UK Iaijutsu and Kenjutsu Seminar
26, 27th and 28th May.
The 4th annual event of its kind was held this year wholly in the Dojo of Nishimon Dojo in Broadstairs. This year we welcomed Mebis Sensei from the KNBK Shibu Dojo in Belgium. We were really lucky in timing this year as Mebis Sensei had literally just returned for spending three days training at Hombu Dojo with So-Shihan Long so were we in for a lot of new details.
The Friday evening we worked over the Battoho quickly and had a few new pointers to work on, we then worked through the Omori Ryu Waza both in Seiza no bu and standing Tachi Iai versions. The main takeaways were to make it bigger and slow it down.
Saturday saw a smaller number participants and we started with the new paired waza series of the Tachi Uchi no Kata. This will become part of our training and having experienced the set a few times over the weekend I can see this as a good beginner method of learning kumitachi.
From there we progressed into chuden waza and everyone’s favourite Hasegawa Eishin Ryu from Tatehiza. Again lots of details.
Saturday late afternoon and evening saw us take a trip to Dover Castle and walk nearly 6 kilometres around and underneath the castle. We took in the Operation Dynamo tour which was a great way to relax and take our mind off the training for a few hours.
Sunday saw us return to Tachi Uchi no Kata, then Omori ryu and then the standing versions of chuden waza.
It was a fast paced seminar with a small number students which worked well as we could move on at a pace yet still take lots of notes.
I want to thank Mebis Sensei for stepping off a plane from the US and then jumping in the car to drive to the UK.
For those that couldn’t make it you missed a great seminar with a lot of new insights into the KNBK curriculum to see you to Yondan. I hope to see you on the dojo floor at a point in the future.
The next main training with Mebis Sensei for those of us in Europe in the European Gasshuku in September/ October.
