Sobukan Dojo

Unfortunately there will be no wheelchair or advanced jujutsu classes on Saturday 18th or 25th of August. This is due to the hall not being available on th 18th and Hanshi Patrick McCarthy’s seminar on 25th. We are planning a move soon and Saturday classes will be run from 10am rather than 3pm soon. I hope this is more convenient for all!

Sobukan Martial Arts has been invited to conduct two demonstrations in September, and your participation is requested!

On Saturday 15th September at 12:30pm, we will conduct a kid’s karate demonstration at the Japanese Community School (日本語補習校空手部) before commencing classes there on October 13. All junior coloured belts who are able, are requested to attend to demonstrate what we do. The Japanese Community School is located at the Rose Park Primary School. http://www.roseparkps.sa.edu.au/

We have also been invited to demonstrate at the Moon Lantern festival on Sunday 30th September. This is the main event of the annual OzAsia festival, and will be an excellent opportunity to celebrate Asian culture and make new contacts. We have been allocated 30 minutes to demonstrate, which will roughly be divided evenly between juniors, seniors and wheelchair bound groups. http://www.ozasiafestival.com.au/index.aspx

Please let me know in advance of your availability so that we can plan the best demonstrations possible.

In other news, Hanshi Patrick McCarthy, head of the International Ryukyu Karate Jutsu Research Society, and Koryu Uchinadi Kenpo Jutsu will travel South to hold a seminar in South Australia for the first time. Hanshi McCarthy is a 9th dan master of karate and the first westerner ever to be awarded the title of Kyoshi by the exclusive Japanese Butokukai. This is a once off-chance to learn from this true master. Please contact me if interested.
When: August 25 – 26th
Where: Gladstone Gaol (a few hours drive from Adelaide – you may be able to hitch with me)
Cost: $160 including food and accommodation

Please find the application form and details at the link below:
Gladstone Gaol camp with Hanshi Patrick McCarthy

Due to this seminar, classes will be cancelled on Saturday 25th August. Sorry for any inconvenience.

August news

Congratulations to our new yellow belts Aravind, Chris B, Harper, Max, Ethan and Joshua and our new orange belts Tom and Will Cernev! Also welcome to new students Kiara, Mark, Ollie, Mia, Noah, Steve, James, Henry, Regan, Evan and David. Sorry if I have forgotten any names!

Sobukan may be moving!!!

Clearly we have outgrown our current premises and the adult class generally has to be split into upstairs and downstairs classes. It takes close to an hour to set up before each class and the mezzanine has its own safety challenges. Recently I have been searching for larger premises in the area. I think I have found an ideal location, but want your feedback. If approved, we may move as soon as September!

The Goshinkan Kodokan judo club at 917A South Road Clarence Gardens is a huge dedicated dojo with a two matted spaces and a carpeted area for wheelchair classes. It is very well equipped to accommodate the growing number of Sobukan students. This well-established and respected dojo has similar philosophies to Sobukan and has direct links in Japan for students wishing to train in the land of origin, or just benefit from visiting instructors. Goshinkan holds regular social events and seems like a good, fun club to be involved with.

Despite a rent increase there is no plan to increase training fees at this time as I anticipate that the club will continue to grow, absorbing the additional expense. However the annual fee will return to the standard $50 fee to cover the Goshinkan membership fee, rather than the $30 which has been subsidised since we opened in September last year. Obviously geographically this will be more convenient for some, less convenient for others, but it is 5km away from the MCV.

Class times would also change to:

Juniors – Mon and Wed 6 – 6:50pm

Seniors – Mon and Wed 7 – 9pm

Jujutsu and wheelchair – Sat 10 – 11:30am

The ground level dojo is much more spacious with better mats, which will increase the safety and access of our training environment. It will therefore also allow more opportunity for special needs students to join. For current students, it means that we will have much more freedom to do conditioning, sparring, randori, groundwork, MMA training, and self-defence scenarios. There is also an audio-visual set for learning from DVDs etc.

You would also have access to weightlifting equipment, training ropes, resistance bands and other training aids. Sobukan students would also become Goshinkan members, meaning you are able to train every single day of the week if you wish!! Goshikan charges $5 per judo lesson.

Students interested in competition will have an option to compete in judo, BJJ, karate or MMA rules, but of course students will not be pressured to compete. I believe that this solution will help us achieve a healthier, happier safer life. Apart from the location and training times, I cannot see any disadvantages for students, but please let me know what you think.

Please read the information below carefully and respond with either:

a)    This sounds great, I will continue to train at Sobukan after the move;

b)    I am not sure, maybe I will give it a try; or

c)     It’s too far, I won’t be able to continue if Sobukan moves.

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.

Karate ni sente nashi

空手に先手なし – ‘Karate ni sente nashi’  means ‘no first hand in Karate’. This means that martial artists should never start fights. Please don’t take this to mean don’t hit first, though. Pre-emptive striking is important in self-defence. Generally the first person to get hit will lose a violent encounter.

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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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