Japanton – Chronicles of Anton in Japan!

So it is time for me to put on a seminar.  I should say it’s about time I put on a seminar regarding material that I saw in Japan.  It will be held at the club on December 8th and 9th.  Cost will be $50 Canadian.  Specific topics covered, well let me think about that for a while.  Fact of the matter is there is a lot of stuff (concepts) that I brought home with me this time.  Some of it I was told outright, some of it I experienced and sat scratching my head trying to understand what happened.
With some joint work between myself and some friends  we were able to come up with some exercises based on the techniques.  So if this sounds like something that would interest you then stop on by that weekend to do some training.

We will start at 10 AM both days and go until everyone looks tired or I run out of things to do.  Information will be on the site soon.

    I am back home safe and sound and managed to make it to work as well.  Now I have to figure out how to share what I have learned effectively.  Also how not to lose the feeling from Japan before my next trip in May.  All of those who are interested in that trip send me an email with possible dates.

I made some very good contacts in Japan and arranged for quite the seminar lineup if everything works according to plan.  The visitors will hopefully be (not in any particular order) Doug Wilson, Rob Renner, Lubos Pokorny and Shawn Gray.   With some luck that list will expand.  I will let everyone know when I have specific dates for these seminars.  I must warn you all for the distance the Lubos must travel his seminar will be more expensive than seminars in the past, Doug and Rob will be easy because to make the deal sweeter I can pay them in Canadian Dollars.

With that I am off to get some rest, my productivity has been sorely lacking today.

Attended a Kevin Millis seminar over the weekend.  There was lots of good information shared at that seminar.   The highlight though was Brad V. back on the floor.  As many readers know the head instructor of the club across town suffered an injury which left him unable to teach.  He is now at a point that although he can not stand, he is able to preform some of the seated techniques from shinden fudo ryu.  It was great to see.  I eagerly await his full recovery and know that the feeling is the same with all Budo practitioners in Edmonton.  Brad your Fudo Shin is an example to us all.

Had a lot of fun at the seminar.  Working on getting DVDs for those who attended.  Finally a break from stress though.  Thank goodness, I can work on my own training and planning for Japan.  It will be a nice change of pace.  Also need to setup the upcoming Randy seminar series.

That’s right the Rob Renner seminar is this weekend. Hope everyone is ready. Or rather I hope that everyone shows up cause if you don’t, a world of hurt for everyone next class. I mean what other choice do I have?

I managed to attend one day of the Doug Wilson seminar in Seattle. Flights back from Seattle arrive around midnight in Edmonton. This makes getting to work on time difficult. It was a fun seminar besides the constant jokes at my expense. If I had feelings they might have been hurt.

Material covered was, well pick a kata from Kukishinden Ryu and try to move more freely with it. It was of course emphasized that you can only do this with a firm understanding of the basics. Doug felt quite strongly about visiting Japan and moving away from the 80’s style budo. At what point should you try to adopt this free movement that Soke has been showing for the last 10 to 15 years? I don’t know and Doug would not tell me. I am sure if you visit his blog at http://henka.wordpress.com he might have it hidden in there like some type of insidious Budo Da Vinci Code.

Anyhow no pictures from the seminar, since it was done by a Ten Chi Jin dojo, they like to keep themselves low key. If you are showing up to class for training and want to see what I got from the seminar just ask and I will do my best to transmit the feeling that I received from Doug.

Had a chance to train with Doug Wilson, a resident of Japan. He is very good and I learnt a lot from him. He is also one of the translators. I was introduced to Hatsumi sensei, the grandmaster of the art for those who don’t know. Hatsumi sensei said that he remembered me. Doug went on to say that I was attending a seminar in Seattle that he was putting on. So now I am stuck going to Seattle in August. I probably still would have gone, I just would have liked for it to be my choice but I did get put in the lime light for just one brief moment so it’s OK.

I have money now because the post offices are open. I will finish paying for the hotel for the time that Cliff and I are sharing a room. Once the room is taken care of it’s just budgeting so that I don’t get carried away and buy too much stuff to bring home with me. The only promise that I know I can (and must) keep is the kimono for Alice. Mainly because I promised her and also because she was trying to help me setup remote access. She did her part I failed miserably but maybe tomorrow I will figure it out.

More pictures on the way shortly, if anyone has requests of stuff they want pictures of in Japan, send me an email through the contact list above. If not I will just keep doing what I am doing. Peace.

Usually when I attend a seminar out of town I go to the location of the seminar and get a hotel or stay by a friends house. This time I had the bright idea that it would be cheaper to drive to Calgary in the morning and home at night for both days. This would have been good if I did not get sick. The ride home Saturday night and the trip both ways on Sunday was a painful experience. But in the end I saved money on the hotel so I guess it was all worth it.

During the seminar we did some exercises based on the martial art Hoshin Ryu Jutaijutsu. This is an art that was created by the late Dr. Glenn Morris. It focuses primarily on the internal aspects of the martial arts. The first day was centered primarily on meditation and how it applies to martial techniques. The second day we focused more on beating up bozos.

Kevin who ran the seminar was very positive and kind as usual, (both things people know that I am not). We compared notes on different Kukishinden ryu kata which was nice. I like to see how others interpreted kata. He also let me know he would be in Grand Prairie in late June which I plan on attending.

Lastly I like to thank Mel for her concern about my health. I will be fine.

For those of you who don’t know, I like to spend a whole lot of money to travel around North America and attend Martial arts seminars. This weekend there is one in Calgary by Kevin Millis. You learn more about him at http://kevinmillis.com/. He is the first high ranked Bujinkan member that I met (back in 1998) and he is quite skilled. So just in case people are looking for me on Saturday or Sunday, that is where I will be.

Before that, Tasty Dim Sum with Wayne on Thursday for lunch and the ongoing celebration with Nadia and Bart on Friday night.