SMAA Journal

Tom Kosslow, SMAA Senior Advisor

We'll be sending SMAA members the latest issue of the SMAA Journal in a few days. This issue has SMAA news and great articles by top SMAA teachers. Featured is an excerpt from Steve Fabian's book Clearing Away Clouds: Nine Lessons for Life from the Japanese Martial Arts, an article on riai by Wayne Muromoto, important Japanese dojo terminology by Nicklaus Suino, an article on karate-do by Tom Kosslow, judo in Japan by Mark Colby, and other informative works.

An upcoming issue will feature Dave Lowry on aikido in an SMAA Journal exclusive. Not getting our journal? There's an easy fix for that. Join the SMAA at www.smaa-hq.com.

Special Free SMAA Event!

On August 23, 2012 the Sennin Foundation Center for Japanese Cultural Arts in California will offer an introductory class in the Shin-shin-toitsu-do system of Japanese yoga and meditation, along with an introduction to Saigo Ryu martial arts. This event is FREE to SMAA members.

What You can Experience

Shin-shin-toitsu-do is the form of Japanese yoga and meditation that will be offered to SMAA members. Shin-shin-toitsu-do, “The Way of Mind and Body Unification,” was founded in the early 1900s by Nakamura Tempu Sensei. Nakamura Sensei lived in India, where he studied the art of Raja yoga, the yoga of meditation. After studying medicine at Columbia University, he blended Indian meditation and health improvement with his background in medicine, psychology, Japanese healing arts and meditation, and Japanese martial arts. He taught for many years in Japan, authored best-selling books, and counted among his students a large number of Japan's top executives, politicians, fine artists, athletes, martial artists, and people from every walk of life. But few Westerners have yet been exposed to these extraordinary teachings. 

Shin-shin-toitsu-do offers you practical forms of seated and moving meditation, breathing methods for health, stretching exercises, autosuggestion for altering negative habits, stress management, and self-healing techniques that are little-known in the West. Emphasis is also placed on the development of ki (chi in Chinese). Ki amounts to life energy, and its cultivation has a profound effect on mental and physical health. The goal is greatly enhanced concentration, willpower, calmness, relaxation, and physical fitness.

SMAA members will also have a chance to try Saigo Ryu aiki-jujutsu, a traditional and non-competitive martial art. While many Westerners use “jujutsu,” “jujitsu,” or “jiu-jitsu” to describe their art of self-defense, most of these methods bear little resemblance to the original Japanese jujutsu, Japan's oldest martial art. Both aikido and judo stem from jujutsu, and the Sennin Foundation Center is one of few dojo in the USA to offer authentic Japanese jujutsu.

Saigo Ryu features a wide variety of powerful throwing, pinning, and grappling techniques stemming from older methods originating in the Aizu-Wakamatsu area of Japan. Saigo Ryu is a sogo bujutsu, an “integrated martial system,” and it also features advanced training in the martial arts of the sword, spear, staff, short stick, iron fan, and others. It is unique and unlike many more well-known martial disciplines (like karate-do, kendo, and iaido). While training is vigorous, and the practiced self-defense techniques effective, the emphasis is on subduing an opponent without unneeded injury. Students improve their health while learning martial arts as meditation, which helps them to remain calm under pressure. Some practitioners have likened Saigo Ryu to “moving Zen.”

Saigo Ryu also teaches methods for cultivating ki. Ki, “life energy,” animates human beings, and an understanding of it is useful in both martial arts and daily life.

All You Need to Know to Participate

The classes will take place at 1053 San Pablo Avenue in Albany, California, right across the bay from San Francisco. The martial arts class is not required, and it will follow the Japanese yoga program, which starts at 7:00 PM. Since the Saigo Ryu aiki-jujutsu training will refer to principles of mind and body unification covered in the Japanese yoga class, everyone will want to participate in this first part of the evening. You can read more about both subjects at www.senninfoundation.com.

Wear loose clothing and bring a notebook. Pre-registration is needed and easily accomplished. Just leave a voice mail at 510-526-7518 or send e-mail to hedavey@aol.com. Leave your name and phone number, and then indicate that you would like to participate in one or both classes. Indicate if anyone else is coming with you, and then just drop by on August 23, 2012. Please arrive a few minutes before 7:00 PM for general registration.

The classes will be taught by the SMAA’s own Troy Swenson Sensei, who has been studying and teaching at the Sennin Foundation Center for several years. He has instructor certification in Japanese yoga, and he received a teaching certificate from the Shudokan Martial Arts Association Jujutsu Division. He is also the assistant editor of the SMAA Journal.

Don't miss your chance to learn how Japanese yoga and/or martial as can help you realize better health, deeper calmness, and enhanced concentration in everyday life.

Tax Deductible Donations

The SMAA is a federally tax-exempt, nonprofit corporation. As such, your donations to our association are tax deductible. Send your donations, in the form of a check or money order (made out to SMAA), to our headquarters in Michigan. We’ll send you a letter back acknowledging your contribution, which you can than use for tax purposes. We hope you’ll support the SMAA in our goal to preserve and promote traditional budo and koryu bujutsu.

Excerpt



The real secret to becoming an expert in martial arts is realizing that training is a process of self-discovery. Further, it is a means of modifying one's personality to make oneself healthier, more well-balanced, and more efficient. Outside of Japan, this idea has for the most part been lost, and the budo forms are typically taught as nothing more than specialized fighting methods. This approach is wasteful, however, for in the short term there are much more efficient ways to teach fighting than the highly ritualized practice of traditional martial arts. Only when an art is considered as a whole system, including its internal aspects, can all the cultural content be justified. - from BUDO MIND AND BODY, by Nicklaus Suino Sensei (SMAA Judo Division Director).

SMAA Event

The Japanese Sword: Ancient Tradition, Living Culture, Modern Art

February 20, 2012
San Jose, California, USA

SMAA Senior Advisor Paul Martin, a former staff member of the British Museum, author, and acknowledged authority, will present a lecture on the history and construction of the classic Japanese sword. Prized as much for its artistic beauty as for its amazing cutting ability, the Japanese sword is one of the most recognized symbols of Japan and its warrior class, the samurai. The creation of these true works of art has continued to the present through the efforts of a new generation of artisans, many of whom Mr. Martin interviewed and filmed for his documentary Art of the Japanese Sword.

For additional information contact: SMAA Senior Advisor Nyle Monday (408) 808-2041 or Silke Higgins (408) 808-2118

Monday
February 20, 2012
6:00-8:00 p.m.
Room 225/229

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library 150 E. San Fernando Street San Jose, CA 95112 USA

2012 SMAA Dues

Please remember that 2012 SMAA dues should have been paid on January 1. We hope everyone is having a Happy New Year!

A Note from Ecuador

The image above is of the iaido group of Neil Estrella Avecillas, an SMAA member in Ecuador. You can click on the image to enlarge it.

Mr. Avecillas writes, "The training here with my sensei and my partners always begins by paying proper respect to the martial tradition we practice. My sensei is strict about not allowing us to do something that disrespects the dojo or anything else. Courtesy is the most important thing during the practice, and our practice always begin with kihon ("basics"): footwork, arm work and leg work, which are important forms of fundamental training for beginners. "

"The style that is practiced by all beginners, intermediate, and advance students is the Seitei iaido of the Zen Nihon Kendo Renmei. The intermediate and advanced students practice forms of koryu iaido ("ancient iaido") in addition to this style. The practice of kata is very important, and during the kata we always keep in mind that the technique has to be done perfectly. We avoid repeating kata mindlessly like a robot; before beginning a kata we visualize an imaginary opponent, and that opponent is the manifestation of one of our defects that we want to eliminate. For this reason and others, kata requires all of one's concentration and strict attention to details."

Thanks to Mr. Avecillas for the information about his iaido practice in Ecuador and the photo. We welcome SMAA members to submit their own images of budo training for this blog.