An Afternoon of Seminars with Master Fumio Demura
Sunday, April 13, 2008
I ended up overestimating the travel time to the Mohawk YMCA and got there a bit earlier than I wanted to... as it turned out, Master Demura and Sensei Hobbib had a situation come up in the morning that resulted in their being almost an hour late, so we ended up waiting around anyway. But once Master Demura arrived I was once again reminded of why I signed up for these seminars - he is one of the most positive fun-loving people I've ever met, and it is simply joy and a pleasure to learn from him.
Kobudo Bo Seminar
We started out with a bo (six foot staff) seminar. After a very brief introduction, he led us through a series of exercises designed to help us become more comfortable with moving the bo and working with it on both the left and right sides. He then took us through a series of kihon (basic combinations) and then we broke up into pairs to practice techniques on each other. For the most part I was pretty comfortable with what we did, since I've worked with the bo quite a bit over the last 10 years or so.
(all seminar photos courtesy of www.amai-eaglestyle.com)
From there he split the class into two groups - those who had been at his previous seminar three years ago and those who hadn't. The latter group worked primarily with Sensei Hobbib on Master Demura's Bo Kihon no Kata (Basic Bo Kata) that he taught three years ago. The rest of us were fortunate enough to learn a traditional Okinawan bo kata, Koryu Shushi no Kon Sho (Old Style Short Bo Kata of Shushi.) We've done a kata called Shushi no Kon Sho in our school for as long as I can remember, and while I've never learned it, this one seemed a bit different... perhaps because of the differences between the Japanese and Okinawan versions of some katas, as Master Demura spent a few minutes explaining and demonstrating. (The main difference seemed to be flow, with the Japanese method having very definite pauses between the movements and a certain emphasis on strength while the movements of the Okinawan version were more flowing... but my knowledge of Japanese and Okinawan arts is limited enough that I could be totally off-base on that!)
As always Master Demura did a great job teaching the kata... he took us about 2/3 of the way through it, then switched with Sensei Hobbib who both drilled us on the movements we'd learned and gave us a few more. Then Master Demura came back and finished the kata with us... unfortunately by that point we were running low on time, so we didn't get to practice the last 1/3 nearly as much as the first 2/3, and I wouldn't be able to do the whole thing from memory at this point... but with the help of some of the resources I've gathered over the years, I should be able to piece it together so that I can try to practice it on a regular basis.
Toyama Ryu Batto Do Seminar
After that we took a brief break and those of us in iaido changed into our iaido gear, then the second seminar on Toyama Ryu Batto Do started. Master Demura gave us a brief overview of the different types of sword work and drew analogies to different aspects of karate - kendo being similar to kumite, iaido being similar to kata, and batto-do being similar to breaking. Toyama Ryu is a relatively recent development in the Japanese martial arts, created in 1925 to give Japanese officers a method of basic training in practical sword techniques, with an emphasis on using the drawing and cutting with the sword in close-quarters combat. As a result, the style has a strong emphasis on tameshigiri (test-cutting.) There are currently three separate Toyama Ryu organizations and many schools; probably the best-known in the US is Nakamura-Ryu Happo-giri Batto-do, founded by Nakamura Taizaburo based on his training in a number of styles including Toyama Ryu. Master Demura trained under Nakamura Sensei until his death in 2003, and his International Batto-do Confederation is based on Nakamura's teachings, as well as training with instructors from the All Japan Batto-do Federation. (There are many places where more info about Toyama Ryu can be found on-line, including a fairly good article on Wikipedia. Master Demura's site has an excellent article outlining the history of Toyama ryu, Nakamura Sensei, and the International Batto Do Confederation.)
We started out with a couple of basic exercises - drawing and cutting, controlling the hieght at which we stopped each cut. After that Master Demura did a quick overview of the happo giri (eight cuts) - four diagonal cuts, two horizontal cuts, a cut straight down, and a forward thrust. Then we learned a Ippon me - Mae no Teki, the first kata. The movements defend against an overhead attack, by first cutting the forearms of the attacker and then finishing him with a downward diagonal cut. We practiced Ippon me a number of times, then found partners for kumitachi (paired practice) and took turns being the attacker and defender. I was fortunate to pair up with Ann, and we spent much of the seminar working back and forth (and trying to remember to do Toyama Ryu moves and not Takenouchi Hangan Ryu!)
The last part of the seminar was tameshigiri (cutting) using a cutting sword that Master Demura and Sensei Hobbib provided. They set up rolled tatami mats and gave us a few guidelines on how to cut properly, then a number of the iaido students were given a chance to try it. We were running low on time, so I didn't think Ann or I would get a chance to do it, but just before the end we were each allowed to go up and make a cut. I remember slightly more about this one than I do about the cut I made in Japan, under the late Master Tsuneyoshi Matsuno's guidance - maybe the 5 1/2 years of training I've done since then have improved my skills a bit. I was also lucky that Mr. Eric Stalloch, the owner of the Utica location, managed to get a fairly nice picture of me making the cut.
After that we hustled out, because another group was coming in to use the gym for basketball. As always this was a great set of seminars with Master Demura - he is a phenomenal teacher who is eager to share his wealth of knowledge. I can only hope we have more opportunities to learn from him in the future!
JMH
