琉球古武道保存振興会

Society for the Preservation and Promotion of Ancient Martial Arts of the Ryukyu Islands

Seminars & Events 6

Next Page

All the photos are "AUTO THUMBNAILS". Please "Click" on the photo to enlarge.

Previous Page

South Africa 2007 - Photos
Seminar UK 2006 - Photos
Seminar Israel 2006 - Photos
Seminar India 2006 - Photos
Grading at Tsurumi 2006 - Photos
South Africa 2006 - Photos

Switzerland 2005 - Photos
Tsurumi 2005 - Photos
Yashio Park 2005 - Photos
Tournament 2003, Demo - Photos
Demo at Shuri Castle 2003 - Photos
Hombu 2003 - Photos
Enbutaikai 2001 - Photos

South African Trip/seminar Update

The dates for the trip / seminar are from 1st June to 10th June 2007. To presented in the Johannesburg/Pretoria area. There is a big interest in Kobudo and we are hoping to expose this martial art locally with this visit. The folks have kindly offer to help arranging limited accommodation and maybe some sight seeing trips. It is going to be a very interesting opportunity for our Okinawan Shihan and visitors from abroad to see South Africa and the martial arts that are practiced in this part of Africa.

The following folks are planning to go to South Africa.
Yukio Kuniyoshi Shihan, senior instructor, Kuniyoshi Dojo, Kochinda, Okinawa
Emile van Heerden instructor, student of Hombu Dojo, Okinawa
Penny van Heerden instructor, student of Hombu Dojo, Okinawa
Tim Jurgens instructor, student of Hombu Dojo, Okinawa
Effi Schleyen instructor, Haifa Dojo, Israel
Kirii, Heiwajima (Yashio Park), Tokyo
Keep you posted as soon as arrangements progress. We may also have a short introduction to Iai-do for those who are interested.
 If you are interested, please let me know. Sorry, no lions or elephants in the streets and no gold on the pavement.
Emile

An Interesting Article that we are reprinting as we are still getting questions about grading.

To that purpose we asked Akamine Hiroshi Kaicho for his explanations for a couple of items to get things started. Below are the questions and answers reconstructed from notes taken July 21 at the local izakaya that is so often the stopping point for a quick bite of local cuisine and a refreshing drink after hard training at the Hombu.

Question 1. What are the Kanji characters for Doko Kai and what are their translation to English?

同 ＝ Do This character is most often seen as 同じ or Onaji or same or sameness.
好 = Ko　Usually seen as 好き Tsuki to like. It is made up of the radicals of mother and child to indicated the feelings of like as being like that of a mother for her child.
会 = Kai This means association or gathering.

So Doko Kai means a gathering of people who like the same thing. In this case Kobudo. As there were situations where people wanted to gather together to train Kobudo where a certified instructor was not available the Doko kai system was adopted.

Question 2. What is the significance of the strips on black belts and how does it work with our association? How does it compare to schools that use red and white belts?

One Stripe = Renshi 錬士 = 6th Dan 六段
Two Stripes = Kyoshi 教士 = 7th Dan 七段 – 8th Dan 八段
Three Stripes = Hanshi 範士　= 9th Dan 九段 – 10th Dan十段

For Red and White Belts our association does not use them and they are not so common on Okinawa although some schools such as the Shorinkan School do use them. These come from the Judo system more popular in Mainland Japan.

Most likely a striped belt signifies 7th – 8th Dan and a solid Red Belt signifies 9th – 10th Dan. This is not to be confused with some Korean based associations that use a Red Belt as a pre-Black Belt ranking. There is also potentially some significance in how the belt is constructed in terms of whither it starts with Red or starts with White but it may be best to as someone in an association that uses them to get the best explanation.

Additional explanation of the titles above.

Renshi 錬士 The character on the left means hardened. It is used in words such as Neru 練る or Kitaeru　knowｎ by many people who have trained bone hardening techniques. The right Character 士means person perhaps best know as Bushi武士 and as an alternative writing of 侍 or Samurai.　So a Renshi is someone who has been hardened by his or her years of training.

Kyoshi 教士 The character on the left again is significant here. The right character is the same in all three titles. Oshieru 教える　means to teach, so a Kyoshi has the meaning of a teacher.

Hanshi範士Again focusing on the left as the right is the same the character is also used in Mohan 模範 which means perfection. This leads us to the meaning of one who has attained perfection. This is usually a title reserved for only persons who have spent decades training and it is unusual to see anyone below their 70’s with this title.

Now it is most interesting to note that the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai does not use the striped belt system. There are several photos of some of our members with striped belts but in those cases the belts were from their Karate Associations. As the grades between Kobudo and Karate are not linked there is no meaning, however as it is a bother and expensive to maintain two belts at times people will just use the belt that is available. It is also of interest to note that our Second President Eisuke Akamine is featured in several well publicized photos wearing a striped belt. That belt was a gift from the Shureido shop in Okinawa and they put the stripes on the belt.

Lastly the titles Renshi, Kyoshi, and Hanshi are relatively new to Okinawan associations and they are not used to a great extent in the Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai. Instead the titles used are Shidoin 指導員　and Shihan 師範.

Shidoin 指導員 means one who has a teaching certificate. In our association persons who have attained 3rd Dan 参段can apply for a Shidoin certification. Additionally Dojo Licenses can be applied for at this grade. They are not always requested and are not obligatory to be issued. A person who is training at a major dojo for instance may not feel the need to apply for one. Also a person who may not yet be ready to teach despite having proficiency at the San Dan level may not be issued a license. Shidoin can grade people to two grades below their own.

Shihan 師範 are persons who have received from their direct instructor a Menkyokaiden 免許皆伝. Again this can only be granted by the students teacher and this should be the goal of a serious martial artists. A Menkyokaiden is a license to teach all and is an indication that the teacher has come to a point where he has full confidence in his student’s ability to carry on the art.

This is the way it is done in South Africa.

THE ORIENT COMES TO SOUTHERN ENGLAND

Camberley Doko Kai was proud to host the first Southern Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai seminar in the South of England on Sunday 8th October, at Farnborough Sixth Form College, Hampshire.

8th October 2006 Seminar Group

Thirty-seven Kobudo enthusiasts attended to train under the tutelage of Kaicho Akamine, Shihan Kuniyoshi and Sensei Paul Vermiglio. They were assisted by two Okinawan 2nd Dan Yui san and Manami san, who were residing at our home for the duration of their stay in England and Sensei Effi from Israel.

8th October 2006 Akamine Kaicho in Action with the Bo

The seminar ran from 10.30 – 15.00 and with all the three sensei's teaching, this allowed the students to rotate between Bó, Sai and nunchaku in the morning and to maximize their training on different weapons with the masters. Bo Kihon was covered in depth, along with Sai Kihon and Sai Kata, (Chikinshitahaku no Sai) and nunchaku Kihon aligned to the Kata.

8th October 2006 Kuniyoshi Shihan in Action with Sai

The afternoon session had Bó Kata (Sushi no Kon Sho), nunchaku Kata (Akamine no Nunchaku), Bó tai Bó and Tekkó bunkai on offer, so there was plenty of choice for the eager Kobudo attendees.

8th October 2006 Camberley Doko Kai

Feedback from the seminar was, without exception, positive and glowing. Here are but a few of the many comments:

“Magnificent seminar – atmosphere was great, martial arts without the politics – we need more of this”.
“Definitely looking forward to the next one!”
“Very enjoyable and enlightening. I was especially taken by how approachable Kaicho and the others were”.
“Having the opportunity to be instructed by the sensei was indeed a privilege”.
“Fantastic Kobudo course with such high calibre instructors”.

8th October 2006 Questions and Answers from Sensei

The instructors left England the same day bound for Israel for a week and returned to Liverpool on 14th October. Following another seminar in the midlands they came back to Camberley on 16th October. A relaxing evening meal followed, with arrangements to visit Windsor and the Castle to do a little local sight seeing on the following day.

It was a busy, but enjoyable day and this was followed with Kaicho Akamine and Shihan Kuniyoshi attending our children’s karate class to watch a grading. The children were fully aware of the honour that was bestowed on them and were delighted to have two senior Okinawan Sensei present at their grading. It was certainly a real high spot for our 5 – 12 year olds.

In the evening we were privileged to have Kaicho Akamine and Shihan Kuniyoshi teaching at our own local Kobudo club, along with Yui san and Manami san. All our students have since commented on the excellent training they received that night. The day culminated with Kaicho Akamine inviting us both to grade after a session on Kata with him. We accepted the invitation and are happy to announce that we were both successful in obtaining Shodan that evening. What a great day and what a wonderful privilege to be graded by our Kaicho, in our own dojo. The rest of the evening was spent celebrating our son’s 21st birthday, coupled with a sobetsukai party. So it was back to our place for cake, champagne and present opening, plus of course Akamine Sensei's favourite drink in the west - Guinness.

The next morning saw the end of our ‘oriental experience in England’ with all four of our Okinawan guests being taken back to Heathrow airport for the long journey home. Thank you for visiting us. It was an honour to receive you all.

Ryukyu Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai is a family, not a club and this was clearly reflected with everyone pulling together to spread the art of Kobudo in a relaxed and friendly manner. Here’s to the next time, or should we say “KANPAI”.

ANDRE & DAPHNE LEISTER

Top of Page

Previous Page

　

Please Sign Our Guest Book

Please View Our Guest Book