PETER KING 2005 DUBLIN SEMINAR DVD
by Stephen Ewart, Bujinkan Shidoshi

In October 2005, Shihan Peter King led the training at a two day seminar in Dublin, Ireland. This event was recorded and edited to fit onto a single DVD-R by the Bujinkan Meehan Dojo. Recordings of seminars have two purposes to perform. Primarily they act as reminders for those who attended the event. Secondly, they must also be accessible to anyone that did not attend but are none-the-less interested in gleaning any new information or gaining a new perspective. Having attended only the second day of the seminar, I am in a somewhat unique position, of being able to review this presentation against both of these purposes.

On inserting the disc , the viewer is presented with a single simple menu. This menu breaks the full 1hr 40mins of viewing time down in 7 easily digestible sections, covering various kata from Gyokko Ryu Koshijutsu, Kuksishin Ryu Hanbojutsu, tantojutsu and Kukishin Ryu Rokushaku Bojutsu. While unfortunately not accessible as handy on-screen sub-menus, each sections has been further split into a number of chapters as appropriate breaks. These chapters help immensely for repeated viewing and it is useful for the viewer when making notes to create an inlay card listing which kata is being presented in each chapter.

When recording a seminar DVD it is often the case that the directional microphone on the camera itself is used to record the audio, though a personal radio microphone on the instructor is preferable. The audio has been captured directly by the camera at this seminar, though this never really detracts from the overall presentation. Reverberation and general background sounds are audible in the training hall providing a suitable ambience. These sounds never overpower the instructors voice except on possibly one occasion when he happens to be facing away from the camera and the Sunday choir in the neighboring hall is in particularly fine form.

The quality of the video is generally excellent. Two cameras where used to record the action from different perspectives. The majority of the footage is from a noticeably superior primary camera. Some screen changes between cameras can cause confusion where the difference between the two is more striking. That said, the opposing angles have been edited together very well, forming into a single coherent thread that could not have been seen on the day by any one spectator. It would have been nice to have the two camera views, selectable at the viewers’ discretion from the DVD controller, however I would not wish that editing job on anyone!

The difference between the two cameras is more noticeable from the sections later the day. This is due to the strong natural sunlight streaming in from the overhead windows of the hall. This sometimes creates a high contrast image, and was likely the inspiration for the overall style used throughout the presentation. While the inconsistent light obviously influences picture quality, that is the nature of such events and it does allow the interested viewer to see how the sharp areas of light affect both uke and tori.

Dispensing with the audio/visual side of things let us move on to the most important aspect of content. There are two sections each for hanbo, rokushakubo and unarmed kata. The remaining seventh section is given over to the tanto. Each section can easily be considered for independent viewing and there is plenty for any level of practitioner. The Gyokko Ryu kata, starting with koku, were worked though as time permitted over the two days and are examined in great detail. The hanbo is introduced from the ground up, starting with basic kamae and striking techniques. The rokushakubo section also begins with basic bofurigata moving on to consider goho from the perspective of both the tori and the uke.

The seminar focused on improving the basics of the weapons along with taijutsu in general. The DVD does a good job of capturing this intention. Long kamae are used throughout, emphasizing the core aspects of each technique. This helps any beginner grasp the fundamental movement. There is also a large amount of dialogue describing many of the nuances within each of the techniques in the form that they where shown on the day. Picking through the dialogue can be use to the more experienced viewers as there are many little gems of insight that help increase your own knowledge. The extensive dialogue can somewhat hamper repeated viewing. However picking a specific section and viewing it at twice speed acts as a good and fast aid for memory retention, without overloading the brain with the abundance of information on the soundtrack. I have often done this just before playing with the techniques in class and due to the longer kamae the movement is still easily visible.

Though higher grades are unlikely to see anything on this DVD that is unfamiliar, there will almost certainly be something they can take away from it to help teach in their own dojos. Lower grades may be overwhelmed by the amount of information in the dialogue but the large, and yet deceptively tricky movements are clear to remember and experiment with. It is this balance of familiarity along with detail that allows this DVD to succeed on its two purposes mentioned at the beginning of the review. For anyone that attended the seminar, the amount of dialogue captures more information than could have been achieved by quickly writing notes on the day. For anyone coming to this presentation afresh, the large movements provide easy access to all the techniques shown. Whether you were at the seminar or not the combination of unarmed, tanto, hanbo and rokushakubo means that this DVD makes a great first stop shop for a flavouring of the theme of 2005 as well for the Bujinkan system as a whole.

Check out the trailer for the DVD before purchase at http://www.happobiken.com. The dojo store also has some of the seminars t-shirts along with another DVD from the 2004 happo biken seminar.

Stephen Ewart is a Bujinkan Shidoshi based in Northern Ireland. He offers training in the Bangor area. Details from www.stephenewart.com/bed