Kaminoda Sensei offered the SMR group with whom I visited him and trained with him some years ago the greatest hospitality and courtesy possible. Each day after training at his dojo, we lunched with him, and he refused to allow us to pay. In addition to this courtesy, his opening of his dojo to us was a wonderful opportunity to train with his Japanese and European students. A kind, wise and wonderful man, who is mourned in America as well as Japan and across the world.
Watching this makes me wish that Kaminoda, Otofuji, Shimizu, Nishioka and Draeger were still with us. These men were truly amazing and they kept the SMR tradition alive for the next generation.
I randoried with him once when I was a young boy at the Kodokan in Japan. He was instrumental in introducing weight training to Japanese Judoka especially to Inokuma Isao. Donn Draeger was really a nice guy.
Sadly we lost Donn Draeger in 1982, and Kaminoda Sensei this March. Draeger Sensei was 7th dan in Kendo, Iaido, and Jodo, and also held menkyo in Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto Ryu, the first non-Japanese, I believe, to do so. Among many other things, he was the martial arts coordinator, and Sean Connery's stunt double, in the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. Kaminoda Sensei was 7th dan in Kendo, and 8th dan in Iaido and Jodo. It was great to see them together in this video.
Truly amazing, Such precision and control. I second the thoughts posted below. Thank you so much for sharing this video. Any martial artist can learn something here.
I trained with Kaminoda sensei in the early 80's, at a little dojo attached to a shrine near Shibuya station. His "helper was a very nice person by te name of Sato. I did not much care for Kaminoda's treatment of us. but he was an excellent technician. I am sorry I didnot buy his book. there was a rivalry bordering on feud between the five great students of Shimazu sensei, including Don Draeger.
His comments against the legitimacy of Antonio Inoki were damaging. Maybe a misunderstanding, or ignorance in regards to Catch as Catch Can Wrestling training and Indian conditioning. NJPW dojo was undefeated in the 70s in challenge matches through out Japan. Furthermore, Inoki was in competitive bouts albeit ‘shoots’ against Akram Pehelwan- a world class kushti wrestler, Great Antonio, Strongest man in the world, and Roland Bock European Greco Roman Super Heavyweight Champion. And of course Muhammad Ali, who had the rules changed to virtually put Inoki in a ‘straight jacket.’ It’s doubtful that someone like Drager a classical Martial artist would fair in successful way against such proto- MMA machines.
@@wallyadams8444 You didnt get my point. If they sparred the way that HEMA spars then we would be able to see what these weapons really look like in actual use. And btw i DO get the "point" i just think its not a very good one. Theres nothing that a person can get from these "budo" styles that they couldnt get better from something else without pretending to be ninja warriors. Well, except for the opportunity to pretend to be ninja warriors without ever having to actually fight anyone.
@@MP-db9sw There is no pretence , it's a DO art , moving meditation , being in the moment , no ego, no fighting , just doing . Its their way , a tradition that they keep alive . you can't criticise this as a sport or competition or a real fight ! it's just so .
BERTIL SCALI: youve shown that you can be insulting, good for you. You havent said anything worth considering, however. Draeger grew up doing judo- a martial art that works the way it looks like it should work, because it uses resistance and competition. These guys may have all kinds of sparring that i cant see from this clip but ive seen enough to know they also might not- this might be as free as they ever get in their training. If you want to look cool and feel like a ninja then this is fine. If you want to learn to really use the weapon as it was (or would be) used against other historical weapons, the HEMA style is the way to go.
mike icmelerman: i can respect the point about carrying on a cultural tradition. Perhaps in Japan people are fully aware that thats what they are doing but in America, theres still many thousands of people who believe they are learning to be effective fighters though they train in a culture that doesnt produce any actual fighters. Aikido is the best example of this but there are many. These people are paying lots of money to be mislead and, imo, they are being taken advantage of. I commonly see people making some version of the case “this is a “DO” art and its not meant to be effective as a fighting system” but that to me seems absurd: why is it in the form of a fighting system if its not meant to be one? And how would one of these people feel if, with many years of practice in their ”do” system they found themselevs in a violent encounter and were just as ill prepared to handle it as someone with no training whatsoever? Can you imagine being a black belt for near a decade and getting your ass kicked by some drunken frat boy or some homeless schitzo who was off his meds? If you want spiritual training, why not pursue a system that presents itself as spiritual training? No one confuses yoga or Buddhism with being effective as fighting systems because they dont present themselves as fighting systems- aikido and the like do present themselevs as such, by their very structure. That is where the pretense comes into play.
Kaminoda Sensei offered the SMR group with whom I visited him and trained with him some years ago the greatest hospitality and courtesy possible. Each day after training at his dojo, we lunched with him, and he refused to allow us to pay. In addition to this courtesy, his opening of his dojo to us was a wonderful opportunity to train with his Japanese and European students. A kind, wise and wonderful man, who is mourned in America as well as Japan and across the world.
Watching this makes me wish that Kaminoda, Otofuji, Shimizu, Nishioka and Draeger were still with us. These men were truly amazing and they kept the SMR tradition alive for the next generation.
Great to see this historic film. Thank you for posting.
I randoried with him once when I was a young boy at the Kodokan in Japan. He was instrumental in introducing weight training to Japanese Judoka especially to Inokuma Isao. Donn Draeger was really a nice guy.
Ooh I would have loved to have met him. What a legend. I love his books and a remarkable person that continues to inspire long after his death.
Such speed and precision, with strength and confidence and power!
Sadly we lost Donn Draeger in 1982, and Kaminoda Sensei this March. Draeger Sensei was 7th dan in Kendo, Iaido, and Jodo, and also held menkyo in Tenshinsho-den Katori Shinto Ryu, the first non-Japanese, I believe, to do so. Among many other things, he was the martial arts coordinator, and Sean Connery's stunt double, in the James Bond movie You Only Live Twice. Kaminoda Sensei was 7th dan in Kendo, and 8th dan in Iaido and Jodo. It was great to see them together in this video.
Draeger also doubled for John Wayne in "The Barbarian and The Geisha."
This is very good archive footage of Donn Draeger and Kaminoda Sensei. Thank you very much for giving me a chance to see this.
Truly amazing, Such precision and control. I second the thoughts posted below. Thank you so much for sharing this video. Any martial artist can learn something here.
I trained with Kaminoda sensei in the early 80's, at a little dojo attached to a shrine near Shibuya station. His "helper was a very nice person by te name of Sato. I did not much care for Kaminoda's treatment of us. but he was an excellent technician. I am sorry I didnot buy his book. there was a rivalry bordering on feud between the five great students of Shimazu sensei, including Don Draeger.
Sato-sensei still teaches at the Zoshukan
😮
This is in Sweden. When and where exactly and in front of how many people?
si si
Thats not Kaminoda, that the Headmaster Shimizu.
Look again.
His comments against the legitimacy of Antonio Inoki were damaging. Maybe a misunderstanding, or ignorance in regards to Catch as Catch Can Wrestling training and Indian conditioning. NJPW dojo was undefeated in the 70s in challenge matches through out Japan. Furthermore, Inoki was in competitive bouts albeit ‘shoots’ against Akram Pehelwan- a world class kushti wrestler, Great Antonio, Strongest man in the world, and Roland Bock European Greco Roman Super Heavyweight Champion. And of course Muhammad Ali, who had the rules changed to virtually put Inoki in a ‘straight jacket.’ It’s doubtful that someone like Drager a classical Martial artist would fair in successful way against such proto- MMA machines.
I wish the Japanese stylists would evolve beyond the rituallization and do real sparring and competing, like they do in HEMA.
You are missing the point all together
@@wallyadams8444 You didnt get my point. If they sparred the way that HEMA spars then we would be able to see what these weapons really look like in actual use. And btw i DO get the "point" i just think its not a very good one. Theres nothing that a person can get from these "budo" styles that they couldnt get better from something else without pretending to be ninja warriors. Well, except for the opportunity to pretend to be ninja warriors without ever having to actually fight anyone.
@@MP-db9sw There is no pretence , it's a DO art , moving meditation , being in the moment , no ego, no fighting , just doing . Its their way , a tradition that they keep alive . you can't criticise this as a sport or competition or a real fight ! it's just so .
BERTIL SCALI: youve shown that you can be insulting, good for you. You havent said anything worth considering, however. Draeger grew up doing judo- a martial art that works the way it looks like it should work, because it uses resistance and competition.
These guys may have all kinds of sparring that i cant see from this clip but ive seen enough to know they also might not- this might be as free as they ever get in their training. If you want to look cool and feel like a ninja then this is fine. If you want to learn to really use the weapon as it was (or would be) used against other historical weapons, the HEMA style is the way to go.
mike icmelerman: i can respect the point about carrying on a cultural tradition. Perhaps in Japan people are fully aware that thats what they are doing but in America, theres still many thousands of people who believe they are learning to be effective fighters though they train in a culture that doesnt produce any actual fighters. Aikido is the best example of this but there are many. These people are paying lots of money to be mislead and, imo, they are being taken advantage of.
I commonly see people making some version of the case “this is a “DO” art and its not meant to be effective as a fighting system” but that to me seems absurd: why is it in the form of a fighting system if its not meant to be one? And how would one of these people feel if, with many years of practice in their ”do” system they found themselevs in a violent encounter and were just as ill prepared to handle it as someone with no training whatsoever? Can you imagine being a black belt for near a decade and getting your ass kicked by some drunken frat boy or some homeless schitzo who was off his meds?
If you want spiritual training, why not pursue a system that presents itself as spiritual training? No one confuses yoga or Buddhism with being effective as fighting systems because they dont present themselves as fighting systems- aikido and the like do present themselevs as such, by their very structure. That is where the pretense comes into play.