Showing posts with label Toyoda. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Toyoda. Show all posts
YoshRama
(2 of 7)

Stephen Toyoda sensei


Let the games begin...


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For one of Toyoda sensei's sessions, he taught kaitenage
and some oyo and henka waza variations.

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one of the OYO wazas
(uke goes around the nage, and then thrown)





(notice how the nage ends up in seiza!)




one of the HENKA wazas
It begins as a traditional kaitenage, and then...





let your uke keep turning until he is facing you, and then....


well, let's just say he isn't looking at you anymore.



Here are some advanced and fun nage / ukemi shots.



"I bow to you, good sir"


If you've never taken ukemi for Toyoda sensei, I highly recommend you jump on the next plane to Chicago.  He has a good sense of timing and "send off momentum" when it comes to throwing you. It is unique, and I believe that my ukemi has improved greatly after attending a kenshusei program at his dojo.

I'm beginning to think that kaitenage is one of my favorite techniques! Maybe because it's simple enough for me to execute.  :)  I don't have pictures of Christine Dyer sensei teaching the new style of kaitenage, but I also had a lot of fun with that.

*This post shows examples of henka and oyo wazas, but I would like to clarify that these are ever-changing techniques. Though I believe Toyoda Shihan has his own set of hanka and oyo wazas for each kihon waza, they are, by definition techniques that have been adapted to better fit a certain situation, or techniques executed in a changed manner. This article explains the concepts better than I can.

Now onto more fun...

YoshRama

(1 of 7)

Can we? Maybe? Should we? Perhaps? Maybe just one? Oh, let's just do it! Is it possible? Wait... What? You're kidding me! Seriously? Ok! Let's go! ...by a stroke of last-minute good fortune, Amjith and I made it to the Oct 2010 Western Region Aikido Camp in Vista, California (affiliated with the Aikido Association of America).

Kirsten Simms and Jeremy Neff


A camp differs from a seminar in that a camp has multiple instructors. In this case, we had (right to left) Toyoda sensei, Nakayama sensei, Katz sensei, MacBeth sensei, and Dyer sensei. It was spectacular!



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There were a few exams held during the camp: Mike Hackett and Alan Sweeten for Shodan, Jeremy Neff for Nidan, and Rick Berdini for Yondan! Congratulations to everyone for a great test!


I only have pictures for Alan Sweeten's exam - here are the juicy bits!
(Alan is the guy in all white with a brown belt.)



yudansha waiting to be thrown...



For Alan's Shodan test, he had to demonstrate "five arts" on various techniques. For example, he had to do a minimum of five different techniques against a stomach punch, a minimum of five different techniques against a grab from behind, etc. Then, he had to defend himself against attacks from a wooden sword (trust me, it will hurt if that thing makes contact with you!), and then demonstrate his jo (wooden staff) skills through a 22 movement kata. After all this, he had to defend himself against four attackers to show the test committee that he can use his aikido to successfully defend himself.