武神館忍術

Last night was one of the smallest classes I had seen in a while. Just Doug, Ed, myself and Mark showed up.

We skipped the regular じゅなんたいそ (junantaiso), which was fine because most of us were stretching while chatting and waiting for any late comers. Once session officially began we started with a series of kicking drills across the どじょ (dojo) floor. The first one started with kicking and walking backwards. From しぜんのかまえ (shizen no kamae) do こうほうけり (kouhou keri) and instead of placing your foot back where it started move it back slightly to advance backwards. The second one was a series of ぜんぽうけり (zenpou keri). The third one was a series of そっきけん (sokkiken) strikes. This was done like a roundhouse kick but using only the knee instead. The fourth one wasn’t really a kick but the common けりかえし (keri kaeshi) seen in Gyokko Ryu. I don’t know the specific name for it as I’ve always heard it referred to as just けりかえし (keri kaeshi). The fifth and final exercise was combining the けりかえし (keri kaeshi) and ぜんぽうけり (zenpou keri).

After that we practiced some けりかえし (keri kaeshi) with a partner who simply just thrust a ぜんぽうけり (zenpou keri) towards you.

1. けりかえし (keri kaeshi) to the outside or inside and follow up with a そっきけん　けり (sokkiken keri) with the opposite leg.
2. Shift either to the side, backward at an angle or forward at an angle to the outside of the attack and counter with an upward kick to the underside of the leg. I was striking either under the thigh or near the ankle with my shin. I guess we could call this けりくだき (keri kudaki).
3. Shift back at an angle to the outside and strike with a そくぎゃくけんけり (sokugyakuken keri) to the side of the thigh, going for the “charlie horse” effect.
4. Shift forward at an angle and strike up with the heel against the back of the opponent’s calf. This was actually something I don’t recall ever doing before and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

At this point we gave the legs a short break and moved on to something else.

1. From a じょだんつき (jodan tsuki) receive to the inside with うけながし (uke nagashi) to the face. The distance is close. Pull the opponent’s punching arm to your hip as you strike through the neck with an おもてしゅとけん (omote shuto ken) then strike against the shoulder blade/back with a しゅきけん (shukiken) driving the opponent to the ground.
2. Same as above except instead of striking to the back/shoulder step through and strike down against the top of the shoulder area.

Back to kicking.

1. From かたむねどりつき (katamune dori tsuki). When the punch comes receive to the inside with うけながし (uke nagashi) followed by an おもてしゅとけん (omote shuto ken) to the neck followed by a そくぎゃくけん (sokugyaku ken) to the knee followed by an おもてぎゃく (omote gyaku). I can’t say with any certainty about the actual timing of these strikes but I like to practice the kick and lock very close together.
2. Same as above but forget the うけながし (uke nagashi) and shift back going straight for the おもてしゅとけん (omote kuto ken) strike.

I believe that was everything and I also believe that the techniques that had kicks came from the Gyokko Ryu. This was fun because I enjoy kicking I’ll definitely work on this material again soon.

がんばってください！