as I explained that stuff to the customs guys?
:2xBird2:

But seriously, I think people should know something that is not touched on in the announcement modified slightly from the one at his site.

Many people learn something once from a trip to Japan and then turn around and teach it. Luke lived in Japan and went to Someya Dojo while he lived here. Someya is the guy to go to in order to learn sword. Week after week he saw sword stuff. Much of it was the same stuff taught as visitors came and went. With each class in a subject he got a deeper understanding. He saw me translate things over and over again and when I was not there he was the guy to do the translating.

I am sure if you ask Luke he will tell you to visit Someya to learn sword really well. But of course, he has seen the basics so often that what he has to teach and Someya really has no differences. And of course a trip to Ohio will be a lot less time and money than a trip to Japan.

 

[kenanderson]

Bump, bump. Only a few more days!

From the organizers:

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Hello all... The following swords will be available for sale at the Kenjutsu seminar... If you are interested contact me at [email protected] for details and prices...

Tsunami Katana 2
Practical Pro Katana 2
Musashi Katana 3
Golden Oriole Katana 3
Practical Plus Katana 3
Go Rin Iaito 28" 4
Shinto Katana 3

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On Thursday evening there will be a special class held in the Dayton area going over important uses of kamae in combat and battojutsu. Friday night there will be a special class in the Cleveland area on various topics and battojutsu. Contact me at [email protected] for more information.

----------------------------------------------------------

- Ken Anderson

 

[Don Roley]

So, did anyone go to the seminar here? And did anyone talk to Molitor about getting the books he borrowed from me back?

 

[kenanderson]

I heard the seminar was sold out, was a terrific experience, and an enormous success. Everyone who attended had a very positive experience. Ben Cole was one of the judans that attended and in a post on another forum he wrote about aspects of the seminar. I've cut and pasted it here for people to read. It gives some insight into how the seminar went:

Ben Cole wrote:


Training with Hatsumi-sensei is giving you a taste of the banana. It may take 30 more years of training to be able to replicate the taste, but Hatsumi-sensei probably will not be with us for 30 more years.

When asked why he would not allow video recording in his dojo, Nagato-sensei said something like, "This (pointing to his head) is your video tape and your eyes are your camera. Budo has always been taught like that. Martial arts prospered and were passed down for centuries before the invention of video. This (pointing to his head again) is better than video. You can watch your teacher over and over in your head, whenever you wish. That is how martial arts have always been taught."

Although I am no longer in Soke's presence every week, I still watch that video in my mind every time I move. "Is this what Soke would look like?", "Is this what Soke would feel like?" I ask myself.

There are numerous people who have become fantastic at Taijutsu despite only annual or biannual trips to Japan. Their mental video cameras were rolling in Japan, they went home, and ACTUALLY PRACTICED what they had seen.

Let me give you a brief example. This last weekend, I attended Luke Molitor's "Kenjutsu Basics Seminar" in Cleveland. Luke has become frighteningly good at the sword since we parted ways in Japan a few years back. Imagine my (pleasant) surprise to see that he moves identically with a sword as Someya-sensei! Clearly, that movement did not come solely from his time in Japan. Luke has continued to travel to Japan when he can, but it is his time AWAY from Japan that has been instrumental in his growth, imo. (BTW, I HIGHLY recommend this seminar to everyone in the Bujinkan, even for people who have had years of sword. It's absolutely fantastic!)

Now, the seminar was only twelve hours of "material" (before tameshigiri). But despite that short burst of information, to really understand what Luke was talking about this weekend, ANYONE would have to spend about two years of dedicated training time to really "get it," in my opinion.

The question one must ask is, "Am I willing to spend the two years to learn what Luke was trying to teach me?"

The answer to this question determines whether one will go to a sword seminar offered by Moti or Arnaud or whomever else is teaching sword seminars these days.

While one could argue that you would prefer full exposure to all these people before hunkering down to practice what makes them all the same, the question then morphs into, "At what point do I stop attending sword seminars and dig down into what I already have?"

Until these questions are answered, one never is able to absorb what these teachers are truly teaching.

So this brings us back to these short trips in Japan. As I said, there are many people who have become just as good (and arguably BETTER, imo) than some of the people who live and train in Japan. This is because they go to Japan for correction and inspiration, come home and actually WORK on what they saw there. Just when they think they've "got it," they head back to Japan for verification. They realize some of what they've been doing is correct, and some is wrong. They then return home and work on what was wrong.

Having been back in the States for four and a half years now, I can honestly say that it took me about four years to digest what I had seen in Japan... (I've confirmed this "half-life" phenomenon with a few other long-termers who have sinced returned home.) When living and training in Japan, it is just overwhelming to be in Soke's presence, and the training never stops. No time to digest.

If Luke can give the participants in his 12-hour seminar enough material for two years worth of training, then clearly Soke can, too. Certainly, meeting up with Luke every six months or so would help to right one's wrongs. But I doubt training with him every week would allow one to fully digest what he was teaching. One COULD say the same thing about Soke.

For those living and training in Japan, three to four days in between sessions with Soke is simply not enough time to digest. This goes for people who train with other Shihan in an attempt to digest. It simply is an imperfect solution to an issue that only time can resolve.

I am more and more of the opinion that large gaps between meeting one's teacher are not as detrimental as I once believed. This is contingent, of course, on how people train during those gaps. This is why the "eyes to see Budo" are so important. They assure that you are working on the right thing.

Returning to Luke's seminar, there was a point when Luke was teaching a downward cut from Daijodan. Luke would lean in with the lead knee, opening the hips, then bring the back foot forward as the cut came down. Clearly, Luke was not "stepping" from the back leg. His rear foot was merely moving where it was supposed to go, naturally.

The problem was that a quick scan of the room revealed that only two other people saw the point about the connection between the hips and the foot. People were happily stepping and swinging away, completely oblivious to the way the foot was moving. They were missing a key point to the entire cut!

Luke and I spoke about the issue, and he re-emphasized the point on more than one occasion. Some people understood. Others were oblivious.

Those who understood the hip-foot mechanics are the types who can actually work on Luke's material without much supervision. They could meet Luke once every six to twelve months to smooth out the bumps, but would be generally alright. They have all the tools necessary to become very good, just as Luke has done.

Those who do not understand the hip-foot mechanics are the types who would NOT benefit from digestion time UNLESS they kept playing that video tape in their heads. "Luke said something about bending the knee and letting gravity place the foot naturally. Let me see. He looked kinda like this."

It is only in this way that these individuals COULD SOMEDAY have an epiphany about the hips. They may notice that the knee bend opens the hips, which provides the natural line for the foot. If they cannot play the mental video or recall these key points, the danger is clearly there that bad habits will become ingrained without direct supervision.

As with all training, there is a tradeoff. These are just some of my thoughts on the "time between corrections" by a teacher and the role of mental videos in reinforcing and guiding one toward epiphany.

Your mileage may vary.

-ben

- Ken Anderson

 

[kenanderson]

Sorry Mr. Roley, I don't know anything more about your "books."

- Ken Anderson