Kobudo training with Sanguinetti Sensei

Today I had the pleasure of training in Matayoshi Kobudo with Franco Sanguinetti Sensei whilst he was in the UK teaching seminars.  Sanguinetti Sensei was a student of Matayoshi Shinpo Sensei at the Kodokan dojo in Okinawa.  He is also a practitioner of Goju Ryu karatedo and iaido.

Sanguinetti Sensei made a point to personally introduce himself to each person in attendance, and took time to speak with them about their training history.  This seemingly minor detail spoke a great deal to people who were receptive enough to notice.

The bulk of the training was spent practicing the various hojo undo exercises for the kon, tuifa and sai with Sanguinetti Sensei taking great care to instill a sense of urgency and intent in their application.  Time was also spent practicing tuifa kata dai ichi, and a particularly enjoyable period practising nage waza (throwing techniques) with the sai. 

I am not particularly skilled at kobudo and have only limited experience, so it was a good chance for me to be able to go over the basic techniques for these weapons, and try to improve my understanding of them.

Sanguinetti Sensei spoke throughout the training about the relationship between karatedo and kobudo, and how they share many of the same principles.  Much time was also spent talking about subjects such as yoi, ma’ai, zanshin and sen, stressing their importance in relation to martial application.  In my opinion, if you take away these concepts from the martial arts, you often take away the martial element, and are left with a hollow shell of a fighting art.  It was refreshing to hear somebody talk about these concepts with such enthusiasm.

Something that particularly stuck in my mind, was how Sanguinetti Sensei took care to explain the Okinawan terminology for many of the strikes and target areas.  Like hojo undo, Ugchinaguchi (the native Okinawan language) is something which is in real danger of becoming a thing of the past.  This is as much a part of our martial heritage as kata or striking the makiwara, so it is important to try to preserve what we can.  Inspired by this, I will take steps to try to research Uchinaguchi and apply it to the terminology that is used in my dojo, so that at least there will be a basic awareness of this heritage.

In conclusion, it was a very enjoyable afternoon spent practising true budo with a humble and dedicated teacher.  I strongly recommend that if ever you are in southern California you stop by his dojo.

More information about Sanguinetti Sensei can be found on his website at http://www.bushikan.com/