Toyama Ryu testing was held by Hataya Sensei Wednesday night, Feb. 8th at the Orlando Hombu dojo. Congratulations go out to the students who passed and were promoted to shodan: James Williams from the Orlando dojo and John Matthews from the Palm Bay dojo. Only 3 students were tested and 2 of them passed!!
Sensei taught a seminar for one and a half hours on basic techniques. The seminar had about 25 attendees.
Also important to note that Sensei presented his new Seizankai certificates of rank to Bob Elder, Tom Smyth, Bob Lampp. Hal Smith, Lois Fredricks and the two new shodans as well.
Now we have the distinction between "Toyama" which everyone claims to have rank in and Sensei's style of Seizankai.
Tom Smyth
Hataya Sensei was supposed to do 2 hours and ended up doing three and a half and we never got around to tameshigiri. He beat up everyone on fundamentals for about an hour, did kumitachi for abour one and a half hours, and did kenjutsu for abourt an hour. We had been working on kumitachi for a few months so all the guys knew the basic movement. We got details on 5 and 6 that I had never seen before. Everyone ended up bruised and beaten after the kenjutsu, but they had a new understanding of things. It was nice to have a small class (8 people = full dojo) so everyone got a ton of hands-on training.
Mike "Animo" Femal
What an intense day was had by all! The seminar, tameshigiri and testing went great; it was good to see how The Man does things. I've been hearing stories for a long time now, so I'm glad to have finally met him up close and in person. Actually learned a few things too. Like don't show pain or discomfort, no matter what! I should have been paying more attention to the stories of his "adjustment" skills. After having him adjust my back for me after the seminar, I'm sure glad I didn't go to the West Coast Taikai. Hataya Sensei offered to do it again if I was going to California, so for the first time I was grateful to miss out on an experience like Taikai. Yep, call me a wimp, but when it comes to my own pain, I'll pass. Other than that, my first Hataya visit was a wonderful thing, and I can't wait for next time!
And congratulations again to Steele sensei and Bryan for moving up a level, Way to Go!!!
Linda Hatfield
