For all Samurai School and Kindy students who joined before the 1st January 2012 are required to renew membership and insurance – cost £15 per student.  Students who joined after the 1st January 2012, your first renewal is 1st May 2013.

All adult students are required to renew membership on 1st June 2012.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Should works run over schedule it may not be possible to park onsite Tuesday evening.

Classes will run as normal over the Easter period.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Please note there will be no classes on Tuesday 13th March as Winterbourne have no hall/rooms available for us.  To save you adjusting your standing order for March, we can offer a refund or credit £4 towards your child’s next grading or merit-badge.  If we don’t hear from you we will assume you opt for the latter.

Next Grading 27^th March

Our next grading is scheduled for 27^th March.  The cost is £10 for Kindy or £15 for School students, payable only if the student passes.  All students attending longer than 3 months are entitled to grade, however there may be some exceptions which we will address on a case-by-case basis. 

Reminder about Class Fees

A quick reminder that class fees are due monthly by standing order, no later than the 9^th of each month.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Although Ryan and I have practised ninjutsu concepts for many years, officially it has been under the guise of Mr Bo Munthe’s Mu Te Ryu program; Mr Munthe’s own training incorporating authentic ninjutsu as well as jujutsu, judo and modern self defence practises. 

Membership in the Bujinkan opens further chapters in our training, including the opportunity to train in Japan to learn directly from the grandmaster and Japanese Shihan.  It is my hope that all of our students will feel so inspired to branch out and learn from the much larger international community of ninjutsu practitioners.

Both Ryan and I will of course continue to study Mu Te Ryu and Edo Machi kata Taiho Jutsu under the guidance of our teacher Mr Bo Munthe and will also hope to progress our knowledge of authentic ninjutsu under guidance of the Bujinkan organisation.

Please note that the title “Shidoshi” we use to denote a “Senior Instructor” in Mu Te Shin Do, was originally borrowed from the Bujinkan in order to introduce ninjutsu customs to our students.  In the Bujinkan this title is reserved for those 5 Dan and above.  Now that Ryan and I are officially members of the Bujinkan, and not 5 Dan, we will stop using the title out of respect.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

During that time the Samurai School has enjoyed holding classes in Bradley Stoke and Winterbourne, afterschool classes at St Michaels and Shield Road primary schools, and physical education electives for Year 9, 10, & 11 students at Brimsham Green Highschool.

The club as a whole also served as the international headquarters for all Mu Te Ryu training.  This (quite rightly) has now returned to Stockholm where it belongs with its founder Soke Bo Munthe.

Wow, time really flies by when you’re having fun!

Happy Birthday Samurai School and Happy Birthday Mu Te Shin Dojo.

——————————————————————————————————–

Additional statement added 23rd January 2012.  Following the publishing of this post I received an annonymous email.

Please, if there really is something “you find hard to believe” then please leave your real email so I can respond to you.  Alternatively I can provide contact details for Mr Bo Munthe, so you contact him directly and verify this information for yourself.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Normal class times continue as in 2011.

6 – 7pm.  Samurai Kindy (5 & 6 years), Samurai School (7-16yrs. white, yellow, & orange belts), and trial sessions.

7 – 8pm.  Samurai School (7-16yrs. Green, Blue, Purple, Brown).

7 – 8:30pm.  Samurai School Black Belts.

Looking forward to getting started!

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

Please note classes on December 6th will be in Room 1 at the end of the corridor.

Its a bit early yet, but what the hey, Merry Xmas!

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

The following are some sections from this interview, and invite you to visit the site and read the whole interview.

http://www.markhodel.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=1

Please note that I have deliberately taken these sections as I believe these words are also the truth for Mr Bo Munthe and his Mu Te Ryu practise; and very much true of my own approach to training.
—————————————
It may seem strange that he (referring to Bujinkan Grandmaster Hatsumi) teaches “no technique” and then directs us to train within a defined structure, but I don’t think it is, even if it is frustrating to the student*. I think that Sensei is talking about an end – no technique – and a means to that end – the lesson in the waza.

I believe that all the lessons of Ninjutsu are coded in a three dimensional language called taijutsu, but that their meaning – the waza’s essence – is different, or changes, for the student as a he or she progresses in skill level.
—————————————
What aspects of training should budoka concentrate on? Their health, family life, personal economics, then balance training activities. Don’t think about it too much, just do it.
—————————————-
If you could contribute one thing to the Bujinkan “Book of Knowledge” what would it be?
One thing? Well, I suppose it would be three admonitions.

The first is that simulating violence and talking about it in training is not the same as experiencing it. (It is easy to say “cut here” it is not easy to cut “here.”)

The second would be that the budoka treat his or her skills like a sacred trust, be careful when you apply them and to whom you teach them.

The third admonition is that the student must realize that when you apply your skills on a real enemy, your life will be changed.
————————————————–
What is the best way I can improve my training? Keep going.
—————————————-
http://www.markhodel.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=88&Itemid=1
Please visit this site and expand your vision.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post

You cannot be taught ninjutsu; you must learn it!  For this, practise is a must.

Practise in ninjutsu is not just to build muscle memory, or to memorize technique and kata.  Practise is most important to develop the movement described perhaps best as the unification of body and mind.

In ninjutsu the movement is not a mechanical thing that is merely copied.  In the classroom techniques are demonstrated by your instructor to provide an idea of what movement could look like.  But you must always remember that this is someone else’s idea of movement that (in the beginning) only serves as a reference for you; a place for you to start.  If all you do is attend one or two classes a week, and rarely practise what you did in those classes, then your progress is likely to be slow and untrue.

I have been around the martial arts for over 30 years, yet I contribute most of my progress to the last 15 years.  Particularly since starting ninjutsu.  Since commencing ninjutsu the most improvement I experienced was during periods of full time study and teaching; and very much during periods of isolation.  By isolation I don’t mean without guidance, but instead I mean in those times when I truly explored what I was feeling and thinking during practise.  This time has really deepened my love of the martial arts and life and a greater appreciation for ninjutsu.  Providing me with an even greater loyalty and devotion to my school, organisation, and to the sources that influence it.

Although I always desire more ability (youthful agility and so forth), the real benefits I have experienced from ninjutsu have been the improvement in awareness, and the reduction in time between awareness and response.  This doesn’t mean that everything (referring to physical technique) that I have learned in ninjutsu works for me.  Instead I am more quickly able to accept when something isn’t working, and therefore adjust more readily.  This is a skill that I benefit from both in and out of the dojo.

There are set practises or techniques in ninjutsu, just like with any other martial art. And just like with any other martial art, there are plenty of opportunities to become stuck.  Going to class, mimicking your instructor, not practising, and then claiming knowledge of ninjutsu, is the quickest way to become stuck.  If you really want to explore the training, to truly understand yourself and how the training can benefit you, you must practise.  This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t focus on the basics first.  It means that in class you are shown the basics, and then it is up to you to practise and learn the basics.  Then when you understand the basics you can move on remembering that fancy stuff, without good basics, is just fancy stuff.

Lastly, I write this article to my students, as a student.  I am very much still learning, still improving, and still making mistakes from which to move on from.  But (according to my current level of knowledge) that is what ‘ninjutsu’ is all about, and why I love it so much.

So to borrow words of my teachers “don’t forget to practise, and don’t forget to breathe”.

Use Facebook to Comment on this Post