Buyu Camp 2016

It is almost December. Just over two months ago I was at the Buyū Camp East in Wickatunk, NJ. A younger version of myself would still have the techniques and conversations floating through my head, but that is not how it is for me now. 2016 has been a whirlwind, in my paid vocation several large projects were completed, in my private life milestones were reached and difficulties survived. I traveled, competed, organized, studied, supported, laughed, cried, trained, lived and loved. Buyū Camp was indeed fantastic, many there said it was quote "The best one yet!". I agree, but even the best moments can be swamped by a hectic modern world. My teacher Jack Hoban said to me recently "When I was one years old, a year was my whole life. When I was two, a year was half my life. Now....". Well, you do your own math on that one and see for yourself how you fare.

Jack teaching Ura Shutō

Nevertheless, the feeling of Buyū Camp still remains, and what a wonderful feeling it was. Tucked away in the woods of New Jersey, dozens of martial artists from all over the continental USA are joined by visitors from Europe and sometimes further afield. Sharing training experiences and ideas, working together to cultivate an environment which is particularly hard to define in words.

Sabine Fröhlich of Germany

A feeling of welcome is present for certain. Jack talked about his early days training with his teacher Sōke Hatsumi Masaaki in Japan. At that time there was no Honbu dōjō, there was no internet, signage was almost exclusively in Japanese, there was limited translation, and a limited number of members training at the dōjō, most of whom had been training many years already. Jack reminisced how he must have been back then, from a different culture, a different background, and looking to learn from this tight group of hardcore students. It would have been quite easy to be excluded, certainly in my own experience budōka can be very resentful of their own training being slowed down by dealing with an "outsider". But that is not what happened to Jack. Efforts were made to on-board him into their training methodology. Jack made it quite clear that to this day he appreciates that hospitality and intended to do unto others as had been done unto him.

Ed Martin of Pennsylvania

Of course there were some technical themes during the camp. On Friday night a solid grounding in the Sanshin forms as well as the Kihon Happō. On Saturday morning the day began with kata and variations from the Gyokko Ryū Joryaku no Maki. In the breakout session the themes varied; Mutō Dori, Sanshin, Rokushakubō, Taihenjutsu, Shinken Gata, Newaza, Kihon Happō and Tantō. On Sunday afternoon Kenjutsu. A mighty showcase for a diverse set of teachers, tools and concepts. The feeling however was studious, everyone wanted to learn and take the opportunity to explore what others were thinking or doing, using this opportunity to refine or experiment with their own training. We trained hard as a group, but we had fun with it and made light of our mistakes and kept going.

Steffen Fröhlich of Germany

There was indeed a sense of continuity. It might be that many of those at camp only get a chance to meet this one time of the year, yet the friendships keep growing and the purpose of training slowly becomes clearer to all. This was probably my tenth Buyū Camp since moving to the USA, and although some of the original inspirational Buyū are no longer training with us in the physical world, their vision continues through others. Life is change, at the end of the last day Jack revealed that the venue would have to change for 2017 as the owners were selling the facility. Referring back to Hatsumi Sensei, Jack said "Tsugi!" which means "Next!". Always looking forwards to the next iteration, the next step.

Murray Taylor from Great Britain

Perhaps in the end there was a sense of "Wow I was here for this!", and I thoroughly look forward to enjoying that same feeling in 2017. In the meantime here are more photos of Buyū Camp East 2016 : Facebook Album (no account needed)

Craig Gray from Michigan

Please also look check out the BuyuKai in Germany for 2017 : http://www.buyukai.de/

The Sunday Group