All tied up? Samurai Martial Arts in Arizona

Ben Moeur volunteers at the Seiyo Shorin-Ryu Hombu
 to be tied up. His hands are tied with Sageo (cord attached
to a samurai's saya (scabbard) of a katana (samurai sword),
while his arms, legs and neck are restricted using hojo cord.

During the 2015 Utah gasshuku, Soke Hausel, from Arizona traveled to Salt Lake City to teach a variety of martial arts including kobudo, self-defense, tameshiwara, and hojojutsu to the Utah Shorin-Ryu karate group. The Utah Shorin-Ryu Karate group is led by another Hall-of-Fame martial artist - Hanshi Rob Watson, 9th dan.  

At the clinic, members trained in kama and hanbo - weapons of self-defense. The kama is considered to be an Okinawan kobudo weapon and hanbo a Japanese martial art weapon. A special request to learn tameshiwara led Soke to teach the group about rocks & rock identification before moving on to breaking rocks with bare hands. 

During the weekend clinic, Soke taught self-defense techniques against an assailant armed with handgun and a rifle. Then the group moved onto the jujutsu art of hojojutsu -basically methods used to restrain prisoners with rope.

Logan and Thadd are prisoners of the Utah samurai during the Utah
Gassaku clinic at the East Canyon resort in the Wasatch Mountains.

Group photo of kobudo participants at the August 2015 Gassaku at the East Canyon Resort,
east of Salt Lake City.

Kris Watson prepares to throw Renshi Todd Stoneking, 7th dan at the Gassaku