BUJINKAN HOUSTON DOJO

Up Coming Seminars

WOW 12 years already

Well it is time for the 12th OFB (Old Friends of the Bujinkan)

I can't believe it has been 12 years.

It will be held on Feb. 18th and 19th of 2012. Saturday we start at 10 and end at 5:30 to 6 then go eat. Sunday starts at noon till 4 then dinner at Tenchi. The cost is $100 at the door or $80 if paid by 11th of Feb.

The date has been set for Feb 18th and 19th for the 12th OFB

The Bujinkan Houston Dojo is proud to announce the OFB 12 (Old
Friends of the Bujinkan), 2012 Featuring 4 Texas Shihan

Where: Eternal Martial Arts
11202 Steeplecrest Dr.
Houston, TX 77065
281-807-0037 fax: 281-807-5595
Host: Mark Harper

Guest Instructors:
Shihan Rich Cearley, Shihan Joseph Adriance, and Shihan Brian Tritico and Shihan Raj Yadav
Items to bring:
training gun, 3 ft. and 10ft. rope, training knife, rubber shuriken,
hanbo, bo, shoto, and bokken.

We will have dinner on Saturday night at 6:00 and a late lunch on
Sunday so bring a snack.
For more info and questions contact:

Mark Harper
bujinkandojo@ comcast.net
We will have some books, tapes, DVD's and training equipment for
sale during the seminar.

KIHON HAPPO SEMINAR WITH SHIHAN SHAWN GRAY

The weekend of May 21st and 22nd Bujinkan Sanami Dojo will be honored to be hosting Shihan Shawn Gray for his 3rd trip to Austin. Last year was his first seminar in Houston with Rich Cearley and was a great success. This is always a great insight into the training in Japan. Shawn Gray is an outstanding and humble practitioner of the art, he is also a great inspiration ...to myself as well as a wonderful representative of the Bujinkan organization. A bio, exact times, cost, as well as topic will be posted shortly. Contact Sanami dojo or Duff Culp for more details. 512-773-9952.

Directly from Shawn Gray

The topic of this seminar will be my interpretation of Kihon Happo as done in past years in Japan, with influences from training with Sensei in Japan this year. We'll be starting with "by-the-book" versions of the 8 techniques from the written densho and will then explore variations with and without weapons as homework exercise...s based on current training in Japan.

WEAPONS TO BRING: SWORD, SHOGE, BO

Shihan Gray--Bujinkan Gray Dojo Japan

Shawn left behind 10 years of Karate and Kendo to begin Bujinkan training in Canada after returning from a 1-year stay in Japan in 1990. After a training visit in 1995, he relocated to Japan permanently in January of 1997. Shawn passed the godan test in January of 1999, and in 2000 at the urging of Hatsumi sensei established a dojo, the first Bujinkan dojo in Japan led by a civilian foreigner. Shawn has regularly served as interpreter for Dr. Hatsumi and has translated much of Sensei's writing into English. He has been regularly invited to give seminars in Europe , North America , and Asia.

Cost for the seminar:
$100 for both days
$60 for one day

Time: Beginning Saturday morning at 10:00am to 5:30pm with a one hr break at 1:30 for lunch
If you are interested? There will be a dinner planned at Maudies Mexican cantina Saturday night at 8:00pm. Please contact me so you don't have to wait and we can reserve enough space for everyone.
Sunday will run from 10:00am to 4:00pm lunch at 1pm

The Eleventh OFB Feb. 12th and 13th

The eleventh OFB 2011 was great! Joseph taught both days in memorial of his daughter who died unexpectedly last year. The OFB started as a donation to my son who is blind, a quadriplegic with many other problems. We honored Joseph's Daughter by donating all the proceeds to help cover her funeral expenses.

Joseph is one of the best Shihan in the Bujinkan in my opinion and has been a great friend for the last 30 years. Thank you Joseph for being my friend and mentor.

Saturday we did, Ninjutsu or Ninpo as a kakuto-jutsu that is a true science of survival and combat born of necessity to predict and protect one from danger.

It was down dirty and to the nitty gritty of combat situations. He taught like the Texas Tiger he really is. With very few brakes he showed many ways to deal with real life attacks, including knife, stick, chain, sword and empty hand. We started Saturday at 9:00am with basic attacks and went on from there. His movement was smooth with no wasted motion. He added weapons as the techniques allowed and were about the same with each weapon.

We broke for a quick lunch at Jason's deli then back to training. It was very fast paced like in Japan with a few tries with each technique then on to the next. Luckily I had gotten a new high definition video camera so it will be availably for future study. We ended at 5:00 so the dojo could have a kids lock in for valentines day and went to a buffet for dinner and great conversation. We had students from as far away as Florida and from Louisiana and all over Texas. It was fun seeing Jay from Florida as he started training with me in 1990 when he was 13 and has really grown in his training.

Joe and a few others met at Denny's on Sunday morning before training started. We got a late start as the dojo is rented out Sunday mornings for a church group. I asked for Spear and Sword and Joseph delivered big time. Unlike most seminars Joseph showed Ancient warfare from a ninjutsu perspective. We broke into 2 groups and discussed strategy, attacks and defenses. Each side had a General and each side talked about how to overcome their opponents. We did several tries for each part and discussed having a general or skilled fighter and how they were dealt with from the other side. Then the fun started. Joseph picked a few from each side and they were mercenaries or spies(ninjas) who attacked their own side. After a while no one knew who to trust. It was great seeing someone changing sides or using the upstairs to launch shuriken attacks on their own side or the other side. It really showed how ancient and modern warfare happens when the fight starts. Chaos ruled during each clash. I was very happy no one was hurt as they were using my iron bo's and other weapons. There were many cuts and bruises but that helped everyone understand what happens in war and in a fight. One thing that stuck out in my mind was Joseph talking about with all the rules and padding in sport combat, no one gets the hits, bumps and bruises in a real fight. He stated, get over the jarring of an attack and finish the fight.

A great weekend overall. Some of us went to Tenchi for a nice Japanese dinner and everyone was off to their homes to practice what we learned.

I can't wait till the next seminar in May with Shawn Gray and the Texas Shidoshi seminar this summer.

Mark

The Shawn Gray seminar last weekend was great. We had people from Austin and as far away as Denver come learn from a very skilled Shihan. He started Saturday with rolling and different ways than I have seen. Then he went over Geryaku No Maki, aspects of the Ten Chi Jin. I loved the progression and the variations in movement as well as the similarities from one tech. to the next. Shawn has a way of demonstrating and explaining so everyone understood. I also noticed later in the day he had to correct people less and less as they "got " it. He also went over Tachi and explained it was different from Katana as it was older and from horseback fighting and has a more curved blade to go at different angles to get under armor. I found it very interesting. We went out to a buffet for dinner and had some nice conversations as to what is it like to live in Japan.
Sunday we again went over some rolls and then did Muto Dori. Many of the movements he showed Saturday, were applicable to the sword attacks we did Sunday. I noticed everyone had plenty of energy for the whole weekend and I think it was due to Shawn imparting his understanding of taijutsu.
I know I have a few years worth of training out of this seminar. I did video the seminar so I have a study guide for this years practice. Shawn will be back next year so we can continue to learn from one of the best Shihan I have had the opportunity to train with. Thanks to Rich Cearley and Joe Altemus for sponsoring Shawn.

__________________

Shihan Greg Kowalski Seminar May 15th 2010

Shihan Greg Kowalski started Saturday morning with the first kata from Koto Ryu, his knowledge of the ryu was in depth and the combat applications and henka were great. As with many old school instructors he went around helping each participant then let many show what they learned. As he corrected or commented on each the next pair did it better till we all had new insights into the ryu. He also asked Rich and Brian for their input on the techniques he showed. Normally we end Saturday at 5 or 6 but everyone wanted to "keep going" so we ended at 7:30, then headed to dinner. We heard what it was like back in the 80's in Japan and being one of the only foreigners living and training at that time.

Sunday we were going to do more Koto Ryu but George was worried it will rain in Austin next weekend so we decided to do Naginata on Sunday here and do the second part of the Koto Ryu in Austin.

After almost 29 years in the Bujinkan it was fun to really learn the basic cuts, blocks and kata associated with that weapon. I had made some extra Naginata and long weapons but we did not have enough so I trained the first half of the day with a 20 pound Bisen Toh. You really had to use taijutsu to use it safely with your training partner and to keep from breaking his weapon. It helped me move correctly without making too big a movements. Others tried the Bisen Toh after that so I got to use a Naginata and it was light as a tooth pick. Greg discussed the differences between spear, kama yari and the curved blade of the naginata and demonstrated many variations.

He also discussed the modern Naginata school he studied and compared it with the Naginata training in the Bujinkan and other battlefield schools that still teach it.

We all asked Greg to come back next year and I hope he will have the time to share more with all of us.

Greg will be teaching in Liberty Hill near Austin May 22nd and 23rd if you missed Houston or want to continue where we left off don't miss next weekend.

for more information go to: http://www.facebook.com/shovelG?v=wall#!/event.php?eid=115017171842145

Joseph Adriance schedule

Contact Joseph for more information. Bujinkan Tetsushi dojo

January 2010 we will start the kids class for kids from 6 till 16 years old. It will be from 7:15 till 8:15 on Monday nights taught by Mark and Jessica.

The new dojo is great almost the same floor size as the old gym but with a harder floor. I bought some mats for hard throws. There is a full kitchen and several day care rooms, a stage and a balcony. The back has a field we can train in and the bayou behind the fence.

	Kids Classes are 7:15 till 8:15 Monday nights taught By Mark Harper and Jessica Harper. Adult classes are from 7:15 till 10:15 Monday nights taught by Shihan Rich Cearley.