October 2025 Class Record
Finding Inspiration in Every Turn
Tuesday October 14th
We began our drilling and warm up with kaiten (rolling) in patterns using forward (zenpo), sideways (yoko) and backwards (ushiro) rolls to get our blood going. From there, we dropped into taka no mai, drilling our jodan and gedan uke gata, ura and omote shuto, and tsuki gata. Moving on, we started into our zenpo geri repetition (front kicks), using one of the body pads for target practice, and swiftly changed into chambered kicks with the same side of the body (left and right-sided kicking). This lends itself to keeping an attacker at distance whilst continually advancing on them and pressuring them to move them into a space where they are eventually compromised.
Once we were warmed up and loose, we started into kihon happo training; ura and omote gyaku. We played around with the distancing of uke and tori, and manipulation of the wrist joint in an effort to showcase the useful application of proper distancing (kūkan) and body movement (tai sabaki). After a quick break, we spent some time looking at kuzushi dori (capturing balance), hammering home the point that physical strength is useless aganst a stronger opponent without proper technique. It was fun watching the smiles get wider when the students felt no pressure, but were folding each other into pretzels with no effort.
To finish the class, for the final 20 minutes, we began the first kata of Gyokko ryu (玉虎流), one of the 9 schools of Bujinkan; 'Kokū' (虚空). The previous drilling of chambered zenpo geri helped to get the students into the frame of chambering attacks from one side of the body and following tori as they move around them. This school will be our focus for the next few months, as we delve deeper into one of the older schools of the Bujinkan.
Tuesday October 21st
Beginning again with kaiten around the mat to warm up, we then went into hicho kaiten (flying/leaping rolls), with each student crouching and having the other students dive over them. This reinforces the lesson that to perform this move correctly, you must clear your colleague by fully leaving the ground in the roll, or you may injure them and yourself. It is only a short space to leap, but without proper intention or 'kokoro' (心), there is no real attempt at performing correct technique; the potential for delivering a knee into your training partner's ribs removes that urge to only fall forward instead of commit to jumping. We also looked at gyaku zenpo kaiten - this is a method of dive-rolling behind you whilst twisting mid-technique, allowing you to turn 360 degrees and dive away from an attack. If you are wearing a sword, it also allows you to draw, or prepare to fight back once you return to your standing position.
Kihon happo training focused on ura and omote gyaku tsuki gata; defending against a punching attack whilst moving off the direct line of the attack, taking uke's balance (kuzishi dori), and deflecting the punch aimed at your head with uke nagashi all at once. This is harder than it sounds, as there are 3 movements all performed simultaneously as someone is trying to punch you in the head. The tai sabaki (body movement) is important here, as correct technique with taka no mai instantly dissolves uke's strength if they try to use power to prevent your movement. From there we applied ura/omote gyaku as normal and kept control of the arm once uke had been thrown.
In our Gyokko ryu study, we revisited Kokū, working out the kinks of the correct sabaki. Again, correct distance is ultimately the most effective defence from punches and kicks. In theory, a budoka should be able to perform these kata on left and right sides; although some kata do not permit this, Kokū is an exception where uke and aite/tori can agree to flip the attacks and go from the opposite side (left or right attack and defend).
Tuesday October 28th
Continuing with our study of Gyokko ryu, we moved on to the second kata 'Renyo' (輦輿). This is a longer kata with many movements, so we broke it down into 2 halves for students to try out. There are a lot of simultaneous techniques in this kata (hitting whilst stepping, pivoting 270 degrees as a strike is being applied, taking omote gyaku whilst simultaneously receiving a hit with gedan uke, etc.), and some parts were difficult because the sabaki gata is tricky when there are so many other thing to consider like correct distncing for a kick. Since we brok it down into seperate parts, this took up the majority of our class.
Next, we looked into weapons drilling with Raiko no Ken (雷光之剣) from Togakure ryu (戸隠流). This involves ashi sabaki in the correct method to achieve maximum damage whislt cutting in all 4 plains of targets. In part, it is a method of drilling cuts whilst stepping forward and/or back with a sword and cutting in separate directions. The aim of the practice to envisage an opponent in front of you who has the same physical size and use their body shape as target practice for kesa giri, tenchi giri, do giri and gyaku kesa giri, each with their own footwork per cut. This drill is important in self-teaching, as each student's ashi sabaki is different and must be learned independently of the dojo.
To finish the class, we stayed with ashi sabaki waza and we investigated the use of movement to evade a straight cut from uke. Using tenchi giri as an attack, we moved off the line of intent, moving to the side, diagonally and moving forward, taking care not to put ouselves at risk by moving in a way that does not allow us to control uke or the weapon by moving into the wrong place. This was more a relaxing exercise to slow down the pace of what was a thought-provoking session with a lot to process. Both Renyo and Raiko no ken take a lot of thought to perform correctly, and since it was the first time doing in-depth ryuha work, it can also be taxing on concentration and focus. It is important to warm down there too, because we still need to drive home!