Questions and Answers... maybe

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Andre asked me about the Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu schools and whether I teach them. The answer is yes. The 9 schools of the Bujinkan are akin to martial arts university courses, there is a great deal of prerequisite martial arts knowledge before the kata of the individual schools can even be attempted. In simple terms, as I demonstrated last night, if the attacker (uke) can't attack effectively, the one completing the technique doesn't need to go out of his way to do the kata, because he can do something simpler.

Before I joined the Bujinkan, I had 10 years of Judo under my belt. You will find with many of the older Bujinkan members that they had significant martial arts training already, which served as a solid foundation. The issue with this is, if I only allowed well trained martial artists to join I wouldn't have any students. Realistically, 90% of people who want to train will have no training, and that is something I need to work with. Unfortunately, throwing people with no training straight into the techniques of the 9 schools would only confuse or possibly injure them. That being said, I have started on some of the kata of the 9 schools with Steve and I am pretty happy with the results so far.

As I've mentioned before, the Bujinkan doesn't have a curriculum. It is up to each instructor to come up with their own training regimen. Although the 9 schools have their individual Denshou (scrolls), the movements required to complete the techniques of the 9 schools are all passed on through Kuden (oral transmission).

With all that being said; on the website, I have been working on a curriculum for 0 kyu to 9th kyu, but at the same time I have been putting up techniques from the individual Bujinkan schools (with Japanese translations). This information is under the 'curriculum' and 'schools' tabs, respectively. My aim is to build students up with the basics of each school, so when they encounter the kata at a later stage they will be able to perform the role as Uke effectively. These basics are called Kihon and Sanshin. Fortunately, Gyokko ryuu has an outlined kihon and sanshin, which will be one of the first things QUT Ninjutsu students will be studying.

As outlined on the website, each kyu grade is approximately 6 months of training (approx. 36-72 contact hours).

Mukyu (0 kyu) is focused on break falling, body conditioning and taihenjutsu (evasion and body movement). Which we have been covering in each session.

9th kyu will focus on Gyokko ryuu Kihon and Sanshin. This will also include the tanto (knife), kodachi (short sword), katana (long sword) and daishou (2 swords, long and short).

8th kyu will focus on Koto ryuu Kihon and Sanshin. This will also include teppan (metal plate) and shoutou (short sword).

7th kyu will focus on Kukishinden ryuu Kihon and Sanshin. This will include katana, yari (spear), naginata (glaive), bisentou (big glaive), bo (6 foot staff), jo (5 foot staff), hanbo (4 foot staff), jutte (truncheon) and kodachi (short sword).

6th kyu will focus on Shinden Fudo ryuu Kihon and Sanshin. This will include the kodachi and katana.

5th kyu will focus on Takagi Yoshin ryuu Kihon and Sanshin. This will include shoutou, katana and daishou.

In summary, at this point we will occasionally look at kata from the 9 schools and mostly focus and basic foundations of the martial arts.

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Mon 27/02/2012

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This Wednesday's session is permanently cancelled due to a scheduling clash. Classes will now be held on Fridays from 7:00pm to 8:30pm. I know it is not the most convenient time but I hope this new schedule is not too much trouble. In the Monday class we covered basic breathing techniques, flexibility, podiatry, good skeletal alignment, sanshin (basic strikes), bo (basic stances, moving between stances), sword drawing (iaijutsu), countering sword  from the draw, and basic muto-dori (unarmed against sword). Friday will be our first Friday session since the club disbanded in 2010. I hope to see you all there. Other news: I will start putting up posters at UQ, Griffith, and other University campuses so that we can get more members. Direct from Japan: Class prices have been increased to $15 up from $12.
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