[DebtDetox]

With the approval and permission of James Williams Sensei, kaicho of Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho, we are pleased to announce that the Boston Nami Ryu study group has opened up and started here in Boston, MA. It is lead by Justin Britton and myself. Justin and I continue to be under the supervision and guidance of James Williams Sensei for our development and growth in Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho.

Boston Nami Ryu is located at:

Krav Maga Boston
169 Norfolk Ave.
Boston, MA 02119

The classes are: Fridays 6:00pm - 8:30pm and Sundays 9:00am - 12:30pm.

In our study group, Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho is studied and practiced which consists of the old classical combative arts of Kenjutsu, Iaijutsu and Aikijujutsu as the way it was once done by the ancient Samurai of Japan.

More detailed information on Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho and James Williams Sensei himself can be found on www.namiryu.com

If you are interested in Nami Ryu here in eastern Massachusetts or the Boston area, please email either me at renblade2000@yahoo.com or Justin Britton himself at jbritton@bokken-art.com

Regards,
Walter Wong

[DoctorWeryDolt]

Congratulations and success!

[Idorsearogele]

Thank you very much Mark. It is much appreciated.

Regards,
Walter

[isopsmypovA]

There is a Nami Ryu seminar coming up in Aug. 5-6 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. This is taught by James Williams Sensei himself. It is a wonderful training experience. A few of us from Boston Nami Ryu will be down there for this 2 day seminar. If you're interested in Kenjutsu, which the training itself is often unavailable in many parts of the world and a rare find as well, this is a seminar to discover and train old classical Kenjutsu.

http://www.yrjj.net/upcomingsems.htm

Regards,
Walter Wong

[AliceFromHouston]

Boston Nami Ryu will be closed the weekend of August 4th - 6th, 2006. We will be down in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania for the Nami Ryu seminar at the River Of Life Dojo happening on August 5th & 6th, 2006.
Boston Nami Ryu will be reopened and resume regular scheduled class hours starting August 11, 2006 (Friday). Feel free to come by to visit us then. Email me for directions. Thank you.
Regards,
Walter

[Depolit]

Just to update everyone, we are now Boston Samurai Arts instead of Boston Nami Ryu. Boston Samurai Arts remain to be a study group deeply involved in the study and practice of Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho. Thank you.

[legal-advicer]

Interesting choice... going for the Samurai selling factor there I see... now I am not trying to be critical here because I know nothing about your group, but I guess that is a better eye catching name for the uninformed masses... just an interesting development...

[QiuCIOdO]

The name change isn't for any marketing purposes. It was just reasons within our ryu-ha that I prefer not to disclose. Rest assure that the relationship between James William Sensei and Boston Samurai Arts remain to be harmonious and close. But I do see your point about the uninformed masses recognizing "Samurai" instead of "Nami Ryu" and it makes sense. I didn't originally recognize that so coincidentally it works out this way in our new dojo name. Thank you for the sharing your perspective.

[Uplillacype]

The name change isn't for any marketing purposes. It was just reasons within our ryu-ha that I prefer not to disclose. Rest assure that the relationship between James William Sensei and Boston Samurai Arts remain to be harmonious and close. But I do see your point about the uninformed masses recognizing "Samurai" instead of "Nami Ryu" and it makes sense. I didn't originally recognize that so coincidentally it works out this way in our new dojo name. Thank you for the sharing your perspective.

When I saw your name change post I cringed. I am regularly paid big bucks to evaluate brands and names. The samurai moniker is used by a significant number of the Mcdojo's of this world. I am not sure you want to be in the business of converting lightsaber experts. Perhaps something less gedai-ish might be feasible.
Choosing a name is hard work. I once registered Contours as a corporate name since a lot of my work produces maps which resemble mountain ranges. I quickly found out that it was also frequently used by strip clubs. It made pre-selection staff telephone interviews a little tricky .

[KevinDonae]

I guarantee that what we do at Boston Samurai Arts is a far cry from what is considered McDojo regardless of having the word "Samurai" in our dojo name. The name Boston Samurai Arts honestly expresses that what we train and teach is Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho there. Justin Britton and I are the only ones certified to teach Nami Ryu Aiki Heiho in the state of Massachusetts under James Williams Sensei, kaicho of the ryu-ha. If there are any questions and/or doubt about Boston Samurai Arts, Justin Britton and myself, please don't hesitate to contact James Williams Sensei himself at james@bugei.com
http://www.namiryu.com

Regards,
Walter

[sirmzereigMix]

I have great respect for Williams Sensei. The only caveat I have with the description is of "Classical". I was under the impression it was a Gendai style.

Obviously, just a quibble but I'm a pedant for semantics!

[BluewayAllere]

I guarantee that what we do at Boston Samurai Arts is a far cry from what is considered McDojo regardless of having the word "Samurai" in our dojo name. ]

Regards,
Walter

Hi Walter,

Please re-read my post, that was the whole point. I do not question that you are the real deal. My comment was only on the use of "samurai" in your new name - period.

All I am saying is that since you are not a mcdojo it might make sense to distance yourself from a name that would group you with those who are. IMHO by using the word "samurai" in your name you will unfortunately attract the lightsaber crowd and bring up a red flag to those who would make great new students.

Can you use it anyway, of course. It will just make running your dojo a little bit harder.

A similar problem exists for serious swordsmiths who have to find a work around in order not to use the word "katana" as the principal descriptor of their swords. If they use the word at all it will hopefully be embeded in a fairly technical text about the sword and not in the tittle or first word in the first sentence.

Do an ebay search for "katana", and see what pops up. Trash!
Now do one on "Japanese sword". Much less trash! You might even find a descent blade or two.

The wallhanger stampers corrupted the word "katana" to such an extent that it has become a red flag. For example an ad that reads "Razor sharp katana for sale" will only attract the futur stars of jakass movies who are looking for a $99 sword to swing around their backyard.

The word "samurai" has a simmilar issue. It has unfortunately, been co-opted by the Mcdojo crowd and has become a red flag. IMHO, using Samurai in your name will be a pain that you can avoid.

You just changed your name and are creating the dojo. It might make sense to revisit the name again before it is well established.

That said, I did use the corporate name Contours for over 10 years and dealt with the calls of the strippers looking for work before getting fed up and changing the name .

Whatever you decide, I am sure you will build a great dojo.

Best regards,

[cookiemonster]

I have great respect for Williams Sensei. The only caveat I have with the description is of "Classical". I was under the impression it was a Gendai style.

Obviously, just a quibble but I'm a pedant for semantics!

I suppose one can consider that the name is gendai. But the material and principles practiced in Nami Ryu is old. We are a principle based system. The foundation of Nami Ryu is Yanagi Ryu which is koryu. Principles, not the techniques, of Komagawa Kaishin Ryu and Russian Systema has influence on Nami Ryu as well. But primarily Nami Ryu is interested in combative effectiveness which is our prime directive. What is practiced in Nami Ryu is not new or made up. Just drawn from the old arts. Basically you can say that Nami Ryu is Yanagi Ryu with principle influences from Systema and Komagawa Kaishin Ryu. We call Nami Ryu classical not because of the name, but what is practiced in it. If you like to get a better understanding of Nami Ryu, make plans to head out to the next Nami Ryu seminar or stop by a local Nami Ryu satellite dojo if you are near one. Our Boston branch will be on the list in the Nami Ryu main site when they have a chance to update it.

http://www.swordforumbugei.com/phpBB...forum.php?f=16
http://www.namiryu.com/links.html

[Chooriwrocafn]

Hi Walter,

Please re-read my post, that was the whole point. I do not question that you are the real deal. My comment was only on the use of "samurai" in your new name - period.

All I am saying is that since you are not a mcdojo it might make sense to distance yourself from a name that would group you with those who are. IMHO by using the word "samurai" in your name you will unfortunately attract the lightsaber crowd and bring up a red flag to those who would make great new students.

Can you use it anyway, of course. It will just make running your dojo a little bit harder.

A similar problem exists for serious swordsmiths who have to find a work around in order not to use the word "katana" as the principal descriptor of their swords. If they use the word at all it will hopefully be embeded in a fairly technical text about the sword and not in the tittle or first word in the first sentence.

Do an ebay search for "katana", and see what pops up. Trash!
Now do one on "Japanese sword". Much less trash! You might even find a descent blade or two.

The wallhanger stampers corrupted the word "katana" to such an extent that it has become a red flag. For example an ad that reads "Razor sharp katana for sale" will only attract the futur stars of jakass movies who are looking for a $99 sword to swing around their backyard.

The word "samurai" has a simmilar issue. It has unfortunately, been co-opted by the Mcdojo crowd and has become a red flag. IMHO, using Samurai in your name will be a pain that you can avoid.

You just changed your name and are creating the dojo. It might make sense to revisit the name again before it is well established.

That said, I did use the corporate name Contours for over 10 years and dealt with the calls of the strippers looking for work before getting fed up and changing the name .

Whatever you decide, I am sure you will build a great dojo.

Best regards,

Mark I apologize for misunderstanding. I see your point now.
I don't it's necessary to use a word or words in our dojo name that is unfamiliar to the mass to weed out people. There are potential good students that have the maturity, sincerity and open mind out there that maybe interested in Japanese swordsmanship but just have no clue of terms like Nami Ryu, nihonto, kenjutsu and etc.

Anyone interested in joining our dojo go through an interview process where we will weed out and turn away persons that are in appropriate for our dojo. We also use live blades so it is just way too dangerous to just let anyone in. So we are quite selective of who we let in.

But I will put your suggestion into consideration. Thank you Mark.

[9uWzBx4l]

“The foundation of Nami Ryu is Yanagi Ryu which is koryu.”

Yanagi ryu is not, at this point, a verifiable koryu. To state so is misleading and unsupportable. The history of Yanagi ryu can only be traced back three generations to Yoshida Kotaro, which would disqualify it from being koryu until the lineage of the art can be traced back further. Yanagi ryu itself may be based on koryu, but as it cannot be traced back far enough to qualify it as such at this point, so it can only be assumed to be gendai.

“Basically you can say that Nami Ryu is Yanagi Ryu with principle influences from Systema and Komagawa Kaishin Ryu.”

No, you can not… it is not Yanagi ryu. Not in style, form, content or kata. I am quite familiar with Yanagi ryu and what is done in Nami ryu is not the same at all. There are similarities, of course, but they are far from being the same art. Nami ryu is the culmination of James’ experience in various arts, only some of which was with Don Angier. It may contain some of the principles, techniques and practices of Yanagi ryu, just as it does Kumagawa Kaishin ryu, but that does not qualify it as being Yanagi ryu. It in Nami ryu created by James Williams.

[vasyasvc]

Anyone interested in joining our dojo go through an interview process where we will weed out and turn away persons that are in appropriate for our dojo. We also use live blades so it is just way too dangerous to just let anyone in. So we are quite selective of who we let in.

Just to clarify, there is some period before the use of Live blades?

None of us here are knocking Nami Ryu, just the use of "Classical", as it implies the style is older than it is.

I'd love to attend a seminar, unfortunately, I'm in Australia. Perhaps a visit over here would do well? I'm sure there would be plenty of takers if you based it in a big city.

[Hrennilasi]

Parallel discussions:

• e-budo.com "Nami Ryu demo video"
• swordforum.com "Nami Ryu demo video"

[fluoxet]

Thank you Elias Sensei for the clarification on Yanagi Ryu. Your input is very helpful and much appreciated.

Maro, I'm not sure what James Williams Sensei's plans are in having a Nami Ryu seminar in Australia. I'll mention it to him the next time I speak or meet up with him. I'm sure Nami Ryu will find it's way to Australia someday.
As for beginning live blade in Nami Ryu, this is on an individual basis and there isn't an exact set period of time arranged of when one will move onto live blade work. The decision of when a Nami ryu student is to and can use a live blade is decided by James Williams Sensei himself or a certified Nami Ryu instructor.

[AccusaJalsBub]

Hi Ren,

I imagine Nami Ryu will arrive at some point. I would be genuinely interested in attending to compare it's techniques with other styles.

Best of luck.