Gianluca Frisan Stage over ….. Thanks to my family and to James E Corn for make possible for me be here. Two days shooting course and two days kyusho course with true talent masters …… something incredible. Only true friendship can make this real. Okuden Circle and Kyusho Expert on the same tatami … only for love of what we do… no political…. no bullshit. I think one of the best days and training that I did. Mark Kline and Jim Corn give out great informatons and also show how to… teach them for make all easy and quickly to learn, where all can do. Jim Greenwood and Stefano Mazza Mandorlo did great class. I don’t have world for the teaching of Gary Boaz … great martial arts talent. It was incredible how we never real worked before together … we never spoke about martial arts and we was working on the same principles , on the same mentality , on the same way to look, training and work with kyusho. Different country, different martial arts ( aikido – ryukyu kempo ) , many thing different ….. but we find many thing on the same “frequency”…. incredible. If you was not here …. don’t lose the next time …. you missed something real great. —————————— Gary Boaz
So back in those days kyusho was the thing that actually brought us all together. Years later due to the egos and politics it would be the thing that divided us. But it shouldn’t be that way.
I began my own journey under the tutelage of Master Corn down a path to show how pressure points can make aikido easier, more effective. More powerful. And to show that when aikido was started kyusho was part of it anyway. It was just hidden like so much in the martial arts especially after WWII.
How does this relate to the past weekend at Corn’s? For many of us training kyusho was no longer fun due to the crap associated with it. Many quit. But this last weekend was a new beginning for me. It was fun again. People from all styles and backgrounds got together for one reason: to learn and train. Amazing. What a concept. And true, many of the people we knew weren’t there but many new ones were. I had the pleasure of meeting Gianluca Frisan, a new friend from Italy. Though we had never trained together and come from different styles to watch him teach was like seeing an old friend. During his session I just couldn’t quit grinning. And I was able to learn so much more. I told Mark Kline, “if you didn’t know better, you’d think Gianluca and I had been training together for years.” And by the way, if you’ve never had the pleasure of learning from Mark Kline, fix that. Look him up. Find a seminar he’s teaching at. Please don’t let your only contact with him be by video or FaceBook because you will be missing out. Yes his videos are freaking great but in person he’s so much more. And here’s the most important thing: you’ll learn more than you can imagine on the mat. But make sure you are somewhere around him later off the mat. He’s got a story about everything. About everyone. And I dare say you might learn more from listening to him off the mat than you could on the mat. And that’s saying something!
You know, over the years many times I’ve felt alone. Yes, I have been blessed beyond all measure with my friends, my students here, in Phoenix and in Holland. I believe that you all truly see my vision. You “get it”. But many times I’ve felt like a lone wolf. You get enough criticism sometimes you can’t help but to doubt the path you are on. I watched Mark Kline teach concepts of Systema this weekend. I saw him do aikido the way I envision it. And yet that’s not his background at all. I saw Gianluca do the same thing. I saw Master Corn do an aikido demo that was better than mine. And yet he’ll say “…I don’t know much about aikido Boaz…” Don’t believe that at all. You all were there. You saw it! I felt somehow validated after this weekend.
So about this last weekend I say this to people for the future: Don’t get hung up on how many stripes are on your belt. It’s only good to keep your gi closed anyway. Don’t get hung up on who taught who what. Look at where you are now. Be thankful, but more than that, be humble and let kyusho again be the thing that brings us together. You do karate, you do tae kwon do, you do jiu-jitsu, you do MMA. I do aikido. But in the end we can learn much from each other. Keep an open mind. Just not so open your brains fall out.
Master James E Corn, thank you. Thank you for your dedication and your true humility. Thanks for never giving up on us when we promised to show up but bailed on you at the last minute. Thanks for the vision you’ve given us and the example you’ve been as a teacher, a mentor. A friend. When I grow up I hope I’m half the man you are.
——————————Mark Kline
Great weekend of martial arts sharing in Washington, IN with Jim James E Corn Gianluca Frisan Stefano Mazza Mandorlo Jim Greenwood Gary Boaz Jason Graham Philip A. Payne Jacob Payne Eric Elliott Jim Johnson and many more! Hanging out afterward was a blast! Home tomorrow. Lisbon is next!
Congratulations to Gary Boaz for his 5th Dan Promotion in Kyusho. Well deserved and a long time coming!
——————————Jim Johnson
Kyusho jitsu Instructors today.Awesome stuff. Sore but a good sore(sort of)
Thanks to GM°Jim Corn for this 2 intensive days of training on Force Options Tactical Training Solutions… it was incredible !!!!
..something that help to grow also my kyusho skill !!!