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Thread: Koryu in Northern California?

  1. #1
    Omar Garcia Guest

    Question

    I have been trying to get info on any samurai related arts in(or around) the Bay Area of San Francisco. For example,
    I am looking for an art that has empty handed techniques as well as weapons such as:
    the ken, jo, yari, tanto, shurikenjitsu, among others. Examples of these arts are: Nagao Ryu, Kushima Shinto Ryu
    Yagyu Shinkage Ryu and Yanagi Ryu. Any information would be appreciated
    Omar

  2. #2
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    Default Koryu in Northern California?

    Just an announcement. Fellow Takeuchi-ryu trainee Andrew Antis has formally opened a Takeuchi-ryu branch school in San Francisco, or more properly, in a Berkeley district near SF...or...whatever. Hey, I'm from Hawaii. But if anyone's interested, Andii's new web site is: www.goldengatemartialarts.com. There's still a lot of construction going on but you can email him from there and look at some pics of him and his deshi going at it in a park.

    Andii asked me to let people know. He also teaches Chen style Tai Chi. Andii is a student of Adam Hsu's line of Tai Chi and has studied TR under the Bitchuden folk: Ono Yotaro, Nakayama sensei, Nakayama Takuya, Takagi, Kouno, Shiraishi, etc. for over three years intensively and has permission and rank to formally teach.

    For anyone curious, that makes Andii in SF (Ryoufukan), Antony Abry in the Midwest, me in Hawaii (Seifukan) and an affiliate in Canada that are officially and formally allowed to teach outside of Japan. In a few months, another high-ranking individual, Anna Seabourne, will receive her license and return to England. From what I hear, my dojomates from Choufukan are impressed with her jujutsu, jutte and naginatajutsu.

    Nobody else. Just us in our little sandbox.

    Wayne

  3. #3
    pauldt Guest

    Post Koryu dojo in SF Bay Area

    All-

    You must get this type of question a million times - I apologize in advance if there are answers in the archive already. Are there koryu dojo in the San Francisco Bay Area, particularly South of the city? Also, I'd be very interested in hearing about koryu-like dojo that teach in a traditional Japanese way, albeit in a more modern form.

    I searched the e-budo Koryu Bujutsu forum, and found a similar question posted in 2002 or so. It mentioned looking up Guy Power as a source. I found his website, but no contact information. A Google search brings up links to the Kenshinkan Dojo, which asks people to e-mail, but with no e-mail address.

    Thank you for your help!

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    Default a list

    I have never seen a listing of everything koryu or "koryu-like" in the Bay Area before. There are threads scattered around under specific topics, but usually only one or two schools are mentioned.

    I can tell you what I know, and would like to see more added.

    I’m not sure what you mean by “koryu-like”, but I don’t know a better term to describe what I think you are getting at. I presume that you mean arts that have a more classical flavor to their style. But perhaps you mean arts with a military focus, or arts that are more intertwined with Japanese culture?

    All of the below styles have quite different flavors in what and how they teach. Most of them are in the City or the East Bay.

    I would think that there are some interesting candidates in San Jose, but I don’t know of any.

    For full disclosure I study Yachigusa-Ryu and Shibata-line kyudo. Some of the below schools I know nothing about other than having heard their names mentioned.



    Koryu with ‘i’s dotted and ‘t’s crossed (as far as I know):

    Takenouchi-Ryu Jujutsu with Andrew Antis at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco http://www.goldengatemartialarts.com/

    Tendo-Ryu Naginata with Miyako Tanaka in El Cerrito. Possibly Mt View/San Jose?
    http://naginata.org/ncnf/dojos.html

    MJER Iaido with Andrej Diamantstein in Berkeley/SF http://www.iaido.org/

    SMR Jodo with Eric Montes in SF...mentioned in the Jo forum http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31996 and http://www.e-budo.com/forum/showthread.php?t=28101

    a Suio-Ryu study group is apparently starting in San Francisco
    http://swordforumbugei.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4128




    Koryu or not depending on who you ask:

    Sugawara-line TSKSR is taught alongside aikido in Santa Rosa / Napa / Stanford: http://www.santarosaaikido.com/Weapons.html /
    http://www.napaaikido.com/ / http://aiki-weapons.stanford.edu/




    Koryu-like under my bias:

    Toyama-Ryu/Nakamura-Ryu Iaido/Battodo with Guy Powers in Mountain View
    http://www.webdiva4hire.com/kenshinkan/

    Yachigusa-Ryu with Gary Moro in San Francisco http://www.yachigusaryu.com

    Bujinkan, various locations. http://www.winjutsu.com/winlinks.html

    Shinkendo, various locations.http://www.shinkendo.com/dojomap.html#ca




    Kyudo...I am curious what the community opinion is on whether the non-ZNKR kyudo is koryu or not. (There are also 3 ZNKR kyudo dojos in the Bay Area)

    Shibata's line of Heki Ryu Bishu Chikurin-ha of Kanjuro taught by Lucy Halverson in Berkeley and SF http://www.zenko.org

    Muyoshingetsu Kyudo taught by Bob Fischer http://www.kyudo-spiritual-path.org



    --Spencer Burns

  5. #5
    pauldt Guest

    Default Thank you, and follow-up questions

    Daniel and Spencer-

    Thank you for your replies! A great set of links, most of which I had never seen.

    Spencer, to answer your questions about what I meant by "koryu-like", I think you have the idea. If I'm not able to find koryu training locally, I'd at least like to take part in training that incorporates a traditional approach with emphasis on military techniques/bujutsu and that maintains strong ties to Japanese culture.

    With reference to one of your links, a question to the group: I had already encountered the Toyama-ryu school website under Guy Powers, but I cannot find any current contact information. Is that school still active?

    Also, does anyone have contact information for the Suio-Ryu school in San Francisco?

    Thank you again,

    Paul

  6. #6
    pauldt Guest

    Default Kenshinkan Dojo

    An aside from my posting yesterday...

    I inquired about contact information for Guy Power and the Kenshinkan Dojo in Mountain View (listed by Spencer Burns) since the dojo webpage does not list any contact information. By the strangest of coincidences, it turns out that Guy Power sensei works in the same building as me, in an office one floor above mine! I just spent 30 minutes speaking with him.

    His school is still active. They currently meet 5-7 PM on Sundays at Moffett Field (accessible to the public with a state-issued drivers license). Power sensei has handed over the instruction to his senior student, Arthur Leung. Contact Guy Power at 650-604-5989 for more details.

    -Paul

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    Default MJER Study Group in Mtn View

    You're welcome to check out my group. We do MJER on Saturdays from 9am-10:30 at the Club of Mountain View, in Mountain View, CA.


    Rob
    www.pacificmartialarts.com

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    Default Koryu in Northern California?

    One of my students is relocating from Germany to Monterey, Calif this month. Any suggestions for sword, judo, jujutsu, jodo, other koryu dojo welcomed and appreciated.

    Post here, send info to me at chuck.gordon@us.army.mil or e-mail him directly: Kevin Garcia [kevin.s.garcia@googlemail.com].

    Thx!

    cg
    Chuck Gordon
    Mugendo Budogu
    http://www.budogu.com/

  9. #9
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    Default Takeuchi-ryu outside of Japan

    Hi all,

    I thought I might give an update on the status of the international side of Bitchu-den Takeuchi-ryu. (I am not sure, but I do not believe that there is an international side to the Soke or Sodenke lines).

    There aren't many dojos outside of Japan because it takes awhile to reach the appropriate rank (daikeiko) to run a dojo. This becomes even harder for non-Japanese as usually the method of instruction is in Japanese. Over the years, a few people have received permission to run study circles from Ono Yotaro (Kaiden Shihan) though.

    Quick background: Bitchu-den Takeuchi-ryu follows a mix of the dan system and menkyo system for ranking. The menkyo system (m) determines authority. As many of you are certainly aware of, each rank comes with its own rights, privileges, and authority.

    Here are the ranks:

    Shoshinsha
    Sankyu
    Nikkyu
    Ikkyu
    Shodan
    Nidan
    Sandan
    Daikeiko(m) - Assistant Instructor
    Yondan
    Shihandai(m)- Senior Assistant Instructor
    Godan
    Toritate Shihan(m) - Junior Instructor
    Rokudan
    Menkyo Shihan(m) – Licensed Instructor
    Nanadan
    Kaiden Shihan(m) – Fully Licensed Instructor


    Among the dojos outside of Japan are in order of rank:

    Shoufukan, run by Anna Seabourne (Toritate Shihan). She is located in the UK.
    Gyofukan, run by me, Anthony Abry (Godan). The dojo was located in the US (Idaho) but I am currently a resident of Japan, again, for further training and the dojo is currently closed.
    Seifukan, run by Wayne Muromoto (Yondan). He is located in Hawaii.

    In addition, there are to my knowledge, 2 study circles:

    Shoufukan, started by Kei Ota (Sandan), but currently managed by Alex Kask, and is located in Vancouver, Canada.
    Ryufukai, run by Andrew Antis (Shodan). He is located in San Francisco.


    Regards,

    Anthony Abry

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    Default Toyama-ryu batto (Guy Powers) in San Francisco

    I have been looking for a Guy Powers sensei, who teaches Toyama Ryu and Nakamura Ryu. I have searched other posts on this forum as well as his website but have been unable to find information about whether he still currently teaches and where. If anyone has information regarding this it would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

    edit: Just realized this may need to be moved to a gendai section. Didn't want to double post so i put it under the dojo finder.
    Last edited by Gakusei88; 22nd October 2008 at 02:14.

  11. #11
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    Default

    Guy is a member here, but I haven't seen him post in quite some time.

    At a Nakamura Ryu seminar I attended last year, I was told that he doesn't teach regular classes anymore.

    If you'll PM me with your contact info and what you're looking for, I'll pass it along to one of his students, in case he doesn't see your post.
    Yours in Budo,
    ---Brian---

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    Default

    I know this is an old post, but I'm in search of koryu or koryo like dojo in the Livermore area, anyone know any? so far I've found a Shinkendo dojo in Livermore which I like, but I guess just wondering if that's it.

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