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Aiki Budokai  of Boston
Aoi Koyamakan Dojo
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Wes Tasker, Sensei, throws Alex F. in Tai Otoshi (body drop)

About the Art We Practice

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What is Tenshin Shintai Ryu?

    Tenshin Shintai Ryu Heiho (literally- heaven-inspired divine-body flow/school [of] strategy) or Shintai, for short, is a comprehensive martial art system practiced by the Koyama/Yonezawa/Nakayama
family of police in Hiroshima, Japan in the 1800 and early 1900's and brought to the US in 1980.

    Students of Shintai are exposed to taijutsu (body ['unarmed'] skills), buki (weapons) and kenkojutsu (health restoration) all based on a very small number of 'Kihon' (literally, tree roots; basics or fundamentals) that pervade the entire art.
Both ranking and transmission of material centers on the three densho (scrolls):  Shoden (new/first), Chuden (middle), and Okuden (esoteric/secret).  At each stage, the kihon provide a critical means of evaluating progress and of improving connection and timing.  Rather than a random collection of techniques, each densho is designed to impart both physical skills and an underlying Heiho (strategy).
 
The Shoden Mokuroku (catalogue
of techniques) of Shintai comprises: 
  • Taijutsu-  taiso [no] undo/tandoku renshu (body conditioning), power generation, atemi (striking), ukemi (receiving body, rolling/falling/etc.), tori waza (taking techniques), kihon and (36 core, two-person) kata, with henka (variations)
  • Buki-ho- tandoku renshu, sotai renshu (two-person conditioning drills), kumikata (forms) and oyo (applications) for a number of tools (yari, naginata, [rokushaku]bo, nodachi, jo,ken/batto, ryoto, hanbo, kodachi, tanjo, yubibo, tanto, and bo-shuriken) usually, in sets of 5
  • Kenkojutsu- a range of theory and manual therapeutics (hijoji tetsuda, honesei, amma and kampo).
    After Shoden, once one has developed a functional (if unrefined) basis of striking, grappling, use of bladed and impact weapons and intrinsic body mechanics (power generation and weight [dis]placement) and proprioception (personal spatial and awareness of connection, timing and distancing), Chuden Mokuroku moves on to yoroikumiuchi/yoroinage (armored grappling/armor throwing), adds tetsubo, jutte and a variety of flexible weapons (chigiriki, kusarifundo, kusarigama and torinawa), while expanding on taijutsu and kenjutsu.

    Though very much its own art, Shintai does preserve a limited number of basic kata from the three Ryu (schools/styles)
that influenced the system most heavily.

Visitors are welcome, by appointment, as are beginners and guests.  To schedule an interview, please E-mail or call us 617.501.3446.

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