Event Report - 2002 October, Second Annual Texas Embu, in Denton
Second Annual Texas Embukai
2002 October 11 - 13
Emily Egan
Friday
Joe, Sue, and I left Houston a little earlier than usual on Friday to get there by 4PM so we could help with the set up of the Optimist Club Gym. We traveled North while receiving hourly (or nearly so) inputs from Jim Robeson who preceded us. By the time we got there the hall set up/clean up seemed to be nearly complete. We went inside and made introductions, and Joe and I reacquainted ourselves with folks we hadn’t seen in a while, including Doug who brought some nice bokutou with hi (they make a higher pitched sound than iaito) for us as part of a group order with Tozando. Though we had planned to stay at The Dojo, Susan offered to put us up at her new place in the country, and we accepted. There was a practice led by John Ray-sensei on seiza no bu, and after that was free-practice during which many of us couldn’t keep our eyes off the visiting sensei who were practicing on one side of the hall. After the practice we went to a Thai place down the street for dinner, and afterwards we followed Susan to her house and went to bed.
Saturday
We got up shortly before dawn and tried unsuccessfully to find the IHOP, finally settling for drive through. Even so we got to the gym with plenty of time to spare. After opening reishiki the attending students were divided in three groups,-- one group of mudan (pre-shodan), one of shodans and nidans, and one of sandan and higher. Joe and I were in the intermediate group, and Sue and Jim were in the beginner group. With Sue’s help I filmed most of the sessions on Saturday. Over the course of the day we, in the intermediate group, were instructed by six sensei in this order,-- Wout Verschueren, Warren Stanley, Scott Irey, Ted Davis, Greg Huff, and Greg Williams. Each was serious in their instruction, and their love of the art was unmistakable. Here is a brief description of each session. Verschueren-sensei lead us through warm up exercises, then worked us on the basics of timing, and proper positioning of legs. Stanley-sensei calmly instructed us in correct noto, breathing, and posture. Irey-sensei stressed the combative nature of iaido, and elimination of suki, via paired exercise in maai, and instruction in rising from seiza
After some hints dropped his way, Scott was persuaded to stop teaching so everyone could go to lunch. After a brief lunch at Frilly’s, we hurried back for the afternoon sessions.
Davis-sensei quietly and patiently reviewed the basics of proper positioning of the body, provided hints in sageo selection and management, and also some novel uses of the sageo from other iai styles. He distributed hand outs of the same diagrams by Esaka-sensei from the CIA seminar. When he does shatou the sword arcs up and down to encounter the forearm at 90 degrees. Huff-sensei talked to us about the importance of saya management, i.e., saya biki is part of the cut and not an afterthought. Other points covered: during furikaburi the kissaki doesn’t stop moving; the fine points of nukitsuke; extending the kissaki in kirioroshi (“Reach out and cut someone”); rising from seiza. “It’s not the beginning or the end point. What happens in between is crucial. You can end up being picture perfect, but the iai is totally wrong. It’s beautiful because it is good. Williams-sensei instructed us in proper kesa giri, and tate hiza. There was a group photo before everyone left to get ready for the party.
We went to Neil & Doug’s hotel room at the Days Inn to get showers, then went to the party at the Ray’s house. There were quite a few people there by the time we arrived. Much socializing was done, and a lot of good food was had by all. I managed to sell all of the CLI shirts and most of the plastic saya, and in return we bought very attractive Embukai T- shirts. We left the party at 9:30 to go back to Susan’s house and get some sleep before tomorrow’s 9AM start.
Sunday
We got up early again, and finally found the IHOP, as well as several other embukai attendees midway through their breakfasts. Back at the Optimist Club gym there was an hour warmup/free practice time during which the sensei conferred on how best to arrange the hall and participants for the embu. John Ray-sensei had produced an attractive event booklet that all received. In it were listed all of the participants of the Embu, and a brief bio of each sensei.
The Embu itself went smoothly. As usual we started with the most junior and worked up to those most senior. Participants went out in groups to do their five waza until godan. Participants from CLI were Joe, Sue, and myself. Jim couldn’t make it on Sunday. With Sue’s help I filmed the embu demonstrations. When it was done there was one more group photo. Afterwards we (me, joe, sue) had lunch at Sweet Water with Diane Mirro (visiting from San Antonio), Dave Moyle and his wife, Neil, and Doug before heading home.
Photos
Saturday Seminars - photos taken by Jean Mankoff
Sunday Embu - photos taken by Emily Egan