Trip to Japan from Scotland in 2019
Sensei Hunter, the chief instructor of Scotland, uses Kama against Bo.
On this trip to Japan I wanted to train on the Ryukyu Kongo-ryu style of Kobudo that had been set up a few years ago by sensei Sakagami. Although myself and Scotland have been members of the Ryukyu Kobudo Kongo-ryu from its insertion, being able to train at the headquarters here in Yokohama with sensei Sakagami is a great privilege.
With sensei Zuzuki sensei and the other students in attendance, the training sessions took on a very detailed, informative and hard class from basics through to kata and on to bunkai.
Working through the 12 Bo basics in detail and then moving on to Bo kata “Shushi no kon sho,” “Shushi no kon dai,” “Ryusei no kon” and “Sakugawa no kon sho” highlighting the different movements required and breaking down some difficult sections to understand better. As we moved on to the Kama kata “Kongo no nicho gama” with all its complexity in detail from intricate wrist movements to complex handling required for the kama itself , proving to be more intense than what it looks like.
This was a great chance to break this kata down for me. Moving on to the bunkai between the Bo against the Kama, with the kongo ryu only requiring 5 kama bunkai I thought this would be an easy task how wrong was I, indeed the complexity of the moves was more difficult than I thought and a great deal of time was required in going through them with a few of us being treated to strikes to the head and body with the Bo, fortunately for me my head is thick in more ways than one .
Much taught, much learnt and Much to ponder on a great session with great company what more could you ask for.
