Before Zen crossed the shores into Japan, the students of the Tendai school would study meditation, as part of their daily practice. Four of them, close friends all, promised one another to observe seven days of silence.
On the first day, no words were spoken, and the students took pleasure in their auspicious beginning. When night came however, the oil lamps grew dim, and the room slowly darkened.
One student, named Hoshin, called out to a servant: "Servant! Attend to the lamps, so that I might better observe our accomplishment!"
The second student was surprised to hear Hoshin speak. "We are supposed to keep quiet," he chided.
"But you also spoke!" declared the third. "You are an idiot!"
"I am the only one who has not talked," concluded the fourth, as he settled into seiza.
Editors Note: This is the second in a three part series regarding our Fall 2011 seminar with Peter Bernath Sensei. You can find all three posts under the video tag. Enjoy!
Here, Sensei demonstrates more variations of iriminage, shihonage, and kokyunage.
Editors Note: This is the first in a three part series regarding our Fall 2011 seminar with Peter Bernath Sensei. You can find all three posts under the video tag. Enjoy!
This first video features kokyunage, shihonage, and iriminage. I’ll follow up in a later post about that shihonage, from my perspective as uke.
I know you hate big to-dos, so I’ll keep it brief. We think you’re awesome. Heck, we even think your dog is awesome, even if no one else does.
And if you give me enough of those awful blueberry lagers Ryan keeps leaving at the house, I’d say this: You’re a good friend, a great martial artist, and a positive force in the universe.
So here’s our sendoff to you. We think it fits.
Good luck at SCAD.
Some freestyle following a recent Saturday class. I left the camera on after kyu testing.
Enjoy!
Editors Note: This is the eighth in an eight part series discussing past seminars at our school. The videos can be found in our multimedia archive. The series can be found under the video tag.
And so we come to it - the final installment of our video series. Fret not, however; the dojo vault is teeming with memory cards chock full of videos of seminars past. (To pique your interest, how does technique performed by Nobu Arakawa sound? Or Penny Bernath? We thought so.)
Today, however, we have two videos of Ed Di Marco Sensei, chief instructor of Lake County Aikikai. For those who may not know, Di Marco Sensei is an alumnus of the storied New York Aikikai, where he trained for twenty years under the leading lights in the American Aikido community. He brings a host of real world experience to his technique, which he is fond of sharing on the mat. (And no, I’ve never asked Sensei the particulars about these experiences. These things, I think, are way above my pay grade.)
The first video shows Sensei executing kokyu-nage from a shomen strike. And uke? Well, that’s Joel Miller, one of our past instructors. Nowadays you can find him on the mat at Austin Aikikai, under Damir Jamsek Sensei.
The second video shows a variation on the same technique. Dee Sensei is uke.
The seminar itself took place in April 2007 at the UNF dojo.