Yume Dojo Homepage

Glendale, Arizona

Welcome to Yume Dojo and Shizenryu Jutsu. Thank you for stopping bye and visiting the web site. Please take some time and check out all the information on the web site. Things at Yume Dojo have been going on at a dizzying rate. First the Ohana spent a great week in Kauai, Hawaii and you can see some of the photos on the Photo Gallery page. The photo on the left is of Waialua Falls in Kauai. There are some great photo's including some of the endangered Monk seals in Hawaii. These photos are of the Seals at the beach not at a park. For those who have never been to Hawaii there is a whole section of Photos from the islands of Hawaii. Also while there we took advantage of the ocean to do some photos for the Martial Movements page.

The dojo has been very busy with visitors and guest students training along with our Dojo Family. A group of students accompanied the Ohana to the Martial Arts Collective Society's 'Gathering' where we got to meet some old friends, and train with some of the top Martial Art Instructors in the world. One in particular was Professor Liebert O'Sullivan who not only taught but took people off to the side and did one on one training. Yume Dojo was the beneficiary of this and Professor spent two days training us in Danzan Ryu. Professor O'Sullivan is one of the last top seniors of Professor Henry Okazaki. There is a spotlight on Professor in the new Sensei Spotlight Page.

Now on a sadder note, the Yume Dojo Blog has been replaced as well as the Archive. This has been a real popular feature with visitors, however has become too time consuming. Sometimes our classes are divided into two or three groups so everyone can get the attention they need. It has become too difficult to represent everything that has been shared in class on the blog. Also the time to update the blog is becoming less and less. There are several new changes and additions to the curriculum of Shizenryu that need the time and the energy instead of the blog. However.......two new features have been added. One will feature a Sensei Spotlight, where different Instructors from all different arts and styles will be showcased. We are very excited about this and feel this is a good way to share with everyone some of the top Instructors, and senior members of the Martial Art World. The second is a Art of the Month which highlight different arts and different styles. Anyone interested in highlighting their art can be reach us by e-mail and send the details to us and we may chose your art for the Art of the Month. We are real excited about these new additions and they should be up and running in the next week . Our firs t Sensei Spotlight  features Professor Libert O'Sullivan. The Art of the Month is Kuniba Ha Shitoryu. Both of these pages are up and available to view. Be sure and check out these new pages on the web site.

Look for even more updates in the coming weeks!!!!

Update.....Check out the Photo gallery with new photos of the Gathering 2008 and also new photos of Hawaii!!!

Update......The Martial Movements page has been updated and features a new Form/Kata with Interpretations and Applications of the Movements. We hope people will enjoy this as the from was shot on the beach on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. A great place to practice your forms!!!!!

New Page........As promised, there now is a page dedicated to Basics and Drills of Shizenryu. There have been many requests about our different Drills and now was the time to address this. The Basics and Drills page is now up and running. Photos of several more Drills have been added. Also we have remodeled a few pages and now have a page; About Yume Dojo, which combines the Shizenryu Page, the Sensei's page and the History of Yume Dojo page. Now the three pages are in one page called About Yume Dojo. See the new links at the top of the page.

One Smart Guy............Shihan Scotty Klaff has always been a great student, both in school, high school and in College. Shihan was always very smart and did exceptionally well in college. We were discussing Shizenryu and Shihan Scotty explained this in terms of Homogenous and Heterogeneous mixtures. A homogenous mixture is one where all the ingredients become one. An example of this is ice cream or a milk shake. Ingredients go in, milk, ice cream toppings and mix it up and you have a milk shake. You can not separate the milk from the ice cream once its mixed. A heterogeneous mixture keeps all the ingredients in tact and each ingredient can be pulled out. A great example of this is a salad, even when the salad is tossed, you can still pull the lettuce, tomatoes etc, out of the salad in its original form. Shizenryu is not a style of techniques, rather a system of Concepts and Principles. Shizenryu is a heterogeneous mixture, much like the salad. Shizenryu is a systematic approach to several arts, that focuses on Basics, Drills and Application of these Drills. One can pick out all the components (Arts like Kempo and Jujutsu and styles like Hawaiian Kempo and Goshin Budo Jujutsu) study them and put them back together. There are several different styles of Kempo and Jujutsu in the Shizenryu system. The Basics, Drills and Application of these Drills of each art can be seen and isolated or studied separately. Shihan Scotty's explanation of Shizenryu is really a very intelligent way of looking at various arts, and especially the system of Shizenryu.

A real Warrior!!!1  Sensei Stacey Klaff takes the stance of a Koa Warrior on the beach in Kauai. Sensei and Shihan Scotty did some kata/forms one early morning, working on their stances and footwork in the sand. The katas will be featured on on the Martial Movements page in a few days. There will be some breakdown of these movements and applications. Sensei Stacey brought her best Warrior mentality to these pictures. We hope you will find them interesting.

We would like to introduce 2 new members of the Yume Dojo Ohana (Family). Meet "Judo Gene" and "Rufus". Judo Gene is the one wearing the Red Gi. Rufus doesn't wear a Gi, but prefers a tee shirt. Both have become favorite practice partners for the students. "Ground and Pound" techniques are done on both of these new partners. However, "Judo Gene" has been taking alot of throws and also, has been the recipient of a bunch of chokes. "Judo Gene' is 100 pounds of dead weight and provides a good partner for taking him to the ground and working both takedowns and techniques on the ground. Both "Judo Gene" and "Rufus" have provided some new training dimensions at Yume Dojo and the students love their new dojo mates!!

The Yume Dojo blog has been a big success and also the Basics and Drills page have been real popular. Visitors have almost doubled since last year, and we want to especially thank our loyal visitors who come on a regular basis to what's new at Yume Dojo.

Announcements

• Just Updated.....September 2008. The Martial Movements page has been redone and features a full Kata/Form with Application and Interpretations Click on the Martial Movements Link at the top of the page.

• August 2008. There are new Kempo Technique, that have just been added. This month the focus will be on Shorinji Kempo techniques and a few American Kenpo techniques. These offer an insight into the Kempo curriculum at Yume Dojo. Click on the Kempo Technique link at the top of the page.

• August 2008. The Jujutsu Techniques Page is featuring Chin Na this time around and hope everyone will gain from these techniques. Click on the Jujutsu Technique link at the top of the page.

• June 2008. There are some new Articles on our Articles of Interest page. Be sure and stop by and took a look at some of these new Articles. Click on the Articles of Interest link at the top of the page.

• New Page......The new Basics and Drills page is now available. This page offers photos of many of the Drills done in Shizenryu and also different approaches to Basics. We are very happy to offer this page which has been almost 5 months in the making. Click on the Basics and Drills link at the top of the page.

• Want a new way to learn chokes? Take a look at the Shime waza sets on the Shime Waza or Choke page. You may find a new idea on hot to study your Chokes Click on the Shime Waza/Chokes link at the top of the page.

Back to our Roots

     As mentioned, Yume Dojo is returning to its roots. When telling someone this, their reply was "What are you going teach now?" I obviously didn't get my point across and realized that maybe there needs to be an explanation of what this means, 'returning to the roots'. Its not a question of what is being taught, rather how its being taught.. I felt now may be a good time to address this.

     In 'returning to the roots', its not a question of going back and teaching old material instead of new material. Rather the approach,  and the process of learning. Material is material, its how one teaches, spreads and applies this material that makes an art different, or special. Everyone thinks their particular arts are special, I do, but also understand its how to transmit this information that is important.. Physically speaking, there will be no difference in the material taught at Yume Dojo, rather the approach and the process of how its taught.. When we first start training, or teaching, training, being on the mat, is the top priority. Very little time is spent on politics, relationships, organizations etc, the focus (Kime) is training. Getting time on the mat to better ourselves, for whatever reason one chooses to do this. This is one aspect of 'returning to the roots', a focus on just training, understanding why we do something or how it works versus just copying something. Basically, to approach training as a beginner, wide eyed and open for all knowledge that can be received. Many times we learn something early on, and as we advance put this knowledge in the back of our minds or sometimes forget it. How many times during practice has there been the moment that you realize you haven't done a technique or movement in years. I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to re-visit what I have done in the past, and apply the knowledge and approach of what I have learned in the past several years to this. I feel I have come almost full circle in my training and am ready for the second time around. This time I can apply recent knowledge of Concepts, Principles and Advanced Theories to my basic knowledge. This time I will be better prepared for the second journey down the path of knowledge.

     There is another side of 'returning to the roots'. Along the road there are many stumbling blocks and distractions that keep us from obtaining our goals and veer us off the path of self-improvement.. This has more to do with respect, integrity and doing the right thing. Many times things come along that can take us on a different path, sometime the path leads back others times not.. It seems integrity has been overlooked, and motives, and agendas have become more important.. There are many factors that can cause this. One in particular is the need to be important.. In the early days the Masters were few and the students were more plentiful. Everyone sought out the Master to help them along their chosen path. Today everyone is a Master or wants to be. Essentially, there are more Chiefs and not enough Indians. The fact that more and more people are training, and as time keeps going by, there are more Instructors. However its sometimes the agenda of these instructors, or the agenda of the student that takes precedent.. Another reason for this is rank, everyone wants it, the more you get, the more you want. Many unscrupulous things are done to get the rank, including paying for rank, or compromising your training for it.. This happens many times as a school will need to keep the students, and will use rank as a means to keep the student.. Instead of teaching integrity, respect, and spirit, the Instructor gives out techniques and rank.

     There are people who now use the term Original in front of the their style. There are usually referring to the spirit of the art, not the techniques of the art.. A great example of this is Grandmaster Chuck Sullivan and Grand Master Dave Hebler, both from American Kenpo and students of Ed Parker. They typify the spirit of Ed parker and American Kenpo. Grandmaster Eugene Sedeno from Kajukembo and Shaolin Kenpo is another great example of the spirit of early Hawaiian Kempo. All these men represent the great things about the art, not the techniques, but the spirit of the art, the integrity and the respect that has been implanted in them. For, me it was my Okinawan Karate Sensie, Soke John Simmons. Soke had no agenda, he taught each student as an individual giving them the opportunity to self improve, and become better people and hopefully  better Martial Artists. Soke Simmons never wavered, he had to overcome the loss of students, the loss of 2 dojos by fire, and health issues, but never changed, never changed his approach and his faith in his students, even when they left. He never had a bad word to say to anyone. This is the true spirit of an art, a style and a teacher.

     So it is here also that Yume Dojo is 'returning to the roots', to focus on training students to be good Martial Artists, but better people. To devote time to training without ego, agenda, and attention to things like rank, title or becoming the next Bruce Lee. I would love to see this happen throughout the martial arts world, to regain the spirit of what we do, the integrity of what we do, for the right reasons and to pass this along to the next generation. This is what Yume Dojo has done by 're-dedicating itself to its roots'.

     The Jujutsu curriculum is a varied and very strong part of Yume Dojo. There are 5 styles of Jujutsu studied and all are practically applied, yet done in a manner that utilizes Natural Body movements to make the Jujutsu techniques extremely efficient. Goshin Budo Jujutsu makes up the base of the Jujutsu curriculum, however Torite Jutsu, Sanuces Ryu Jujutsu, Hawaiian Jujutsu and even Eagle Claw Chin Na is in the curriculum. Yume Dojo was made aware of the old Hookers and Shooters of the early days of wrestling and have added several 'Hooks' to the curriculum, both with the legs and arms. Ne Waza or Groundwork is a very important part of the Jujutsu curriculum. Sambo, a Russian version of Ground Work is also done at the Dojo. The Sensei's are currently working on adding some old Judo techniques to incorporate with the existing curriculum. This is an overview of Shizenryu Jutsu, techniques, Concepts and Principles will also be looked at on the web site.

     Some new changes will include 'going back to the roots' of training and focusing on training and not outside influences. Having said that, there are two types of student programs at Yume Dojo. Below supplies a description of these types of students and their curriculum.

Level  I and Level II Students

      Yume Dojo employs a two tier system in training their students. Level 1 students learn the entire curriculum, but are only interested in the art itself. Mainly a person interested in casual training and not delving into the deeper aspects of the art. There are ranks in both Level 1 and Level 2, and the student can reach Black Belt in either level. However, a Level 1 Black belt will not receive a Teaching License. The Level 1 students learn all basics, and learn how to use their basics, with proficiency being the top goal. Once having mastered the basics, learned all the techniques within the art and an understanding of how the art works, they will receive their Black Belts.

      Level 2 students will learn the inner workings of the art. This is known as the Inner Circle of Yume Dojo. These students will learn what drives the art, the concepts, theories, strategies, principles and tenants of the art. This student will be responsible for passing along the art, and sharing the transmission of information to other students. Those in Level 2 will also be the teachers of the future, though they need not own their own school, but must be able to verbally pass on the knowledge shared with them. Okuden, or the hidden, or non-verbal transmission of the art will also be taught to those at this level.

     Students will be invited into the Inner Circle of Yume Dojo only after they have shown their willingness to live the "Way of a Martial Artist". Students who want just casual training, or show no interest in the inner workings or the art, can still train and learn the arts of Shizenryu, however will not be expected to teach and pass along the arts. This way, expectations of the student is defined and the student is given what he wants from the training. Not all students are meant to be Sensei, nor do all want to, this 2 tier systems takes this into account. Level 2 is not for everyone, but that is the point.