Ryusei Karate is a traditional style of Okinawan martial art.
In karate we spend a lot of time working on our stances. Practising them strengthens our legs, sure, but that’s not their main point.
The stances are designed so we can lower our weight into a rooted posture, enabling us to execute strong blows, blocks, throws and joint locks. But the equation many people make is: low stance = power. So the lower stance, the more power, right?
Our karate classes will continue through the holidays into the New Year on the same nights and times. But in December and the beginning of January, there will be three class cancellations:
We will have a class as usual between the holidays, on Thursday, December 27. Of course, many people will be away on holiday, so attendance will boil down to a few diehards. The first class of the new year will be held on Thursday, January 3, 2019.
Henshuho no. 1 is a disheartening way to start the sequence of 28 self-defence moves developed by Dr. Chitose, the founder of Chito-Ryu karate. It is, arguably, the hardest of all the defences to make work.
Done traditionally, the defender ducks under the attacker’s high punch, applies a high block on the attacking arm, near the armpit, pushing the attacker back. The attacker reacts by pushing forward. The defender takes advantage of this forward momentum by grabbing behind the attacker’s shoulder and pulling him down while applying a foot sweep, for the takedown.
Sakamoto-Sensei will be coming to Canada and teaching clinics from October 13th to October 22nd, please look at and download the flyers for the clinics you are eligible for. Plan to attend all the clinics you can, this is a great opportunity this close to home to train with Sakamoto-Sensei, who is a former live-in disciple of O-Sensei (Tsuyoshi Chitose) and a leading authority on Chito-Ryu karate.
On the weekend of July 16, 2016, we held the annual Canadian Ryusei Summer Camp, arranged by Rick Going and Kam Miranbigi in the Calabogie resort area, outside Ottawa.
This year, 17 karateka participated: Ryusei member from four Ontario dojo and Sherbrooke in Quebec, as well as Koshin-ha Chito-Ryu members from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The instruction for the clinic was handled by Terry Valentino, a 7th dan from Koshin-ha Chito-Ryu, and me.
Last July, Ryusei Karate-Do Canada was happy to host Ken Sakamoto-Sensei for a series of clinics. During the visit, Sakamoto-Sensei freely shared the results of his hard practice and study, combining his own insights with what he learned from O-Sensei and, more recently, from Katsuhiko Shinzato-Sensei, head of Shōrin-ryū Kishaba Juku in Okinawa.
On his previous visit to Canada, Sakamoto-Sensei shared his shime-goshi hip technique, with the sideways vibration derived from Naihanchi kata. With his recent clinics, he expanded on this concept and added what he calls ‘hakama-goshi.’
