While cleaning my papers I found a notebook relating my japan trip of April 2007.
A lot of time has passed and my students of 2007 are all 15th dan now and live their own lives.

During the year 2006 we had been studying the Shinden fudô ryû, and even though we were now studying the concepts and techniques of the kukishin ryû the concept of Ikken Hassô 一剣八双 (one weapon, all weapons/directions) was totally in harmony with the feeling sensei was teaching.

Ikken Hassô can have different interpretations but what sensei said that night of Friday 13th, April 2007 is interesting.

Here are my notes from what he said during that class:

• You have to train all the weapons but not only in the use they were designed for. This is the essence of Ikken Hassô 一剣八双.
• Train slowly even if Uke is fast, use small (light) controls.
• When uke is down…