March 2023: Jamie Bunting Sensei's trip to Japan

I travelled to Japan to see the sights and do all the tourist stuff, but the main purpose of this trip was to train in Tennen Rishin Ryu, under the current headmaster Kato Sensei in Tokyo.

Tennen Rishin Ryū is a traditional swordsmanship school, codified during the Kansei Era (1789-1801) by Kondō Kuranosuke Nagahiro. The syllabus includes Kenjutsu (fencing) Bojutsu (staff), Jujutsu(grappling), Iaijutsu (sword drawing) and Gekiken (free sparing incorporating nagewaza-throws), Katamewaza (grappling), Atemiwaza (strikes) in addition to even being able to hit an opponent’s body parts not protected by armour. Unfortunately, time was against us and we only managed to try Kenjutsu kata (forms) and Jujutsu waza (techniques). These were short sword versus long sword as well as self-defence from having your sword taken from you. This proved to be more familiar territory as I could see the similarities in body movement to my regular Aikido practice, although with more weapons involved. After training Kato Sensei and the whole dojo took us for a meal with a view on the 47th floor overlooking the Skytree tower.

At my return, I was also given permission to demonstrate at Inori Aikido Dojo what we had learnt. We are now working through the different Tennen Rishin Ryū techniques and then practice the equivalent Aikido version. Budo friendships were made and the results practised from Tokyo to Woolpit.