Seiryukan Dojo Student Recognition

We are all so proud of Eric Tabor, a student at Kyoshi Jim Griffin's Seiryukan Dojo on Bribie Island. He has recently been awarded the Caltex Allrounder Award for excellence in many areas (see his certificate for information).

In addition, he earned a silver medal in his event in the Noosa Triathlon a few weeks ago.

Eric is dedicated to his Karate and will be ready for his grading to yellow belt soon.

Congratulations Eric, well done.

    

30th Annual Shorinjiryu Shinzen Invitational Shiai - New York

On the 5th Oct 2016, Kyoshi Jim Griffin and Tasshi Tony Fletcher boarded their Virgin Atlantic flight for their first leg to New York city, to attend the 30th Annual Shorinjiryu Shinzen Invitational Shiai. Arriving in Los Angeles that same day, they then caught a Delta Airlines flight to New York City, getting to the "Big Apple" after some 26 hours of flying, layovers and driving, to get to their hotel in Jersey City, New Jersey. After a quick meal in a good old fashion American Diner (the VIP), it was lights out, literally.

Thursday saw a short trip under the river on the subway to the World Trade Centre subway station in the newly built Westfield shopping centre in lower Manhatten. They returned to the hotel to prepare for a nights training at Hanshi Myron Lubitsch Imperial Dragon Hombu Dojo in Brooklyn. Sensei Joey Van Winkle picked them up for the 1 1/2hr drive where they trained for around 3 hours before joining Hanshi Myron, Kyoshi Troy, Kyoshi Vincent, Shihan Al Gonzalez and a host of other students from the Imperial Dragon dojo in a fantastic dinner.

All too soon, Saturday arrived for the start of the tournament. Hanshi Myron and his team excelled in preparing the hall for the 278 Shorinjiryu competitors that came from around the world to compete and celebrate 30 years of the Shinzen tournament. Before the tournament started, a range of promotions and presentations were made to various Karateka. During this time, Kyoshi Jim Griffin presented to Hanshi Myron Lubitsch on behalf of Koshinkai, a wooden plaque made by Shihan Lesley Griffin using her skills in the art of Pyrography.

Kyoshi Jim and Tasshi Tony both entered the tournament competing in Kata and Weapons. After a break of over 30 years from competition and a solid year of practicing his katas, Kyoshi Jim received the 2nd place trophy in kata and 1st place trophy in weapons. Tasshi Tony after a year of practicing his katas, took the 4th place trophy in kata and 2nd place trophy in weapons. Mentionable here is that in the weapons division, Tasshi Tony demonstrated his adaption of Shishiryu no Bo kata using the Eku (Oar). This is the first time the Eku has ever been performed at the Shinzen Shiai. A very respectable achievement for these two gentlemen representing Koshinkai at an international event.

The formal dinner on Saturday night followed where everyone enjoyed the camaraderie, sharing stories, cementing friendships and enjoying the great food. Presentations were made to a range of people during the night recognising their achievements that included Tasshi Tony being presented with an engraved gold cup to celebrate his promotion to Godan (5th Dan) which he did at the Koshinkai National Camp April this year. All in all, an excellent day and night to celebrate this great event in New York.

Sunday and Monday were all about sightseeing including Battery Park, the Stock Exchange on Wall Street, Manhatten, Hells Kitchen and of course a couple of Irish pubs in between where they enjoyed lunch on Monday with Kyoshi Troy. All too soon, it was time to leave and before they knew it, they were on the plane from Los Angeles back to Brisbane. An exciting, eventful and successful trip.

A special thank you goes out to Sensei Joey Van Winkle who selflessly and tirelessly, drove Kyoshi Jim and Tasshi Tony to and from Jersey City to the Hombu Dojo and the tournament. His support and friendship is much appreciated. Thank you Sensei Joey. In addition, a heartfelt thank you to Hanshi Myron for the fabulous dinner on Thursday night and to everyone else that came to the dinner, for their friendship. It makes such a difference when travelling that far from home to be made feel very welcome by our international Shorinjiryu family. To Shihan Lesley for her hard work in producing the wooden plaque and finally to Kyoshi Jim and Tasshi Tony for their time and effort to make this long trip.

2016 SHORINJIRYU KOSHINKAI NATIONAL TRAINING CAMP

Over the three days of 29th/30th April and 1st May 2016, dojo of Shornjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo gathered at the Coffs Harbour Adventure Centre Camp 2016 National Training Camp (Gasshuku 合宿)

Members from Seiryukan (Bribie Island), Kensuukan (Coonabarabran), Kengokan (Darwin), Chuzankan (Blue Mountains), Shishikan (Sth Brisbane), Kazoku (Murgon) and the Newcastle Dojo, travelled to a new venue in Coffs Harbour for our National training Camp. History shows that our camps have previously been held in Coffs Harbour, so it was with some nostalgic feelings that we have returned to this location after so many years.

Our camp kicked off on Friday with the senior members (Brown and Black belts) working through the Sankakutobi Sandan series led by Tasshi Tony under guidance by Kyoshi Jim, Shihan Max and Shihan Des. Following this, Kyoshi Jim took a session on Kusanku Dai while jointly, Shihan Max took a class on kata Chinto and Shihan Des took another group on kata Sochin. Rounding out the day, Kyoshi Jim and Shihan Max took lessons on Renzoku Kansetsu waza followed closely by Shian Des and Tasshi Dean taking us through Renzoku Shime waza.

After dinner on the Friday evening, the Australian Shorinjiryu Karatedo Assoc (ASKA) Inc, held it's Annual General Meeting. Various topics were discussed including the tabling of the dojo reports from the respective instructors, plus the Presidents and Treasurers reports. The National Executive positions were declared vacant, nominations from the floor were called and new elections were conducted. The following were nominated and elected to the National Executive Committee for 2016/2017:

• President: Des Paroz
• Vice President: Tony Fletcher
• Treasurer: Jim Griffin
• Secretary: Lesley Griffin
• Councillor: Max Estens

Saturday's early morning start saw members participate in the Koshinkai Fitness test as part of the requirement for Yudansha testing. It was great to see everyone, from Kyoshi Jim down to our new white belts band together, supporting each other as they went through the fitness test. After a healthy breakfast, the formal camp started with the official welcomes and bow in by our Chief Instructors, Kyoshi Jim Griffin and Shihan Max Estens.

The mornings activities commenced with Tasshi Dean and Sensei Leanne taking the group through Gorin no Bo. This was then followed by a Bunkai session of Gorin no Bo against Sword, Sai, Empty Hand and Bo. This was a very interesting workshop and produced some exciting demonstrations which each group performed to the entire camp.

Randori Go and Kata Nijushiho were next on the training schedule with Shihan Des and Shihan Max then taking the class through another bunkai session of Nijushiho with the Tanbo. Again, these workshops were very informative, interesting and exciting.

The afternoon training continued, broke for the evening meal and then moved into the Yudansha grading. We are pleased to announce the following promotions: 

• Tony Fletcher promoted to Godan, 5th Degree Black Belt
• Travis Foss promoted to Sandan, 3rd Degree Black Belt
• Jaren Foss promoted to Nidan, 2nd Degree Black Belt
• Owen Brest promoted to Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt
• Leisa Dunmore, promoted to Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt
• Eugenie Martin promoted to Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt
• Sam Dennien promoted to Probationary Black Belt (Shodan Ho)
• Bill Bohan, promoted to Probationary Black Belt (Shodan Ho)
• Teagan Divljak, promoted to Probationary Black Belt (Junior Shodan Ho)  

Additionally, we also congratulate Shihan Max Estens for being awarded the Honourable title of Kyoshi. Congratulations Kyoshi Max.

After a 15 hour day, weary but excited and happy people made the trek to the showers and much needed rest.

Sunday saw another early start before breakfast with some members participating in the 5km walk as part of the fitness test while others attended an introductory session lead by Shihan Des on Goho no Tanbo. Following breakfast, the Goho no Tanbo lesson continued with Shihan Des working through the kata and technicalities of the movements.

Shihan Des introduced Hakkyokuken Bunkai and along with Kyoshi Jim and Kyoshi Max led the group through this workshop. Shihan Des then introduced kata Hakkyokuken to the delight of everyone. This was something new and exciting and we all threw ourselves into this culminating in demonstrations by all. Rounding off the days training saw yudansha kata being performed, revision and open floor activities before the official closing and bowing out.

Again we reiterate the focus, willingness to learn and the enjoyment of the Koshinkai Karateka, making this all worthwhile. The Instructors feed off the enthusiasm of the students completing the positive circle of training. Well done to all and congratulations to everyone.

Next years National Camp is already booked in for the 28th-30th April 2016 at the same venue in Coffs Harbour, so make sure you put this in your calendar, its’ too good to miss.

PS, photos will follow so please stay tuned

Jenny Pulsford - Personal Achievement

Jenny Pulsford, from Bribie's Sei Ryu Kan Dojo has done a great job of improving her fitness over the past months. Jenny has put in long painful hours in her kayak and recently competed in her first Kayak race at Coffs Harbour.

She earned 1st place in the 9 km "Young Vets Womens Unrestricted class" in a time of 1 hour 1 min.

Congratulations Jenny.

SHORINJIRYU KOSHINKAI BB TRAINING CAMP - QLD

Black and Brown belt members from the Qld Dojo of Shorinjiryu Koshinkai Karatedo attended the BB Training Clinic on Sat 29th Aug. Sensei Leanne with Sensei Anne plus Courtney and Teagan travelled from Murgon, Sensei Mark from Rocky and Tasshi Tony with Terry from Brisbane, joined Kyoshi Jim and Leisa on Bribie Island for the clinic. It was especially great that Shihan Des was able to fly down from Darwin where he has just settled after a fantastic world wide voyage aboard one of her majesties naval vessels.

The day kicked off with a detailed session on kata Nijushiho no Sai. Kyoshi Jim took one group while Shihan Des took the other group reviewing and discussing the technical aspects of the kata. Of course rivalries in our competitive nature came to the fore as the session finished with a “sai off” with each group demonstrating the kata to see who performed the best. Let’s say it was a draw.

After a quick break, Shihan Des introduced the first of many new self defence techniques derived from kata Bassai. These were new to the group having been developed by Shihan Des and were warmly received and added another positive element to the training.

Kyoshi Jim took the group for Ufuchiku no Jo being a nice change to the Kudaka no Jo kata we have been doing regularly. Shihan Des gave some technical pointers and also helped the group to gain some “air" on the turns in the kata. A really enjoyable Jo kata session.

More self defence techniques from Bassai followed with Shihan Des before we tackled Sai Bo Kumite which certainly made the brain cells work. The Sai Bo kumite is always a joy to do and seeing the smiles all round confirmed this as everyone definitely threw themselves into it, shining as they demonstrated at the end of the session.

Shishiryu no Bo then took centre stage as Kyoshi Jim and Shihan Des put everyone through their paces. Again the technical aspects were highlighted as the group strove to better themselves. Rounding off the day, Shihan Des went through more of the self defence techniques bringing more smiles to everyone and also gave Teagan and Courtney a chance to shine as they showed us a sample of their self defence technique to the group for this session.

All in all a great day of training covering a range of weapons, self defence applications and a sharing of knowledge. A shout out to our interstate Koshinkai family, we missed you but you were there in spirit. As always, a thank you to the Instructors, the people for travelling the big distances and, a special thank you to Shihan Des for flying down from Darwin after not only recently arriving back in Australia but also having just landed in Darwin only a few days ago.

Take care all and prepare for our National Camp in April 2016. It is going to be a big one.