Jon Alexander 9th Dan

[ScottUK]

Anyone know anything about Jon Alexander 9th Dan? When I see dan rankings in kenjutsu, I see a red flag:

URL from eBay (http://training.orientalmartialarts.org) or Main Site (http://www.orientalmartialarts.org/)

I found them after seeing adverts for martial art instructor 'black belt' courses on eBay:

Advert 1 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ALL-INCLUSIVE-CERTIFICATED-MARTIAL-ARTS-TRAINING-COURSE_W0QQitemZ200029394454QQihZ010QQcategoryZ101711QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Advert 2 (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ZenShinBudoKai-TOTAL-TRAINING-EXPERIENCE-IN-CORNWALL_W0QQitemZ200029638243QQihZ010QQcategoryZ101711QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

His patron, Okimitsu Fujii was instrumental in the birth of iai & kendo in the UK, but I didn't know he was still involved in the martial arts. They seem to have a group in Scotland (http://www.martial-arts-teacher-training.com/zenshinbudokai.html) too.

I wonder if he is any relation to the famous Geourge Alexander of Niten Ichi Ryu fame...? :)

Regards,

Scott



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[gendzwil]

Well I practised in Cornwall when I was working there and nobody ever mentioned him. You'd think if there was a godan kendoka lurking about they'd at least mention it in passing. Looks suspicious to me.

[yoj]

My eyes are bleeding, some web monkey wants shooting.

[A.J. Bryant]

Geez guys, no reason to get all worked up, let the man have all the rank and fame his ego needs... :)

[Chidokan]

"PLEASE NOTE. IT IS A REQUIREMENT THAT YOU UNDERTAKE 2 DAYS TRAINING IN ONE SKILL TO ATTAIN FULL QUALIFICATION IN THAT SKILL."

What the hell am I doing wrong, wasting my life three times a week over the last god knows how long when this guy could have taught me everything I need to know in two days? :rolleyes: He has obviously managed to get to the essence of iaido. And it only would have cost me 300 quid instead of the many thousands I have thrown away over the years..... Blast it! :D

[Ken-Hawaii]

Umm, unless I am reading Scott's message wrong, the guy doesn't hold godan (5th), but rather kudan (9th). I've never heard of any living iaidoka above hachidan. I was told that kendo rules were modified so that hachidan is the highest rank - is iaido the same?

[ScottUK]

If the iai is under ZNKR auspices, then yes - hachidan is the highest. However, this gentleman seems to be a law unto himself.

He claims godan in kendo (as Neil mentioned) and kyudan in iai or kenjutsu (who knows?)

[Ken-Hawaii]

Oops! I have to modify my last message.

If you read the Japan Times Online article at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20030316a3.html, it shows a photo of Esaka Seigen Sensei who evidently holds the rank of Hanshi judan in MJER iaido.

I'll bet that his deshi get a workout :rolleyes: !! But I'd love to have a few classes under Seigan Sensei (not Jon).

No, Scott, you didn't say that Jon held godan, that was Gendzwil.

[ScottUK]

You can add Iwata sensei to that, too...

I have dropped Mr Alexander a line re: his art. Lets see what comes back...

[wreddock]

The late Sensei KEINOSUKE ENOEDA once remarked,
“I even met a Sensei who teaches “sit down” karate (Za-Zen means sit down)
:) He didn't meant it as a compliment!

[gendzwil]

Ken, you have to go read the dude's website. He only claims 9th dan in the art he cooked up himself. He claims 5th dan in kendo along with a bunch of other ranks.

[Ken-Hawaii]

Sorry, Neil, I didn't mean to look like I was shooting at you. I just commented from Scott's original post. Jon's site doesn't really state in which "art" he holds kudan, & I frankly thought most of it was pretty silly, including the "fighting red" background.

Nice that he's named himself "shihan," isn't it? But there's no "hanshi" that I see. Could he have forgotten something :rolleyes: ?

[Charles Mahan]

Oops! I have to modify my last message.

If you read the Japan Times Online article at http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20030316a3.html, it shows a photo of Esaka Seigen Sensei who evidently holds the rank of Hanshi judan in MJER iaido.

I'll bet that his deshi get a workout :rolleyes: !! But I'd love to have a few classes under Seigan Sensei (not Jon).

No, Scott, you didn't say that Jon held godan, that was Gendzwil.

Esaka-sensei is indeed a Judan. Usually when you get to Judan, people don't mention the Hanshi. It's assumed. Esaka-sensei travels to Canada once a year, but the workouts are not open to the general public. He also has student's in San Francisco as well as a few other places around the world.

The ZNIR/Seitokai dan system goes all the way up to Judan, but has no kyu ranks.

The one oppurtunity I had to train with Esaka-sensei the schedule went like this. Fri - 4 hours afternoon. Sat two four hour blocks with lunch in the middle. Sun two four hour blocks with lunch in the middle. That's a pretty seriously harsh schedule considering it's all waza all the time and half the time is from seiza or tate hiza.

[Prince Loeffler]

Well, Gentlemen ! Meet the future candidates to be spotlighted in E-Budo's Baffling and Bad Budo Thread in the coming year. :) :)

http://www.orientalmartialarts.org/11.html


:) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)

[Chidokan]

I have a student from the Fife area.... he would have passed shodan with no problem if he could have made the last seminar, so I'll ask him to pop in to that dojo. And report back here.... :) To hit godan kendo there are only two routes, BKA or BKR unless you are in Japan for a long time. And godan over here are rare, so we know them all. Only ones who escape the knowledge net are those who come from Japan, and even they are jumped on pretty quick to join the circuit. Time to move this over to bad budo unless we have a man who knows him.

Cornwall.....thats Hyaku's old hunting grounds...

[rottunpunk]

theres one from durham co. durham whos fifth dan. mr dyson.
you ever heard of him?
definately bad budo thread.
:p

[Ice flow]

Esaka-sensei is indeed a Judan. Usually when you get to Judan, people don't mention the Hanshi. It's assumed. Esaka-sensei travels to Canada once a year, but the workouts are not open to the general public. He also has student's in San Francisco as well as a few other places around the world.

The ZNIR/Seitokai dan system goes all the way up to Judan, but has no kyu ranks.

The one oppurtunity I had to train with Esaka-sensei the schedule went like this. Fri - 4 hours afternoon. Sat two four hour blocks with lunch in the middle. Sun two four hour blocks with lunch in the middle. That's a pretty seriously harsh schedule considering it's all waza all the time and half the time is from seiza or tate hiza.

Indeed I've trained with Esaka Sensei as well and at the Canadian seminars I believe our sessions were two hours twice a day but it was a long time for people to be sitting in seiza/tate hiza doing wazas. Once another Judan, Kato Sensei, came instead and it was great training in both cases. I could feel a burn in my legs after those seminars.

One thing though, I may be wrong but at least at the previous seminars I believe it was open to anyone interested in Iai.

[Charles Mahan]

One thing though, I may be wrong but at least at the previous seminars I believe it was open to anyone interested in Iai.


My mistake. I know that members of the dojo I train at have been up to visit, but I was not aware that it was open to complete newbies.

[hyaku]

Well as founder of Cornwall Keseikai...... never heard of him. First time I have ever heard my father in law called "O Sensei" And they do TAMASHIKIRI?



The only Alexander I have seen poses with two swords on what he calls a DVD of Niten Ichiryu. He also has his pic on the World Council of sokey dokey whatever. If thats the guy you mean you can guess where this thread might be heading.

[Ice flow]

My mistake. I know that members of the dojo I train at have been up to visit, but I was not aware that it was open to complete newbies.

It probably wasn't made crystal clear when it was advertised but I believe there were no completely new people in attendance anyways.

Do the members of your dojo come up often? perhaps we'll be seeing you guys at next year's seminar? :)

[Charles Mahan]

I believe Emily Egan was up there this year. I don't know if she will be there next year or not. Ray-sensei has been up in the past. I would very much like to get up there, but circumstances have been unfavorable so far. Perhaps next year.