You have inspired me to get out my old rusty sai. I also used to work with tonfa, similar bio mechanics. Your channel is great, its a tremendous resource for revising kata etc. Im an experienced (multiple systems since 1981) instructor trying to slowly rebuild my dojo after a truly disastrous couple of years, covid nearly destroyed us. Keep up the great work. If i wasnt on the other side of the world i would love to train at your dojo!
What a stunning message to recieve, Sensei Tony! We're so glad our channel is helping you, and we wish we could train with you too. Covid did a great deal of harm to many great dojos - anyone who still had to pay rent to a greedy landlord but couldn't run classes had to close their doors. Our only benefit was that we finally started our youtube channel, which we had been meaning to do for years, and now it's a joy for us to share what we know, and to get feedback like yours 🤗 all the best for your dojo's rebirth - may you rise like a phoenix! 🔥
Ohayõ! Yet another fantastic, edifying and inspiring video from Ché and Zoë Senseis! Having worked sai for over 40 years, painful hard-won experience prompts a few humble suggestions (my first sai instructor was Richard Norton): 1) on all tsuki/thrusts... vertical (NOT horizontal) fist. If you release fingers with horizontal fist the sai will fall away from forearm; 2) absolutely essential to keep thumb BEHIND hilt with ALL sai flipping strikes/blocks... if thumb protrudes past hilt/up blade, its exposed to SEVERE injury once you start doing 2-person drills with other weapons. I usually start with sai vs. bokken. (muscle memory is a 2-edged sword... pun intended) 3) on flipping uchi/uke... once you start applying sai against other kinetic/percussive weapons, leverage/mechanics dictates removing thumb from hilt and wrapping handle in fist. 4) on blocking with blade extended... don't block with monouchi; block with middle section of blade. Blocking with monouchi produces a longer lever arm for point of impact, exponentially increasing stress on wrist and amplifying risk of weakened grip. Again, a few HUMBLE suggestions...
In the words of Hiroshi Akamine Sensei, "Relax, Relax, Relax" I've been training in Ryukyu Kobudo Shimbukan since 2016. The biggest advantage I've found is the weapons magnify the importance of using your body as an entire unit. It's easy to get away with parts of your body not hitting at exactly the same time with open hands. Weapons (especially the Bo) will show you exactly how uncoordinated you are. Complete relaxation until right before the moment of contact. Everything hitting at once. Then everything being completely relaxed again. One thing I have to constantly keep in mind, you are hitting with a weapon. That, it itself, magnifies the force of your strike. You actually don't need to strike as forcefully with your body using the weapon as you do without them. Even though my own Karate style (Isshin Ryu) adapts empty hand kata for weapons doing that fails quickly when doing Kumite against other weapons as the stances aren't strong enough nor are the distances correct. This is Shimbukan's first kihon kata. ua-cam.com/video/Nlm00c-Xq1E/v-deo.html One of these days I might actually get it right 😁
Thank you for sharing this thoughtful comment and helpful link! I would personally love to do kobudo (especially bo, eku and naginata) but unfortunately we don't have anyone to learn from nearby.
Glad you liked it! We have done one or two on Nunchaku, but would love to collaborate with experts and celebrate the overlap between karate and kobudo 👏
I just ordered a new pair of sai. I haven't picked them up in over 40 years now, despite having taught them back in the late '70s. Hopefully I haven't forgotten too much in my old age.
Ah, that's lovely to hear! I'm sure as you pick them up, the knowledge will rise from the depths - muscle memory is a wonderful thing. Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment!
We have kobudo (or kobujiutsu) in our school. Although the students have to achieve their green belts prior to starting training. Also, we don't hold our index finger along the handle as it vulnerable to opposing weapons. When we do an outside block, the yoku part of the sai is vertical not horizontal.
Hi Joel, Thank you for sharing your insight, and how your school approaches it :) definitely think having a good basic foundation is best before introducing weapons. I would personally love to expand my own kobudo, but there are not a lot of good instructors in my area 🙈 Best, Zoë
Hello Sensei (both🤓😁). I don’t always see a need to comment on EVERY video that you release, however I do watch ( honestly) MOST of them. And “most” only because of being busy and/ or forgetful;)! Anyway, your production just keeps on improving ( that’s EXCELLENT), and your creativity and sharing of knowledge, whether you feel 100% “ knowledgeable “, or not, ( per your own admission ;) is so greatly appreciated regardless! It’s the down to earth, humble, “ from our Dojo Family to yours” approach that I truly gravitate to, and enjoy. The pop up blurbs ( remember pop up music videos on MTV? Music visuals AND behind the scenes learning!😅) is really useful to fill out the tutorials- and a nice easy way to try and bridge to various differences in learning styles a bit more. Thank you, too, for the useful highlighting of weapons training, even on a “ basic level”, and their added benefits ( such as weighted kata training, and the practice of a different required dexterity to acquire the skills )- All very useful and approachable. My very best to you both, Sensei, and your Dojo Family! Sorry so long a message;)!
These long messages from such a dear follower of our channel always make us both happy - Ché told me to check the comments to see this message (for my mental health, I don't check in that often anymore) and this is worth all the hard work of editing! I'm hoping this is the year we lift our production level even more - I'm so glad our efforts are being noticed and appreciated, and to know that you still watch nearly every week truly makes us happy. We always love to hear from you - please don't apologize for such a heartfelt and uplifting message 💛
In our dojo we practise (as the suplementary to Goju Ryu) Okinawa Kobudo based of Matayoshi Kobudo school. I'm training Kobudo myself for over 15 years. What I can say about Your observations, about similarities between Kobudo and Karate - Its absolute truth. In base, and origin both of them must have been developed very similarly. But, what You coud improve in your training, and understanding this system, is thinking more that all Kobudo weapons were used to defend against other weapons, and karate was used to fight against unarmend opponent. So in Your understanding Kobudo, You must think about fight against a weapon equipped opponent. In hojo undo is very important to always being hidden behind weapon, showing Your back at the begining of technique is not ideal, same as keeping fingers inside sai guards is the same. When You are blocking with sai (and any other weapon) think about closing, and stopping oponents weapon, and than striking with great precision in vital point. Kobudo teaches a lot about distance, timing and mechanics of weapons, witch is in many ways similar, but also deifferent, than fighting against unnarmed opponent. I encurage everyone to find time and learn a little bit about Kobudo to improve understanding of this similarities between Karate and Kobudo, and improve understanding about Budo. Thank You Sensei for Your videos, they are always very technical, and entertaining, and I encurage You to broaden Your knowlege about Kobudo.
@@GojuRyuKarateCentre Thanks. Without proper education on the subject and guidance is always difficult to fully grasp principles. As I said IMHO most important thing is to change mentality - starting to think as a combat against a weapon. It will be a good start. Hope You can find good Kobudo teacher - it will be worthy. For me connection between Kobudo and Karate was a real eye opener. Waiting for more content from You :)
From Tamilnadu india🇮🇳 . Oss sensei your videos are very good.
Thank you and welcome to our channel! 🥰
You have inspired me to get out my old rusty sai. I also used to work with tonfa, similar bio mechanics. Your channel is great, its a tremendous resource for revising kata etc. Im an experienced (multiple systems since 1981) instructor trying to slowly rebuild my dojo after a truly disastrous couple of years, covid nearly destroyed us. Keep up the great work. If i wasnt on the other side of the world i would love to train at your dojo!
What a stunning message to recieve, Sensei Tony! We're so glad our channel is helping you, and we wish we could train with you too. Covid did a great deal of harm to many great dojos - anyone who still had to pay rent to a greedy landlord but couldn't run classes had to close their doors. Our only benefit was that we finally started our youtube channel, which we had been meaning to do for years, and now it's a joy for us to share what we know, and to get feedback like yours 🤗 all the best for your dojo's rebirth - may you rise like a phoenix! 🔥
Ohayõ! Yet another fantastic, edifying and inspiring video from Ché and Zoë Senseis! Having worked sai for over 40 years, painful hard-won experience prompts a few humble suggestions (my first sai instructor was Richard Norton):
1) on all tsuki/thrusts... vertical (NOT horizontal) fist. If you release fingers with horizontal fist the sai will fall away from forearm;
2) absolutely essential to keep thumb BEHIND hilt with ALL sai flipping strikes/blocks... if thumb protrudes past hilt/up blade, its exposed to SEVERE injury once you start doing 2-person drills with other weapons. I usually start with sai vs. bokken. (muscle memory is a 2-edged sword... pun intended)
3) on flipping uchi/uke... once you start applying sai against other kinetic/percussive weapons, leverage/mechanics dictates removing thumb from hilt and wrapping handle in fist.
4) on blocking with blade extended... don't block with monouchi; block with middle section of blade. Blocking with monouchi produces a longer lever arm for point of impact, exponentially increasing stress on wrist and amplifying risk of weakened grip.
Again, a few HUMBLE suggestions...
Tabasco
Lots to learn still,
Thank You
Sensei Zoe makes sense of my ramblings!
This may work for some and not for others, either way, it’s about opening a debate too!
The editing gets easier every year 💛 looking forward to seeing vibrant discussion in our comments section
@@GojuRyuKarateCentre does this have a lot of carryover to empty hand techniques?
In the words of Hiroshi Akamine Sensei, "Relax, Relax, Relax"
I've been training in Ryukyu Kobudo Shimbukan since 2016. The biggest advantage I've found is the weapons magnify the importance of using your body as an entire unit. It's easy to get away with parts of your body not hitting at exactly the same time with open hands. Weapons (especially the Bo) will show you exactly how uncoordinated you are. Complete relaxation until right before the moment of contact. Everything hitting at once. Then everything being completely relaxed again.
One thing I have to constantly keep in mind, you are hitting with a weapon. That, it itself, magnifies the force of your strike. You actually don't need to strike as forcefully with your body using the weapon as you do without them.
Even though my own Karate style (Isshin Ryu) adapts empty hand kata for weapons doing that fails quickly when doing Kumite against other weapons as the stances aren't strong enough nor are the distances correct.
This is Shimbukan's first kihon kata. ua-cam.com/video/Nlm00c-Xq1E/v-deo.html
One of these days I might actually get it right 😁
Thank you for sharing this thoughtful comment and helpful link!
I would personally love to do kobudo (especially bo, eku and naginata) but unfortunately we don't have anyone to learn from nearby.
This is amazing. Glad to see Sai and kobudo explanations. Hope to see more kobudo videos for those who practice both sides of Okinawa karate
Glad you liked it! We have done one or two on Nunchaku, but would love to collaborate with experts and celebrate the overlap between karate and kobudo 👏
I just ordered a new pair of sai. I haven't picked them up in over 40 years now, despite having taught them back in the late '70s.
Hopefully I haven't forgotten too much in my old age.
Ah, that's lovely to hear! I'm sure as you pick them up, the knowledge will rise from the depths - muscle memory is a wonderful thing. Thank you for taking the time to watch and comment!
We have kobudo (or kobujiutsu) in our school. Although the students have to achieve their green belts prior to starting training. Also, we don't hold our index finger along the handle as it vulnerable to opposing weapons. When we do an outside block, the yoku part of the sai is vertical not horizontal.
Hi Joel,
Thank you for sharing your insight, and how your school approaches it :) definitely think having a good basic foundation is best before introducing weapons.
I would personally love to expand my own kobudo, but there are not a lot of good instructors in my area 🙈
Best,
Zoë
Hello Sensei (both🤓😁). I don’t always see a need to comment on EVERY video that you release, however I do watch ( honestly) MOST of them. And “most” only because of being busy and/ or forgetful;)! Anyway, your production just keeps on improving ( that’s EXCELLENT), and your creativity and sharing of knowledge, whether you feel 100% “ knowledgeable “, or not,
( per your own admission ;) is so greatly appreciated regardless! It’s the down to earth, humble, “ from our Dojo Family to yours” approach that I truly gravitate to, and enjoy. The pop up blurbs ( remember pop up music videos on MTV? Music visuals AND behind the scenes learning!😅) is really useful to fill out the tutorials- and a nice easy way to try and bridge to various differences in learning styles a bit more. Thank you, too, for the useful highlighting of weapons training, even on a “ basic level”, and their added benefits ( such as weighted kata training, and the practice of a different required dexterity to acquire the skills )- All very useful and approachable. My very best to you both, Sensei, and your Dojo Family! Sorry so long a message;)!
These long messages from such a dear follower of our channel always make us both happy - Ché told me to check the comments to see this message (for my mental health, I don't check in that often anymore) and this is worth all the hard work of editing!
I'm hoping this is the year we lift our production level even more - I'm so glad our efforts are being noticed and appreciated, and to know that you still watch nearly every week truly makes us happy. We always love to hear from you - please don't apologize for such a heartfelt and uplifting message 💛
Sai AND Teko are my favorite weapons thanks for this great video.
Really good!!!!
I love bo and nunchaku
In our dojo we practise (as the suplementary to Goju Ryu) Okinawa Kobudo based of Matayoshi Kobudo school. I'm training Kobudo myself for over 15 years. What I can say about Your observations, about similarities between Kobudo and Karate - Its absolute truth. In base, and origin both of them must have been developed very similarly. But, what You coud improve in your training, and understanding this system, is thinking more that all Kobudo weapons were used to defend against other weapons, and karate was used to fight against unarmend opponent. So in Your understanding Kobudo, You must think about fight against a weapon equipped opponent. In hojo undo is very important to always being hidden behind weapon, showing Your back at the begining of technique is not ideal, same as keeping fingers inside sai guards is the same. When You are blocking with sai (and any other weapon) think about closing, and stopping oponents weapon, and than striking with great precision in vital point. Kobudo teaches a lot about distance, timing and mechanics of weapons, witch is in many ways similar, but also deifferent, than fighting against unnarmed opponent. I encurage everyone to find time and learn a little bit about Kobudo to improve understanding of this similarities between Karate and Kobudo, and improve understanding about Budo. Thank You Sensei for Your videos, they are always very technical, and entertaining, and I encurage You to broaden Your knowlege about Kobudo.
Thanks for all the feed back and corrections , truest appreciated!
In hind sight I should have continued with kobudo more seriously , earlier .
@@GojuRyuKarateCentre Thanks. Without proper education on the subject and guidance is always difficult to fully grasp principles. As I said IMHO most important thing is to change mentality - starting to think as a combat against a weapon. It will be a good start. Hope You can find good Kobudo teacher - it will be worthy. For me connection between Kobudo and Karate was a real eye opener. Waiting for more content from You :)
❤❤❤
🤗🤗🤗
Great video, Sensei. I'll definitely be using these ideas.
Always a pleasure, Sensei Nicky 🙇🏻♀️
We do Kata, Kumite, Kobudo, Grappling and much more
This is the way 👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻
Oss , 🙏 Thank You Sensei ,
I'm From India, Mumbai
Welcome!
Actually you are very modest good sir ,you are actually quite good with the Sai .
You are too kind, thank you so much 🙇🏻♀️
Most kobudo-ka avoid describing sai as a sword... best English word i've found is truncheon.
🙏🏼
Great umility
Osu Sensei 👏👏👏
You are so welcome! Thank you for watching and commenting 🤗
Were you in one of the earlier ufc events against remco pardeu? I enjoy your videos and I love karate.
Ché has never done UFC, but he did help coach someone who was in EFC here in South Africa 🤗
Thank you so much for the kind words 🙇🏻♀️
Legal
Thanks
Sensei, do you know what school of kobudo you learned? Is it Matayoshi? Or another style?
Ryukyu Kobudo and a touch of Yamanni Chenin Ryu