As I write this it is the end of 2019, the end of another decade
We are about to start the third decade of the 20th Century
STMA, in this format, has been around since 2009
2020 is the start of our 12th year, well into our 2nd Decade
We have members who have been with us for a decade, a 3rd Dan and a 2nd Dan
A lot of friends have come and gone, including a few Black Belts
Some friends have been married, some divorced, some have become fathers, some have become grandfathers
As I have mentioned, this New Year, I will be teaching stuff that almost nobody outside Japan is taught, not until at least 5th Dan, stuff from the old Ryuha. Stuff not taught to the public, only in Private Groups
TAIJUTSU - Skill with the Body
DAKEN TAI JUTSU - Striking methods
KOPPO JUTSU - Bone smashes with body weapons
KOSHI JUTSU - Organ, nerve and muscle smashes with body weapons
JU TAI JUTSU - Grappling methods
- NAGE throws
- SHIME chokes
- TORITE locks and reversals
TAI HEN JUTSU - Body movement skills
- UKEMI - breakfalls
- KAITEN - rolling
- TOBI - leaping
- TAI SABAKI - body angling
- SHINOBI IRI - silent movement
What we are developing here is a combat orientated fighting system, focussed on real world self protection
We are not bound by the rules and limitations of contemporary recreational martial art programs - kickboxing, MMA, etc
We are truly Combat Ready for all modern confrontations:
- standing fist fight
- car seat
- floor of a closet
- the middle of a chair packed bar or diner
- down a flight of stairs in a home, a shopping mall, fire escape,
- falling out of a car or lorry
- going over a wall, low or high
- avoiding an attack dog
- flattening on a floor to avoid gunfire
Those looking for glory, champion titles, belts, or plastic trophies, inspired by TV boxing, kickboxing, the UFC or MMA, will most likely be sent elsewhere, as there are better places to provide what they are looking for
What we are teaching here is Traditional Martial Arts, from schools with Centuries of teachings, with a Modern, Street Orientated, Practical, Realistic, Effective Self Defence, for the Streets of Britain in the 21st Century
We primarily focus on Japanese Martial Arts, especially the old Ryuha
We also cover the Martial Arts of China, Okinawa, Thailand and the Philippines
I have competed in Points and Knockdown Karate, Full Contact Karate, Full Contact Kickboxing, Professional Boxing in the UK, YES I have held Professional licence and had Boxing matches, I have never competed as an amateur, Black Belt Heavyweight Judo, Vale Tudo Cage Fighting, Kali armoured Stick Fighting, both single stick and double
I Have NOT competed in: UFC, I was not in America in the late 90s in those cage fights, even though people think I was (that was probably Freeman ); I do not compete what is now called MMA, watered down UFC, which has too many rules; I do not compete in the Dog Brothers, I have trained with Crafty, and have great respect for him, though I have never competed, I am NOT the "British Bull Dog", and do not subscribe to their "higher contact/consciousness" concept; I was never a competitive bodybuilder or power lifter, though I train with them in London
I was a Nightclub bouncer for 7 years, Head Doorman for 5, and that is where the bulk of my experience is from. I was not a Policeman. Some of my students over the years, including Black Belts, have been Police Officers, Prison Officers, Bodyguards, and Security Officers from various duties.
We do NOT train or associate with wannabees or fantasists from things like Krav Maga or Keyi - we do not entertain them, or even invite them. Anyone who has the fantasy that they have trained with Special Forces, or Israeli Commandos we do NOT deal with
STMA is Non Profit, Private, Members Only - we keep the cost as low or lower than any other local Martial Art club, and we keep the classes small. We do 2 hours of actual Martial Arts skill training, little or no cardio beyond the basic necessary warmup and stretching, unless we are specific Junan Taiso
The thread for the 7 dimensions of grappling
shirotoratiger.proboards.com/thread/120/7-dimensions-grappling
And how it appears on the website
www.shirotora.co.uk/white-tiger-martial-arts/jujutsu
As well as the regular Dojo Tuesday session, we will look to do more Grass sessions
In previous years we have done Grass evenings in Summer, Grass Days, Spring Camp and Summer Camp - sometimes the Camps have gone on for more than the 3 hours, this is up to the members, if they want to turn up and stay longer, I will teach
As we are looking to tap the old Ryuha, we will look at some of the areas of JuJutsu and TaiJutsu we have not covered much of over the years
Handachi
Suwari
Stage 5
NAGE - we will look at the Entry and Uchikomi for the throws, as we have done in recent drills - there is an option to perform and take throws on the Grass is members want to explore this in an detail - any two members can agree to throw each other
Seated in Seiza and Fudoza - kneeling and cross legged
Against an opponent in the same
Opponent standing
With or without a weapon
Sword and short sword
Kick and shelf TDs - from standing - from handachi
Handachi - you seiza or fudoza while opponent attacks with a sword or kodachi
Sutemi waza - sacrifice throws in context
Grappling newaza is done from knees and of course following a throw
A great chance to practice rolling and breakfalls in context
BOXING SEMESTER starting late Jan
For the next several sessions we are going to be covering BOXING at Class every week, the next 10 or 12 sessions at least
There are a few reasons for doing this, and this has been discussed elsewhere
We have been covering a lot of WEAPONS including KALI progression, the KRABI drills, and added BOKKEN and JO staff and will continue to do so
We have been covering the Traditional Ryuha, most recently SHINDEN FUDO Ryu, and will continue to do so
When doing this it is easy to neglect KICKBOXING
Last year, while covering KOTO and GYOKKO Ryu, we added more SAVATE sets
This year, we will go back to our BOXING syllabus and look to progressively add BOXING drills and Sparring
Keep in mind, we do not train and spar for Boxing itself, for competition, although it is the same drilling and techniques - we train for Self Defence and Street Fighting
We have trained bouncers who have had dozens of Street KO on the Door but have never put on a glove and stepped in the ring - some have, but most have not, and have had no interest in doing so
When we spar we do not use Headgear or gumshields, because we spar with touch contact and no head shots - it is the attributes we are working towards
In Amateur Boxing, rounds are 3 minutes and fighters wear headgear. Only in Pro matches, when licenced, are boxers allowed to fight with no headgear and lighter gloves. Only in the higher ranked divisions do fights go on longer than 3 rounds - to 6 rounds, and at World level 12 rounds. In the old days, of Ali, the Golden Era, fights went on for 15 rounds.
STMA has a long history with Boxing and I will post links, some going back to 2009, which will be referred to over the Semester
GRAPPLING and our GROUND FIGHTING NEWAZA Semester 2020
Once we have the Boxing Semester covered, the next Semester we will look to cover this year is the GROUND Semester
When I say "look to cover", often we get overtaken by events and end up postponing a planned series til later
At this time I would intend to follow the Boxing Semester with Ground
We have done this twice before at CATERHAM
Originally we had the mats from the old Judo Club that Baloo owned and that Bane kept in his garage
The first STMA Mat Sessions we all on these mats, in the original format seen in Judo and Jiu Jitsu - mainly Newaza, though we did cover some throws
The second phase of Ground, a few years later, were done on the carpet in the lobby. Those who were there will recall that after Stix we would go out and practice GROUND on the carpet. We wore our GI jackets and kneepads, and worked more direct drills than rolling and sparring. While the carpet was no way as soft as the mats, it was softer than the wood for continuous drilling.
The one important exception was that the REFLEXES being developed were far more STREET orientated than the SPORT reflexes developed by continuous drilling and rolling on soft mats
Also we drilled more KORYU Ground techniques on GRASS sessions, in the original format, which we continued to do
At SHIRLEY we had some lighter mats we used, though we covered a lot of TAIJUTSU TD sets as well as the NEWAZA - this again was in line with the GRASS Newaza we were doing in parallel
At SANDERSTEAD, the first time round in 2015, we never brought mats and never used the lobby carpet, all Newaza during that period was on GRASS
So, in this new period 2020, we do not believe using mats, at least at this time, will be benefical, when we can look at using carpet again, to develop techniques with the proper STREET GOSHIN reflexes
This will parallel the GRASS we do as the seasons progress and we actually get dry ground again, the KORYU NEWAZA
So this is what we are looking ahead to - develop GROUND again, focussing on WAZA, RSD and FSD, at the DOJO, covering GOSHIN Modern on Carpet, and on GRASS covering KORYU Traditional Battlefield
And keep in mind - we are NOT doing ANY completion/Cage/UFC/MMA orientated training - this is STREET Self Defence, for which we HAVE to learn to Grapple on hard floor - and KORYU the old Ryuha - much of which is specifically NINJA, where taking the opponent direct to the floor is a vital skill
In the Feb post above I wrote this line:
"often we get overtaken by events and end up postponing a planned series til later"
and that has certainly been the case this Semester
The intention was the add a Thursday Grass session to complement the Tuesday Class - as it turns out we no longer have the Class as that is on hiatus, so our focus is solely Grass
This is the model we used in 2015, five years ago, where the entire Summer, May to September, was Grass twice a week
At this time our only formal session is Thursday night, though we may look to add a second evening, depending on Member availability
What we have managed to start is a hoc daytime sessions for extra practice, sometimes partner work, sometimes, Kata or "shadow" drills and exercises
We are not doing any KICKBOXING, though might review that, especially with use of pads on the Grass, it can work
We have started including NEWAZA Ground, which always depends on how dry/wet the grass is, so cannot often be planned for
We have started bringing back weapons on the Grass and will look to do more
SERRADA Stick and Knife
Double Stick KALI Sinawalli an KRABI Krabong
HANBO
JO an BOKKEN
BO an TONFA
As we did KOTO Ryu an GYOKKO Ryu the last two years we always intended to use the striking DAKEN Taiutsu of SHINDEN FUDO Ryu this year and have been doing so
Due to the change of format we have been sourcing the other Ryuha, at the SHODEN Basic level
TOGAKURE Ryu - Ninja forms of movement and Combat concept
TAKAGI YOSHIN Ryu - Jutaijutsu
KUKISHINDEN Ryu - Dakentaiutsu
We will next look at add the HANBO and ROKUSHAKUBO of the KUKISIN
The NINJA Board has been updated to reflect these planned expansions
Six weeks later in May we have certainly evolved these sessions
KALI weapons and KICKBOXING with pads has been added and we intend to make sure these get fair attention over the Summer, in lieu of us not having the DOJO session at this time
NEWAZA We have covered a lot of Ground game in 8 weeks and plan to continue over the Season
KEMPO we have covered various sets and series including Club defence - we have done some knife defence and intend to do more
JUJJTSU Has included a lot of the takedowns, throws and projections under different reference points and controlled conditions, and we plan to cover more
NINPO has primarily been SHINDEN FUDO Ryu as planned - there has also been MUTODORI Sword Defence and we intend to cover more
SHINDEN FUDO RYU
Thread with full info and list of techniques:
shirotoratiger.proboards.com/thread/1534/shinden-fudo-ryu-dakentaijutsu-jutaijutsu
This was the first system taught at the TODA Dojo though often the third addressed
As we covered GYOKKO Ryu in 2018 and KOTO Ryu in 2019, SHINDEN FUDO was been the school for 2020
The Toda family Dojo had a sign above it saying "Shinden Fudo Ryu JuTaiJutsu" and that is what students there started learning first, before moving on to Koto Ryu and Gyokko Ryu then Togakure Ryu.
The Shindenfudo Ryu has two styles of taijutsu - Dakentaijutsu, and Jutaijutsu.
In the Dakentaijutsu there are no formal kamae and the use of natural posture is emphasized, while in the Jutaijutsu there are 5 kamae.
The training levels in the Dakentaijutsu are:
1.Ten no kata (8 kata)
2.Chi no kata (8 kata)
3.Shizen Shikoku no kata (12 kata)
The training levels in the Jutaijutsu are:
1.Kamae (5 kamae)
2.Shoden no kata (16 kata)
3.Chuden no kata (11 kata)
4.Okuden no kata (8 kata)
DAKENTAIJUTSU
Dakentaijutsu has throws, strikes, locks, and kicks done in a direct and straightforward manner. It uses the body as a striking weapon and appears "hard" in application.
There are no formal postures in the DAKEN system, the Kamae are held in your heart. Most of the techniques start from the natural postures: shizen and fudoza.
SHINDEN FUDO RYU - "divine transmission of immovability"
DAKEN TAI JUTSU - "hard weapon body art"
JUTAIJUTSU
Shinden Fudō Ryū Jūtaijutsu, 神傳不動流柔体術, is the part of Shinden Fudo Ryu that specializes in grappling and Joint locks.
JU TAI JUTSU - Soft Body Art
KAMAE
Fudo Za - Seated
Shizentai - Natural Posture
Seigan
Ichimonji
Hira Ichimonji
At the TODA Dojo where Takamatsu studied, Shinden Fudo was the first system learnt, even though it is the most intricate
Dakentaijutsu, the Striking system, can be separated into two sub systems:
KOSHI Jutsu - nerve and muscle striking
KOPPO Jutsu - bone breaking
So GYOKKO Ryu and KOTO Ryu respectively, when learnt next, fitted into the pattern of DakenTaiJutsu
As all three have their roots in Chinese Kempo, the other related arts fit into the pattern:
Chinese KEMPO
Okinawa KEMPO
Japanese KARATE - the various Schools and Styles - Shotokan, Shoto Kai, Kyukushin, Goju, etc
Ju Tai Jutsu was the original name for Ju Jutsu
NAGE Throws
OSAE Pins
GYAKU Locks
SHIME Chokes
Subsequent Arts and Schools fit into the pattern
JUJUTSU - various schools
KITO Ryu - KANO main source for NAGE
TENJIN SHINYO Ryu - KANO source for OSAE and SHIME
JUDO - Kodokan
KOSEN JUDO - focus on Newaza
AIKIJUTSU - Daito Ryu
AIKIDO
TOMIKI Aikido
GRACIE Jiujitsu
Just as fighters over the years study different schools, arts and styles to have a complete system, and the modern attempt to "mix" martial arts together these schools had original ways to understand and practice the differences, and then properly integrate the skills
KARATE and JUDO
BOXING/KICKBOXING and WRESTLING
MUAY THAI and JIU JITSU
In the NINJA Ryuha, TAGAKI YOSHIN RYU is a specialised JUTAIJUTSU style of Grappling
Just as the GYOKKO RYU an the KOTO Ryu pattern in with the Shinden Fudo DAKENTAIJUTSU, the Takagi Yoshin patterns in with it's JuTaiJutsu
