Lets start with wishing all those going for their gradings this Sunday the best of luck! You all looked great as you performed your Katas and Wazas in the dojo this Wednesday; just show that same focus and power and it will be a fantastic grading day for you!

Nice to see other sen’s helping out Dave San with the Combat Club this Monday while James San is away, this week it was Graeame San’s turn, and he did a great job, bringing his wealth of security knowledge to the class, if ever any of you want to hear some interesting stories about martial art skills in operation, then he is the man to get chatting too!
Lets see if Dave San can persuade him back for next Monday, or maybe even Mark San will take a turn? We are fortunate to have this great depth of experience in our black belts to call upon, and each year their knowledge and experience grows. We hope to have 5 more enter the grade of black belt this year, an amazing achievement by yourselves and the dojo!

We have the events page up now for our Kobudo seminar, its another Tim San masterpiece of IT design so please check it out, also I wonder if anyone can spot which one of our students is holding the Tonfa?! By the way a whole new Wisewarrior web site is in the planning, so stay tuned for that, its going to be a bit smart!!
Below is a brief summary on Kobudo written by Tor San to get you in the mood for the 31st of March….!

Kobudo

The ancient wooden weapon art, helping the evolution of the spirit and forming the warrior poet.

The art of Kobudo has its roots in Okinawa rather than Japan, and as such shares much of its history and foundation with Karate. During a period when the Japanese Samurai occupied Okinawa the use of, and the carrying of weapons was banned. As a reaction to this, and in order to be able to defend themselves, the local population developed karate (empty hand), and also started to use every day farming tools as weapons. Eventually this inventive use of farming utensils as weapons became known to us as Kobudo.

Still taught as part of the syllabus in many Karate schools today, Kobudo has grown beyond its original purpose of giving you a means by which you could defend yourself, and has developed into an art form that provides a journey of self discovery… the evolution of the spirit.

In our upcoming Kobudo seminar, we have chosen two weapons that sit on opposing extremes of what this exciting martial art of Kobudo has to offer; the Tonfa, originally a mill stone arm, will be explored very much in the context of a ‘Martial Weapon’, with some exciting combat drill, while with its beautiful sword like circular striking paths, the Jo (4 foot staff) will provide ‘the art’, content of the weapon.

So lets hope you enjoy it! Just register your interest in attending (just ask if you want to bring a friend) with either Richard San or Tim San, or via text, or ask on the Wisewarrior FaceBook Page, but not on the group one please as that is not checked as often. 

So see you next week, with hopefully our new grades!