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I read a wonderful quote from an old Japanese sensei, I believe he was an aikido instructor.
'In the Japanese martial arts, anyone who calls himself a master, isn't.' I love this quote. It says everything about what separates us from so much of the martial arts garbage out there.
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 Kyoei no Kamae 虚影の構え. The feeling is of one showing 突きor opening to the opponent with either the left or right shoulder.
We began this training this spring at Sensei’s request. About 15 years ago, I was at a martial arts seminar in Virginia that Manaka Sensei was teaching.
Following the seminar, the host kindly invited us back to his house for a small party, barbecue and a get together. While there, Sensei had been relaxing on a couch and flagged me over and asked me to sit down next to him. He told me he wanted to teach me something. A quick video someone grabbed of me and my student Rick joining in the carrying of omikoshi during the festival in Noda-shi, 2009.
This was an amazing time as we carried this from beginning to end without rotating out over a decade later and I still have the scars on my shoulder. 
I want to continue the discussion about the fundamental difference between right and wrong. If you listened to the first episode, we talked about Bushido The Soul of Japan, written by Inazō Nitobe.
I’ll be sharing each one of the (8) tenets that Nitobe presents as the tenets of warriorship as defined in his work, Bushido: The Soul of Japan. The first one as we already discussed being gi, which means rectitude or justice. I want to spend a couple minutes with you sharing with you and very important topic called the freeze.
This is something that your children are going to encounter from their young early childhood, all the ways up to their adult life. It doesn't make a difference if you're a kid or if you're a seasoned professional law-enforcement officer who's exposed to the potential of violence daily. 
Much of how I teach is centered around topics that I first present to the children’s class, and then I kind of carry that same sentiment throughout into my evening class making it more contextual for the adult students.
 During the 2018 Tokubetsu no Keiko, (special training) at the Jinenkan Honbu Dojo attended by instructors from around the world, Adam Mitchell received promotion to Rokkudan, 6th degree, by Unsui Sensei.
 Written by koichi
Hate to break it to you normal-walker, but the way you’re walking right now is inefficient, ridiculous, and just plain wrong. You know how you’re overly moving your hips and twisting your body like a pretzel, causing yourself to exert more energy than necessary?  While training the The Hanbōjutsu of Kukishin Ryū in Japan during the Spring of 2008, Unsui Sensei explained to me the use of otonashi no kamae.
His lesson was premised on the principle of “be an easy target for your opponent.” But the intention of this kamae can be easily misconstrued with others, or not even understood at all. |
