Following lunch on Saturday, Steve Fabian Sensei began teaching Hontai Yoshin Ryu jujutsu. This dynamic martial art also includes training with the six-foot staff, three-foot stick, and sword. It dates back 19 generations, in an unbroken lineage. Fabian Sensei is part of this line, having studied in Japan with the 18th and 19th generation leaders of Hontai Yoshin Ryu.
He began with warm-up exercises, and then progressed to ukemi falling drills. Next up were Hontai Yoshin Ryu wrist grab releases, building on what H. E. Davey taught earlier that day. From these releases, Fabian Sensei transitioned into various joint locks in response to a wrist grab. He emphasized that a successful technique in Hontai Yoshin Ryu requires ki (“life energy”), chikara (“strength”), and waza (“technique”).
