Sensei’s Blog

Great start to beginner children class!!! First Saturday class covered details of grading curriculum! Awesome first session! Big thank you to Morgan Carl and Richard Xia for helping launch the first Saturday class!! This is a big step to improving the quality of the Goju Ryu of the Juku!!

As long as I've been in the martial arts (since 1980) and even earlier than that according to the old books and magazines I devoured in those early days, folks have been hunting for and exposing fakes and frauds. Are they more common in the martial arts? Are there no frauds elsewhere? How about your … Continue reading Hunting Under Rocks – Sept 13, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Monday morning after a weekend of pounding metal with the Sei Do Kai folks. The kid's weekly culture nights morphed into a weekend knifemaking class that saw 8 of us huddled around four forges in Floradale at Thak Iron Works. Yes that is a plug for Thak the Armourer (Robb Martin) who has been a … Continue reading Musashi was Right… Again – Sept 8, 2014, Kim Taylor, CI Sei Do Kai, NanaDan

Well first you should figure out what a master is, because the term is a bit muddy. The best I've heard in a while is in relation to a champion. A champion is someone who achieves a goal once, a master is someone who realizes that you have to repeat that achievement many times. Everyone … Continue reading So You Wanna be a Master – Sept 5, 2014, Kim Taylor, CI Sei Do Kai NanaDan

That's a question I get a lot because I sell wooden swords for use in practice. Sure it will, it will take the full contact in my practice, but I have no idea at all if it will take full contact in yours. The question in itself does give me a clue, and I usually … Continue reading Will It Take Full Contact? – Aug 31, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Can't remember where, but somewhere in the old iai teachings is the instruction to teach the beginning and the end and not worry so much about the middle of the kata. Make sure the students work on the approach and on the disengage rather than concentrate on the actual technique in the middle. In other … Continue reading Beginning and Ending, let the middle take care of itself. – August 27, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Often when I'm standing around in a seminar a student will come up to me and ask a question. The easiest thing in the world is to answer it, but that's not the way to do it.At a seminar there's one instructor... well OK I've been in classes where I was team teaching but that … Continue reading Ask him, he’s the sensei – Aug 27, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

At a seminar it's easy to jump in and practice what you know or what you think you just saw, but it's a lot more important to step back and watch what is being taught.I'm sure all those who attend seminars will be familiar with the partner who seemingly watches sensei demonstrate the technique and … Continue reading Step back and watch – August 25, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

Had a great kage ryu seminar last weekend with Colin Watkin sensei in Calgary. I know it was good because my right hamstring is screaming even now a week later. To explain, you are drawing swords about five feet long by doing the longest, deepest lunge you can manage and then twisting your hips. This … Continue reading Sensei is the syllabus – August 23, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan

The idea of a set curriculum in a koryu often presumes that a "real" ryu hands down, or attempts to hand down techniques unchanged from the past. Is this true? We now have 4-5 generations of video hanging around for some lineages. Are the most "legitimate" of them the same as previous generations? Even with … Continue reading The Holy Writ – August 22, 2014, Kim Taylor, Renshi, CI Sei Do Kai Guelph ON, Nanadan