All posts by Jeff Reasoner

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Belleville Seminar 20220908

20220908 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Thursday dojo owner/invite class

Started with warmups then both moving and standing basics.

Worked on Fukyugata I, II, Pinan Shodan, Naihanchi shodan katas.

Fukyugata I bunkai with Art Ishi sensai and Fred Schlesinger sensai.

Practiced various sections of kata with Tony Roberts sensai.

Arakaki sensai stressed blocking with power punching to the opponents center. Make sure to maintain correct posture.

Practiced Fukyugata II less than Fukyugata II.

Arakaki sensai talked about keeping the hands tight to the body on the tomoe zuki technique. Don’t get too wide, don’t flail.

Pinan Shodan

Show shuto uchi with power. Don’t expose armpit on Jordan uke.

Naihanchi shodan

Arakaki sensai corrected my Haito uchi. I was showing it too tight, said it should be extended more.

Showed application trom opening part – same as in 2018 Germany seminar:
     Attacker punches left, defender smacks down with left and delivers haito uchi to neck over top of attack.
     Defender grabs back of attackers neck and delivers yoko hiji ate to opponents face.
     Defender then sweeps fumi komi ashi with right to opponents left leg. Holds attacker’s left
         arm as he falls, doing arm bar over left leg while pinning with right knee.
     Finishes off attacker with gedan zuki to his head

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Soke Memorial Training

20190427 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Warmup, Basics

Sensai related how on Soke’s last trip in 2011, he had the dojo practice basics for 2 hours.

Fukyugata I, II, Passai

Performed Fukyugata I bunkai worked on oyo bunkai from Fukyugata I and II with Jeff P, Alewyn ad Griffin M.

Oyo bunkai from opening part of Fukyugata I as leg catch, or simply deflect kick, move to outside and counter attack.

Seems to me that Fukyugata II could be seen as a vehicle for understanding and applying circle blocks.

Interpret jodan uke as rounded block. Deflect with rear hand, bring the blocking hand over and around attacker’s punching arm and trap. Counter attack same time.

Oyo bunkai from opening part of Fukyugata II:

Attacker punches with right hand, block left side jodan uke.

Attacker punches left, block uchi-uke also with left hand.

Grab attackers left arm, step back attack arm/elbow with right elbow, come over top of arm and attack head/body with gedan yoko-barai.

Attacker punches with right upper cut. Move forward and to off to left, changing directions. Push attacking arm away with both hands. attack to finish. Can also push away attack with left while maintaining control of opponents left arm. This leaves their arms crossed and open to any finishing attack/take down.

Jeff P., Bill P. and Tyrone performed Passai bunkai with direction from Sensai.

Three oyo bunkai from first move of Passai.

1. moving to outside of attack, deflect punch with both hands

2. deflect punch on inside, grab with opposite hand and attack with uraken. Similar to Pinan IV.

3. Escape from same-side wrist grab. Step back to pull opponent in, then forward to kosa dachi turning over attacker’s hand.

I noticed during class how much more engaged and focused Jacob is now. He looks and acts like he’s a part of the dojo and seems to enjoy class now. He has a connection with the people, esp. Katelynn and Jeff P.

After class Sensai said that Tony Gibson had planned to come down for the weekend but cancelled last minute. Also, Danjo Sensai’s visit this summer is now in doubt.

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Thoughts on Wanshu

20180424 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Sensai talked a little bit about Wanshu. He said that many people don’t like this kata. He used to be one of them. It still bothers him that it is unbalanced with the chudan soto-shuto-uke only on one side. There are balanced versions, but for some reason, Osensai recorded and taught it this way.

He does point out that it covers almost all the stances in Matsubayashi-ryu. It teaches something important about transitioning between them. The transition before the soto-shuto-uke – zenkustu-dachi, slide to shizentai-dachi, neko-ashi-dachi also appears in Wankan. But the next sequence – neko-ashi-dachi, turn 180 to zenkutsu-dachi and block gedan-uke appears only here.

Maybe that’s the method to the madness.

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Look first, then move

20180424 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

I know it’s been said many times, but when doing kata, remember to look in the direction you need to move, then turn and execute the technique.

Sensai pointed out that in Naihanchi Shodan, for instance, people often look down rather than to the right on the opening move as well as on the gedan yoko-barai.

Some other things to keep in mind with Naihanchi Shodan:

Use good posture – keep the back straight
Don’t over extend the yoko-hiji-ate
Perform with power and snap
Breathe and stay relaxed

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Late July

20170722 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Class led by Sensai. Worked almost exclusively on kata, with an aborted attempt at yakusoku kumite Ⅷ at the end.

Naihanchi

Look for triggers in the kata, places where you explode into a technique. For instance, the beginning of Shodan, where the fumi-komi-ashi is followed immediately by shuto-uchi.
These moves should be connected.

In Nidan, relax shoulders on hazushi-uke. Second move, uchi-uke, should have snap. Think about actually blocking a punch with it.

Try to create flow in these kata.

Ananku

Sensai talked about a small slide back on the first chudan-uke, but a bigger slide in the later two. Danjo Sensai brought this up as well.

Don’t lean forward when delivering the kick.

There are many places in this kata to work on using koshi to create power and snap.

Sensai mentioned that he disliked this kata when he was younger, but that now he appreciates it’s directness and simplicity.
He also compared it to Fukugata Ⅰ in that regard.

Wankan

The supporting hand in makite-uke should be on the middle of the forearm, not near the elbow.

Jodan kosa-uke should be a head block. Don’t let it get too far out.

After the second makite-uke, there is a gedan-uke followed by chudan-zuki shizentai-dachi. The slide is important on this punch. You can understand it better in the bunkai since it gets you out of the way of a second attacker.

Rohai

Start leaning forward at the beginning. Don’t lock the knees.
Turn the hands out slightly right before gedan soto-shuto-uke.

Execute the blocks in both torite-uke. Don’t rush.

Hangetsu-barai-uke was originally followed by sasae-hiji-ate (breaking the elbow). Think about this and don’t rush.

Wanshu

Shotei-ate is the same as in Rohai, just executed in a different stance.

Passai

In move right before kosa-dachi strike, the right hand should not be all the way to the side or flat.
Should be somewhat forward near the body, and bent, ready to deliver shotei-ate.

Don’t rush the three moves starting with gedan-zuki jigotai-dachi near the end.
These should be done on one level – don’t bounce up and down.
Sensai said that may people don’t really know what they’re doing in this part of the kata.
Think blocking and catching a kick on outside, then pulling/raising the leg and delivering a strike

Gojushiho

Second and third moves should be a head blocks like in Pinan Shodan.

Torite-uke is same as Rohai and Passai. Make sure the block is included.

Sensai mentioned the second turn, from nukite-zuki nekoashi-dachi to nukite-zuki zenkutsu-dachi as being one of the most powerful moves in all the kata.

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Danjo Sensai training – day 2

20170701 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Practiced a warmup drill from pinan godan prior to kata that Soke had demonstrated – middle section from hotoke-gamae through otoshi-uke to zenkutsu-dachi chudan-zuki.

Soke showed the hotoke-gamae as a body slam to opponent leading with the right elbow and including a kaku-zuki to the ribs
then a turn, otoshi-uke to second opponent ending in jigotai-dachi.
then quick turn using koshi to zenkutsu-dachi driving a punch to first opponents ribs.

Ananku

In Okinawa, the first zenkutsu-dachi chudan-zuki is done with a backward slide to the chudan-uke.

Rohai

Slide to gedan shuto-yoko-barai-uke, keep back straight. Torite-uke is made moving back to the left in neko-ashi-dachi.

Passai

Danjo Sensai had a lengthy discussion regarding the correct count. After initial move, there is one count for the rest with hands down,
and another where you raise the hands and turn to left to deliver the jodan-shuto-uchi.

Also reviewed the count for Gojushiho and Chinto.

Danjo sensai demonstrated Kusanku

Ended this training session with Fukyugata Ⅱ bunkai

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Danjo Sensai training – day 1

20170630 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

This year, Danjo Sensai began by talking about how to bow in seiza (kneeling) position. Talked about placing hands in shape of triangle and bowing so that forearms just brush the floor.

He reminded again that when standing up from lotus position, you should do so without using hands for support. Helps to rock to one side and requires some practice. Have found that it works easiest for me if I start with my right leg in front of the left.

After moving basics, did foundation drills from 20 to 60 repetitions. More on kicks and punches. Due to number of people, was hard to do kaiten ushiro-geri.

Leg sweeps in fumi komi-ashi should not go past opposite knee. Danjo sensai’s naihanchi-dachi is very wide.

Paired up to practice a warmup drill from pinan yondan prior to performing kata. Drill was middle section from rest to yoko-hiji-ate.

Kata notes

Fukyugata Ichi

WMKA board has added a second kiai. Occurs on the 3rd chudan-zuki – directly opposite of the original one (on 1st kizami-zuki) in Osensai’s kata.

Fukyugata Ni

Should be no slide on the first gedan yoko-barai-uke. Do slide on the second.

The circular block in tomoe-zuki, can be seen with one hand or two – especially in Okinawa. The two-handed version looks more like wari-uke.
In either case, it should not be hard, pushing the opponent’s arm away. Rather should deflect/pull in opponents punch then follow with punch to the abdomen.

Pinan Nidan

Turn back (left) foot inwards to make turn easier at the end when switching from left to right side delivering gedan shuto-uke.

Pinan Sandan

Created out of moves from Passai, Kusanku, and other now lost kata. During big turn in center section of kata, the right hand should be brought up to block forehead (like in Osensai’s book) The following oi-zuki should be straight.

Pinan Yondan

Mai-geri in middle-end section is to stop an advancing attacker. Kick, plant, then double punch.

Pinan Godan

Feet are parallel in final two moves. See Osensai’s book.

Ended training by practicing Fukyugata Ⅰ bunkai.

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Canada Seminar 2015 Day 1 Morning

20150624 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Worked out at Sensai Trombley’s Dojo in Mississauga

Light stretching and warmup. Was somewhat difficult due to the number of people in a room no bigger than the one we train in back home.

Worked on Fukyugata Ⅰ kata and bunkai. Later on Fukyugata Ⅱ bunkai as well.

Arikaki Sensai talked about paying attention to your punches – punch to the center of the forehead, sternum, or groin. Also, it’s important to block and counter quickly to end the confrontation. Keep movements compact and stay close. Don’t move too far when avoiding an attack. Just enough to evade leaves you correctly positioned to finish.

Partnered with Sensai Baehr

Think about the initial block in Fuk 1 as a grab at or above the attacker’s knee. Esp. grab and pinch the inner thigh. Then step forward and finish.

Fuk 2 first block needs to be fast. It’s also OK to raise both hands to block the punch to the face. You should chamber the right quickly though to prepare it for a counterattack.

Circular block can also be a grab at the elbow. Then pull back to trap and secure in your armpit and double punch to the ribs/solar plexus.

Sensai Trombley stressed the grab/pull to disrupt the attacker’s balance.

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First April Class

20150407 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Weapons class led by Zack.

Worked on nunchucku basics and Fukyugata Ⅰ.

Kata/Black belt class led by Sempai.

Worked Fukyugata Ⅰ/Ⅱ, pinan shodan/nidan

Fukyugata Ⅰ – 2nd move -instead of standing up, relax front leg in zenkutsu-dachi to fall forward into following punch
Fukyugata Ⅱ – shuto – condense and expand to generate power
Pinan Shodan – Practice kata with same technique and power that would be required in a real life situation. Work on timing.
Pinan Nidan – Turn your feet to help make the bigger turns
Yakusoku Kumite Ⅰ/Ⅱ

Defense for knife attacks

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Tues 3/31

20150331 Jeff Reasoner Leave a comment

Led by Sensai

All Sai kata

Open hand kata through Pinan Sandan

Fuk Ⅰ is often though to be simple, yet it’s the only basic kata where you move toward the attack while changing directions. Why? Normally beginners move away from an attack. What should we learn from that?

Can think of Fuk Ⅱ also in vertical terms – moving from high to low or low to high. Also think of the third move as blocking down but standing your ground. Don’t lean away. Then you don’t have to cheat to stand up in to the next jodan-uke.

Beginning of Pinan Nidan doesn’t move from low to high, but stays on one level. Movement is horizontal – in and out.

Pinan Shodan is the first kata where you really start to see koshi and how the hips can generate power in the blocks and attacks.

Worked on Pinan Sandan for rest of class. Worked on bunkai oyo with Sensai Palmer. Ways to use the first part – chudan uke/ morote uke. Also the 360 deg turn, turn before the hiji-ate section and the elbow blocks themselves.

Black belt class worked on Pinan yondan including repeating the sase hiji-ate drills from last Sat. Talked about the knee attack section. Think of digging the index fingers behind the collarbone and pulling down. The knee attack could also be a kick to the groin. The preceding morote uke could be inside or outside and could also be changed to a simultanous block and strike.

The really deadly attacks are not punches, but open hand strikes, strikes with finger tips, elbows , and toe kicks.