Searching for a teacher

[Tea Guy]

Greetings.
I'm rather new around here, so I hope I'm not going to be a bother.
I recently moved to Houston, Texas and would like to know if anyone can suggest a respectable teacher of iado in the area.
I would very much like to learn properly and do not want to accidentally wind up with a bad teacher.
I thank you for your time.


C. Sieg

[Jack B]

Contact Emily Egan at Clear Lake / NASA Iaido (http://clear-lake-iaido.com/). She is a very enthusaistic and particular Nidan studying under John Ray, 7d Kyoshi of Denton, Texas. They practice Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido in the Seitokai style led by the 22nd Soke Ikeda, Takashi. This style emphasizes the combative values of precision, readiness, power and efficiency.

Clear Lake is about a 45 minute drive south on I-45 but well worth the trip.

[Diane Mirro]

There was a recent thread on Swordforum concerning this very topic:

http://forums.swordforum.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=26579

And one letter, posted below, basically captured the gist of it:


"Dear L. Wexler,

I reside in Houston also and found the following schools in my research:

Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu Iaido- Ms. Emily Egan. You can reach her through the URL that Dr. Mirro posted in her reply to you:

http://www.Clear-Lake-Iaido.com

Ms. Egan is extremely gracious and will share any information she has on her art .

Mugai ryu as taught by Mr. Darrell Craig. He is listed in the phone book under Houston Budokan.

Muso Shinden- taught by Mr. C. Hocker. Mr. Hocker is the chief instuctor for Ki-Aikido in the Houston Area. A great Aikidoka and sword instructor. He is in the phone book or can be reached at his web site:

http://www.houstonkiaikido.org/

Shin Shin Sekiguchi Ryu / Toyama-Ryu - taught by Dr. J. McGlade in Pearland Texas. This is the school I currently train with. The instruction is outstanding and I enjoy it very much. The group is small which gives you a lot of hands on instruction and good comaraderie.

As Dr. Mirro and Mr. Smith, stated you need to research and possibly visit all four schools to make your decsion. Taking up the sword is a serious endeavor and is not to be taken lightly or at a whim. The price of equipment and amount of time spent is enough to make you realize that it can be costly. Lastly as stated by others, you have to make your own mine up with what suits your purpose and reason. For me, coming from an Aikido background, I chose the battodo of Toyama Ryu. For yourself, you may like the competition of kendo.

If you are interested in the school , I currently train at , please feel free to contact me off line in a private email and I will arrange for introductions. Hope this helps

Best regards,

Jim Riviera"

[Tea Guy]

I truly appreciate your help! Thank you! I shall look into those schools and make a decision in the near future (must make some money first).

[Jack B]

(must make some money first) When you figure out how, send me the recipe.

[Tea Guy]

Jack B,
Although I'm sure you were being sarcastic, I'll (seriously) tell you.

A minimilistic approach to most things is the answer. I own no furniture and very few things of expense except for my blades and tea set(a nice one carved of jade with fish decor), I think. I cook nearly everything I eat from scratch (packaged food is expensive) and eat rather reasonably. I tend to simplify everything in my life as much as I can and make decisions carefully. I dislike many modern day "conveniences" and so I usually don't use them. Many of them cost more money anyway.
Sure, I could buy a fancy car or eat out all the time...perhaps even buy my manjuu rather than make it, but I would prefer to do most things in an older fashion.
Of course...A job doesn't hurt either. Thoses are my basics for saving money (when my life is actually in order).

C.Sieg