Hi everybody, I hope you're having a fantastic weekend! I just finished going through all of our 2023 class recordings for inclusion in membership tiers and by topic. These recordings alone will add 80 resources to the Kenjutsu Online community. Each class video covers multiple topics, techniques, and principles with a common theme. We'll also continue to add "focus videos" and "train along videos" dedicated to introducing and teaching one particular topic like a drill or technique. Once these resources have been added, we'll continue to add more videos from 2024 and 2025, totaling hundreds of resources for you to learn Nami Ryu kenjutsu and more.

I’ve had some time on my hands (perhaps the main benefit of rain) and began to look at the influences on James Williams Kaicho in his creation of Nami Ryu. I noted that Williams studied and was certified in Systema. There is a “world” headquarters in Toronto (surprised me a bit to find this in Canada) for one branch of Systema, and I watched some video’s of their Sensei and then found another practitioner (Val) who did a seminar in Florida where he focused on the concept of the “ballistic punch” which is central to Systema methods. In Florida, Val, taught this to some fighters (one MMA fighter who is an absolute tank- probably weighing in at 250 and who had a 7 and 0 record with 6 by knockout; another guy who was a former College linebacker weighing in at 275, and then the owner of the gym which trained MMA fighters). All of these trained MMA fighters were heavy hitters but the Systema method brought about 30-50% more power and devastating impacts. This method is clearly part of Nami Ryu as integrated by Williams Kaicho as it uses both centrifugal and spiral motion to generate huge impact from even short punches. These Systema masters do not explain the method to any degree but if you look at their hip motion it appears to involve significant releases and allowing the fist to follow a rotational rather than linear force path. I believe this method of striking open-handed and with weapons is seen clearly in videos by Williams Kaicho and George Sensei as they almost casually tap people who then crumple. This Val (above) hit the MMA tank and folded him like a card table, and then the linebacker (foolishly or bravely) volunteered to be the demonstration dummy for a series of taps in sensitive areas. He barely hit him but the result was painful even to watch, and he likely needed a few days to recover while his spleen and liver made their way back to their functional positions and the crushed areas of his diaphragm started to unfold. For James Williams Kaicho to incorporate these Systema methods in his System of Strategies and integrate them into Samurai Training is remarkable and I am very pleased to have access to this training. Deep Gasho to Sensei George and to James Williams Kaicho!

In terms of practical application, I was wondering about how to apply principles when an attacker is able to grab both your collars or both arms from the front. Most of what I have seen deals with grabs of one arm by the opponents corresponding arm (i.e. right to right, left to left). I can imagine how this could unfold by changing the relationship of the attackers position to mine, but have not seen yet an example in video of classes (apologies if I missed it or have not come upon it as I work through the classes from Dec to May).

Hi everyone! How is your training going? Are you working on anything in particular? Any revelations that might be a helpful training tip? When I was in class last night the assistant instructor pointed out that when I was really thinking about the technique I had a tendency to look away. This will change my structure so something to work on. So if you tend to overthink everything like I do, keep that distant mountain vision straight ahead! 🙂