Sensei Kurucova's report on her NY Seminar

 

Taira Bunkai Seminar Brewster NY , August 30^th – September 1^st, 2024

From Sensei Milada Kurucova

We had 31 participants join us for this seminar with some coming from very far. It was an honor to meet Sensei Steve Nedelkos and his lovely wife Janine from Australia, we had several Canadian friends attend, Sensei Mike Sywyk despite of his busy schedule joined us for 2 days, Julie from Okinawa that was so amazing to talk to and  helpful with translating, explain the appropriate etiquette and just very lovely to meet, Sensei Frenette joined us with 2 of his students, Sensei Marie-Lou with one student, Sensei Chis Langello, Sensei Tanka came from Florida with several of his students joining, Sensei John and Nancy from Saugerties, Sensei Chad Merriman joined us and it was an honor to have him present at the event, Sensei Dwyer with 5 of his students and so many other practitioners from all over the country.

Sensei Chuck Nuccio accommodated Sensei Taira, took care of his travels and everything he needed.

Training started on Friday 8/30 at 6pm, Sensei Taira was in a great mood and started with several basic drills, later going into Seyunchin Renzoku that we practiced in sections with new and always interesting changes.

Friday training ended at 8pm, and was followed by dinner in the conference room of the dojo building catered by restaurant with amazing sushi, we had cold and warm dishes that everyone enjoyed, Sensei Taira was having a great time singing to his favorite music playing in the background and party went until 1am.

Saturday started with a grading of one of Brewster dojo students that was grading for Shodan.

Training started at 1pm and with a little break for refreshments, fruit and drinks, it went to 5pm. Sensei was teaching Gekisai and Sanseiru Renzoku in parts with several new changes, we went over opening, drills for transitions and throws.

Saturday training was then followed by a dinner at nearby restaurant Clocktower Grill at 7pm, everyone had a great time and was able to socialize in a private room with delicious food and a great company.

Sunday training started at 10am, we have continued working on a drills from Seyunchin Renzoku, Seipai Renzoku, there was a lunch break 12-1 where we had food served from a local deli at the conference room so we didn’t have to leave the building and get right back to training after some refreshments.

We continued working on Sanseiru with some arm conditioning in Shikodachi as well as sit ups with Sensei.

Sensei Nedelkos on the NY Seminar

 

I had the pleasure of attending the recent Taira Bunkai Seminar in New York, co-hosted by Sensei’s Chuck Nuccio and Milada Kuracova.

It was another great weekend spending time of the floor with Taira Sensei, meeting old friends, meeting fiends in person for the first time, making new friends, and of course ‘more training’…

The seminar was at Sensei Milada’s dojo in Brewster, that had facilities for a catered n ‘in house’ dinner’ and opportunity for socializing with everyone…catching up with old friends and getting know new ones.

Similarly, over the weekend Sensi Milada paid attention to detail and had provided food and snacks for the in between training breaks

Over the weekend, that training started with the mandatory warmups, then on to specific ‘hand drills’ directly related to the Bunkai that was covered in that session. Again, it highlights the importance and need to practice these drills in order to ‘get to where you need to go…’.

Over the weekend Gekisai (always a favourite), Seiyunchin and Seipai were the theme, and along the way highlighting how to look and think about the kata and see the movement, in between the movement.

It was interesting to see, not only the next example of a particular Bunkai that one may have done previously, but also how newer ‘versions’ seemed to be bringing the Bunkai even closer to the Kata movement…The other aspect that I felt was interesting, was examining ‘the sequence order’ of some elements of Kata. For example, if we have a particular point in a Kata that involves a forward step/movement associated with arms executing a strike and/or re-direction of opponent, how that particular Bunkai’s effectiveness can be determined by either, the re-direction first, the forward step/movement first, or the strike…

Sensei Chuck and I assisted Sensei during the Sunday training session, which was actually a great opportunity to have more ‘hands on feel’ with working with other partners, who may move differently, react differently, resist differently…I think this can assists in developing a more universal ability in undertaking the techniques.

Overall, it was another enjoyable seminar and well worth the long trip from Australia.

On a personal notes, I wish to express my gratitude to Sensei Chuck and Sensie Milada for their gracious and welcoming hospitality and looking after us during our visit.

Steve Nedelkos

Melbourne, Australia Shibu

Some thoughts on the Dunedin, NZ Seminar

 Taira Bunkai Seminar in Dunedin, NZ Novemeber 2024

Taira sensei came to NZ for his annual seminar. We've had him here every year since 2011, excepting the plague years of course. So this would have been his 12th trip to NZ. He had a seminar in Timaru in 2010. For a few of the earlier years we did a whole of country, going to Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. He's less willing to be away from home for the 2 weeks we need in order to fit in two weekends, so for the last couple of trips it's Dunedin only.

For those that have to travel -- Dunedin's small so it's easy to get around, accommodation might be cheaper. Visitors had good AirBnB, and the small means  you can be at the other end of town and it's still 15 minutes to the venue.

For the main sessions we used the Fairfield Hall again. It's Goldilocks "just right" sized, we can heat it, and it's 1 minute from my house. It also has a good floor.

We had a large group from Australia. We had visitors from other Kenkyukai related dojo. We had Geoff's Christchurch Team.  Tangiwai, Charlie and Kauri Tepana came down. Non Kenkyukai visitors from Okinawakan throughout the country, and some TOGKF practitioners helped us spread Sensei's message.

We started with a  Kenkyukai members only session on Friday night, for about 90 minutes. A short session as Sensei had arrived in NZ that afternoon. Often he concentrates on kata, but this time, after some novel warm ups, we moved directly to Gekisai bunkai. There were a few surprises, and as always he segued into other kata as the technique was either the same in the other kata, or if the difference  enhanced the understanding of the basic bunkai. It was nice having people that all had significant exposure to Taira Sensei's methods.

Saturday and  Sunday were four hour sessions for all participants. Again he started with warm ups which had some new emphasis to help us prepare for the bunkai. They also emphasized how to use sanchin like movements in a dynamic manner.

The  training covered many kata -- Gekisai, Saifa, Seiunchin, Sanseiru, Seipai, and Kururunfa mainly. Most of the other kata got some looking. He also kept coming back to Sanchin as the core of power generation.

At many points Sensei would take a move from a kata, demonstrate how it was an analogue of a sanchin movement, and show how applying  sanchin principles brought power to the move. Combine this with early junbi undo movements based on  sanchin techniques bridged a  way to develop body strength to  perform a sanchin move with it's application within a kata. The result then is the ability to say many moves in the kata derive from sanchin, and all bunkai derive from sanchin. This was the clearest way I have seen Sensei express this concept.

His final night  teaching was at our dojo, where we worked on bo/bo kumite. Again he linked body movement and techniques of the empty hand kata into similar movements with the bo. It became hard to decide if the mechanics from karate were being applied to kobudo, or if it was the other way around. He then quickly demonstrated a stripped down renzoku version of Shushi no Kon Sho which showed a direct link to his kumite. He was also able to show how the kihon of the bo kata can be applied in basic or advanced method to the bo/bo kumite. It was a great session.

Thanks to everyone that came. We'll have to do it again.

Melbourne 2025

 

Italy 2025 Announced

 

Aivaras Sensei in Portugal

 

 LAST CALL: Goju Ryu Karate Seminar in Ericeira, Portugal – 4-6 October! 

To all members of the Tairabunkai Basics group—this is your final reminder to join our exciting Goju Ryu Karate seminar happening next weekend in beautiful Ericeira, Portugal!

 Dates: 4-6 October 2024
 Location: Ericeira, Portugal

This is a unique opportunity to train together, deepen your understanding of Goju Ryu, and practice essential Tairabunkai methods in a supportive environment. Whether you're refining your Kata or working through Kobudo drills, this weekend is packed with valuable lessons!

Don't miss out on this chance to grow your skills, connect with fellow martial artists, and enjoy the scenic surroundings of Ericeira.

 Final spots are available! Register now to secure your place.

Looking forward to seeing you there!