Scott Halls' Heijoshin Dojo, Walsall, England

[swordguy619]

A dojo opening anywhere is a happy occasion. It means a place for more people to grow, to learn, to get stronger. There is much more to a dojo than the interior space and amenities, which are near the bottom of the list. A marvelous space to train without proper guidance is useless. A dojo reflects the character of the people who open it, run it, and teach in it, and will attract and provide for the growth of a good character of students who attend.
It is quite an ambitious enterprise to open a dojo. It takes years of experience training, teaching, and a good business head to make it work. What you get in the end is a place that students can come to in good faith and trust that they will receive quality training and a deep knowledge of the art by qualified practitioners. I'm not sure this is the case in the imminent opening of Heijoshin Dojo by Scott Halls in Walsall, West Midlands, England. As a yondan, he is basically still a beginning student himself, despite years of involvement in martial arts. The amount of time, how many days and hours you spend learning from Soke directly, is important. To live in England and invite Soke from Japan for a few weeks out of the year is nonsense. There are big differences in the type and intensity of training a practitioner may have the opportunity to take, and the levels of knowledge he will be exposed to. An uchideshi student will have much deeper knowledge and understanding of the art and beyond, will be a much more complete martial artist, exposed to the art in a much purer form than will someone who has attended classes weekly for some time. At the bottom of the ladder is the student who has attended some seminars and taken some classes and practiced for years on his own. His knowledge is the most superficial. If he is sharp, he may have picked up some good techniques. However, his understanding of the techniques, and his mental and character development will be very weak. This also reflects on his connection to the line of the ryuha. The closer the connection to the highest available ranking sensei, the closer the connection to the line, and vice versa.
What can a beginning student at a dojo operated by a yondan or godan with years of experience, but none of it close to the line hope to learn? At best, he can hope to have an introduction to the art, some basic techniques, and perhaps eventually to get into better shape. At worst, there is always the risk of injury due to improper training and supervision, and a limited amount of knowledge to be gained. Forget about mental training or character development in either case. More likely than not, a beginning student in this environment will not be exposed to real training, but will basically be supporting Halls' dream training space for himself.
Intermediate and advanced students will largely be left to their own devices, as there is little in the way of real guidance and training the big-headed, egotistical, and arrogant Scott Halls has to offer them, even with his 4th degree. And students from other ryuha looking to expand their training and branch out may come and find they have a deeper level of training and understanding that what can be offered.
If the plan is to bring in other teachers from other schools on occasion, or even on a weekly basis, students will have better training from time to time, but will end up with the same kind of sporadic growth that Halls has had. This tends to produce martial artists who may be good at a couple of things, may or may not have some good technique, but are lacking in the areas of politeness, discipline, focus, and character.
On the welcome page for the Heijoshin dojo website, www.heijoshin.co.uk he also says that students have the "opportunity to practice the kenjutsu as given to us by Musashi Sensei." Halls is totally misleading his students. This statement is absurd, and full of wrong thinking. First of all, to call Miyamoto Musashi, a historical figure and one of the iconic swordsmen in the history of the weapon "sensei," "teacher," is to demote him and downgrade his stature, disrespecting his line, and bringing him down to the level of Halls himself, or any other sensei. Only a person either oblivious to or who just doesn't care about the line could think that way. This shows a lack of training on the part of the student, or that the student's teacher didn't deem him worthy of imparting a deeper understanding and appreciation that would encompass the historical lineage of the art and the character to respect and cherish it. Then, there is the part about Musashi having given kenjutsu to the students of Halls' dojo. This statement is as absurd as it gets. To suggest, even in a light-minded way, that Musashi gave his art to some dojo in England, centuries into the future, is truly delusional. At best, it is a childlike fantasy, inspired by watching too much manga; at worst, it is a highly misleading tagline designed to give prospective students the idea that there is a deep connection to Musashi's line, and that they will be training in a place where they will be able to learn and experience that line up close, and grow close to it themselves.
A dojo should be a sanctuary of seriousness, respect, and hard work. I have never heard of such light-minded banter as follows being tolerated within, or respect to a dojo. If I were a prospective student interested in finding a place to study and develop as a martial artist, there have been posted in this forum a number of things that are great cause for alarm with respect to Halls. In response to the question of how the dojo construction project is being funded, which itself is rather a private matter, Halls's response goes, "Mostly drugs, some gun smuggling. Give me a call if you want to talk about it. I have a crate of AKs going cheap." (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/sho...330#post433330) Whether or not one finds this humorous, the fact remains that he makes light of terroristic activities in association with the dojo. This is to say that the origins of this new dojo are no different from some hack Yakuza outfit, which anyone close to Musashi's actual line would find horrific and perceive as an insult to his legacy and traditions, whether said in jest or not. He also jokes that he is "...building a Fight Club style army." On the surface, that may be funny, but this shows a truly debased mind with no deep understanding of what has come before, and no heart, nor appreciation for the art. Basically, Halls sees nothing wrong with calling his students a bunch of thugs who fight for entertainment, and pay the bills at the dojo with the activities of organized crime. I would be deeply insulted by these remarks if I were a student there. It's foolish to consider training in a place whose owner thinks like this.
But whether or not you find Halls' sense of humor offensive or not, I would ask if anyone has heard, overheard, or read anything from one of their teachers or dojo owners like this:

"I'm going to go rob a bank tomorrow.

I plan on dressing up in a clown wig and make up and only wearing a thong and nipple tassels.

I'll carry a goat and a can of fluorescent paint in one arm and, while in the bank, I'm going to have sex with the goat and throw the paint over the walls, all the time ripping up pages of a phonebook and swearing my head off. After getting the money, I'll take a crap on the floor and urinate everywhere. I then will escape in a van shaped like a giant pink c*ck.

Let's see Crimewatch f*cking stage a reconstruction of that." (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/sho...791#post440791)

[Alicia]

This is going to be interesting - I can't decide if this is possibly one of Scott's best friends doing a wind-up, or if it is genuine.

[swordguy619]

Personally, I don't find humor in this. However, if Scott Halls were my sensei, and I found out that he has this kind of sense of humor, finds this sort of thing funny enough to post in a forum of sword students and teachers all over the world, it would shatter any confidence and faith in him I had to entrust my training to this guy. Whether or not any of my teachers would ever find this funny, I have never known. They show enough discretion to keep it to themselves. As a role model for students to look up to, that sort of discretion and professionalism deserving of the respect he commands from his position is what one would expect of a person in Halls' position. This comment on its own would be enough to send most anyone out the door for the last time. Or, if I were an instructor at that dojo, and knowing that the owner I work for thinks this way, I would probably be so repulsed I would feel like it were time to find a new position elsewhere. These sorts of comments indicate a mindset that is not compatible with fostering a healthy environment for growth and development. Or it may be that collecting light minded people as students might be the only way for such a low-minded person to become a teacher.

And to you, Mr. Halls, Many things you post here are just downright evil, Starting with that avatar, and the REDRUM, for "murder," that is right above it. Why else would you have chosen that? What kind of person wants to present that image of himself to a forum, much less a dojo? Again, there is no humor in that. You create a false impression of yourself, one that is threatening and evil. The real you is nothing like that. The real you is a nerd, a guy who spends more time posting on forums than practicing the sword. Your post count is truly impressive. If only your technique could match it. The reality is, if you spent half the time training that you spend on these forums, you would be much further along. At this point, though, you aren't doing your style justice. If you had real character, you would spend more time polishing yourself than you do commenting on other people's business here. This makes you a loser.
For example, this one:
"They live amongst us..."
"Ralph is a ninjer, and a comedy ninjer at that - complete with clown tabi." (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/sho...873#post442873) There is a link to a youtube video attached, which I did not include. It is evident that not only do you waste a lot of time here and on other forums, but you also have time to find videos like that one, watch them, then post them here so that others will waste time as well. Really, who cares if there is some guy waving a sword around in his own back yard? If that is important, or even entertaining to you, there is something dreadfully wrong with your priorities. What could possibly compel you to spend such an unbalanced amount of time finding such drivel and posting it all over the sword forums rather than doing something useful, such as training, studying, learning, working, improving yourself, or helping people you care about? Unless you don't sleep, I don't see how you could fit those things in, after a full day of work. Even if you don't sleep, this post is totally useless, and just shows someone who needs to get a life. It belongs on some forum for people looking for such bad humor, not a forum that people come to looking for information and advice regarding the serious pursuit of all the martial arts represented herein.
It's understandable that much of where your posts come from is your insecurity. On some level, you must know how little character you possess as a martial artist. You even make fun of that, but to someone else: "Did daddy not cuddle you enough as a child? Did your first crush laugh at your peepee?" That's just plain creepy, coming from you. But an insecure person, such as yourself, with an ego that works overtime, has the pathological need to make himself feel bigger at the expense of others. There are so many posts of yours that threaten or mislead novice students, it's hard to know where to begin. Does this sound familiar? "Many, many people have come here claiming something absurd or downright comical. The majority have left with their arses handed to them on plates." Taking advantage of these novices from the position of your higher rank, berating them for the sole purpose of asserting superiority like this despicable behavior not deserving of such rank. Rather than working hard to develop your own confidence, you take the easy path, denigrating others to raise yourself in your own eyes. This is evil.
It is evident from so many of your posts that your ego is a problem. It controls you, blinds you, demands to be fed, and then you foist those delusions on others. How can you possibly absorb anything your teachers show you with that big an ego in the way? For that matter, how can you see anything beyond it? It is a real obstacle to your own training, and a source of negativity and a bad example to others here. An egotistical person also mistakes the common courtesy and humility some teachers show you for your own greatness, which actually has nothing to do with why they show you that humility. And should you not be shown that humility, you chalk it up to them having a bad attitude. Your self-centeredness prevents you from seeing your self in relation to how others, particularly your teachers and sempai really are.
While you may think you are upholding some standards and respect for what you consider tradition and art, what you really are to the martial arts community is a cancer. Many lower level students come to this forum, see that a yondan thinks the way you do, talks the way you do, and about what you talk about, and thinks that what he sees here is how things are in the martial arts world. When a novice who had been practicing for a year asked a question about his training partner, a 6-dan, ending the on a couple of occasions ending the ji-geiko after only a couple of minutes or less. The poor guy has no idea what happened, and now avoids training with these two guys, feeling like he is not worth their time. Your answer to his question, "am I reading this all wrong?" is remarkable:
"Grow thicker skin. This is budo, not a knitting circle. You may not like their dismissive attitude, but you don't have to take it to heart. Just give more to the next guy...!" (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/sho...l=1#post427117) Maybe in your world, 6-dans are just grumpy people who take out their bitterness on newbies. From your answer, that's what one could expect from you. So, it never occurred to you, that this might be a rather old-school way of telling the OP that there is something he is doing wrong, or needs to work on. By showing that you don't even consider this, you show just how little actual training you have had. Sure, you might know some techniques. But it's clear now just how little you know beyond that. Not only that, but now you've misled a student who asked for advice, hoping to learn something. He has come away worse than empty handed, he came away with totally the totally wrong idea that it is nothing to do with him. If he spent a little while thinking about it, he could probably find out what it was, and grow by leaps and bounds, but not now, thanks to you. But you probably don't care, which is the main reason you have no business opening a dojo. Why open a dojo, if you don't care about the students who come to train there? This casts a rather nefarious pall on the whole operation.

[swordguy619]

Take this one: "I'm sure Jesus would've been an awesome ass-kicker. Where's our favourite religious drooler Han when you need him?" (http://www.kendo-world.com/forum/sho...873#post442873) Without knowing who this Han is, or how religious he may be in whatever his chosen faith is, I can already tell he has a lower rank than you, so you feel safe in ridiculing him. This is your well-established pattern. But what that huge ego of yours blinds you of is that when you post statements like that, you are just showing that you are no better than, no different from the very people you make fun of. You are just as intolerant, just as ignorant, just as low-minded. Not only that, but think about how your posts here reflect on the line you affiliate with. Do your teachers think, speak, or act that way? If they do, then it is you who is being fleeced. If they don't, why don't you learn from their example? My guess is that they don't, but it is you who cannot or will not see their actions and behavior as an example to learn from. That would mean time away from your posting, time that you would have to spend examining your own character, finding its many weaknesses and faults, bringing them to the light, and then working hard to fix them. This is much harder than belittling people beneath your own rank. What you don't realize is that whatever you get out of that is totally false, totally evil, and absolutely pathetic. It's abusive to others, and sullies the very art you claim to have inherited from its origin. Rather than use your position to improve things around you, you are dragging everything down, and bringing so many others down with you. You must stop doing that. You yourself will never be able to get out of this art all that it has to offer if you continue this way. Take a good hard look at yourself, if you can.
Mr. Halls, have you received the rank of Soke?* If not, you should behave your self accordingly, and spend all of your time reflecting on your mistakes instead of bad-mouthing other Masters and writing so many big-headed comments.* Be humble. I know that's very hard to do for such an egotistical and arrogant person like Scott Halls. But stop criticizing others with your tiny knowledge, and instead, try to train yourself to be humble. After that, you might able to become a real sword practitioner.

[Lloromannic]

Really, who cares if there is some guy waving a sword around in his own back yard? If that is important, or even entertaining to you, there is something dreadfully wrong with your priorities. What could possibly compel you to spend such an unbalanced amount of time finding such drivel and posting it all over the sword forums rather than doing something useful, such as training, studying, learning, working, improving yourself, or helping people you care about?

Hand grenades in a glasshouse.

[David G]

Err . . .WTF?!

Is this for real?

While not a full-time student of Scott's (I am a member of another local dojo) I have trained with him several times in the past at his old dojo and at seminars. I found him and his students to be welcoming and helpful; and his instruction clear. (I could say a lot more positive things but I don't want him to think I look up to him too much :-) )
Whoever this is posting on here must only know the Scott Halls who posts on here. He has a sense of humour that is NOT evident while at the dojo under instruction, but is very evident on here or "off the mat".
I cannot imagine that you have met him and certainly haven't been lucky enough to have received instruction from him. I presume you are someone he has said something about on this forum.

Good luck with the rest of your tirade on here.

More importantly: good luck with your new dojo Scott; and to all at Heijoshin!

David

p.s. I'm actually really p*ssed off by this thread and its author.

[Wraith]

Mr Swordguy619, how about sharing with us some information about you?

Who are you?
What is your martial arts experience?
What is your JSA experience?
Who is your sensei?
Where do you train?
What medication are you taking?

Thanks

[ben]

Swordguy I think you need to get out from in front of your monitor and go for a walk in the fresh air. b

[ScottUK]

I rate this thread 5 stars.

[ScottUK]

This is going to be interesting - I can't decide if this is possibly one of Scott's best friends doing a wind-up, or if it is genuine.

Sadly, Alicia, it is all real. I am aware of who the OP is, even though this person posts behind anonymity. Quite a few of the old time BKA bods will know of him too. It is sad that this lashing out has occurred - perhaps I will post this person's name on here, and tell you all what happened to him a few months back. I suspect this entire thread is from dealings last week (I was asked to back up his credentials and I refused as he is a budo bullshitter) - more on this later...

It is quite an ambitious enterprise to open a dojo. It takes years of experience training, teaching, and a good business head to make it work.

...if you treat it as a business and a money making thing, they yes I guess it does. If you treat it like a place to train, to teach and to be taught, then all it needs is someone with a little skill and experience and someone else who wishes to learn.

Our dojo has been running since 2005. The new building is the only thing that has changed. How on earth did we afford it? Well, a heady mix of regular students who pay a small fee to train in two different arts on two seperate nights, and a chap who has been very reasonable (he is a charity worker) and has given us a good space for a low rent. Instead of punting all our money at room rental, we now punt it at a lease. Wow, what an enterprise. If anyone needs a job washing my fleet of Jaguars, send your CVs to the usual place. And I will delete them without reading them. Cos I am sooooo far above you all.

...yondan blah blah blah.... training with soke blah blah blah

First of all, you're gonna need to split your vitriol into two. My yondan is in iai, and soke is the head of Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu.

On the welcome page for the Heijoshin dojo website, www.heijoshin.co.uk he also says that students have the "opportunity to practice the kenjutsu as given to us by Musashi Sensei." Halls is totally misleading his students. This statement is absurd, and full of wrong thinking. First of all, to call Miyamoto Musashi, a historical figure and one of the iconic swordsmen in the history of the weapon "sensei," "teacher," is to demote him and downgrade his stature, disrespecting his line, and bringing him down to the level of Halls himself, or any other sensei. Only a person either oblivious to or who just doesn't care about the line could think that way.

Congrats, my foolish friend, you've just insulted the soke of the ryuha too. Even Iwami-soke refers to Musashi-sensei. You're clutching at straws here.

To suggest, even in a light-minded way, that Musashi gave his art to some dojo in England, centuries into the future, is truly delusional.

I will quote Iwami-soke for you:

"Musashi gave us Hyoho Niten Ichi-ryu - and it is the for the world."

At best, it is a childlike fantasy, inspired by watching too much manga; at worst, it is a highly misleading tagline designed to give prospective students the idea that there is a deep connection to Musashi's line, and that they will be training in a place where they will be able to learn and experience that line up close, and grow close to it themselves.

As I hate manga, it is the latter.

The sad thing is you are actually right. As my students train with Iwami-soke, THE representative of HNIR and the head of the ryuha, then yes, they do indeed have a deep connection to Musashi's line. Well spotted, Clouseau.

A dojo should be a sanctuary of seriousness, respect, and hard work.

Indeed it is. But how would you know?

Personally, I don't find humor in this. However, if Scott Halls were my sensei, and I found out that he has this kind of sense of humor, finds this sort of thing funny enough to post in a forum of sword students and teachers all over the world, it would shatter any confidence and faith in him I had to entrust my training to this guy.

I find it hysterical. The cool thing is this - I wouldn't want to teach someone who didn't appreciate my character both in the dojo and out of it. I consider every one of my students my friends - and if I couldn't do that, I wouldn't have them in the dojo. I do this 'cos I love what I do and want to share it with others who want to learn. I will not waste my time on people I do not like. I ain't driven by The Bottom Line. My dojo is a home from home. Only friends are welcome there.

Or it may be that collecting light minded people as students might be the only way for such a low-minded person to become a teacher.

You might be on to something here. I am going to dump all my intelligent students (a doctor, a director of a major company, design engineers, an art historian, various students, two very senior budoka in other arts etc etc) and surround myself with unthinking minions. Always wanted an army of mindless followers. A Heijoshin Fight Club, if you like.

And to you, Mr. Halls, Many things you post here are just downright evil, Starting with that avatar, and the REDRUM, for "murder," that is right above it. Why else would you have chosen that? What kind of person wants to present that image of himself to a forum, much less a dojo? Again, there is no humor in that. You create a false impression of yourself, one that is threatening and evil. The real you is nothing like that. The real you is a nerd, a guy who spends more time posting on forums than practicing the sword. Your post count is truly impressive. If only your technique could match it. The reality is, if you spent half the time training that you spend on these forums, you would be much further along. At this point, though, you aren't doing your style justice. If you had real character, you would spend more time polishing yourself than you do commenting on other people's business here. This makes you a loser.

The only thing evil about me is my practical jokery. Now THAT is something that I am kodansha at.

I don't know why you are stressing over this. You're a KWF noob and have not been subject to my abuse (yet). However, if you want me to dedicate my free time to exposing you, your comedy budo and your history, I am happy to do that (subject to speaking to my solicitor as I have a lot to say about you, and lesser actions have started world wars).

[ScottUK]

It is evident that not only do you waste a lot of time here and on other forums

Indeed. I don't go out much on evenings, and don't work that hard in real life. I sit on my arse drawing things and perusing the internet. Then again, if I remember correctly, you hide behind a 'carer' facade that keeps you from working.

It's understandable that much of where your posts come from is your insecurity. On some level, you must know how little character you possess as a martial artist.

Actually, no. I'm pretty happy with where I am at the moment. On the ladder, slowly climbing, making lots of mistakes, but still seeing the next rung above me, pushing myself up, even though it looks out of reach.

Where are you on this ladder? Oh, hang on - you're on a different ladder to me. Can't make out where yours stopped some time ago.

It is evident from so many of your posts that your ego is a problem. It controls you, blinds you, demands to be fed, and then you foist those delusions on others. How can you possibly absorb anything your teachers show you with that big an ego in the way?

Actually, it is my hara in the way. Fret not, skinny chap - you can have the fish & chips that I have given up recently.

Maybe in your world, 6-dans are just grumpy people who take out their bitterness on newbies.

Actually, I can relate to most of (if not all) the rokudans in the BKA and consider them friends.

But you probably don't care, which is the main reason you have no business opening a dojo. Why open a dojo, if you don't care about the students who come to train there? This casts a rather nefarious pall on the whole operation.

I will forward this to my guys. They will enjoy it.

you should behave your self accordingly, and spend all of your time reflecting on your mistakes instead of bad-mouthing other Masters and writing so many big-headed comments.

If people are on the right path, I have nothing negative to say. Please point out to me where I bad-mouthed a 'master'. Good luck.

I will close with this:

I have practiced budo for 27 years now, am a current practitioner of several martial arts, and here is my current status on each.

Jodo - nidan under BKA/ZNKR umbrella. Won a gold or two in euro championships, but don't do as much as I would like to. I hope to get back into practice once a successful godan shinza has been achieved.

Iaido - yondan under ZNKR/BKA umbrella. Represented GBR for about 10 years, doing ok, much to get tidied up before my godan attempt next year, but happy about my current development. Have days that I would consider I am doing great, other days when i think I should stop and go back a few years. Budo life sucks sometimes! Sadly, 7am to 11am today was one of the good ones in the dojo, spoiled only by receiving a number of emails/texts about this thread.

Kenjutsu - monkasei under Iwami-soke and representative of HNIR in the UK. At the European Seminar two weeks ago in Paris, Iwami-soke was using me and a gentleman from Finland to demonstrate to the other senior guys how to do technique. Quite a nice feeling to have the soke of the ryu get you to do that. I have to say, that boosted the ego a bit. :-)

So, next move is you. You gonna hide or shall I post your YouTube vids of your niten kenjutsu comedy?

Oh, and if your problem with me really is my attitude outside of the dojo, I would like to say this:

Suck it.

You need to stop the straw-clutching and grow up. You're a late-40-something adult who acts like a whiny little bitch. If you really feel the urge to criticise me, have a go at my flying. Now that really sucks.

[nico storm]

Scott is more than capable of defending himself here, and as many of the people on here are friends, students and in some cases seniors in the arts he, and we as students at heijoshin dojo, study, there is no actual need for defense anyway. I'm looking forward to seeing if this person has the testicular fortitude to actually respond, unlike when they were invited to come train with us!

[pgsmith]

OK, I only skimmed through the novel that the thread starter wrote in honor of Mr. Halls as his writing style bores me. He can't seem to decide if he'd rather write as a terribly jealous ex-lover, a tantrum throwing elementary school child, or a wannabe self-proclaimed soke-grandmaster. Since he's writing under the disguise of anonimity, I can't know for sure which of those things he really is, and I got bored trying to decide pretty quickly.

For what it's worth my instructor, who is pretty well respected in US and Japanese koryu circles, actually showed up at a post-event party wearing a clown wig. It has been my experience that a good sense of humor is almost required for serious martial artists. Anyone who says otherwise is just attempting to compensate for a fragile ego.

Another point is that ranking within any given organization is not necessarily a reflection upon any individuals instructional abilities. Over the years, I've met a number of high ranking individuals who were lousy instructors and terrible leaders. I've also met a nunmber of lower ranking individuals who were terrific.

It all comes down to what you do and why you do it. So Mr. Anonymous Poster, what exactly are you trying to do , and why are you trying to do it? In the words of a wise (and unranked) man, judge not, lest ye be judged.

[Wraith]

judge not, lest ye be judged.

He hasn't answered my earlier question, so I think he doesn't want to be judged

That makes him a yellow belly coward in my book.

[ScottUK]

You need to meet him in real life. He doesn't live far from you... ask your boss to have a look at this and see if he recognises the writing style...