2008 Milwaukee Taikai - Gyokko Ryu Tanemura-ha

In July of 2008 members of the Genbukan Bansenshukai Dojo were honored to attend the Milwaukee Taikai on Gyokko Ryu Tanemura-ha.

This Taikai was sponsored by Kyoshi Michael Coleman of the Futen Dojo. Soke Tanemura taught this amazing event bringing with him Shihan Nicola D’Onofrio from Honbu Dojo.

Students from our Dojo included Joy, Jose, Dave, Danny and myself. Our trip began with Joy and I flying out a couple of days in advance to attend the Instructor Training. We found Milwaukee to be a nice little town. We were able to travel a good bit by bus.

Our rooming was at the local college dorm room. It was quite the experience being in the rooms in the middle of July with no AC, but you couldn’t beat the value. The Instructor Training itself was no less than amazing. Soke demonstrated all of Shoden Gata with many Kuden.

At the end of the Instructor section a large number of Black Belts tested for Shoden Menkyo. It was an exciting feeling to be a part of everything.

We also had the opportunity to visit the Oriental Theatre, which is a very old movie theater that is definitely from a different era. This is where we first saw the new movie put together by Kyoshi Coleman “Gift of the Traditional Martial Arts“. It in itself was a very inspiring movie, and extremely well put together.

As seems to be the norm, whenever we travel, our athletic mat company All Star Mats become very busy, and I am torn between work and other things. This is when we began coming up with the plan to just never stop travelling!

The next 2 days were part of the Public Taikai. Joy and I met up with the others as they arrived from back home. We weren’t out for a late night, but we walked by the Taikai location to give them a heads up.

The second part of the Taikai was also great training. Kyoshi Gary Giamboi gave everyone an awesome workout in Core Training, Stretching, and the like. Students trained hard preparing for the Kirigami testing and any Black Belt testing that would take place.

At the end Joy, Dave, and Jose all passed Gyokko Ryu Tanemura-ha Kirigami. I was well pleased with all of them! My fiance, Joy gave me quite the workout also, as I stepped in to be her Uke for the test. You could imagine how happy I was for her when she received a 98%! Believe me, I felt every part of that..

After the Taikai training had officially ended, we were entertained at the evening Banquet. There was dancing, music, and great friends.

We of course ended our last night being out on the town. Perhaps we should have thought that through a little better with our flight being 6am the next morning, but you live and learn.

What a great experience, great host, and a wonderful teacher!

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