Kenjutsu Training

[Ronald R. Harbers]

Just wanted to know if anyone out there could share a few training techniques or a few little hints that may have helped you improve over time.

 

[AaronLucia]

I don't study strictly Kenjutsu but iv'e played with the sword. From what iv'e seen and learned so far, i feel it is extremely helpful to just play with the sword. Put it in your belt and roll with it, unsheath it frome every angle, try everything you can think of. Remember what works and what doesn't.

But best of all, have fun with it.

 

[Charles Mahan]

Umm... right. Anyway. Find qualified instruction. It's out there if you want it bad enough. Anything else is just playing around.

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

Agreed. But I must tell you all of my predicament. I am stuck out here in rural Texas and must rely upon training videos. I do get to go the California next summer for instruction, and Japan in the summer of 06' with Dwayne Tarver Sensei.

I have been studing "Muso Jikiden Eishen Ryu" under Brett Denison Sensei out of Colorado. He has been very helpful in informing me about the history of the Japanese Sword arts, and his website has many videos that are excellent. I'm looking forward to some seminars by Walt Bushey Sensei and Sekiguchi Komei Soke. That may be a saving grace. Hopefully I will get a training partner soon.

I am proficent in 8 cuts so far and 1 Kata, which I practice daily, morning and evening. I was just hoping that some of you who are experienced could let me in on some training techniques. There has to be something that each person has discovered along the "way" that they may be willing to pass along to another. Example: I am able to practice my cuts by thrashing accross my 6.5 acres here in Peeltown. Believe me, my legs become like rubber after a while. Anyway, I am having fun, training hard and l have lost 25 lbs., and still enjoy all the high carbohydrate foods I love.

Thanks ahead of time.

Ronny Ray:asian:

 

[Charles Mahan]

I can sympathize with your location issues, but sadly there is no real substitute for qualified instruction. There is Komei Jyuku MJER in Lubbock and Seitokai/ZNIR MJER in Denton, San Antonio and Houston.

I assume you are in the Peeltown down in Kaufman county? Your closest MJER instruction is actually our dojo up in Denton. It's a bit of a drive(83 miles), but it's certainly closer than Lubbock, Colorado, and Japan. You wouldn't be our most distant student. Ray-sensei is a nanadan-kyoshi and trained for 10 years in Chiba at the Yamashita dojo before returning to the US in '91. Ray-sensei is the senior exponent of MJER(Seitokai) in the country.

Check us out at http://www.dentondojo.com

If you can get to Fort Worth this sunday, we have a demonstration scheduled for noon at the Japanese Gardens as part of their Fall Festival. http://www.fwbg.org/calendar.htm#10 We will likely look a bit different than the Komei Jyuku guys, but probably not all that much. You are early enough in your training that the transition between the branches would be fairly trivial I should think if you decided to join us.

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

I agree about the instruction part. How I envy others. Learning by video is difficult, but not impossible. It requires more dedication and commitment than you would think. Well, right now it is all I have. My goal is to practice all of my cuts and katas 10,000 times each. I keep a practice journal as a record.

I am already committed to California and Japan, but would dearly love to visit Denton and train with some highly motivated people. I will make every effort to visit your dojo some day soon. Do you accept students for a week at a time? I could vacation in Denton this spring. As far as transition goes, I could do it. Iaijutsu seems to represent an attitude in every respect as aggressive, equally forceful and threatening as Kenjutsu.

Brett Denison Sensei operates the "Muzukan Dojo" in Aurora Colorado. He has an excellent web site, www.muzukan.org, and I think you will be impressed. From comparing both of your histories, I think you and he have much in common.

I already know about your web site and have visited. Thanks for the tip about Ft. Worth. I will speak to the CFO in our family and see if she is up to a trip to the Japanese Gardens. Sounds like fun. It's a long trip though.

Let me know if you are conducting any training seminars next year. I'm hoping to sign up. Wisdom lies in a multitude of counselors, and my counselors always get a fee.

Thanks,
Ronny Ray:asian:

 

[AnimEdge]

We (as in my Ninjutsu School) are also planing on doing something in the gardens maybe we could battle

BUt yep i agree that videos are ok but far from thebest way of leaning your art, i guess the stirkes and kata are ok but ifyour doing it wrong and not know it that 10,000 might mess you up for awail(bad habits)

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

It would be highly destructive to engage in sword combat, but I would dearly love to see some Ninjutsu demonstration! When will your style be at the gardens?

I have to test by DVD every 6 months to correct any bad habits. Like I say it's not the best way, but a good way. Right now my only way.

 

[Charles Mahan]

I can tell you for sure, that you cannot learn anything meaningful via video. Even with video testing. I've been studying MJER for 7 years now, and I've been assisting with instruction for the last year or so. If you take what little you have learned so far and spend a lot of time drilling them, there's a significant chance of doing more harm than good by committing bad habbits to muscle memory.

Is that Denison-sensei in the video on the website? I could not find any information concerning how long he's been training or under what circumstances. Does he have any rank that you know of? His Iai looks... different than I am used too. I would strongly recommend finding a way to get into the festival on Sunday. I think you will be suprised at the differences between what I saw on the video and what we look like.

AnimEdge, I suspect that there will not be an oppurtunity for us to... battle, but if I am at the festival at the time of your demo I may stop by to watch.

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

Thanks Charles. I will try to get over to the gardens Sunday.

As for my Kenjutsu, I will just have to be satisfied until someone opens a school in Kaufman or Kemp. I am having fun, learning more than I knew before and getting into great shape. I just love what I'm doing.

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

One other thing I forgot. Go to the home page and klick on "background". That will answer you question. Thanks again.

 

[Charles Mahan]

One other thing I forgot. Go to the home page and klick on "background". That will answer you question. Thanks again.

Actually no. It didn't answer my question at all. It only says:

I'm a student of Yamauchi-Ha Muso Jikiden Eishin-ryu Iaijutsu under Sekiguchi Komei Sensei (21st Head of the Ryuha).

That's not just a whole lot to go on. It doesn't tell me how long he has been training in MJER, how often he has been able to train under Komei-sensei, whether or not he has any kind of teaching license, rank...

Are you having to pay for this training? If so do you mind me asking how much?

In answer to your earlier question, yes we do have occasional seminars, but they are not open to the general public. Very little can really be learned by occasional seminar attendance. We hold them as a boost to our regular training and generally only when Tanida-sensei visits from Japan or during an even where all the instructors in our style meet in Denton once a year.

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

I do not pay for training. Denison Sensei has been sending me articles on Iaijutsu, Kenjutsu and other Martial Arts that he has written. He knows a lot of history. I have been having a great time learning.

 

[J. Lee]

For tsuki : hang a small tire by rope and from different kamaes attack ;
after a short time swing the tire and develop better accuracy .

j lee

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

Thanks J. Lee. Can you elaborate more?

 

[J. Lee]

If you do not have a small tire , place a small paper or sticker on your wall & practice piercing for accuracy .
Vary the distance and kamae , BUT always work for accuracy ,
before speed.
It can be paper rolled up with tape- hung by a string from your ceiling
j lee

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

So I should go inside the tire without striking it? Then swing the tire to improve accuracy? I'll get right on it.

 

[Charles Mahan]

J. Lee,

What style do you study? Sounds like Backyard Ryu to me.

 

[Ronald R. Harbers]

Lee: Charles does not qualify anyone not in his Ryu! Do not be discouraged. He's a good guy and Sensei Ray is among the best in the world! We are just talking about training methods.

 

[Charles Mahan]

Again you mischaracterize me. Self training is generally discouraged because it can be dangerous, but more importantly because real training is available for most. What people do in their own time in their backyards really isn't my concern, but when people start passing off their own made up stuff as real training techniques in a public forum, then it becomes fair game.