Fred27
15th April 2010, 11:02 PM
I haven't visited too many individual dojos so I'm a bit curious what the routines are for teaching beginners. I thought it might be fun to discover new ways of doing things.
Note: This below is how its done in a dedicated Shinto Muso Ryu dojo. We dont teach seitei.
In our dojo the beginner starts off with 1 hour sessions for the duration of their first semester as opposed to 2 hour sessions for the advanced jodoka. Normally the secondary instructor starts off teaching the basics on the sideline while the Sensei conducts the main training. In the first ever session the beginner learns how to use their feet in the first kihon honte uchi; shifting your left/right foot forward, keeping the feet at the correct angle and so forth. (Its actually surprisingly difficult to get your feet properly aligned in those first few weeks of practice, especially if the beginner has no experience in other budo.) After that they start doing the same thing except with the Jo in hand and so begins the never-ending process of finding the correct strike angle, (eye-nose), and finding the target.
After maybe 3-4 weeks they have a few more kihon under their belt they also start with kihon sotai dosa and the ever present uchikome: honte, gyakute and hikiotoshi drills with a partner. Preferrably the beginner starts doing paired kihon with another beginner, but thats of course not always possible and are supplanted with a sempai. At around this time they also join the obligatory kihon walkthrough/warmup which all (others) do at the beginning of each training session and so becomes part of the group as opposed to "being on the side"-training they did with the second instructor during their first weeks.
The first kata is taught, in this case tsuke-zue, after they become comfortable in honte uchi and have more hours of drill under their belt. A beginners training session at this point is about 50 minutes of kihon, uchikome and other basic principles and 10 minutes of kata. The ratio shifts once they are taught more kata.
The beginners are eventually taught more kihon and two more kata: suigetsu and shamen. This is not traditional Shinto Muso Ryu order of kata but rather a more beginner-friendly version. They might be taught tachi otoshi after shamen during the first semester if they are active enough.
At around suigetsu or shamen the beginners begin performing kata with the Sempai of the main group as uchidachi.
With the exception of higher level drills, such as preparatory drills for later Omote and chudan kata techniques and the 1 hour session as opposed to 2, the beginner is now fully involved with the main group. At the beginning of the second semester the trainee is now allowed to train full 2 hours.
So thats roughly a beginners first semester in Jodo at our dojo :)
What does your dojo do?
*edit*
Note the timing is different from semester to semester in due to the number of beginners, how many hours they put in and the availability of teachers.
Note: This below is how its done in a dedicated Shinto Muso Ryu dojo. We dont teach seitei.
In our dojo the beginner starts off with 1 hour sessions for the duration of their first semester as opposed to 2 hour sessions for the advanced jodoka. Normally the secondary instructor starts off teaching the basics on the sideline while the Sensei conducts the main training. In the first ever session the beginner learns how to use their feet in the first kihon honte uchi; shifting your left/right foot forward, keeping the feet at the correct angle and so forth. (Its actually surprisingly difficult to get your feet properly aligned in those first few weeks of practice, especially if the beginner has no experience in other budo.) After that they start doing the same thing except with the Jo in hand and so begins the never-ending process of finding the correct strike angle, (eye-nose), and finding the target.
After maybe 3-4 weeks they have a few more kihon under their belt they also start with kihon sotai dosa and the ever present uchikome: honte, gyakute and hikiotoshi drills with a partner. Preferrably the beginner starts doing paired kihon with another beginner, but thats of course not always possible and are supplanted with a sempai. At around this time they also join the obligatory kihon walkthrough/warmup which all (others) do at the beginning of each training session and so becomes part of the group as opposed to "being on the side"-training they did with the second instructor during their first weeks.
The first kata is taught, in this case tsuke-zue, after they become comfortable in honte uchi and have more hours of drill under their belt. A beginners training session at this point is about 50 minutes of kihon, uchikome and other basic principles and 10 minutes of kata. The ratio shifts once they are taught more kata.
The beginners are eventually taught more kihon and two more kata: suigetsu and shamen. This is not traditional Shinto Muso Ryu order of kata but rather a more beginner-friendly version. They might be taught tachi otoshi after shamen during the first semester if they are active enough.
At around suigetsu or shamen the beginners begin performing kata with the Sempai of the main group as uchidachi.
With the exception of higher level drills, such as preparatory drills for later Omote and chudan kata techniques and the 1 hour session as opposed to 2, the beginner is now fully involved with the main group. At the beginning of the second semester the trainee is now allowed to train full 2 hours.
So thats roughly a beginners first semester in Jodo at our dojo :)
What does your dojo do?
*edit*
Note the timing is different from semester to semester in due to the number of beginners, how many hours they put in and the availability of teachers.