Japanton – Chronicles of Anton in Japan!

     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.

I spent family day long weekend in Calgary, hanging out with the club there. It was a lot of fun, everyone is improving very quickly and are trying to give the training a feeling of reality. Working with them makes me realize the journey that we have taken together. It also make me realize that I will have to train even harder to keep up with their skill level.

This trip also reminded me of the importance of sanshin and the kihon happo. For the majority of techniques it is good enough to understand them on one side, because if you can do one side then you understand the concept for both sides. Also I have had various shihan tell me that it is better to learn one side so that you can practice it rather than half know both sides and have nothing worthwhile to practice at home. The exception to this I believe is sanshin and the kihon happo. It is important to have these fundamental movements integrated in your body. Since all the other techniques are based on these ones then you need to thoroughly understand the movement on both sides of your body. Once your body understands the kihon with control and without hesitation on both sides, the techniques become both attainable and unnecessary.

Oh, and before anyone gets mad at me make no mistake, I am not there yet.