Sobukan Dojo

News

Recently we have had Dinah sensei, a KU (karate) 2nd dan blackbelt from Germany training with us. Diminutive Dinah has been contributing greatly to the club in training and teaching with the children and adults.

Congratulations to our new yellow belts Greg Lake and Jayrell! Also welcome to new members, Hamid, Mustafa, Bill, Steve, Dave, Regan and more!

Grading The next grading will be 2pm Saturday 21^st of July in the Mitcham Cultural Village Main Hall (not the upstairs Mezzanine). For those who are interested in grading, please come and chat to me very soon. We have quite a few junior students and a few adults ready to grade to yellow belt. We also have a couple of adult students very close to orange belt.

Please print the grading passports attached to this email and bring to classes and gradings.

Anniversary dinner

Sobukan opened on 27 September 2011 – meaning it is soon our first anniversary! It would be great if we can all get together and celebrate at a dinner at a Japanese restaurant. I am open to other ideas if you have suggestions for a celebration. Awards will also be given out on the night.

Photographs/social media

I have added an option to the membership application form where students can elect whether they permit to their photograph being taken in class and posted on sobukan.com.au or social media such as the Sobukan facebook page. If you would not like your photo (or your child’s photo) to be taken, please let me know.

Nana korobi ya oki

七転八起

Fall down seven times, get up eight.

You may have seen this expression written on our white board this month. It is quite easy to interpret – do not give up! Persist and you will succeed.

Saturday classes

We have had a couple of weeks off Saturday classes, but these start up again on 14^th July, from 3pm in the main hall. The classes will now be split into two groups running concurrently

1.    Traditional Jujutsu; and

2.    Wheelchair/special needs.

To be fair, both sections of the class will focus on the same content, Hakkoryu Jujutsu (traditional arresting) techniques and newaza (ground grappling). However, I want to make it clear that all adult students are welcome to join the traditional jujutsu class, and special needs, particularly wheelchair, students of any age are also welcome to join the class.

The Sunday Himeji classes will be a little less frequent, perhaps once a month. Details will be posted on FB at: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/Sobukan-martial-arts-%E7%B7%8F%E6%AD%A6%E9%A4%A8-/213486968682155

Sorry for any inconvenience, but the advanced jujutsu and wheelchair classes will not be running for the Saturdays of 30th June and 6th July.

On Saturday 30th, please consider attending Jason Griffiths’ karate seminar.  Please click the link below for details.

Adelaide Seminar Poster – Nepai June 2012

In other news, Sobukan Martial Arts will be commencing a Karate club at the Japanese Community School (日本語補習校の空手部) for Japanese students in Adelaide. Classes will follow the Sobukan syllabus, but will be taught entirely in Japanese.

This week the Eastern Courier Messenger newspaper published an article on Sobukan Martial Arts.  Emily Griffiths from the local newspaper visited our club, met some of our students and wrote an article on our new wheelchair martial arts program.  It can be found online on page 29 of the Eastern Courier online.

The ABC also read the article and asked to film Sobukan for the children’s educational program, Behind The News. Once the wheelchair classes collect momentum, we will invite the ABC to Sobukan. The Multiple Sclerosis society is also publishing an article on our special needs program(s).

In our first year, we have had articles in the Sunday Mail, Blitz martial arts magazine, the Messenger and more!

Thank you to all the students who came early for the Messenger interview and photos.

Congratulations to Greg Lake, who today earned his yellow belt. Another half a dozen plus will be ready within the next four weeks! Great work Greg!!

News

Congratulations to our new orange belts, Shane Webster and Julie and Geoff Tynan, and new yellow belts Vasco Villaran, Dylan Lake, Nick Gillies and Raghu (not even going to try his full name). We have a few more who will be ready to grade very soon, including Greg Lake, who was away at for the grading, but has already demonstrated his ability at the Japanese festival.

Now that the grading test has passed, and students are starting to reach the intermediate levels, we have been sweating bucket loads and training more live combative skills applicable to both MMA and self-defence. The winter months will be all about sweating, and learning valuable defensive skills.

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Curriculum changes

I have made some tweaks to the grading syllabus. For seniors, the changes are minor, but juniors will notice a stripe between colour grades. This enables requirements to be divided into more manageable blocks and more clearly clarifies required learning. No grading fees are payable for the stripes.

文武両道

Recently we have been discussing the Japanese axiom, bunbu ryodo （文武両道）.　This epitomises the samurai approach to education in Japan, and holds value for us in Australia as well. Basically, it instructs us to follow the twin paths of academic and martial (physical) learning in a balanced manner. Students, please don’t neglect your physical fitness or your education.

Below is the meaning of the idiom broken-down:

文 literature, academia, education

武 martial arts, warfare

両 twin, both, two

道 path, way, style.

Weekend

As you are aware, the Wheelchair classes start this weekend. We don’t have any students signed up for these classes yet, so please pass on the word, and until they take off, we will be using this time to practice advanced jujutsu techniques.

We will also train on Sunday at Himeji Gardens from 9am. These sessions are incredibly tranquil and are a great opportunity to ask questions and receive more personalised attention at a slower pace. We usually focus on jujutsu, kata and other drills, and meditation.

Seminar

Jason Griffiths is visiting Adelaide for a seminar on Sat 30 June. While I cannot attend the class due to my Saturday commitments (Sei’s Japanese school and the wheelchair classes), I hope that we have a large Sobukan contingent representing us and bringing the goods back. We had half a dozen attendees last time, and it would be great if we can get 8-10 going along if possible.

Adelaide Seminar Poster – Nepai June 2012

DVDs and books

Some people have asked about instructional DVDs or other material they may use to aid their learning. We all have different learning styles, you will find that books and DVDs can work really well for visual learners in particular, as long as you apply what your learn soon after viewing the material. Here are my tips:

Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu (Karate)

A great portion of the KU drills we practice are available for purchase on DVDs. In particular, DVD#1 (tegumi) and DVD#9 (nyumon) are invaluable reference points for tegumi, kata, and a whole range of other drills we cover. For advanced learners, the Bubishi is the ultimate karate resource, but its ancient, eclectic and random manner may confuse beginners. All are available via the International Ryukyu Karate Jutsu Research Society webpage below. http://www.koryu-uchinadi.com/index1.html

Judo

Fortunately judo learning materials are very accessible on youtube, books, DVDs, iphone applications etc etc. I recommend Jigoro Kano’s Kodokan Judo and anything by Kyuzo Mifune, such as The Canon of Judo and the Kodokan Judo DVD. For newaza (ground grappling), look for Kosen (Koshen) Judo. Also check out the Princeton University Judo website. http://princetonjudo.org/princetonjudo/gokyu/

Shooto

Unfortunately most good shooto DVDs and books are available in Japanese only, but there is a myriad of MMA material available. Youtube is a great place to start. Some great texts for MMA include Renzo Gracie’s Mastering Jujitsu, Ken Shamrock’s Beyond the Lion’s Den, BJ Penn’s Mixed Martial Arts and the list goes on. The single best ground grappling book available is probably Saulo Ribeiro’s Jiujitsu University. For no-gi grappling, try Eddie Bravo’s 10^th planet, or anything with Jean-Jacques or Rigan Machado and Royler or Roger Gracie. Karo Parisyan’s Judo for MMA has some great content, but some annoying errors.

Jujutsu

Hakkoryu Jujutsu does not produce publically accessible DVDs, books etc and do not hold seminars. Therefore pretty much anything found online is pretty bad. I have the series of books that are only available for direct students, but these are worth their weight in diamonds, so I won’t be lending them out.

Wheelchair classes

I will be starting classes for wheelchair students on Saturday afternoons on Sat 2 June at 3pm – but don’t have any students for these classes just yet! If you know anyone in a wheelchair who may be interested, please pass on my contact details. I anticipate a need for regular students to assist in these classes. If available on Saturday afternoons, please come along. Wheelchair classes will focus on Hakkoryu Jujutsu and grappling techniques. This is a great opportunity to learn advanced jujutsu technique and give back to the club and society.

On May 27 several students tested for new belts. The grading was probably a little overdue, because everyone performed brilliantly, with most students achieving a passing grade of around 90%!

Congratulations to Shane, Geoff and Julie, who are the first Sobukan orange belts! We have several other yellow belts who are very close to grading as well… Shane has been training with me for a year now, as he started private lessons several months before the establishment of Sobukan Martial Arts. This was a great way to celebrate our first anniversary of training together, and the next step on his journey to black belt.

Our new yellow belts are Nick, the ever enthusiastic and hard-working Raghu, and talented juniors Vasco and Dylan. We have a few other white belts who will not be wearing that colour for very long – watch this space!

Congratulations all!!

Sorry if your photo is not up here, having some technical difficulties…

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Sobukan recently demonstrated karate and jujutsu at the Kodomo no Hi Japan Festival at Cowandilla Primary School. Above is a display of images from Australia’s biggest volunteer run Japanese festival, including Sobukan family members, and other martial arts demonstrators. Thank you so much to all those Sobukan students that assisted on the day, including Geoff, Julie, Tom, Will, Umehara-san, Greg, Raghu, Mika, Marley, Dylan, Sei and thank you to Miho and Yu-chan for assisting with enquiries.

Look out for:
0.17 Marley playing karuta
1.24 Umehara-san playing the flute
2.13 Setting up the mats with Miho, Geoff and Julie
2.15 Chris Gillies with kids Sei and Dylan
2.18 Siblings Mika and Marley

Other martial art groups demonstrating at the festival included:
Robert Sedunary – Komei Juku – Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaijutsu
James Harata-Lee – Kendo SA – Kendo
David Scott – Aikikai – Aikido
Judo – UniSA Judo – Judo
and of course a big thank you to our unofficial sister school from the Northern Suburbs:
Shawn Donaldson – Denshinkan – Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu, who paired with Sobukan for the Karate demonstration.

I am proud to advise that Sobukan has been approached about demonstrating at the very popular OzAsia Moon Lantern Festival on 30 September. I hope to see you there!

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http://www.blitzmag.net/self-defence/326-chris-gillies-defence-against-a-two-person-attack

Chris, what are the core principles of the martial arts you teach?

I teach four separate martial arts within a unique curriculum: jujutsu (as learned at Hakkoryu So-hombu in Japan); karate (primarily Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo-jutsu); judo; and Shooto (Japanese MMA). Apart from perhaps Shooto, these schools are strictly governed by core principles.

The core principle of Hakkoryu jujutsu is its philosophy: ‘Don’t challenge, don’t oppose and don’t injure’. The techniques and strategies all conform to this philosophy. No attacking movements (such as punches, chokes or bone-breaks) are taught. All movements are defensive and aim to control an attacker without injuring him. Hakkoryu jujutsu teaches a noble, sophisticated approach to effective self-defence, aiming to protect rather than hurt an attacker.

Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo-jutsu (KU) is based on the historical research and training of members of the International Ryukyu Karate Jutsu Research Society, headed by Hanshi Patrick McCarthy. KU combines Eastern traditions with Western innovation and breathes life into classical karate practices. KU keeps the flame of tradition alight rather than worship its ashes.

Judo has many facets: sport, kata, fitness and self-defence, which trace the lifelong development of a marital artist. All facets are part of a larger goal of education and cultivation of character. The core principals of judo are mutual benefit — finding the win/win outcome; and minimum energy, maximum efficiency.

Chief instructor of Adelaide’s Sobukan Japanese Martial Arts dojo and editor of SA Martial Arts Newsletter, Chris Gillies has been training daily since the mid-1980s. He has studied numerous martial arts and spent six years in Japan training at the Hakkoryu Jujutsu hombu, Kyokushin karate HQ, Oguni Muay Thai gym, and Paraestra and Purebred Shooto dojos. He has also trained in Okinawa and Thailand. Gillies currently holds 4th Dan rank in Hakkoryu jujutsu and Arjukanpo karate, 1st Dan in Shito-ryu karate and Doce Pares Pangamot, a Brown-belt in judo, Blue-belt in BJJ and Practitioner 5 level in Krav Maga. He recently returned from Japan and established Sobukan dojo in Mitcham, SA, the motto of which is ‘Healthier, happier, safer’.

Blitz is Australia’s no#1 martial art magazine. Here is a series of technique workshop articles published between December 2011 – February 2012. Unfortunately the jujutsu techniques could not fit within the format and were cut, but these were intended to show Sobukan’s methodology of finishing a serious conflict with one of the following exit strategies:
1. Get out;
2. Knock out;
3. Choke out; or
4. Arrest.

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What a crazy week! The 2012 IRKRS Gasshuku was a 5 day training camp with martial artists from 6 countries and many states. It was an amazing experience filled with great personalities and unique training. Hanshi Patrick McCarthy is a larger than life character, a real one of a kind with an incredible knowledge of every aspect of karate and a fountain of martial art knowledge.

The training from 6am – 9:30pm every day: 6-7 no gi grappling 9-12 general class (two person drills, grappling, kobudo, kata, conditioning (hojo undo), kihon, knife fighting, sticks, kakie damashi etc etc) 1-5 general class 7:30-9:30 general class.

I definitely must do that again! I apologise to my students for any inconvenience in my absence, but you are going to love some of these drills! More to come soon…

P.S. It seems that I forgot to mention that I got graded to 1st degree black belt in Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu by Hanshi Patrick McCarthy at the 2012 World Gasshuku.