Kihon Kata I

Steve & Jon performing Kihon Kata I

June 2017

Life is Too Short

The Land of the Living

Life is too short to aspire to mediocrity. It's better to shoot for the stars and only reach the moon. Nowhere is this more true than in the martial arts. To animate your martial arts with the spirit of greatness, choose the most profound role models you can find and follow them with an obsessive devotion. That's your best chance to receive the direct transmission of the deep spirit of your martial art. If and when you receive the direct transmission, keep in mind that it includes everything - the sounds in the room during your training sessions, the rare smile of your Sensei, the warm air coming in through the windows, the pain of learning, the salty tears of exhaustion, the crushing pathos of washing your teacher's gravestone and the incredible energy of great martial arts techniques executed with clarity, energy and joy. The complexity and emotion of your martial arts should be very profound indeed.

To read more, click here.

Karate in the Spotlight

Karate at JMAC

Black Belt Testing

This Saturday, June 10, we will be having numerous high level and black belt tests and demonstrations to celebrate our 11th anniversary! The fun starts at 4pm.  Everyone is welcome to come watch.

Top of the Park

Join us at Ann Arbor Top of the Park, Power Center lawn, today at 5pm for a FREE karate class.  This is a great opportunity to try karate out and to interact with our instructors.

Martial Arts Training in the Land of the Living

Missing from Our Lives

The extraordinary musician, the exemplary painter, the best writer, the gifted singer, and the exceptional martial artist share a unique sort of magic. There's a depth to their performances that only a keen eye can see, only a sharp ear can hear. Their notes are not just notes, their brush strokes are not just brush strokes, their words are not just words, their voices are not just voices, and their kata are not just kata. Instead, they're a deep expression of a collection of meaningful experiences, distilled through countless hours of practices and years of reflection.

If you watch, read or listen carefully enough, you can sense the depth of their technique. If you're lucky enough to have seen their teachers or role models, you'll also be able to see echoes of their predecessors in their art. That's an extraordinary expression of love ... granting immortality to an artist by ensuring that his or her art is preserved in your body, mind and spirit. The level of your tribute corresponds to how well you internalize the nuance of his technique and how well you understand and give life to the principles he held dear.

Today's martial arts world is dominated by light weight players. By that I don't mean people who are small in physical stature. Instead, I mean people who are small in character, technique, and aspirations. Consider carefully the school you plan to attend. Is the approach all about rank? Does the curriculum change frequently ... is it more focused on variation than on depth? Are the lead instructors out of shape, mean spirited, or simply poor technicians?

To read more, click here.

Our kids karate class, practicing their kata during a test.

The Magic of Persistence at JMAC

In my opinion (be it ever so humble), every serious martial artist should have a little training with these three men on their resume´ ... if you want to be a jedi, you have to know what it feels like to be in the room with a jedi, and if you want to be a martial arts master in the true sense of the word, you have to train in the room with a real Japanese master to try to soak up the essence of what that means.

I've already started training to make sure I'm in the right condition in both body and mind to absorb all I can from Yahagi-Sensei's teachings. For me, that's just part of striving for the extraordinary every day ... envisioning greatness, planning, preparation, training, evaluating, and improving.

Remember, the kind of day you're having may depend on the world, but how you deal with it totally depends on you. If you have an exceptional mindset, you'll lead an exceptional life. I'd love to hear what this means to you!

Read more here.

Self defense skills are so important for personal safety.  We've got the classes to help you develop those skills.

The Magic of Persistence at JMAC

Three Masters

I've been very, very lucky to have trained with or met some extraordinary martial artists. I've been in the room with Shioda Gozo of Yoshinkan Aikido, Yasuhiro Yamashita of Olympic judo fame, Kawabata Terutaka of Jigen-Ryu, Otsuka Hironori, son of the founder of Wado-Ryu Karate, and my own iaido teacher, Yamaguchi Katsuo, Meijin 10th Dan, just to name a few. Holy crap, it feels crazy to write those names when you think of tens of thousands of martial artists whose lives they've affected for the better.

So when I say that there are only three living Japanese masters I care to train with anymore, I hope the context for that statement is clear. I've searched the world over for new mentors and, among those living, training and teaching in Japan, only three make the cut for me.

Nobetsu Tadanori - Goju-Ryu Karate

One is Nobetsu Tadanori, an exemplar of a life lived in Goju-Ryu Karate. He's extraordinarily talented, kind, and humble, and has thousands of students in Japan and around the world keeping his legacy alive. Another is Satoh Tadayuki, one of the world's leading Shodokan aikido experts. He was taught by Tomiki Kenji Sensei and is currently Shihan of aikido at Waseda University Aikido club.

Satoh Tadayuki

Yahagi Kunikazu

The third is perhaps lesser known except among the cognoscenti of koryu ... Yahagi Kunikazu, soke of Ryushin Shouchi Ryu. His art is an evolution of Kawabata-Sensei's Jigen-Ryu ... dynamic, powerful methods for employing the Japanese sword ... an art that includes not just great cutting techniques but also breathing methods, presence, and that wonderful ineffable power and humility that only legitimate heritage martial arts from Japan seem to create.

Read more here.

Our yoga seminar with Ita Reyes is Saturday, May 6.  Time is running out to register.  This is going to do amazing things for your body as a martial artist and athlete.  Breathing, alignment, strength, endurance, and reaching deeper levels with ligaments and connective tissue will all be key topics.

You can find more information here, as well as a registration page.

The Magic of Persistence at JMAC

Get in the Room with People Like That

Yoshihara Sensei - Ryushin Shouchi Ryu 

As you may know, I seek out great teachers, inspirers, high performers, charismatic people and motivators. Besides studying with some of the greatest martial artists of the 20th Century, I've read and listened to people like Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard, Deepak Chopra, Warren Buffett, and many, many more. These people have an incredible amount to offer, but there's something about the martial artists who have devoted their entire lives to learning, perfecting, and passing on profound secrets of the Japanese arts that resonates with me and many people I hang around with.

I think one reason the true masters of the martial arts convey a unique power is their integrity. To stay with a path that is composed of hard work, pain, humility and very little financial gain takes a special character. Even if that character isn't present at the start, it often emerges over the decades required to understand and internalize the principles of legitimate heritage martial arts. You have to be in it for its own sake. If you get a little money or fame doing it that's nice, but at its core the thing you love is the thing itself, and that shines through when it's true.

Read more here.

Just in case you missed our open house, here's a recap.

The Magic of Persistence at JMAC

Training's Not So Different

Half of success is showing up. Half is working hard. And the third half is finding a way to track your progress to make sure you're moving toward your goals in meaningful ways. I put it that way for a reason...

If you just stick with your martial art long enough, you'll outstrip everybody who quits, everybody who dabbles, many of those who also stick with it, and a few of those who show up AND who work hard. But the truth is, very, very few people who train in martial arts - even those who do stay with it for two or three decades or more - truly set goals and take meaningful steps to track their progress. Those few who do (and who use the information to keep improving both their skills and their training methods) become the exceptional martial artists: the role models, the tournament champions, the teachers ... the bright lights that show us what's possible if we would only bring all of ourselves to what we do.

Read more here.

The Magic of Persistance at JMAC

Sometimes just sticking with a thing is enough to separate yourself from the crowd.

If you've been in the traditional martial arts for any length of time, you've heard your teacher mention how many of the best aspects of training come only after years or decade of persistence.

Sometimes it's about sticking with what you're doing even for a few years, and then taking time to reflect on how far you've come.

I opened JMAC in 2006 because I couldn't find a dojo in the Midwest that offered world class judo and jujutsu. Two years later we were one of the notable dojos in Ann Arbor. We weren't intentionally competing with other martial arts schools, but by the end of 2009, two nearby schools had gone out of business, several had moved, and the array of clubs and informal martial arts groups had changed considerably. All we did was keep offering exceptional training and welcoming new students into our classes. Now, ten years later, we're an established program in our region with an extraordinary facility. We host 2-3 of the best system leaders from Japan each year and continue to grow and deepen our knowledge. The scene in our town has changed drastically and, in one sense, all we did was stick with what we love to do.

Read more here.

Last chance to sign up for our Yahagi Sensei Seminar

Courtesy of Institute of Budo Studies. Register to train with Yahagi Sensei at JMAC.  This is your last chance to sign up.  Our seminar starts in just 2 days.  Click here now and sign up.  You don't want to miss it!

Inspired Series - Is It Time to Revisit Your Roots?

Inspired Series

Is it Time to Revisit Your Roots?

If you're struggling to get in for training or just feeling sluggish from too many cupcakes, maybe it's time to go back to the movies or books that helped you get started. If there's something that motivates you, I'd love to share it with the other readers. You never know, your inspiration may help take someone else to the next level.

Meanwhile, I can't wait to settle in and tee up Kurosawa's Sanshiro Sugata.

Until then, I'll see you on the mat!

Read more here.

Yahagi Sensei at Ota Citizens Hall

Yahagi Sensei at Ota Citizens Hall April 19th, 2009. Filmed by Russ Ebert. Register to train with Yahagi Sensei at JMAC on March 31-April 2 here. 

Inspired Series - What Got You Started?

Inspired Series

What Got You Started?

Do you remember what got you excited about martial arts in the first place?

I remember, many, many years ago in college (1980, to be exact), going to a Chuck Norris movie called The Octagon. I was already involved in karate and judo, but Chuck's ass kicking in that movie really got me fired up about training, and I can still play back some scenes in my head. Watching The Octagon had me training not just in the dojo, but in my apartment and in the park, for several months.

But even before The Octagon, I had seen movies like Seven Samurai, Yojimbo and Hidden Fortress, and I dreamed of going to Japan to learn the ways of Bushido. As you may know, I did eventually go. The reality was very different from the movies, but there's enough budo culture remaining to keep the dream alive. I trained like a madman for the four years I was there!

And, like most martial artists of my generation, I watched every Bruce Lee movie two or three times, and did whatever I could to learn his moves. Bruce was such a charismatic figure that virtually everybody I trained with wanted to be more like him.

Were there movies or demonstrations that inspired you to start training? Are there still people, books, or tournaments that get you running to the dojo for more practice? I'd love to hear what motivates you!

Read more here.

Yahagi Sensei Interview with New York Budokai

New York Budokai presents an interview w/ Kunikazu Yahagi. Don't miss him at JMAC!!!  Training will be March 31 - April 2.  Sign up here!