Since March 2020, the training sessions provided by Meifu Shinkage Ryu Canada Branch have only been online. We have invested in two high-quality cameras to continue to provide expert instruction to our members. Please take a look at our dedicated online learning page to find out more about how to start training online.
Summer has started and the summer break is just around the corner. With that, our keiko schedule changes significantly for this summer.
If you are looking to purchase MSR Bo-Shuriken, please let me know as soon as possible. I can then place your order and pay Otsuka-sensei in Japan in 2 weeks.
Please note that we are moving away from Facebook, making future announcements on our general website and for our MSR Canada members on our Members Only website. All members have received information about this already. If you want to continue to follow our activities in Canada, post announcements will be made in Facebook automatically, just like this one.
Today, as authorised by Yasuyuki Otsuka, Soke (headmaster) of Meifu Shinkage Ryu, I am happy to announce the conception of a new keikokai (study group) in Canada. This provincial keikokai will be named Meifu Shinkage Ryu Canada™ – Alberta Keikokai (short: MSR Alberta Keikokai), and cover instruction for the 200 square kilometres geographical area around Calgary. MSR Alberta Keikokai will be operated by Mr. Tom Gillis, under leadership of the Meifu Shinkage Ryu Canada™ Branch.
The first activity of the MSR Alberta Keikokai will be the organization of the MSR Alberta Seminar, on February 20 & 21, 2018. From that point on, activities will commence slowly.
As part of our July training weekend, a two-day Meifu Shinkage-ryu Masterclass will be organised in La Ronge on July 20 and 21 (Thursday and Friday). The Thursday will focus on Shodan curriculum and on application skills of shurikenjutsu. We will also be working on finer details of movement of Fundo Kusari. The Friday is all about self-training and collaboration amongst members.
At the end of the Friday, MSR Canada members from Saskatchewan Dojo, and leaders from Toronto Keikokai, and Manitoba Prairies Keikokai who are eligible for examinations will have the opportunity to do their examination for their next level under supervision of Chris de Feijter, Branch Chief. This may include Sankyu, Nikyu, Ikkyu levels and Shodan level examination.
Participation in the MSR Masterclass is free, however, examination cost are to be paid by each member who wants to do their examination.
In addition to Meifu Shinkage-ryu, the training weekend will also include Yagyu Shinkage-ryu Kenjutsu and Yagyu Shingan-ryu (jujutsu). Especially the kenjutsu component is extremely interesting to do as it will provide deeper insight into some of the skills within Meifu Shinkage-ryu. Participation in the Yagyu component has a cost attached to it because we are flying in an instructor. Please contact Chris for more details.
Excitingly we are announcing a series of new workshops, to be offered in Saskatchewan and Toronto. Four workshops about Bo-Shurikenjutsu as well as four workshops about Fundo Kusarijutsu are currently being designed. Please take a look at the special announcement page, https://meifushinkageryu.ca/workshop-small-weapons/
In addition, we are setting up regular Keiko Cafe sessions. Please see the Facebook group for announcements.
The year 2016 was fantastic for Taka Budo Dokokai Martial Arts, Inc., and in particular for the Meifu Shinkage Ryu department. We were privileged to train with Otsuka-Sensei in Japan at the Tabata dojo, and again during the seminar in La Ronge in October. New members passed their first examination, whereas other members passed their Kyu and Dan ranks.
The year 2017 will be another fantastic year. First of all, the Meifu Shinkage Ryu Canada – Toronto Keikokai will start under leadership from Nigel. The startup will be slow to establish a solid foundation. There is quite some potential to grow Meifu Shinkage Ryu in Toronto and in the greater Ontario; a great opportunity.
Following is a list of exciting opportunities in 2017:
Please note that opportunities 3 and 4 are semi-private, with early bird registration fee of $300 for each seminar, and $600 for the April 2017 seminar. If you are interested in reserving at the early bird fee, please contact Chris de Feijter. MSR Canada Branch members will receive the usual 50% discount on seminar fees for MSR related seminars.
Meifu Shinkage Ryu training in November followed many training activities as practiced during the October 2016 Saskatchewan Seminar. Compared to previous training sessions, we decided to focus our training using one tool in particular, supplemented by the other. For example, the majority of training focused on Bo-Shuriken, and additionally, some of the Fundo-kusarijutsu kata were reviewed as well.
One of our newest member is starting to transition to the hard fundo-kusari. The soft fundo kusari is a great training tool, however, any member must transition to using the hard version sometime during the training progression. Therefore, we think it is important to do so as soon as possible, not much later than after graduating the 5th kyu level. Taking safety and confidence into consideration, it is however imperative that new members use hard fundo-kusari only with very limited power with the focus being on flow. This resulted in a review of Ippon-me to sanbon-me-ni.
In addition, some members have started working on the Nidan and Sandan kata, as detailed in the Mokuroku for Fundo-kusarijutsu. This is a new step towards further and deeper understanding of all the skills and techniques in the Meifu Shinkage Ryu curriculum.
Todays training was about all Bo-Shuriken waza, all stances and distances from 1 to 2 ken. Gyaku uchi is difficult from 2 ken. After that, I started to train Shomenuchi with the left hand from 1 ken. This was very interesting and forced me to really focus on the hand grip as left is my non-dominant hand. Then I followed up with Shomenuchi with two shuriken, one from the left hand and one from the right hand, thrown at the same time from Heiko-dachi and Fuko-dachi. I ended the training with throwing two shuriken at the same time from the right hand, trying to keep them within a 15cm grouping.
I also experimented with the new style bo-shuriken that arrived yesterday. The Shingetsu-ryu bo-shuriken are so strong that they almost penetrate two puzzle mats. I could not practice with the MSR Hanten-daho shuriken as I did not have enough room to move beyond 3 ken.
[av_two_third first]
[av_heading heading=’Examination Results’ tag=’h2′ style=” size=” subheading_active=” subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”][/av_heading]
[av_textblock size=” font_color=” color=”]
On October 3 and 4th, an MSR seminar took place in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Otsuka-Sensei provided detailed instruction on many skills from Meifu Shinkage-ryu.
An examination took place of all MSR members in Canada. For MSR Saskatchewan Keikokai, the following members passes examination successfully:
Next examination eligibility for Lance and Darren is at the end of January 2016. For Chris, next examination eligibility is at the end of March 2016.
[/av_textblock]
[/av_two_third]
[av_one_third]
[av_hr class=’invisible’ height=’50’ shadow=’no-shadow’ position=’center’ custom_border=’av-border-thin’ custom_width=’50px’ custom_border_color=” custom_margin_top=’30px’ custom_margin_bottom=’30px’ icon_select=’yes’ custom_icon_color=” icon=’ue808′ font=’entypo-fontello’]
[av_image src=’https://meifushinkageryu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/12140969_10153064722257793_8751501388440689254_o-300×187.jpg’ attachment=’23638′ attachment_size=’medium’ align=’center’ animation=’right-to-left’ styling=” hover=” link=” target=” caption=” font_size=” appearance=” overlay_opacity=’0.4′ overlay_color=’#000000′ overlay_text_color=’#ffffff’][/av_image]
[/av_one_third]
[av_comments_list]
Recent Comments