New training locations

As the first chill of Winter hits we are very pleased to find two fantastic new places to train. On Tuesdays at 7pm we shall be at The FIT Project on Victoria St Brunswick; and on Thursdays at 7pm we shall be at La Verite Dance ProjectsLa Verite Dance Projects in Fallon St.
Both spaces are a big step up from the austere and often inclement Shudokan Dojo, that we shall always remember fondly despite the cold, and the two or three hot days Melbourne has each year.
As well as the improved creature comforts of the new spaces, we are excited to be involved with the awesome folk behind these projects. 

ホームレス

Goodbye to Albert St. Our association with the historic Shudokan Budo Academy is over, but there are exciting new developments in the works that will keep us in Brunswick.
As I arrived at the dojo one day a very upset man asked me if I was associated with the dojo. When I acknowledged that I was I pointed and spat out, "That's not how you spell academy!" I hadn't noticed before and said so, but pointed out that the other sign (not pictured) spelled it correctly. Apparently that just wasn't good enough.

shihonage workshop

Join us at the Melbourne Budo Academy on Sunday, August 20 for a comprehensive workshop on the shiho-nage technique.
In the 70's, Brett Nener Sensei trained daily with Akamon Aikido at Tokyo University and the
Shiseikan Dojo at Meiji Jingu. He also practiced daily with Fujimori Shihan. For the first year of this
training he just took ukemi, for the second year he just learned shiho-nage. Both he and Fujimori
Shihan have been refining this technique over the subsequent 40 years. Their shiho-nage is pretty good, and they've taught me a few things that I would like to share with you.
The workshop will cover both the basics of the technique and its subtleties. And as learning is achieved through practice we will offer some exercises that will allow aikidoka of all styles and levels to improve their shiho-nage over time.
 
when
Sunday August 20
10am – 1pm
 
where
Melbourne Budo Academy
level 1, 230 Brunswick St,Fitzroy
3065
 
teacher
Giles Sadler
Butokuryu Aikijujutsu Godan

cost
$50

ude garami, abbreviated

Grainy, unfocused, badly framed footage. It it were black and white I could pretend that it was of an old master. Ude garami to a straight jab pulled back into guard.

謹賀新年 Happy New Year. Training will recommence Tuesday January 17. Here's the Sumo dezuiri ceremony at Meiji Jingu to wish us all health and good fortune. Sorry for the cheesy music intro, it's the best footage I could find.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PezMpwXzsOs

Let's make the date official. Grading is next Thursday November 10. To save you scanning through the grading syllabus is here:
http://melbourneaikijujutsu.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/grading-syllabus-5th-2nd-kyu.html?m=1

Ganbatte!

diagonal movement day

Diagonal movement day, spot the theme. In Butokuryu Aikijujutsu we use the same movements that we practice in suburi and tai-jutsu to perform atemi. We try to make our throwing techniques soft but powerful, and practicing atemi enables us to find the element of hardness in our soft throws. While our goju friends aim to seek the 柔 ju in the 剛 go, we can recognise the usefulness of accessing a bit of go in our ju.

resistance training

These clips have been on the facebook page for a little while, but some of our members aren't new media enough to see them. For their benefit, and to give some idea of what we do I'm posting them here. I'm not new media enough to waste time editing them though.
Just one thing - our resistance training is not so much to build strength as to discover the postures and movements that are strong, and to do them so much that they become our natural movements

Picked up a book in the dojo where my Chinese Medicine practice is, 'The Secrets of Aikido'. As far as I could tell the secrets are that for all his martial talents, Ueshiba was just a bit insane; and that if what he was doing was aikido, then nobody else has ever done aikido. Anyway the book has a chapter titled shugyo - constant training. There are no secrets to butokuryu aikijujutsu, there's just constant training. So happy Australia/ Invasion day, we train as usual.

謨賀新年
Another year of training is here. We'll be back at the dojo Tuesday January 12.
Here's this year's sumo Dezuiri ceremony at Meiji Jingu.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_GEDx4n0YE

ko uchi gari

Small techniques can be devastating. The big forward throws of judo like seoi nage are effective, but the person being thrown has plenty of time to prepare themselves for the impact and will usually handle it without too much damage, even if they haven't learned how to fall safely. But the suddenness of well timed small techniques like ko uchi gari make them treacherous for even the most skilled breakfallers.

Cup day

Training's still on.

atemi workshop

A reminder to all about our atemi workshop on October 25. Familiar ground for those who train with the club, the aim is to show how basic aiki movements can be used to deliver powerful and deceptive atemi.
Details in the poster below. At the Melbourne Budo Academy, Level 1 226-230 Brunswick St, Fitzroy, 10am-1pm.

grading Thursday August 27

It's been a year or so since the last grading, and some students have improved so it's time for another one. Let's make it Thursday August 27. Afterwards we'll go somewhere for refreshment.

We practice uki-otoshi to learn how to get power from extending the open side hip, this video can give some pointers. Float uke up first, then throw him over his front foot by drawing hikite to the open side hip. Notice how both the first two exponents extend both their leg and hip on the open side. Finally Mifune turns as he does the nage no-kata uki-otoshi - I thought it was just us aiki folk that did that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiLCfJk2mEA

I was wrong in saying that it was likely that nobody had ever won a judo bout with uki-otoshi. It works fine as a counter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVt6VgJK_8c

park training

Let's postpone the planned park training session until next week, Thursday February 8. I remembered that we're expecting a new bod this week, so we'll give him a couple of dojo sessions to settle in.

So park training will be 6pm Thursday February 8, Gilpin Park, Albert Street Brunswick.

akemashite omedeto gozaimasu

The new year's training will start on Tuesday January 12. Here's the yokuzuna doing the dezuiri ritual at the Meiji Jingu. With our club's connection to this shrine we could almost imagine that they are doing it for us.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTcrnPIqnLg

2014

A significant year for our club with Brett Nener Sensei visiting us and conducting our grading. The club feels a great sense of accomplishment in bringing Sal Fonte and Grant Meadows to their shodan grade, congratulates them on their achievement, and thanks them for the commitment to training that has brought them to this level.
Congratulations also to those who have had their progress recognised with a higher grade, and to those that have joined us recently who have been given a grade that shows them where the path begins.

meiyo shihan tanaka shigeho

Here's some youtube footage of our Meiyo Shihan Tanaka Shigeho, from an old Japanese documentary:
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-fJ_sS7OCo&feature=youtu.be
Tanaka Shihan holds a ninth dan in Aikikai and this demonstration is closer to that style than ours. He also trained under Gozo Shioda at the Yoshinkan dojo in the 50's - I think there is some influence from that training in his techniques as well.

yves klein

As discussed at training, Yves Klein was the highest ranked judoka in Europe when he returned in 1954 from training in Japan with a fourth dan. Some say the French Judo establishment refused to recognise his grade, others that he was disappointed that the school he founded wasn't successful. He then constructed his career in art by painting big blue rectangles:

 painting models blue and rolling them on canvas:

and by getting people to give him gold that he threw into the Seine.
Was he a better artist than judoka? His tai-otoshi looks pretty good: