Japanton – Chronicles of Anton in Japan!

I have them.  We are still putting the DVD together so nothing on that front.  I will keep those who were there up to date on that.  I will probably sell them on the site for those who were not there.

Yeah Taijutsu

In short it was awesome. The long explanation, I have a lot of work to do.

Lubos brings with him a unique feeling of Japan that I would challenge you to get from any other ‘non resident’. The control which he exhibits, his use of space and natural movement is incredible. The feeling of reality in his techniques is terrifying. Mastering what he has to show will raise your taijutsu to a new level.

For those of you who attended, please work on what he has shown so that we can try to keep that feeling and apply it from to our taijutsu. We were lucky enough to cover ukemi (receiving) right through to kenjutsu, bojutsu and tanto (sword skills, staff kills and knife work). I know there is some sharing that needs to take place for those who didn’t make it to the Thursday and Friday night classes. I will do my best to make it down to Calgary for some training in the next few weeks, that is if I am welcome.

Special shout out to Bujinkan Manitoba for supporting the seminar. There has already been some feedback on the seminar, but I look forward to hearing more from those who attended. Your feedback after all is what make me think that people might actually read what I have to say from time to time.

Yes Lubos is here.  With him he brought monstrous taijutsu.  Let me explain if I could by compareing Lubos to a certain Bearded shihan that I know.  When you are attacking this Bearded Shihan, it’s like you are attacking a Battleship with a slingshot (See top 10 giant movie monsters).  When you are attacking Lubos, it is like you are fighting a war of attrition and he is not.  You loose every weapon that you attack him with and never get it back.  There is an understanding of controlling the Kukan which is just unreal.

Let me put it another way.  Looking at Lubos do techniques is just like looking at Hatsumi Sensei without experiencing his feeling.  You would swear what he is doing is garbage.  It can’t be seen, only felt.  It is unfortnate that he is not better known around the world.  It is a real loss to Bujinkan budo taijutsu not having a teacher/practitioner of his caliber spreading this information.

Anyhow more on this seminar after I write that book review.  Which means this weekend I will read through the Kevin Book again and give you my opinion.

The Lubos Pokorny seminar will soon be upon us.  So this is just a friendly reminder, let me know if you are planning on attending and if you need a place to stay.  I will look for some of his videos online and post them so you can see some of his stuff.  Suffice to say, I like the cut of his jib.

Anton

Just a little history, Kevin Millis is the first Bujinkan Shihan I had ever met.  That was back in early 1999.  Had I not met him, I would not know that Bujinkan Techniques worked.  As such I would not have stayed in this art.  9 years later it was interesting to see how far we have both come.

We did a lot of weapons basics.  That was great, I enjoyed the details.  Rather than going over the kata (which we can all find in a book released by sensei), Kevin went through the way of using your hands and feet, the methods of drawing the sword, how to handle rope.  This was probably my favorite Kevin seminar to date.

Lastly I got a book I had been waiting for since 2001 at a Fort McMurray seminar.  A book by Kevin, “Attributes of a Budoka”.  I will do my best to write a review on that as well when I am done reading it.

So, no class on Sunday due to a Kevin Millis seminar.  I recommend that anyone who can attend.  It will start at 2 PM on Saturday at Millennium place in Sherwood Park.  I believe it is 10 AM to start on Sunday.  Kevin will be bringing with him a book, which I have been waiting for since 2001.  It is on the qualities that you need to be an effective martial artist.  He has told me the reason it took so long is that he changed it from basically a list with details to a book with exercises that help build these qualities.

Anyhow make sure to attend the cost is $125 for two days $90 for one.

This past weekend my friends in Calgary hosted Rob Renner for a seminar.  The material covered was excellent, and the atmosphere was a lot of fun.  For all of those who missed it, you missed out on a great seminar.

One of the primary reasons why I enjoy training with Rob so much is that he reminds us why we train in the Bujinkan.  If he feels that there is something lacking in the training, he will find the missing information from Hatsumi sensei or one of the shihan.  It is easy to have something not work and blame the art.  It is much more difficult to say that you must seek out the answer within the art.

I will also add, he is one of the instructors who will show you that it works.  I recommend that if you are feeling a bit discouraged in where your training is heading, contact Rob next time you are in Japan and go to his kita matsudo classes.  It is a good experience.

I just got back from the first Ever Canadian Tai Kai.  It was a great deal of fun and I will recommend it to others.  There are teachers from whom I enjoyed learning immensely.  I have much to work on and even more to consider for my training.

I will also add that Shawn Gray was missed.  It’s unfortunate that he could not make it to Tai Kai.  Fortunately he is willing to make a trip to Alberta to do a seminar for us.

The theme for the seminar was unity in the Canadian Bujinkan community.  I hope that is a lesson that all who were there take seriously and bring home.

     This past weekend the club on the west end hosted a Darren Cliffe seminar.  I was only able to attend one day.  We did many drills which were interesting.  A type that I had  not seen before in a martial arts setting.  Thanks to Darren for coming to do the seminar and to Natasha for hosting it.

There has been many questions as to when there will be another Bill Atkins seminar in Canada.  The truth is I don’t know, you can be sure that if Bill has the time to visit us in Edmonton (or Calgary) I would be glad to host him.  This said due to how busy Bill has been in the last while he has not had the time to visit us.  Hopefully the situation will change soon.

First if you guys could let me know what a good date for a Doug Wilson seminar would be. So far as far as seminars go there is Rob Renner in Calgary (April), Lubos P. in Edmonton (September) and Doug Wilson in Edmonton (?).

Also an update on Tickets to Japan, so far the best price that I have found is $985. I hope to do better so I will keep everyone informed.

Lastly I have the new domain www.edmonton-bujinkan.com to which I will move the club site. I am still trying to sort out the hosting details but I will let you know when the transfer happens. I would like to attract a few more people to the club. I don’t see any harm in having a large club filled with like minded people who are interested in Martial arts as opposed to sports.