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Thread: Starting a Study Group

  1. #1
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    Question Starting a Study Group

    Hello everyone-

    As this is my first post here, I feel I should introduce myself. My name is Christian Gunberg, and I have been practicing Mugai Ryu Iaido for three years now, with the Kenbukan iaido school in Jacksonville, Florida. Because I was doing the Iaido training at the same time as I was in law school, my training time was necessarily limited to the three years I intended to stay in Jacksonville. I trained hard, and achieved Shodan rank relatively quickly for our school. After a demonstration (at the 2009 spring festival at the Morikami museum in Delray beach) my teacher and I discussed means by which I could continue my training following my departure from Jacksonville. He suggested I start a remote study group and teach others, allowing my own training to go along with theirs. I am finding that this is much easier said than done.

    I am posting here for a number of reasons: first - as an inexperienced teacher (my prior students were really the fellow students of my teacher: I was helping out) I am interested in learning more about the beginnings of these sorts of things. How does one go about starting a study group? Second, I am posting here to make my existence known: if anyone is interested in helping, partnering up, being a student, giving advice, or anything else, give me a PM, I'd love to hear from you! I'm in Northern Virginia, specifically Loudoun County.

    Also, I know that there are many highly experienced practitioners on these forums whose experiences would be very useful. Any help for the noob teacher would be greatly appreciated.

    Thanks very much!
    -Christian Gunberg

  2. #2
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    There is the Capital Area Budokai which also does Mugai Ryu. Hopefully the distance isn't too much of a factor since it's in Alexandria, but that's a good place to start with practice. There might be come people that go there that live in your area in which you may start up a study group with them.

    As for starting a study group, that may be a hard thing to do. First you have to make sure that there is even a place for you to practice. Once that's out of the way, then there's a bunch of networking and letting people know that you exist through various online outlets and community boards. If you search a bit on here, you should be able to find some more specific tips on how to start up some sort of study group.
    Christopher George
    Purdue Kendo Club
    My Kendo Blog

  3. #3
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    Christian,

    First off welcome to e-budo, and the D.C. area. I actually train at Capital Budokai in Dave Drawdy's (3rd dan) Mugai Ryu study group. We're in the Meishi-ha under Niina Gosoke. Robert Rivers (just received 5th dan) also has a Mugai Ryu study group in Stafford, VA. Both may be a little far if you are in Loudon County, but perhaps the training times at those locations will be conducive to your schedule. If you are interested in training under an instructor than these may be great options for you. Out of curiosity do you practice under one of the mainlines of Mugai Ryu or Kuniba-ha?

    In terms of starting a study group, you'll need to do a couple things depending on what your goals for the group are. If you plan on renting floor time at an existing location, and plan on charging tuition to cover these expenses, then you will need to set yourself up as a business. You "could" do this under the table, but I would advise against it.

    Virginia has a great resource for new businesses at the Virginia One Stop (http://virginiabos.sparkstudiosaas.c...rtualLobby.jsp). This will basically walk you through how to setup your business. It is a little labor intensive because you will need to fill out and file some paperwork, and it will cost you a nominal fee. I would look into starting up as an LLC, but you may want to look at the different tax and liability structures of different business entities (e.g. sole proprietor, corporation, LLC, etc.) and see what works best for you and your needs. Once you have all your legal paperwork taken care of, then you can use that to open a business checking/savings account so that you can accept tuition and issue payments from a single account (it can get confusing using your personal checking account). Next, you will most likely want to purchase a liability and medical martial arts insurance that will cover injuries during class, damage caused to the facility, and protect you in case someone tries to sue you in the event someone is injured. The price of policies vary, but since iaido doesn't generally draw tons of students your annual premium won't be too high. Some facilities require that you have insurance otherwise they will not allow you to train there.

    Finding a facility can be challenging. What worked for me was finding out what martial arts facilities were in the area, and then calling them and finding out if they had any available floor time available for rent, and what the rental cost was. In my experience this isn't "leased" out (in the sense that you sign a lease agreement), but rather you just pay the owner month to month. You really have to weigh the pros and cons since many "in-house" programs tend to reserve the best training times for themselves, so you may have to be flexible. Since attracting students can be a slow process, expect to pay out of your own pocket for a while.

    Getting students. This can be the most challenging part starting out. You'll want to be upfront about what the group is and to emphasize that it is a new program...this way people respond with the expectation that there are not going to be many, if any, other students there. One option is to offer some free classes to at least generate some interest. Craigslist (Classes Section) is a great free option for advertising your class. You could also post some fliers at the facility you train at, create a webpage, etc.

    What you charge for a month of classes is really dependent on how frequently you train and what your expenses are. Don't expect to make money; don't try to make money. So be fair. Unless you have sufficient financial resources to shoulder all the costs yourself, then whomever trains with you will have to chip in to cover the costs of facility rental, insurance, etc.

    In the end you also need to take into consideration your own training. teaching is one of the best, if not the best, way to learn...assuming your transmitting the techniques correctly. However, you still need regular or semi-regular training from your instructor to keep your progress moving forward. Having a study group can help in this respect because you and the other students can pool your resources together to bring that instructor out to teach a seminar. However, you may still need to make arrangements to fly down to FL periodically.

    I wish you luck in whatever you decide. Perhaps I'll see you at the Capital Budokai in Alexandria one of these days. I actually live in Bethesda, MD, so maybe we could meet up sometime. I'm always interested in seeing what some of the other lines of Mugai Ryu are doing.
    Yagyu Shinkage Ryu Heiho
    Hontai Yoshin Ryu (Study Group)
    Ishiyama Ryu

  4. #4
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    Steve,

    Thanks for the reply - I think that Virginia One Stop is going to be very useful. As for organizational challenges, I think I'll take my time and do it right: LLCs are popular for a reason, so it looks like I'll get some good practice in configuring those kinds of documents - at least it's for me rather than for a client. (Bar results come back on the 16th, so I'm in limbo for a while anyway!)

    To satisfy your curiosity, I will pass your question on to my teacher, but my instinct is to say that we practice mainline Mugai ryu. We recognize Shiokawa-sensei as our soke, and teach Mugai ryu with the philosophy of sei-do: to put it simply, if you hear anything but our bo-hi whistling, we've messed up.

    I have not mentioned my teacher's name yet, and that requires some explanation: when I joined the Kenbukan iaido school, Soke Masaharu Sakimukai ran the dojo himself, including the day-to-day operations of teaching the iaido class. Throwing a word like 'soke' around here tends to set off alarm bells, so I should clarify that his sokeship (if such a japanese-english hybrid monstrosity of a word could exist) is of a very small branch of Shorin-Ryu karate called Chintokan, named after Soke's favorite kata taught by his karate teacher, Shimabukuro-sensei: Chinto. Nevertheless, those training in his dojo call him Soke, whatever discipline they are studying. If this leads to confusion, I apologise. I must admit it took me several months before I learned that his wife's name wasn't actually "Dojocho." While I was training with Kenbukan, Soke stepped back from the everyday business, allowing his son Yoshi Sakimukai ("Shihan" to us) to take over most of the ordinary dojo duties. Our dojo is therefore in something of a state of transition. Business will most likely predominantly with Shihan in the future.

    Soke Sakimukai learned Mugai ryu from Shiokawa-sensei, and has a fierce personal loyalty to him. Thus I have traced the recent lineage of our style to the best of my ability. Being new to the organization, I am unfamiliar with the events of years before my time, and that which transpired to create the variety of ryuha extant today. Truly, I am only familiar with our little corner of the Mugai ryu world, so I am eager to meet with you and other members of the Capital Budokai both to see what you've been doing, and to show what we've been doing.

    This forum post is dragging on, so I'll cap it off by saying thanks, and I hope to meet you all soon-
    -Christian Gunberg

  5. #5

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    Hello Christian

    I operate a dojo in Stafford, VA, however, I do a lot of work in Sterling and the general Loudoun/ Fairfax area.

    If you need any help in anything I would be more than happy to offer any non-political, non-commitment, friendly discussion on how you can better present yourself in the Northern Virginia Japanese swordsmanship community.

    In Northern VA, there is a small network of independent dojo of numerous styles and organizations who support each other's events and training sessions for the sole purpose of propagating good budo regardless of the ryuha or teacher/ organizational affiliation. We all have our loyalties and our teachers in Japan know what flag we are under. There are several great instructors in Japan who spread the ideal of good will and fruitful training regardless of what patch you wear on your uwagi. This is the example we follow.

    Several groups in Virginia are a part of the Suimokai headed by Soke Niina Gyokudo, of the Nakagawa Lineage (and long time student of Shiokawa Soke). I had the pleasure of meeting Shiokawa Gosoke and Sakimukai Sensei during Sakimukai Sensei's taikai a few years ago in Jacksonville.

    I think the formation of a study group is a great idea as advised by your Sensei. I also think that, regardless of any inhibitions one may have about meeting members of other kai, it would be unfortunate for you to have a study group in the Northern VA area, flanked by several fellow Mugai Ryu practitioners, and not develop some professional relationships with them.

    I am literally in Loudoun every week. I'd be more than happy to share with you how our study group has grown and what you can look forward to in leading your own. You can PM me or email through the web-site below. Sensei Dave Drawdy is in Arlington and Director of the NOVA Budokai and I am sure would be more than happy to introduce you to some of the guys up there should you be in that neck of the woods.

    Regards

    Rob Rivers
    5th Dan
    Meishi ha Mugai Ryu Iaihyodo Suimokai, Tokyo, Japan
    www.shin-dojo.com
    www.mugairyu.com
    Rob Rivers

  6. #6
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    Thank you Mr. Rivers-
    Your advice is well taken - I hope that these exchanges may form the beginnings of just the sort of professional relationships you have mentioned. If my last post came off as defensive I apologize, and I meant no offense, perhaps I can repair any damage done the next time you're in Loudoun. I'll send you a PM with my contact info. In rereading my post I would like to clarify that I mean no disrespect to any other organization. My lack of knowledge in this is my enemy. As for advice, I would welcome any that you should wish to give me. Also, nothing would gratify me more than to simply get down to training again. All my dithering about trying to figure out how to start this study group has left my own training going stale.

    As a specific question, I was wondering if anyone knew of a local dojo willing to discuss a deal regarding time on their floor. Organizational, legal, business, and other considerations aside, a study group needs two things to exist at all: at least one student, and a place to train. And it's awfully hard to attract that first student when I haven't even reserved floor space. Ideally, I'm looking for a traditional dojo studying one of the other Japanese arts, so that my iaido can bring something different to the table, while fitting in culturally. In that way I could bring something valuable to the relationship on day one. Does anybody know of such a school, or perhaps a different sort of one that would like to host a study group in iai? As a follow up, how would you go about approaching such a business owner about the idea? There are several examples over in the "baffling" zone to tell me what not to do, but exactly what the etiquette, if any, is remains a mystery to me.

    Thanks, everybody - I've got lots to think about now, and some new friends to meet. I hope we all get off on the right foot in person, and that, as you say, we may all practice "good will and fruitful training."
    -Christian Gunberg

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Steven Baxter View Post
    Out of curiosity do you practice under one of the mainlines of Mugai Ryu or Kuniba-ha?
    There is no such thing as a "Kuniba-ha". Within the Kuniba Kai as headed by the late Shogo Kuniba's remaining family the iaido is called Kuniba-ryu Iaido. They do not make any claims whatsoever to have a family line of Mugai-ryu.

    Quote Originally Posted by CGunberg View Post
    I should clarify that his sokeship (if such a japanese-english hybrid monstrosity of a word could exist) is of a very small branch of Shorin-Ryu karate called Chintokan, named after Soke's favorite kata taught by his karate teacher, Shimabukuro-sensei: Chinto. Nevertheless, those training in his dojo call him Soke, whatever discipline they are studying.
    Which is how Kuniba suddenly became "soke" of Mugai-ryu to some people and how what little he taught some of his curious karate student on the side they later branded Kuniba-ha Mugai-ryu. But let's not have this discussion here. I have no personal interest in this anymore as I've moved on but I still find it frustrating that old misconceptions are so hard to rectify.
    Last edited by Rasmus; 20th October 2009 at 17:41.
    Andreas Rasmussen

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