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On Pain, Along the Way articles blog Dec 19, 2023

The path taken within the Dojo and throughout the life of someone studying Kobudo.

Darkness is not a safe place for the untrained. It just isn't.

The path involves you facing yourself, be it through...

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How to choose the right uke articles blog Mar 14, 2023

When I teach a seminar, I try to show a technique with the toughest, most capable uke. Not the easiest, lightest student with graceful ukemi performed to make me look good. I want to mix it up with...

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Hatsu Keiko 2023 articles blog Jan 04, 2023
Akemashite omedetō. Congratulations on the New year, 2023. We began the shift to the  year in private at the Yasuragi Dojo with cleaning, meditation and our first New Year's eve ceremony.
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Jinenkan Seminar, Los Angeles 2022 articles blog Nov 11, 2022

Amazing time teaching in Los Angeles this past weekend, Koto Ryu Koppojutsu and Togakure Ryu Bikenjutsu. An enormous amount of material covered, and still a long way to go. I have so much gratitude...

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On Kikusui, our new logo and eternal youth articles blog culture Aug 23, 2022

Taken from the cover of a book, Adam Mitchell purchased at an antique book store in Japan, the "Kikusui" logo literally translates to “Chrysanthemum water”. It's original reference...

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On Kakkofudo, and being invincible articles blog Aug 07, 2022

"I am invincible" Maciej said as we were leaving the Dojo on Saturday morning. I knew what he meant, I think maybe more than he realized.

After morning training, I asked Maciej if he wouldn’t...

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Renshu, price of admission to complete realization articles blog May 20, 2022

練習, renshu. To train repetitively. Knowing with the mind and knowing with the body are different things. I’m not interested in talking about a martial art I can’t realize and perform...

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My fight has always been within articles blog Nov 16, 2021

It just took some time to learn this.

“What the superior man seeks is in himself; what the small man seeks is in others” - Confucius

I spent almost all of my life looking to fight, face...

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The human body has the same weak points and so does the mind articles blog Oct 08, 2021
The human body has the same weak points and so does the mind whether a person is standing or on the ground. For a way to practice, once a standing technique has been mastered, you can try using...
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Only you can understand Budo articles blog Feb 18, 2021
四拳 波羅蜜 大光明. Many things in Budo can be easily translated, others cannot. It's easy to google, or look at someone else's translation or even have a master brush it for a couple hundred bucks ......
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Don't feed the monkey, keep going and expect to break articles podcast Jun 28, 2020

20 years ago, I had my first training experience with my martial arts teacher, and in this episode I want to share with you some observations that I took from that experience and how it really...

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Nin Tai, Something More than Not Giving Up articles Feb 23, 2020

About 15 years ago, I was at a martial arts seminar in Virginia that Manaka Sensei  was teaching. 

Following the seminar, the host kindly invited us back to his house...
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Testing Expectations, What's Beyond the Curriculum articles blog Jan 15, 2020
 
 
 We just completed a new cycle of rank testing here at the Dojo, and I gotta tell you ... there's some blood on the floor. Well not really, but metaphorically.
 
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Reflections on Giri, our obligational duty as written by Inazo Nitobe articles culture Apr 14, 2019

I want to continue the discussion about the fundamental difference between right and wrong. If you read the previous article, we talked about Bushido The Soul of Japan, written by Inazō...

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Gi, The fundamental difference between right and wrong articles Apr 07, 2019
 Much of how I teach is centered around topics that I first present to the children’s class, and then I kind of carry that same sentiment throughout into my evening class making it...
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A Gift From Vancouver articles culture Oct 03, 2015

A wonderful gift in the mail that arrived from fellow budoka who travelled from Vancouver, BC to train with us in New York during Unsui Sensei's 2015 Seminar. Peter Haddad arrived on Tuesday to...

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