2016 IKKU Koga-Ryu Kobudo Clinic – Group Photo
The 2016 2nd Annual IKKU Koga-Ryu Kobudo Weapons Choice Clinic occurred on February 27, 2016 in Duluth, GA, hosted by Kyoshi-Sei Larry Griffin and Keishin Karate Kai. There was certainly a great turnout with approximately 58 attendees for the event. Participants gathered from across the U.S., including attendees from Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Maine. 3 Traditional Karate Organizations were represented during the 1 day event including the IKKU – International Karate Kobudo Union, TKA – Traditional Karate Association, and TOKA – Traditional Okinawan Karate Association.
This was the second of such clinics offers by the IKKU. The format of the clinic was based on a principal of sharing traditional kobudo knowledge without boundaries. Typically a student must show a certain amount of proficiency before being allowed to move to another more advanced and dangerous weapon. However at this event participants were allowed to choose weapons of their preference as opposed to following a more rigid process to earn this exposure. Participants picked a group to work with in the morning hours prior to lunch and then had the option of staying with the same group in the afternoon or moving to an entirely different weapon for the afternoon session. Sessions included Kobudo Anatomy, Basics and Kata as part of the agenda for the day.
As a special offering at this years event was the Eaku or Boat Oar. This class was taught by Shihan Dai Kim Blue of the Suansu Karate Kai out of Dublin, GA. He specifically reviewed anatomy of the weapon and then followed with the Kata – Matayoshi Eaku.
Needless to say this was a very successful clinic with only 1 minor injury occurring that only required a band-aid. Not too bad of a record for the 250+ man hours of weapons that were used on the floor for the duration of the event. The IKKU will certainly continue to modify classes and change formats in the future to keep things interesting but hopefully we’ll see another Koga-Ryu Kobudo Weapons Choice Clinic again in 2017. Or maybe we’ll experience more Koga-Ryu even sooner.
Instructors and Weapons for the day included:
Renshi Sensei Nadine Oka – Tonfa
Renshi Sensei Barbara Hughes – Bo
Shihan Dai Matt Downton – Kama
Renshi Shihan Mike Downton – Nunchaku
Shihan Dai Kim Blue – Eaku
Renshi Jenn Reitano – Sai