In
October of 2007, Mc Coy Sensei was promoted to
4th Dan in Hakko Ryu and awarded a certificate
reading "Honorary Master".This certificate
came from a honbu certified Shihan and European
representative of the honbu.
The school, Aikibudo Seishinkan, teaches Yoshinkan
Aikido and supplements that curriculum with ideas
and techniques from Hakko Ryu. If you are
a Hakko Ryu practitioner or train in an art derived
from Hakko Ryu, you may be interested in joining
Hakko Shin
Kai. HSK is an international, non-political
organization. Membership is open to all styles,
but we prefer to stay with Hakko Ryu and derivatives
or Aikido and Aikijujutsu styles. See www.hakkoshin.com
Hakko
Ryu is a style of jujitsu founded on June 1, 1941
by Ryuho Okuyama in Japan. It is designed to handle
attacks by applying pressure on the body’s
keiraku (meridians) to cause intense but non-damaging
pain and thus destroy the attacker’s will
to continue. The aim of Hakko-ryu technique is
to neutralize, control and discourage an attacker
with techniques that employ minimal strength yet
generate maximum efficiency.
Okuyama
created his system upon the belief that the successful
application of technique versus the application
of physical strength could overcome attacks in
a self-defense situation. The
ability to neutralize and control both the attacker
and the situation is the hallmark of Hakko-ryu
jujitsu, which translates as “school of
the eighth light”.
Hakko-ryu
techniques are taught in two basic ways: suwari-waza
(kneeling) and tachi-waza (standing). The former
teaches the student to master the hand techniques
predominant in this style; in the latter, the
student integrates the hand technique with footwork
and tai-sabaki (body movement). Here, tensing
and the use of power are discouraged in favor
of suppleness and flexibility. The principle behind
each technique compensates for power. Hakko-ryu
does not teach specific techniques and defenses
for a myriad of possible attacks, but instead
a thorough mastery of the principles upon which
the techniques are based.
My
training in Hakko Ryu began in the National Karate
and Jiu Jitsu Union by attending seminars with
the Jujutsu Director, Lemuel
Stroud Shihan Stroud had been introduced to
Hakko Ryu some time in the early 1960's. Richard
Baillargeon, representative for the Seishin Kai
under Kuniba Shogo Soke, was also involved somewhat
in Hakko Ryu, as James Benko (who introduced Hakko
Ryu to the U.S.) was a member of Seishin Kai.
Eventually,
Mr. Stroud traveled to Japan to train at the Hakko
Ryu honbu dojo where he trained with Tori Shinji
Shihan and the founder Okuyama. Mr. Stroud, along
with his seniors Mark Moore Shihan and Clayton
Tucker Shihan and several other ranking members
of NKJU eventually established the National Martial
Arts Association.
I learned the Hakko Ryu Shoden techniques from
one of Mr. Stroud's other students, who was also
a student of Dennis Palumbo and now train with
Kyoshi Stroud, Shihan Moore
and Shihan Tucker at NMAA clinics and camps.
Roy Hobbs (Hakko Ryu Shihan and Kokodo Menkyo
Kaiden) and Dr. Clement Riedner also contribute
much to my Hakko Ryu and general Jujutsu training.
Both were students of the art in the old HMAF
when it was still together with the Seishinkai.
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