So much going on and so little time

2018 just like 2017 has been super busy for me both in terms of my budo and also my personal life. I realized that I have not done a very good job of writing new content or keeping the blog updated as I probably should. I have been busy teaching at my dojo and traveling around and teaching at the various branch dojo, along with continuing to pursue another college degree and my own budo training. I am in the dojo 4/5 days a week, I spend almost every Sunday at the dojo of Jeff Davidson, where a group of us take great joy in punching each other and I spend almost everyday with my favorite little person, my granddaughter. When i get some down time, I have been working on three new books as well. So her is the highlights to get everyone up to speed;

4-8 of April Amber, Jason and I traveled to the east coast for 5 days. We left Indiana on Wednesday and arrived in Maryland Wednesday evening and got a hotel.  On Thursday, we spent a day wondering around at the beach in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. It is a very neat little town and has some neat shops. That evening we went to the dojo of Jeff Sullens (Anshinkai Martial Arts) in Belcamp, Maryland. Jeff’s dojo is a nice little space, his students were all very nice and we had the opportunity to teach for about three hours, covering several sections of the Okinawakan International

curriculum and evening getting a little of track with a section of Aiki-Jujutsu. Later that evening Jeff provided dinner at his dojo and we were able to socialize and met several of the students off the mat and get to know everyone. Jeff, his wife and students were great hosts and are working hard to adapt to the new organization and curriculum changes.

On Friday morning we went to downtown Baltimore and visited the Harbor and National Aquarium, it is truly a cool place, it is unique in that you follow a spiral path up several stories and then back down again, seeing several different habitat displays. We all three really enjoyed the visit to the aquarium and spent several hours there. Later that evening we changed hotels, to be closer to the seminar venue. Friday evening we began the first of a three day Gasshuku at the dojo of Vance

Parker (Parker’s Gojuryu) in Woodlawn, Maryland. All three days we worked on the Okinawakan International curriculum, covering basic’s, Break falls, Ido Dachi, Ido Kogeki, Sandan Uke Harai, Sandan GI, Ippon Kumite, Nippon Kumite, kata from Gekisai to Sanseru, and bunkai. Vance took us to a nice dinner at an Asian buffet on Saturday evening.

22nd of April we hosted Black Belt testing for my dojo. a four hour test that included, History, kihon, Kihon ido, kata, yakusoku Kumite, bunkai and self defense, I am proud to announce that Stan Range and Michael Hehe were promoted to Shodan. Thank you to Mr. and Mrs. Davidson for assisting with testing.

On the 5th of May, Amber, Jason and I traveled to Jacksonville, Illinois to the dojo of Steve Foster (Karate-do Kai of Jacksonville). We arrived an hour and a half before the seminar start time, so we ventured around Jacksonville to take in the sights, it is a nice town with a cozy feel to it, and several

of the homes were architectural marvels, just beautiful homes. We met everyone at Steve’s dojo and had a nice seminar. We had some guests join us from the Gojuryu Karate-do Kyokai. We trained for 5 hours total, with a small lunch break that was provided for us by Steve. We covered Sandan Uke Harai 1-4, Sandan Gi, Ippon Kumite 1-6 and then began to work through the kata, worked bunkai and then bo Buri.  After the seminar, several of us went out to eat at a very nice restaurant and enjoyed talking with each other. Steve and his students are working hard to adapt to the Okinawakan International curriculum

23rd of June, Curtis and I traveled to the Indiana Genbukai and had a great day training with Fumio Demura Sensei. Lots drills, lots of kata, lots of sweat. After training we went to their organization banquet and got to speak

with Demura Sensei more. we had a very nice conversation about the training and past events, training in Okinawa and the modernization of karate.

26th of June, Chris Minnich visited for some training at the dojo.

5-8th of July, Amber and I jumped in the car and drove straight through to Fort Myers, Florida. We attended the wedding of my long time fried and dojo mate, John Manley. We took some time to visit the beach and also spent an afternoon lounging by the pool. John and Kim had a beautiful beach wedding. Even though Amber and I drove down and back 20 hours each way, we needed the rest.

27-29 of July I hosted my annual Gasshuku. This was the 18th straight year that we have done the Gasshuku. We had a few before this 18 yer run, but not consecutive. This gasshuku we had Col Hobbs, Col. Willis and myself as the instructors. We had people attend from Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana.

The first day we worked on basics, two person drills and a little kata. Day two was more kata with a lot of details explained and several drills to help reinforce the techniques and some bunkai. Day three was with kata or Nunchaku depending on the group you chose. There was a lot of little details pointed out over the weekend.

This weekend we also celebrated the 60th Anniversary of martial arts training for Sensei Roy Jerry Hobbs and presented him with a cake and plaque. It might be interesting to know that it was also 20 yeas ago that I was

appointed as Vice President for Hobbs Sensei Dentokan association and that Indiana was first established as a Dentokan branch.

We also had a small cake for Deirdre Fusco for being pinned as a nurse the night before the Gasshuku.

This year we also held the first yudansha testing with people testing from three dojo. This year everyone tested in Gojuryu

Congratulations to my students that tested and passed their grading in front of the Testing board;

Curtis Jones 5th Dan

Jeff Sullens 5th Dan
Jason Thompson 4th Dan
Chad Kutcherman 1st Dan
Yondan to Patrick Polvinale
Nidan to Michael Pauley
Shodan to Dan Fusco
Shodan to Kendall Cosgrove
Shodan to Ike Walker
Shodan to Ishan Abdul-Jabbar
Jun Shodan to Jesse Shiflett

Also congratulations to the students of my students that passed as well;

Rick Martini 1st Dan 

17 - 19th of August  Amber Jones, Brit Pile and I Were again on the road. We had a great road trip to and from Republic Missouri, visiting some unique places along the way and we laughed like crazy. The seminar was excellent! Anthony Willis Sensei and his wife were excellent hosts. Anyu Shinjo Hanshi was very genuine and

humble, he is an extremely thorough and exacting Instructor. He truly is an excellent example of his teacher Eiichi Miyazato Sensei.

Day 1: Junbi Undo, 80 High blocks, 80 middle blocks,80 down blocks, 600 forward punches, 200 front kicks. Hour and 15 minutes in walking in sanchin dachi. Not a bad warm up. Then we worked on kata for the rest of the day.

Day 2: Junbi Undo, 60 High Blocks, 60 Middle blocks, 60 low blocks, 180 punches and 60 front kicks, then we moved on to kata.

I have to thank Amber and Mrs. Wills for taking tons of pictures. We also had the opportunity to eat dinner twice and lunch once with Shinjo Sensei.

Also a big congratulations to Col. Wills on being promoted to Hanshi 9th Dan on the last day of the Gasshuku by Shinjo Hanshi.

9th of September, we had a surprise guest at my dojo. Lloyd C. Johnson III Hanshi and his student Eric Jefferson both came to the dojo for an impromptu day of training. Mr. Johnson taught hojo undo and also kakie, as well as reviewing several kata. Mr. Johnson also had a surprise presentation that he made. He promoted MR. Jefferson to Kyoshi and Hachidan. He then issued several of my students certification recognition from his association. He then presented me with a promotion that I in no way deserve, accompanied with documents from Okinawa acknowledging such.

28th of September I was promoted to the Rank of 8th Dan in Ufuchiku Lineage Kobudo through the Ryukyu Dento Kobujutsu Hozon Budo Kokai under the authority of my teacher, Kiichi Nakamoto Soke.

10th of October I awarded my Son's Curtis and Alec with their Renshi license, Jason Thompson with his Shidoin License and Stan Range and Michael Hehe with their Fuku-Shidoin license. Curtis was also issued a Renshi license from my teacher, Kiichi Nakamoto.

October 19-21st, Jason and I traveled to Maryland for the purpose of Black Belt testing and instructing at the Fall Gasshuku.

On Friday evening we got started around 6:00, tested 8 candidates for rank advancement, the testing consisted of a written test, Junbi Undo, kihon, two person drills, kata, bunkai and some self defense. We left the dojo around 12:30am

Saturday from 9-5, after warming up, we worked on Gekisai Dai Ichi and Dai Ni, breaking down several small details, we worked on Gekisai Rensoku, covered the finer points of Sanseru and kihon waza. On Saturday evening we went out to a nice pub for dinner and had a great time socializing. I had the opportunity after 25 years of corresponding through email and social media to meet in person Howard S. High Sensei. I enjoyed our conversations and he did a demonstration of his sword art for us.

On Sunday we went from 9-2, we started with a warm up and basics, we then moved into Bo Buri and Toma Nu

Kun, we then covered Sanchin Dai Ichi and Dai Ni in great detail. I then passed out participation certificates and then presented the following promotions:

Renshi to Jeff Sullens

October 25-27, I had the opportunity to spend three days with my good friend, and mentor Roy Jerry Hobbs Hanshi and his lovely wife Dianne.

We worked on Jujutsu and Kobudo together this time. Not many friends enjoy making the other holler in pain while doing a wrist lock or throw, but for over 20 years we have been “abusing” each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed the visit, training and excellent conversations. One highlight was that Hobbs Sensei showed me the various menjo, menkyo and Makimono that he has earned from a virtual who’s who of martial artists. Masters that some of us have only read about in books. Certificates from white belt to 8th, 9th or 10th Dan in several Okinawan Karate, Kobudo and Toide systems. The same for Japanese Karate, Jujutsu, Iaido and even Kung fu systems. 60 years worth of historical documents and photos with legendary masters. It was truly humbling.

I have to thank Dianne and Hobbs Sensei for being gracious hosts and allowing me once again to share their home and family time.

I also have to give a special shout out to my beautiful wife Amber Jones, who allowed me to take off again, after only being home for 2 days from the last karate trip. Not too many wives would support their husbands traveling all over the world to teach and train or spend every evening at the dojo, weekends at tournaments or clinics and spend almost every Sunday watching me Kumite. She has given up a lot to support my endeavors over the past 28 years and I am eternally grateful.

December 1-2, we had two visitors from our Baltimore branch dojo visit for training. I gave detailed instruction on Gekisai Ichi and Ni, Sanchin Ichi and Ni, Saifa, Seiunchin, Shisochin, Sanseru, Seipai, Kururunfa and seisan. Along with Ido Dachi and bunkai.

The remainder of the year with see a holiday party, end of year testing and preparation for our first event of 2019 to celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the dojo.