I began in the Ninja’s arts in 1980 (I know, I’ve got a few years behind me!). Over the years I’ve seen, not only the “face” of the art change but also, the way students approach the art change. Hollywood and teen slang aside, one of the biggest changes I’ve seen has to do with

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e157 – KUDEN! – Do You THINK Like a Ninja?

During tonight’s class, we’ll be focusing on a few techniques from the Takagi-Yoshin and Shinden-Fudo schools. These techniques are especially important to those of you working on your requirements for Sandan (‘3rd degree black belt), Yondan (‘4th degree black belt), and above.  They will also be helpful to those working through or reviewing Module 3 skills and techniques.

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04-25-2023 – Takagi Yoshin & Shinden-Fudo Ryu

We’ll be training with a major focus on striking angles to control his movements, options, and positioning, based on what I covered during this week’s Warrior’s Whiteboard Wednesday session. Again, as my theme for the Black Belts and Shinobi-kai students this month is on the concept of ichi-go ichi-e (one moment/one chance), this will play a major factor into

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04-21-2023 – Advanced Striking Angles

In martial arts and self-defense training, it could be said that a strike is a strike – a punch is a punch – right? But could there more to it than that when you’re trying to defend yourself? Can we do more with our strikes to create more than just damage? Can we give ourselves

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Advanced Striking Angles

During tonight’s class, we’ll be focusing on a technique or three from the Shoden level of the Koto school. These techniques are especially important to those of you working on your requirements for Nidan (2nd degree black belt).  They will also be helpful to those working through or reviewing Module 3 skills and techniques.

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04-18-2023 – Koto Ryu Shoden no Maki Kata

Are the kata in our (or any) martial art, really usable for real-world self-defense? And, if so, how? Because the stiff, preset, choreographed models – whether done solo or with more than one student – don’t seem to fit what we’ve all seen when it comes to a real fight or self-defense attack. During this

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e156 – KUDEN! – How to REALLY Look at Your Kata!

We’ll be training with a major focus on unarmed defense vs knife attacks as I covered during this week’s Warrior’s Whiteboard Wednesday session. But, as my theme for the Black Belts and Shinobi-kai students this month is on the concept of ichi-go ichi-e (one moment/one chance), this will play a major factor into this class as well. You can

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04-14-2023 – Muto Dori

During this class, I teach you knife defense basics – the basic “rules” for surviving against an assailant armed with a knife or other edged weapon. (Rule #1 MAY surprise you!)

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Knife Defense Basics 101
04-11-2023