Traditional Kobudo in the UK - a recommendation

[jonathan.bluestein]

My former Karate teacher Itsik Cohen Sensei (Shito-ryu) is a member of an Okinawan Kobudo organization called 'Ryukyo Kobudo Hozon Shinko Kai'. Members of that organization were featured in the Karate episode of the Way of the Warrior documentary series.



I was invited by Itsik sensei to attend a workshop taught by a visiting teacher from their organization - 6th Dan Paul Vermiglio sensei, who normally teaches in the UK. I came by a class today, which lasted about 2.5 hours I think.

Paul is one of the finest teacher I have ever had the pleasure to study with, and a wonderful human being. The class was as fun as a theme park ride, not little of which was due to Paul's excellent sense of humour and refined teaching skills.
The amount of material we managed to cover in one class, consisting of all level, was quite staggering. We did Nunchaku, Bo and Tonfa, including combinations of working these weapons against each other, and culminated with a bit of Tekko work (Okinawan knuckleduster). Phasing between drills and repetitions was excellent, and we went back and forth from working solo with the weapons, to working in couple and trios. The most challenging and interesting part of the class had been when one partner had one Tonfa in his left hand, and a Nunchaku in his right, and was defending against abother with a Bo in a long sequence of moves, which included attacking and retreating for both sides. We all learned to do the Bo part and the Nunchaku+Tonfa part solo and with a partner.
Even though I only ever had one Kobudo class prior years ago, and that the last time I played with a Nunchaku was for 3 months at age 15, I felt the class went really smoothly for me, and I managed to flow through most of the moves and drills. I did so somewhat unskillfully, of course, but thanks to Paul's teaching it went quite well. (I do have background working with a spear and staff, and that surely helped)

After class today I had taken a look at Paul's website, which is as modest as the man who owns it:
http://www.ryukyu-shimbukan-uk.com/
It stated that he basically charges very little for tuition - only what it costs him to rent the place. I was not surprised... He had not a shard of a wish for gain in his mannerisms. I could definitely see this was a man strongly dedicated to his art. So dedicated, actually, that back in the day many years ago, he came to live in Israel for a very long period of time so to teach the locals and establish the organization here. During all of that time, he lived and slept at the Karate dojo which hosted him.

I'd recommend Paul's teachings to anyone who can get them. Through merely one class I feel that I have personally gained a lot of knowledge and insight into correct and beneficial wielding and application of weaponry from him. He is definitely worth checking out!

Here's a page with decent info on past and present teachers in this Kobudo organization:
http://www.sanshin-kan.com/KobudoTeachers.aspx

Unfortunately, there aren't any videos of him I could find online. I was told by my former teacher that this organization didn't like to film their work. However, here's a short video with bits and pieces from Paul's students (himself showing for just a few seconds, 00:15-00:23, 00:31-00:40):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzE23ZVyMhM