At the end of August I traveled to Princeton, NJ to attend a seminar on Taiji Push Hands and the Bagua 18 Interceptions Dao form of Ma Gui; this is a form using the "Goose Feather" saber, which is a long one-handed saber that has a constant width, unlike the Ox Tail saber more commonly seen. While in Princeton, I became a formal lineal student of Zhang Yun in North American Yin Cheng Gong Fa.
Afterwards, I spent some time in the Pacific Northwest. I visited Michael Heiler, Troy Gehrett and Doug Walker in Portland, Oregon, and watched their training in Shindō Yoshin-ryū jujutsu. It was good to reconnect with them after some time. Takamura-ha Shindō Yoshin-ryū is led by Toby Threadgill and preserves an integrated approach to grappling, swordsmanship, and related arts grounded in older methods of Shintō preserved in the line of Obata Shigeta and Takamura Yukiyoshi.
Postscript
Update 2022: Doug Walker leads Murakumo Dōjō in Portland, OR while Michael Heiler leads Yoshinkage Dōjō in Washington, DC. Troy now lives in Colorado and trains at the Shinyokai honbu dōjō.
