After 48 hours of traveling and almost 24 hours flying, I got home to Shanagolden at around 10pm last night. Relieved, tired, excited to see my family and friends but also an empty feeling for Japan and its people.. About a month ago when I had a couple of "bad" days and missed home I could have seen myself returning early.. However, things really improved... I managed to find a better balance... my parents were due to visit.. my thesis almost complete.. and really looking forward to training as hard as I possibly and as much as I possibly could for the last few weeks..even driving myself to a point of exhaustion! It had never crossed my mind that I would have to return home because of a natural disaster and a worsening crisis...
Even writing this blog this afternoon at the kitchen table at home, I have mixed feelings.. Sky News on in the background with all the bad news.. I emailed Matsue Sensei at the dojo and also Inada Sensei to explain that I decided to leave Japan...Inada Sensei was special for me as you probably gathered from my blog and that is why I sent him a private email.. It all seems a little bit like a bad dream.. But on the positive side.. I have had a brilliant experience in Japan over the last two months.. I have lived the dream by training full time at the JKS Hombu Dojo. Many things come to mind with the several falls I had due to pools of water that my excessive sweating would generate... Kanayama Sensei bringing me a towel on several occasions... Inada Sensei and his personal attention to me in the dojo with the cups of water (which I didn't get to drink...!) and being smacked by him on a few occasions with the shinai for not having correct technique... traveling to the championships with the Sensei's and listening to Inada Sensei's favourite CD of Eric Clapton... thinking that I was going to be knocked unconcsious by Yamaguchi Sensei as I held the focus pad as he did repititions of mawashi-geri jodan... feeling sorry for Taka-san as he was on the end of a couple of "beatings" from me as Inada Sensei looked on and wondering where the blood that was on my dogi came from when I was finished... the attention that all of the Sensei's gave me during my training... being felt welcome and part of the dojo by the members... leading the line as senior on several occasions and leading the dojo-kun... the post competition private party for the Sensei's which I was invited along to and really made welcome... the nervous, anxious feeling as I headed to the dojo everyday and the relief and sense of achievement after each training session... going to Akirano-shi and staying with the Sobajima family... cycling to Yagi Sensei's dojo on the bicycle which was far too small for me... Angelo and Michiko and the kindness and support that they gave to me during my stay... their wedding party and being there with all the members and Sensei's from the Hombu Dojo... Eating with Nick and all the salary men under the railway tracks... many many more memories and let's just say that it has been an unbelieveable worthwhile experience...
I'm a full believer in "what's for you won't pass you by"... I know that it is unfortunate that my stay in Japan was cut short but maybe this was just supposed to happen the way it did... I mentioned in my blog previosuly that I am now anxious about how I will be able to maintain the intensity in my training on a daily basis no wthat I have left Japan.. I know it's very difficult and almost impossible to generate that same level of intensity that makes the Hombu Dojo a really special place to train... But on a positive side I can't wait to share my experiences and new knowedge of my karate with other people here in Ireland through teaching in some form or another... I have two or three days work to do on my PhD thesis and then I am very lucky that I'll have some time to relax and plan the next phase of my life... Where do I go next.. what avenue do I decide to explore... Post-doctoral research in the U.S.A... second level teaching or university level teaching... karate.. is it time to set up my own dojo... Lots of decisions to be made but I'm looking forward to it!
Finally, I'd like to thank everybody that has followed this blog and that I have shared my experiences with.. Your support was especially important to me when I had "bad" days and it always drove me on again.. Thanks to the many people that left comments on my blog, on facebook and the many emails I recieved.. This blog was something that Frank at Scott Sensei's dojo in Dublin suggested to me that I should keep before he left Japan with the group in early February... I set out with the intention that I would tell people exactly how it was.. didn't matter how good or bad I was feeling.. I wanted to be as brutally honest as I could... I didn't want to paint a picture that training fulltime in the Hombu Dojo was all a really good, easy experience and that life in Japan was brilliant and easy to adapt to.. I hope you now understand and appreciate the full experience :-)
Since I started this blog I have almost 6,000 views so there were many many people follwoing my experience... In time when the situation in Japan settles down I would like to maybe do some sort of a fundraiser for the people in Japan.. I'm not sure where we can send this money exactly and what to do with it but I do know for example that one particular Sensei who had two of his grandparents killed by the tsunami and I'm sure in time we will all be able to relate to people who have been effected... I'm sure when things settle down and areas that need financial assiatnce are identified that maybe we can arrange some sort of a fundraiser... So for the time being.. I would like to say thank you once again.. Until the next time :)
Tuesday 15 March 2011
Monday 14 March 2011
Sunday March 13th
So on Sunday morning I packed up my last few bits and said goodbye to Kyoko (the house manager) at Hotel Fujimi.. Strange feelings as I was walking through Nippori on my way to the train station.. Such a great place, great people and I couldn't help but wonder what lies ahead for them. Got the SkyLiner from Nippori station to Narita terminal 1 for the 45 minute train journey. When I arrived at Narita it was incredibly packed.. Lots of people sleeping with blankets and cushions and it was obvious that they must have been stranded since Friday. There were hundreds of people standing in queues waiting to check in for flights.. Even at the airport in the midst of all the chaos the Japanese people and staff were calm, collected and unbelievably respectful as they dealt with all the questions that passengers had.. Its sad to say it but the behaviour and manners of some "western" people at the airport really annoyed me.. For example: at one of the restaurants in the airport there was this "western" lady there and she got some tea and a muffin or something... The Japanese ladies behind the counter were doing a great job dealing with everybody. But this "western" lady got about 70 Yen change from her transaction and she stood there and held up the whole place looking to see what she could buy with her 70 Yen (about €0.50) because she was leaving the country. When the Japanese lady told her that she didn't have enough to buy anything she stayed standing there asking what she should do with her money so... Very very annoying!
As I was waiting at the gate to board the Singapore Airlines flight the crew for the flight assembled.. It was obvious they didn't know each other and they started to greet each other... It really started to hit me that I was leaving Japan as I saw them greet each other by shaking each others hands.. After being immersed in Japan for the last two months and their culture of deep bowing while maintaining distance from each other... this shaking of hands and hugging seemed strange to me! How weird is that?!
Didn't really sleep on the flight from Narita to Singapore.. Couldn't help but think at times how am I going to maintain the level of intensity in my training that I have developed over the last two months.. I can't wait to go back training in Ireland but I'm also really eager to share my experiences in the dojo by doing some teaching. Couldn't help but think of all the great people I had got to know in Japan and hope that they will be safe as everything unfolds there. When I got to Singapore I got a room in a transit hotel in the airport terminal for 3 hours and had a shower there as well. Ready for the next leg of my journey now.. A 14 hour flight to London Heathrow.
As I was waiting at the gate to board the Singapore Airlines flight the crew for the flight assembled.. It was obvious they didn't know each other and they started to greet each other... It really started to hit me that I was leaving Japan as I saw them greet each other by shaking each others hands.. After being immersed in Japan for the last two months and their culture of deep bowing while maintaining distance from each other... this shaking of hands and hugging seemed strange to me! How weird is that?!
Didn't really sleep on the flight from Narita to Singapore.. Couldn't help but think at times how am I going to maintain the level of intensity in my training that I have developed over the last two months.. I can't wait to go back training in Ireland but I'm also really eager to share my experiences in the dojo by doing some teaching. Couldn't help but think of all the great people I had got to know in Japan and hope that they will be safe as everything unfolds there. When I got to Singapore I got a room in a transit hotel in the airport terminal for 3 hours and had a shower there as well. Ready for the next leg of my journey now.. A 14 hour flight to London Heathrow.
Sunday 13 March 2011
Saunday March 13th
Got a few hours sleep last night. I was wrecked.. All packed up now and almost ready to go. My flight to Singapore appears to be on time. Very mixed feelings over the last 48 hours.. Sometimes really nervous and afraid of what is going to happen next and other times thinking that maybe I'm over reacting.. Anyway.. I'm on my way home and I'm happy with my decision. Lots of flying and waiting times ahead of me but will be glad to leave the ground in Japan later tonight. Thanks again for all your comments and support. Will update during my travels if possible. Diarmaid
Saturday 12 March 2011
Saturday March 12th Further update
I'm just after getting a couple of hours sleep.. Was watching the news and when I heard the nuclear situation was much safer than initially feared I relaxed a little and fell asleep. Tired now. My body clock is all over the place. Seeing the constant stream of footage on the news of what has happened in Northern Japan in very sad.. I can assure you that Tokyo is nowhere near like this thankfully.. Yes, we got rattled pretty violently yesterday but thankfully we escaped the same severity of the earthquake and the subsequent tsunami's experienced in the North.
Tokyo appeared to get back to some bit of "normality" today... Nippori was a lot quieter than usual though and the atmosphere was strange.. people not really saying anything and a lot of frightened/worried faces.. There is this little store in Nippori where hot food is sold on stalls... I used to go to this place frequently but I stopped going about three weeks ago... So it is all women who work there except for one guy who seems to be the boss... About three weeks ago I had queued up for some food and when it was my turn to order the guy blanked me and served two women who were standing behind me in the queue... I knew he did this on purpose and I just walked away and never went back... Today, as I was walking around I took some photographs of Nippori for some memories and also to shown people at home.. As I was walking down the street I was taking photos of some very nice little stores and I stopped at this food stall to take a photograph as well because it's a novel little store... However, the guy that I'm referring to stormed out from behind the stall and shouted "no photographs"... I nodded and said "okay" politely and put my camera away (in some shock!)... he then shouted "go away..!"... I was shocked (as were other bystanders) but said nothing and walked away... But for me this is not typical Japanese people and it was the first time that I experienced this.. I could call him several things but then again you never know what is going on in peoples minds... Then again that is the second time he was "rude" to me...! Anyway that's a little bit of frustration vented..
Woooowww.... Big tremor again just now... about 10 second long and the strongest today I think.. Hadn't one of those in about four hours. I see the news channels are on to it straight away.. Must finish tidying and packing up the rest of my stuff.. Hopefully everything will go okay for the next few hours and that I can start making my way to Narita tomorrow morning
Tokyo appeared to get back to some bit of "normality" today... Nippori was a lot quieter than usual though and the atmosphere was strange.. people not really saying anything and a lot of frightened/worried faces.. There is this little store in Nippori where hot food is sold on stalls... I used to go to this place frequently but I stopped going about three weeks ago... So it is all women who work there except for one guy who seems to be the boss... About three weeks ago I had queued up for some food and when it was my turn to order the guy blanked me and served two women who were standing behind me in the queue... I knew he did this on purpose and I just walked away and never went back... Today, as I was walking around I took some photographs of Nippori for some memories and also to shown people at home.. As I was walking down the street I was taking photos of some very nice little stores and I stopped at this food stall to take a photograph as well because it's a novel little store... However, the guy that I'm referring to stormed out from behind the stall and shouted "no photographs"... I nodded and said "okay" politely and put my camera away (in some shock!)... he then shouted "go away..!"... I was shocked (as were other bystanders) but said nothing and walked away... But for me this is not typical Japanese people and it was the first time that I experienced this.. I could call him several things but then again you never know what is going on in peoples minds... Then again that is the second time he was "rude" to me...! Anyway that's a little bit of frustration vented..
Woooowww.... Big tremor again just now... about 10 second long and the strongest today I think.. Hadn't one of those in about four hours. I see the news channels are on to it straight away.. Must finish tidying and packing up the rest of my stuff.. Hopefully everything will go okay for the next few hours and that I can start making my way to Narita tomorrow morning
Saturday March 12th update
Managed to get a couple of hours sleep.. Was woken a few times by some aftershocks and rocking of my bed. Earlier while I was on Skype to my uncle Francis in Chicago, there was a knock on the door.. It was Angelo and Michiko! They never got home last night... Michiko slept at her workplace and Angelo slept at his school... It was great to be able to sit down with them and chat about what happened and what is happening.
As I was trying to get some sleep I had the BBC news on in the background on my laptop and I also had the television on silent. At one stage I heard something about another disaster and earthquake and I jumped out of the bed.. hardly knew where I was and I was frantically looking for my jacket with my passport and wallet... Thankfully I had just been listening to yesterdays news on BBC and I quickly realised this... The nuclear emergency is a big worry here at the moment... I wish I could just get out now.
Will go out for a walk now and see what's happening outside. Will get some dinner then. Thanks again for all the messages I have recieved.. They are very much appreciated
As I was trying to get some sleep I had the BBC news on in the background on my laptop and I also had the television on silent. At one stage I heard something about another disaster and earthquake and I jumped out of the bed.. hardly knew where I was and I was frantically looking for my jacket with my passport and wallet... Thankfully I had just been listening to yesterdays news on BBC and I quickly realised this... The nuclear emergency is a big worry here at the moment... I wish I could just get out now.
Will go out for a walk now and see what's happening outside. Will get some dinner then. Thanks again for all the messages I have recieved.. They are very much appreciated
Saturday March 11th
Got about one and a half hours of sleep last night..if even that. Place shook badly on a couple of occasions during the night. Apparently this was due to a seperate earthquake in the northwest of Japan. When I woke at 4.30am I saw the news about the nuclear plant etc. and I started to get pretty nervous and I was shaking.. Called home to my Dad, we both figured it would be crazy for them to come to leave for Japan Sunday morning... and within a few minutes I had booked a flight for home... I'm booked on a Singapore Airlines flight out of Narita at 1900 local time tomorrow evening.. In one way I'm disappointed that I couldn't see my plans out until the end but at the end of the day my safety is most important.. I don't really want to stay around to see what happens next.. It's too scary for me. It definitely wouldn't have made sense for my parents to get on a flight to Tokyo on Sunday morning when the country is devasted... So I'm coming home to Ireland.. Hopefully the trains will get back running and that Narita returns to some normaility within the next 24 hours.
As I'm writing this the place still shakes from time to time... It has been about an hour since the last "heavier" jolt. Going to go for a walk towards Nippori station now to see if there is anything happening. 8.45am here... It's going to be a long day or so
As I'm writing this the place still shakes from time to time... It has been about an hour since the last "heavier" jolt. Going to go for a walk towards Nippori station now to see if there is anything happening. 8.45am here... It's going to be a long day or so
Further update
So the last strong aftershock was about an hour ago. My head still feels as if the whole place is rocking. I went for a shower a few minutes ago and I placed an empty shampoo bottle on a ledge so that if the place did start shaking it would fall and I'd know to get out quick!
Just as I was typing the last sentence I had to jump out of my seat and go out to the common area as the whole place was shaking again... One of the many guests in the apartment complex who are sleeping here for the night assured me it would be okay... Earlier in the evening I walked up to Nippori station with a Canadian guy who is also living in the same complex... The station is closed and there were hundreds if not a couple of thousand of people lining the streets with nowhere to go... It's all very frightening when millions of people are stranded with no trains operating...
I'm seeing a lot of devastion through the news and it is a big worry... My parents are due to leave Ireland for Japan this Sunday morning... I wonder should it be me that should be getting on the plane and going in the opposite direction... I spoke in my last post about the "Big One"... I have since been informed that this wasn't it... The big one is known in Japan as "Tokai"... There goes another aftershock.... I might not get much sleep tonight... Hopefully this will be all over in the morning. Going to try and get some sleep
Just as I was typing the last sentence I had to jump out of my seat and go out to the common area as the whole place was shaking again... One of the many guests in the apartment complex who are sleeping here for the night assured me it would be okay... Earlier in the evening I walked up to Nippori station with a Canadian guy who is also living in the same complex... The station is closed and there were hundreds if not a couple of thousand of people lining the streets with nowhere to go... It's all very frightening when millions of people are stranded with no trains operating...
I'm seeing a lot of devastion through the news and it is a big worry... My parents are due to leave Ireland for Japan this Sunday morning... I wonder should it be me that should be getting on the plane and going in the opposite direction... I spoke in my last post about the "Big One"... I have since been informed that this wasn't it... The big one is known in Japan as "Tokai"... There goes another aftershock.... I might not get much sleep tonight... Hopefully this will be all over in the morning. Going to try and get some sleep
Friday 11 March 2011
Friday March 11th.. Further update
Thanks for all the comments and good wishes. Tokyo is still shaking and we are still experiencing many aftershocks. Today will live long in my memory. It was an extremely frightening experience. I think it was sometime between 2.30pm and 3.00pm that I noticed some shaking in my apartment. By the time I got out to the front door there were three other people there and we all decided that it would be best to go outside as every second that passed the quake was getting stronger. We were running for open space by the time we reached the open street... People screaming and running everywhere... I was not only concerned about the buidlings collapsing but also the many power lines overhead. I eventually found a wooden frame to hide under by a fork (split) in the roadway. Every building and powerlines were swaying violdently... and the ground was like jelly... Eventually after what seemed like an enternity the fierce shaking stopped but the whole place was still swaying.. Felt like being on a boat... Eventually I made my way to a small park where I often go for an hour to sit and think.. There must have been a couple of hundred people there just standing and waiting for the shaking to stop.
There are lots of choppers in the sky and I can see on the news that many places around Tokyo are on fire. It is obvious from the news that there is much devastion and many many people dead or injured in northern Japan... Thoughts and prayers must go to those people... We have gotten away lightly in Tokyo by comparison. It's strange and you may not believe me but... ever since I have arrived here in Nippori since the group left, it has crossed my mind everyday about "what if"... "what if" an earthquake happened here... Afterall, they say that the "Big One" is imminent... Was this it? Let's hope it was and that there is no more to come.
I must go out to the common area in the hotel now and just sit down with everybody else who stays here. Thanks again to all of you for thinking about me
There are lots of choppers in the sky and I can see on the news that many places around Tokyo are on fire. It is obvious from the news that there is much devastion and many many people dead or injured in northern Japan... Thoughts and prayers must go to those people... We have gotten away lightly in Tokyo by comparison. It's strange and you may not believe me but... ever since I have arrived here in Nippori since the group left, it has crossed my mind everyday about "what if"... "what if" an earthquake happened here... Afterall, they say that the "Big One" is imminent... Was this it? Let's hope it was and that there is no more to come.
I must go out to the common area in the hotel now and just sit down with everybody else who stays here. Thanks again to all of you for thinking about me
Friday March 11th
Luckily I was in my apartment in Nippori working on my research when the earthquake struck this afternoon. Thankfully I am 100% okay although a little shocked and frightened. As I'm writing this there is still a gentle sway in the ground. Let's hope and pray that the worst is over now. Will update later on. Thanks for all the comments and good wishes that people have left
Thursday 10 March 2011
Thursday March 10th
No matter how good or confident I feel in myself before going to the Hombu Dojo, an anxious or nervous feeling always comes over me. This is one of the things that makes training in Japan such a challenge. I'm sure most other people in the dojo experience this feeling as well and that is probably one of the main reasons why it is such a special place to train and develop. Today I had the same anxious feelings about going to the dojo but I was also pretty anxious and a good bit stressed over completing the next draft of my PhD thesis. Something had to give and unfortunately it was my karate again today. Sorry to all my followers!
"When you aim for perfection you discover it's a moving target"... This is a phrase that I often think about. I was thinking to myself today about "expertise"... Expertise in karate... expertise in acedemia... These are probably the two main challenges that I am currently faced with in my life. Can I become an "expert" in both? Well... when I hopefully graduate with my PhD it will mean that I will have become the leading expert in the world in one particular element of technology education... I will only remain as that leading expert until somebody else comes along and adds to the body of knowledge that I have developed... Then again, I may choose to commit myself to researching within that area of education for a few years and remain at the pinnacle... There are lots of decisions to be made in the months ahead!
For me "expertise" in karate is different... I am not interested in becoming the next Kagawa Sensei or Yamaguchi Sensei... For me, this is totally impossible... but it is important to make small steps towards the standards set by these people. I want to be as good as I possibly can be at karate. This is the main reason why I came to Japan after all! But I need to prioritise and find a balance as well... Afterall I have the opportunity of becoming the best person in the world in one small area of education within the next few months! Deadline is this Sunday! So please stick with me and I can assure you that there will be loads and loads of more posts to come about my experiences in the dojo for the last few weeks of my stay here in Japan!
I know Kagawa Sensei left Japan this morning to teach at the JKS GB and Ireland technical course in Nottingham. Best of luck to Alan Sensei and Scott Sensei in running the course and I hope everybody enjoys the training which I'm sure will be brilliant and inspiring as usual. Oss!
"When you aim for perfection you discover it's a moving target"... This is a phrase that I often think about. I was thinking to myself today about "expertise"... Expertise in karate... expertise in acedemia... These are probably the two main challenges that I am currently faced with in my life. Can I become an "expert" in both? Well... when I hopefully graduate with my PhD it will mean that I will have become the leading expert in the world in one particular element of technology education... I will only remain as that leading expert until somebody else comes along and adds to the body of knowledge that I have developed... Then again, I may choose to commit myself to researching within that area of education for a few years and remain at the pinnacle... There are lots of decisions to be made in the months ahead!
For me "expertise" in karate is different... I am not interested in becoming the next Kagawa Sensei or Yamaguchi Sensei... For me, this is totally impossible... but it is important to make small steps towards the standards set by these people. I want to be as good as I possibly can be at karate. This is the main reason why I came to Japan after all! But I need to prioritise and find a balance as well... Afterall I have the opportunity of becoming the best person in the world in one small area of education within the next few months! Deadline is this Sunday! So please stick with me and I can assure you that there will be loads and loads of more posts to come about my experiences in the dojo for the last few weeks of my stay here in Japan!
I know Kagawa Sensei left Japan this morning to teach at the JKS GB and Ireland technical course in Nottingham. Best of luck to Alan Sensei and Scott Sensei in running the course and I hope everybody enjoys the training which I'm sure will be brilliant and inspiring as usual. Oss!
Wednesday 9 March 2011
Wednesday March 9th
It was a difficult enough day for me today.. I was a little stressed over getting my next draft of my PhD thesis completed and I had a pain in my head all day... It's becoming a bit of a race against time to get the finished thing submitted to my examiners. It's planned that I will be examined through a viva voce (oral examination) on May 16th... about a week or so after I return to Ireland. My examiners should have a copy of my work by 11th April so they can have a few weeks to review it. So time is ticking..! My research supervisors (Niall and Seamus) are a great support to me though which makes everything that bit easier.
So I decided not to train at the dojo this evening. I needed to keep working at my research unfortunately as I felt a little behind schedule. I will be back in the dojo tomorrow though... I sometimes feel guilty about missing a session but I have to find a balance for the moment.. The last five weeks will be full steam ahead though with morning and evening training everyday so at least I'll finish my stay here with that high level of intensity.
I forgot to mention in the blog yesterday that we also did 100 pulsing squats (legs shoulder width apart and thighs almost horizontal) and 100 uraken's in kiba dachi with Matsue Sensei... That was in addition to what I said yesterday.. I'm sure I got the message across that it was very intensive anyway! My cousin Kenneth's wife Orla had a baby boy this morning so it was great to hear that news from home! My mother and father will arrive here on Monday morning and will stay for about 12 days. They will "live my life" in Tokyo with me for the first few days and we will head off on the Shinkansen's to Hirsohima and Kyoto for six nights as well. So I'm looking forward to their visit.
So I decided not to train at the dojo this evening. I needed to keep working at my research unfortunately as I felt a little behind schedule. I will be back in the dojo tomorrow though... I sometimes feel guilty about missing a session but I have to find a balance for the moment.. The last five weeks will be full steam ahead though with morning and evening training everyday so at least I'll finish my stay here with that high level of intensity.
I forgot to mention in the blog yesterday that we also did 100 pulsing squats (legs shoulder width apart and thighs almost horizontal) and 100 uraken's in kiba dachi with Matsue Sensei... That was in addition to what I said yesterday.. I'm sure I got the message across that it was very intensive anyway! My cousin Kenneth's wife Orla had a baby boy this morning so it was great to hear that news from home! My mother and father will arrive here on Monday morning and will stay for about 12 days. They will "live my life" in Tokyo with me for the first few days and we will head off on the Shinkansen's to Hirsohima and Kyoto for six nights as well. So I'm looking forward to their visit.
Tuesday 8 March 2011
Tuesday March 8th
Training at the dojo on Tuesday evening always tends to be eventful in some way and I often find myself walking down through Sugamo after training (with my sweaty head) and laughing or smiling to myself about something that happened.. I have received a couple of strange looks from people on the street who are probably thinking its all a bit strange having a gaijin laughing away to himself! I suppose it's a mixture of relief having survived another days training and there is always a funny episode to report on from Inada Sensei's 6-7pm class!
Anyway, when I arrived at the dojo this evening I could hear Inada Sensei teaching the kids... He's back from teaching a weekend course in Denmark and it was his birthday a couple of days ago... I must admit that I was a little bit nervous before I went into dojo... Inada Sensei was particularly hard on me last week and I was hoping that I had enough practice and thought put into correcting elements of my technique that he had critiqued me on... After I placed my shoes on the shelf, I slid the door open and I saw Inada Sensei straight away and bowed deeply towards him... Before I had risen out of the bow he had raced over to me with a smile on his face and made actions that suggested "chair dips"... I bowed and said "Oss!" and Matsue Sensei was smiling away in the background. I think Inada Sensei may have been happy to see me which is kind of cool!
As I was observing the class it was cool to see how Inada Sensei teaches... For a few minutes he's really strict and drilling the kids, occasionally giving them a smack of the shinai and between techniques he would have a little chat with the kids and challenge them in trying to repeat complex riddles that he would say to them! At the end of the 5-6pm class Inada Sensei got the students to do jiyu-kumite.. At one stage the young NiDan who I have mentioned was fighting with a young white belt and he must have given him a smack in the stomach. The white belt started bawling crying and Matsue Sensei went over to him straight away and smacked the shinai off the ground and basically told him to "man-up" and hit him back! So it was funny to see him redden up in the face with aggression as he followed his partner around the dojo trying to hit him back! At one stage Inada Sensei disappeared and then I heard him call my name... This was kind of out of the blue.. He asked me when I would grade for my YonDan (4th Dan) and I said not for a long time yet... He asked "why" and I said that I only got my SanDan (3rd Dan) just over a year ago... Jokingly I said that I need to practice my kekomi as well and he saw the funny side of it!
There were only four of us in the 6-7pm class. Three kids and myself.. One of the kids is a blackbelt and around 11/12 years old, another one of the kids is also a blackbelt (NiDan) I think.. about 10/11 years old and brilliant... his sister was also training and she is a brown belt.. about 6/7 years old... also really good! So after the warm-up we got the chairs out and Inada led the dips... thankfully "only" sets of 20 tonight so no increase from last week. Inada Sensei told me after the first set that his shoulders were stiff tonight.. I was secretly happy with that but we still did our usual six sets! After the "chair dips" we did kihon for about 25 minutes and Inada Sensei said that this would be "special training". And it was special alright as he drilled us hard... Not the usual five repetitions up the dojo but seven repetitions... All basic punches, kicks and blocks and different combinations... At one stage he came over to me as I was doing mae-geri oi-zuki and my initial knee lift wasn't high enough and he smacked me with the shinai on a couple of occasions... It really stings let me tell you.. so you get the message pretty quickly! So near the end of the kihon drills we did san-ban zuki seven times each way and then Inada Sensei got us do "Gohon Zuki" (five punches at once) seven times each way up and down the dojo.. I was spent after it! Felt pretty good with my yokogeri-kekomi tonight and I think I have made big improvements and am really getting long extension on the kick... need to keep practicing it though. One point I'd like to make actually.. Some people might think that training might be that bit easier because I have kids training beside me.. But these kids are not "ordinary" kids... they are exceptionally talented with really pure technique and they move very fast.. As a senior you don't exactly want them to finish before you in oi-komi or other things... So in actual fact you train even harder with the kids there!
After the kihon we did Kanku-Dai a couple of times... Inada Sensei pointed out a couple of things that I need to work on... Was still trying to recover from the kihon at this stage. Inada Sensei asked us to get our mitts for kumite for the last ten minutes... He told us that it would be free kumite between the four of us... So I thought straight away that it would be me trying to defend off the three kids! But they were reluctant enough to attack me... I got stuck in straight away but in a very relaxed fashion of course! Brought the older black belt softly to the ground on a couple of occasions... The younger NiDan started to get stuck into me as well and at one stage when I was fighting with the older kid.. the young NiDan came behind me and gave me a kick up the ass..! Of course I reacted as if I was shocked and gave a loud "oss!".. I think everybody saw the funny side of it and I think Inada Sensei may have been behind the idea of giving me a kick up the ass! All the time this was going on the young brown belt girl wasn't involved... At one stage I picked up her brother and ran towards her as if I was using him as a weapon..! He was loving it but... I'm afraid she burst out crying and that was the end of it! Matsue Sensei and Inada Sensei were laughing as they were trying to console her and I felt really sorry for her.. The Sensei's assured me that it was okay and that it was good for her to experience that and she was just a little bit afraid! She couldn't even look at me after class and I made sure to kneel down beside her to console her.. I'll have to buy her a little gift or something to show her that I'm not a monster! All the time her brother (the NiDan who I used as a "weapon") was laughing away and I'd say he thought I was great fun.. Not his little sister!
Matsue Sensei took the 7-8pm class. There were only two of use training.. Haga-san and myself.. Haga-san told me tonight that he is 52 years old and that he has been training since he was 38 years old.. As Haga-san was warming up Matsue Sensei was doing a lot of stretching and I thought to myself that we were going to have a hard one... I was right! Matsue Sensei firstly gave us a towel each and then we proceeded with straight sets of 100 situps, 100 abdominal exercises on our front side, 100 pushups, 100 punches in kiba-dachi, 100 calf strengthening exercises with a towel (a bit hard to explain!), 100 mae-geri's from hesoku-dachi and finally 100 mawashi-geri's from shizentai.. It think that was all of it! Wrecked at this stage and thankfully Matsue gave us a one minute break.. The pace lessened after this thankfully and we went on to practice Basai-Dai and Kanku-Dai. Lots of little points learned that I need to work on. Matsue Sensei is also a brilliant Sensei and I rate his teaching qualities very highly... He has a superb knowledge of kata and will always spot your mistakes and explain what you are doing wrong.. He will always explain things in a couple of ways and always gives some very nice bunkai (applications) for techniques. Like Ishimine Sensei, I think it would be great if Matsue Sensei could teach more often in Europe. He has an awful lot to give and he has excellent English. Interestingly enough at one point he was explaining about a couple of moves in Bassai Dai and he referred to how the "book" describes these movements... That book he was talking about was from Nakayama Sensei and he was also referring to Asai Sensei.
Overall, it was great training again today... I presume you now have an idea why I was laughing to myself as I was heading for my dinner at Jonathans! Simon has suggested that I add some photographs to my blog to paint a picture for people who aren't familiar with all the people and places that I mention in my blog.. Strangely enough I was thinking the exact same thing as I was walking from Nippori station to my apartment tonight! I'll get around to it next week! I must find out the names of all the students that I mention as well actually... Long post today.. Off to bed now and up early in the morning to work on my research thesis
Anyway, when I arrived at the dojo this evening I could hear Inada Sensei teaching the kids... He's back from teaching a weekend course in Denmark and it was his birthday a couple of days ago... I must admit that I was a little bit nervous before I went into dojo... Inada Sensei was particularly hard on me last week and I was hoping that I had enough practice and thought put into correcting elements of my technique that he had critiqued me on... After I placed my shoes on the shelf, I slid the door open and I saw Inada Sensei straight away and bowed deeply towards him... Before I had risen out of the bow he had raced over to me with a smile on his face and made actions that suggested "chair dips"... I bowed and said "Oss!" and Matsue Sensei was smiling away in the background. I think Inada Sensei may have been happy to see me which is kind of cool!
As I was observing the class it was cool to see how Inada Sensei teaches... For a few minutes he's really strict and drilling the kids, occasionally giving them a smack of the shinai and between techniques he would have a little chat with the kids and challenge them in trying to repeat complex riddles that he would say to them! At the end of the 5-6pm class Inada Sensei got the students to do jiyu-kumite.. At one stage the young NiDan who I have mentioned was fighting with a young white belt and he must have given him a smack in the stomach. The white belt started bawling crying and Matsue Sensei went over to him straight away and smacked the shinai off the ground and basically told him to "man-up" and hit him back! So it was funny to see him redden up in the face with aggression as he followed his partner around the dojo trying to hit him back! At one stage Inada Sensei disappeared and then I heard him call my name... This was kind of out of the blue.. He asked me when I would grade for my YonDan (4th Dan) and I said not for a long time yet... He asked "why" and I said that I only got my SanDan (3rd Dan) just over a year ago... Jokingly I said that I need to practice my kekomi as well and he saw the funny side of it!
There were only four of us in the 6-7pm class. Three kids and myself.. One of the kids is a blackbelt and around 11/12 years old, another one of the kids is also a blackbelt (NiDan) I think.. about 10/11 years old and brilliant... his sister was also training and she is a brown belt.. about 6/7 years old... also really good! So after the warm-up we got the chairs out and Inada led the dips... thankfully "only" sets of 20 tonight so no increase from last week. Inada Sensei told me after the first set that his shoulders were stiff tonight.. I was secretly happy with that but we still did our usual six sets! After the "chair dips" we did kihon for about 25 minutes and Inada Sensei said that this would be "special training". And it was special alright as he drilled us hard... Not the usual five repetitions up the dojo but seven repetitions... All basic punches, kicks and blocks and different combinations... At one stage he came over to me as I was doing mae-geri oi-zuki and my initial knee lift wasn't high enough and he smacked me with the shinai on a couple of occasions... It really stings let me tell you.. so you get the message pretty quickly! So near the end of the kihon drills we did san-ban zuki seven times each way and then Inada Sensei got us do "Gohon Zuki" (five punches at once) seven times each way up and down the dojo.. I was spent after it! Felt pretty good with my yokogeri-kekomi tonight and I think I have made big improvements and am really getting long extension on the kick... need to keep practicing it though. One point I'd like to make actually.. Some people might think that training might be that bit easier because I have kids training beside me.. But these kids are not "ordinary" kids... they are exceptionally talented with really pure technique and they move very fast.. As a senior you don't exactly want them to finish before you in oi-komi or other things... So in actual fact you train even harder with the kids there!
After the kihon we did Kanku-Dai a couple of times... Inada Sensei pointed out a couple of things that I need to work on... Was still trying to recover from the kihon at this stage. Inada Sensei asked us to get our mitts for kumite for the last ten minutes... He told us that it would be free kumite between the four of us... So I thought straight away that it would be me trying to defend off the three kids! But they were reluctant enough to attack me... I got stuck in straight away but in a very relaxed fashion of course! Brought the older black belt softly to the ground on a couple of occasions... The younger NiDan started to get stuck into me as well and at one stage when I was fighting with the older kid.. the young NiDan came behind me and gave me a kick up the ass..! Of course I reacted as if I was shocked and gave a loud "oss!".. I think everybody saw the funny side of it and I think Inada Sensei may have been behind the idea of giving me a kick up the ass! All the time this was going on the young brown belt girl wasn't involved... At one stage I picked up her brother and ran towards her as if I was using him as a weapon..! He was loving it but... I'm afraid she burst out crying and that was the end of it! Matsue Sensei and Inada Sensei were laughing as they were trying to console her and I felt really sorry for her.. The Sensei's assured me that it was okay and that it was good for her to experience that and she was just a little bit afraid! She couldn't even look at me after class and I made sure to kneel down beside her to console her.. I'll have to buy her a little gift or something to show her that I'm not a monster! All the time her brother (the NiDan who I used as a "weapon") was laughing away and I'd say he thought I was great fun.. Not his little sister!
Matsue Sensei took the 7-8pm class. There were only two of use training.. Haga-san and myself.. Haga-san told me tonight that he is 52 years old and that he has been training since he was 38 years old.. As Haga-san was warming up Matsue Sensei was doing a lot of stretching and I thought to myself that we were going to have a hard one... I was right! Matsue Sensei firstly gave us a towel each and then we proceeded with straight sets of 100 situps, 100 abdominal exercises on our front side, 100 pushups, 100 punches in kiba-dachi, 100 calf strengthening exercises with a towel (a bit hard to explain!), 100 mae-geri's from hesoku-dachi and finally 100 mawashi-geri's from shizentai.. It think that was all of it! Wrecked at this stage and thankfully Matsue gave us a one minute break.. The pace lessened after this thankfully and we went on to practice Basai-Dai and Kanku-Dai. Lots of little points learned that I need to work on. Matsue Sensei is also a brilliant Sensei and I rate his teaching qualities very highly... He has a superb knowledge of kata and will always spot your mistakes and explain what you are doing wrong.. He will always explain things in a couple of ways and always gives some very nice bunkai (applications) for techniques. Like Ishimine Sensei, I think it would be great if Matsue Sensei could teach more often in Europe. He has an awful lot to give and he has excellent English. Interestingly enough at one point he was explaining about a couple of moves in Bassai Dai and he referred to how the "book" describes these movements... That book he was talking about was from Nakayama Sensei and he was also referring to Asai Sensei.
Overall, it was great training again today... I presume you now have an idea why I was laughing to myself as I was heading for my dinner at Jonathans! Simon has suggested that I add some photographs to my blog to paint a picture for people who aren't familiar with all the people and places that I mention in my blog.. Strangely enough I was thinking the exact same thing as I was walking from Nippori station to my apartment tonight! I'll get around to it next week! I must find out the names of all the students that I mention as well actually... Long post today.. Off to bed now and up early in the morning to work on my research thesis
Monday 7 March 2011
Monday March 7th
I have my right foot steeped in a basin of water and ice as I'm typing this blog. I'll explain in a little bit..! It was a bad day in Tokyo today, rained all day and it was cold. Didn't really matter to me anyway as I was camped inside all day working at my research. It's coming along slowly but I do get tired from it at times... Constantly questioning myself... rewriting paragraphs and swapping and changing things around... making sure everything is coherent... The joys of completing a PhD thesis I guess!
I hit off for Sugamo about ten minutes earlier than usual today... My body was feeling a little tired so I wanted plenty of time to stretch and warm up and as well as that Kagawa Sensei would probably be at the dojo so plenty of opportunities to observe him! When I arrived at the dojo Matsue Sensei was there and he smiled and asked me straight away.. "Are you finished?".. referring to my thesis of course! So I explained that I had another week of work to do. Nagaki Sensei was teaching the kids class when I arrived... No sign of Kai Sensei tonight. There was a visitor to the dojo tonight... This time it wasn't an "ordinary" student but a student who is training at Teikyo University... A young guy... maybe about 18/19 years old. I only realised tonight that Riko-san (I think that is her name!) who is a young female about 15/16 who trains regularly at the dojo, is attending Teikyo High School... I'm not sure what the relationship is with Teikyo University but I'm sure they are tied together in some way. For those of you who aren't familiar with Teikyo University... Basically it is the top karate university in Japan, a breeding ground for members of the Japanese national karate team, notorious for its intensive training regime and the alma-mater of most of the Sensei's at the Hombu Dojo.
Nagaki Sensei and Kagawa Sensei shared the instruction in both the 6-7pm and 7-8pm sessions this evening. As usual we were drilled for the first half an hour of the 6-7pm class with kihon. Kagawa Sensei was taking particular interest in the Teikyo Univeristy student and was often correcting his posture and the lack of extension in his punches. Kagawa Sensei pointed corrected me on one particular point of my kihon. As I step forward say.. Oi zuki and when I plant my leading foot I tend to suddenly stop bending my front knee.. As a result it promotes a slight stamp and is not a natural finish to the technique.. So Kagawa Sensei pointed out that I should allow my knee to bend forward naturally as my foot lands... So I tried to do this in front of him... and I got the nod of approval and the words "so...so!" which kind of means "yes.. I agree". This is something that I need to make sure I concentrate on.
We did some jiyu ippon kumite and Kagawa Sensei paired the Teikyo student up with me straight away. I lean guy... a bit shorter than me... nice and relaxed but fast.. very fast! But hey.. I can be fast too! So we were attacking jodan slowly five times then fast five times... chudan.. mae-geri.. yoko-geri.. no real problems. We were both really getting stuck in to each other. When it came to mawashi-geri the Teikyo guy caught me a one time as I was attacking him and before I could release my kick... This woke me up and I said it wouldn't happen again.. so I increased the speed and power of my kick (thinking of Yamaguchi Sensei smacking the pad that I was holding)... Couple of times to his head and he blocked successfully and for the last one I thought I'd really let him have it by kicking him in the lower back. I smacked him but he tended to block awkwardly and elbowed the top of my instep almost at the bone of my ankle... Sore dose and he apologised straight away.. But with the rushing of blood I didn't feel any pain about 10 seconds later.. So it's not too bad now. Hopefully will be okay in the morning.
Nagaki Sensei took almost all of the 7-8pm class. Kagawa Sensei seemed to be taking it easy and just observing maybe with this weekends course in Nottingham in mind..! Again the Teikyo student was the focus of attention and both Nagaki Sensei and Kagawa Sensei were often correcting him. Nagaki Sensei appeared a little on edge.. always the case when Kagawa Sensei was around.. but I think more so tonight. We did a lot of gohon kumite in this session. Again Kagawa Sensei paired the Teikyo student and I together. We both really went at it again and to be honest it was very enjoyable! We then changed partners for a few rounds where we did gohon kumite with free techniques... High intensity atmosphere and everybody was feeling it! We finished the class with all Junro kata. Kagawa Sensei was shouting orders from the side with Nagaki Sensei still really on edge. Kagawa Sensei was stressing the importance of us doing the kata's smoothly and not so much like...1...2...3...4 but rather 1.2.3....4. More natural timing. I was feeling really tired for the last 10 minutes of the class as I'm sure everybody else was but it was great training with a highly charged atmosphere.
As I was leaving the dojo, Nagaki Sensei called me and basically said that I am after losing weight and the cheeks of my face are "slim"... I just nodded and I told him that I have lost about 6kg over the past few weeks. He was laughing! Not that I needed to lose weight..! I am trying to eat as much as I can. I have two dinners everyday and when I go to Jonathan's in particular I make sure that I get the dishes with the highest number of calories! I know my mother and all my aunts will be going mad when they hear that I have lost weight because they are always on my case saying that I am too thin! Maybe I'll have to up my dinners to three or even four a day for the last five weeks of my stay when I plan to train every session everyday..!
I hit off for Sugamo about ten minutes earlier than usual today... My body was feeling a little tired so I wanted plenty of time to stretch and warm up and as well as that Kagawa Sensei would probably be at the dojo so plenty of opportunities to observe him! When I arrived at the dojo Matsue Sensei was there and he smiled and asked me straight away.. "Are you finished?".. referring to my thesis of course! So I explained that I had another week of work to do. Nagaki Sensei was teaching the kids class when I arrived... No sign of Kai Sensei tonight. There was a visitor to the dojo tonight... This time it wasn't an "ordinary" student but a student who is training at Teikyo University... A young guy... maybe about 18/19 years old. I only realised tonight that Riko-san (I think that is her name!) who is a young female about 15/16 who trains regularly at the dojo, is attending Teikyo High School... I'm not sure what the relationship is with Teikyo University but I'm sure they are tied together in some way. For those of you who aren't familiar with Teikyo University... Basically it is the top karate university in Japan, a breeding ground for members of the Japanese national karate team, notorious for its intensive training regime and the alma-mater of most of the Sensei's at the Hombu Dojo.
Nagaki Sensei and Kagawa Sensei shared the instruction in both the 6-7pm and 7-8pm sessions this evening. As usual we were drilled for the first half an hour of the 6-7pm class with kihon. Kagawa Sensei was taking particular interest in the Teikyo Univeristy student and was often correcting his posture and the lack of extension in his punches. Kagawa Sensei pointed corrected me on one particular point of my kihon. As I step forward say.. Oi zuki and when I plant my leading foot I tend to suddenly stop bending my front knee.. As a result it promotes a slight stamp and is not a natural finish to the technique.. So Kagawa Sensei pointed out that I should allow my knee to bend forward naturally as my foot lands... So I tried to do this in front of him... and I got the nod of approval and the words "so...so!" which kind of means "yes.. I agree". This is something that I need to make sure I concentrate on.
We did some jiyu ippon kumite and Kagawa Sensei paired the Teikyo student up with me straight away. I lean guy... a bit shorter than me... nice and relaxed but fast.. very fast! But hey.. I can be fast too! So we were attacking jodan slowly five times then fast five times... chudan.. mae-geri.. yoko-geri.. no real problems. We were both really getting stuck in to each other. When it came to mawashi-geri the Teikyo guy caught me a one time as I was attacking him and before I could release my kick... This woke me up and I said it wouldn't happen again.. so I increased the speed and power of my kick (thinking of Yamaguchi Sensei smacking the pad that I was holding)... Couple of times to his head and he blocked successfully and for the last one I thought I'd really let him have it by kicking him in the lower back. I smacked him but he tended to block awkwardly and elbowed the top of my instep almost at the bone of my ankle... Sore dose and he apologised straight away.. But with the rushing of blood I didn't feel any pain about 10 seconds later.. So it's not too bad now. Hopefully will be okay in the morning.
Nagaki Sensei took almost all of the 7-8pm class. Kagawa Sensei seemed to be taking it easy and just observing maybe with this weekends course in Nottingham in mind..! Again the Teikyo student was the focus of attention and both Nagaki Sensei and Kagawa Sensei were often correcting him. Nagaki Sensei appeared a little on edge.. always the case when Kagawa Sensei was around.. but I think more so tonight. We did a lot of gohon kumite in this session. Again Kagawa Sensei paired the Teikyo student and I together. We both really went at it again and to be honest it was very enjoyable! We then changed partners for a few rounds where we did gohon kumite with free techniques... High intensity atmosphere and everybody was feeling it! We finished the class with all Junro kata. Kagawa Sensei was shouting orders from the side with Nagaki Sensei still really on edge. Kagawa Sensei was stressing the importance of us doing the kata's smoothly and not so much like...1...2...3...4 but rather 1.2.3....4. More natural timing. I was feeling really tired for the last 10 minutes of the class as I'm sure everybody else was but it was great training with a highly charged atmosphere.
As I was leaving the dojo, Nagaki Sensei called me and basically said that I am after losing weight and the cheeks of my face are "slim"... I just nodded and I told him that I have lost about 6kg over the past few weeks. He was laughing! Not that I needed to lose weight..! I am trying to eat as much as I can. I have two dinners everyday and when I go to Jonathan's in particular I make sure that I get the dishes with the highest number of calories! I know my mother and all my aunts will be going mad when they hear that I have lost weight because they are always on my case saying that I am too thin! Maybe I'll have to up my dinners to three or even four a day for the last five weeks of my stay when I plan to train every session everyday..!
Sunday 6 March 2011
Sunday March 6th
Yesterday Frank asked me to expand a little bit more on Ishimine Sensei... Ishimine Sensei only teaches at the dojo on Saturday mornings. As far as I know he manages the JKS head office and possibly maybe another business of the late Asai Sensei. At the moment I usually only train in the evening time on Saturdays so I haven't seen a whole pile of Ishimine Sensei. His karate looks a little different than the rest of the Sensei's in the dojo... There is this really nice fluidity and flexibility to his karate which seems to be unique to him.. In terms of teaching qualities, he comes across very impressively... He doesn't really drill through the techniques alongside the rest of the students. He tends to prefer to step back and observe and he will always have something that he wants to explain at the end of each set of techniques.. For example, yesterday he was speaking about blocks such as uchi uke, soto uke and shuto uke... So obviously everybody should have one fist distance between the elbow of their blocking hand and their ribs... But Ishimine Sensei was saying that a lot of people don't contract their lat muscles and keep their shoulders down... So he got an A4 laminated sheet of paper... Put it between his elbow and ribs.... Obviously it fell straight to the floor because of the one fist gap... He then put the sheet under his arm pit and asked one of the students to pull it... They couldn't pull it down because he obviously had the correct muscles tensioned etc.. Simple explanation but effective!
Even when we had a break in between the first and second session I was practicing yokogeri-kekomi slowly in front of the mirror... Ishimine Sensei just glanced at me and he came over to me... pointed out one simple little technical point.. I tried yokogeri kekomi again and it felt so much better for me! He smiled, nodded approvingly and walked away. So Ishimine Sensei is like all of the other Sensei's in the dojo... His technique and knowledge is excellent and he has some very nice teaching qualities and good English! It's a pity that people in Europe don't really get to train with him.
So... today is Sunday and no training at the dojo. I was at my research all day but I went out for an hour to Ueno Park. Some great entertainment there including musicians, jugglers etc.. No sign of the Sakura (cherry blossom) yet! Weather has warmed up a little. It was pretty cold in Tokyo over the last few days. Looking forward to getting back in the dojo again tomorrow. This time next week I will hopefully be wrapped up with my research thesis (hopefully!)
Even when we had a break in between the first and second session I was practicing yokogeri-kekomi slowly in front of the mirror... Ishimine Sensei just glanced at me and he came over to me... pointed out one simple little technical point.. I tried yokogeri kekomi again and it felt so much better for me! He smiled, nodded approvingly and walked away. So Ishimine Sensei is like all of the other Sensei's in the dojo... His technique and knowledge is excellent and he has some very nice teaching qualities and good English! It's a pity that people in Europe don't really get to train with him.
So... today is Sunday and no training at the dojo. I was at my research all day but I went out for an hour to Ueno Park. Some great entertainment there including musicians, jugglers etc.. No sign of the Sakura (cherry blossom) yet! Weather has warmed up a little. It was pretty cold in Tokyo over the last few days. Looking forward to getting back in the dojo again tomorrow. This time next week I will hopefully be wrapped up with my research thesis (hopefully!)
Saturday 5 March 2011
Saturday March 5th
Nippori is always buzzing on Saturdays... Lots of people around... some people selling vegetables, others handcrafted goods, there is usually a guy who works out of the back of his van with a grinding stone for sharpening knives etc and there are all these neat little stores and restaurants.. I'm sure my parents will enjoy seeing all of this when they arrive out... They have no idea what the place is like here! There are a good few cats around here as well and I am always laughing to myself when I see Japanese people chasing after them to get a photograph with their really expensive Nikkon cameras! They just seem fascinated by cats.. I have no idea why!
Was at my research for most of the day today and headed off to the dojo for training from 4-6pm. To my surprise Kanayama Sensei was at the dojo when I arrived... He doesn't usually teach on Saturdays. There were nine people training from 4-5pm. I was the senior grade so I called all the commands and did the warm-up, dojo-kun etc. There were two guys training this evening and I think they were just probably visiting from another JKS dojo. One of the guys was in his thirties maybe... a black belt, and the other guy was maybe seventeen/eighteen and he was a brown belt. Kanayama Sensei drilled us as usual... almost all kihon for the first 45 minutes. I quickly realised that the two visitors were struggling somewhat to keep with the pace. If I'm honest I couldn't stop myself from glancing at them in the mirror at different stages and looking at their technique... and you do get a certain lift from seeing that you are performing techniques that little bit better and faster and that training at the Hombu Dojo is making that difference. Ishimine Sensei arrived at the dojo half way through this class and he was on the visitors backs straight away.. correcting their technique etc. We finished off the class with Gohon kumite... no real problems there.. Kanayama Sensei was constantly reminding the visitors about the correct stepping movement and being long with techniques and deep in stance.
Ishimine Sensei took the 5-6pm class. Again it was mostly kihon. We did a lot of techniques from zenkutsu-dachi where we would do say... gyaku-zuki - gedan barai with the opposite hand... break down for 20 times on one side and then do both techniques to one count for 10 times.. Ishimine Sensei was on the case of the younger visitor for most of the class... The other guy had to give up after the first session.. He appeared wrecked! The main teaching points that Ishimine Sensei stressed were using proper hamne/shomen and rotation of the body and punching through each gyaku-zuki with proper extension in the shoulder. When doing maegeri, Ishimine Sensei was stressing the importance of keeping the upper body flexible and leading with the hips and not your head. We did lots of ido-kihon up and down the dojo and finished with all Heian kata and their corresponding Junro kata. Everybody seemed really tired at the end of the class and most of these only trained from 5-6pm! It was great to be back in the dojo again after a couple of days rest. Wrecked now and looking forward to getting some sleep!
Was at my research for most of the day today and headed off to the dojo for training from 4-6pm. To my surprise Kanayama Sensei was at the dojo when I arrived... He doesn't usually teach on Saturdays. There were nine people training from 4-5pm. I was the senior grade so I called all the commands and did the warm-up, dojo-kun etc. There were two guys training this evening and I think they were just probably visiting from another JKS dojo. One of the guys was in his thirties maybe... a black belt, and the other guy was maybe seventeen/eighteen and he was a brown belt. Kanayama Sensei drilled us as usual... almost all kihon for the first 45 minutes. I quickly realised that the two visitors were struggling somewhat to keep with the pace. If I'm honest I couldn't stop myself from glancing at them in the mirror at different stages and looking at their technique... and you do get a certain lift from seeing that you are performing techniques that little bit better and faster and that training at the Hombu Dojo is making that difference. Ishimine Sensei arrived at the dojo half way through this class and he was on the visitors backs straight away.. correcting their technique etc. We finished off the class with Gohon kumite... no real problems there.. Kanayama Sensei was constantly reminding the visitors about the correct stepping movement and being long with techniques and deep in stance.
Ishimine Sensei took the 5-6pm class. Again it was mostly kihon. We did a lot of techniques from zenkutsu-dachi where we would do say... gyaku-zuki - gedan barai with the opposite hand... break down for 20 times on one side and then do both techniques to one count for 10 times.. Ishimine Sensei was on the case of the younger visitor for most of the class... The other guy had to give up after the first session.. He appeared wrecked! The main teaching points that Ishimine Sensei stressed were using proper hamne/shomen and rotation of the body and punching through each gyaku-zuki with proper extension in the shoulder. When doing maegeri, Ishimine Sensei was stressing the importance of keeping the upper body flexible and leading with the hips and not your head. We did lots of ido-kihon up and down the dojo and finished with all Heian kata and their corresponding Junro kata. Everybody seemed really tired at the end of the class and most of these only trained from 5-6pm! It was great to be back in the dojo again after a couple of days rest. Wrecked now and looking forward to getting some sleep!
Friday March 4th
I'm glad to say that I slept very well last night! My brother told me to try out some motor imagery exercises and whatever I did... I think it worked! I don't remember much after doing about five yokogeri kekomi's (broken down and really slow) on my right side! Research day again today and making progress... slowly but surely! It's really cool how the blogger can provide me with statistics on how many people are viewing my blog etc. Since I started blogging regularly in the beginning of February the blog has been viewed almost 3,000 times...! Ireland wins the majority and the U.K. is in close pursuit but I am amazed to see people viewing it from places like Ukraine, Germany, India, U.S.A., Morocco... just to name a few! This is pretty amazing for me that people are taking such an interest in it. I have seen on some websites such as James' blog on "Rhinoceros in the Dojo" and Bradford JKS website that people are linking to the blog and providing me with words of support.. Thank you to all of these people!
This evening I met with Scott Sensei's friend Nick in Shimbashi and we went to a Yakatori restaurant under the tracks of Shimbashi station... It's a really small famous place, literally on the side of the street, packed mostly with "salarymen". So we ate some chicken, pork and beef (I think) on the sticks and also some drinks! Some people were eating raw liver...! From there we went to an Izakaya which is basically an drinking and eating establishment and we had some more food which was this time deep fried and covered with breadcrumbs... It was all very nice and the tummy was full at this stage. We ended up going to Shibuya and had a couple of drinks in another establishment before heading to Nicks apartment where we had... TEA :) Nick showed me a very funny video of some karate dojo doing "KATA" to the Rocky movie theme... and we also looked at some cool photographs from a recent trip he and his girlfriend had to South Africa! Got the Yamanote train back to Nippori and it's just after midnight now... The train was absolutely packed all the way back... Friday night is a hectic night in Tokyo for drinking and eating! More research to be done again tomorrow moring and looking forward to training in the dojo tomorrow evening.. more than likely it will be with Nagaki Sensei and Makita Sensei
This evening I met with Scott Sensei's friend Nick in Shimbashi and we went to a Yakatori restaurant under the tracks of Shimbashi station... It's a really small famous place, literally on the side of the street, packed mostly with "salarymen". So we ate some chicken, pork and beef (I think) on the sticks and also some drinks! Some people were eating raw liver...! From there we went to an Izakaya which is basically an drinking and eating establishment and we had some more food which was this time deep fried and covered with breadcrumbs... It was all very nice and the tummy was full at this stage. We ended up going to Shibuya and had a couple of drinks in another establishment before heading to Nicks apartment where we had... TEA :) Nick showed me a very funny video of some karate dojo doing "KATA" to the Rocky movie theme... and we also looked at some cool photographs from a recent trip he and his girlfriend had to South Africa! Got the Yamanote train back to Nippori and it's just after midnight now... The train was absolutely packed all the way back... Friday night is a hectic night in Tokyo for drinking and eating! More research to be done again tomorrow moring and looking forward to training in the dojo tomorrow evening.. more than likely it will be with Nagaki Sensei and Makita Sensei
Thursday 3 March 2011
Thursday March 3rd
Restless sleep again last night.. I could do without them! I really think that I need to zone out of the karate mindset for a couple of days.. Since I arrived in Japan nearly six weeks ago it has been karate full steam ahead for me. I'm powering ahead with finalising my PhD thesis over the last few days and I think I owe it another few days of dedicated attention. So I emailed Yamaguchi Sensei at the dojo this morning and told him that I really need to concentrate on my studies for a few days and that I will not be training in the dojo again until Saturday. Matsue Sensei replied to me and said that all the Sensei's understand my situation and that it is no problem.
For those of you who don't know what my research is about I will try to explain briefly without boring you..! After I graduated from university in 2008 I started a two year teaching position at the University of Limerick. While teaching in the university I enrolled as a PhD student. My area of research is in education... and basically it is concerned with developing peoples ability to freehand sketch (through a model of instruction that I have devised) and the subsequent scientific examination of this development. Over the past 3 years I have been very fortunate that my research has enabled me to travel to places like the U.S.A. and the U.K. to present my work and meet with leading academics in the same area. So before I came to Japan I completed a draft thesis of my research and at the moment I am finalising the final thesis which will be submitted for examination. I will be examined when I return home from Japan in May.
To take a break from my research for an hour today I travelled to Kasuga to see if I could buy a shinai (a bamboo sword/stick). I eventually found a budo shop that sold them and I bought a 39" one along with a cover sleeve. It cost about €30. I often see Kagawa Sensei using this in the dojo practicing his stretches and Inada Sensei gave me a couple of exercises on Tuesday night to help me with my yokogeri kekomi in which I can use the shinai. So when I got back to my apartment I spent a lot of time in between my research doing leg raises, kicks and stretches in front of the mirror and using the shinai as a balancing aid and as a vertical reference line to make sure that I am not breaking the centreline. I'm finding it a great help so far!
So research day planned again for tomorrow and I am supposed to be meeting Scott Sensei's friend Nick and maybe Hiroshi tomorrow night for a couple of hours. So for those of you who are waiting for dojo updates you will have to wait until Saturday I'm afraid!
For those of you who don't know what my research is about I will try to explain briefly without boring you..! After I graduated from university in 2008 I started a two year teaching position at the University of Limerick. While teaching in the university I enrolled as a PhD student. My area of research is in education... and basically it is concerned with developing peoples ability to freehand sketch (through a model of instruction that I have devised) and the subsequent scientific examination of this development. Over the past 3 years I have been very fortunate that my research has enabled me to travel to places like the U.S.A. and the U.K. to present my work and meet with leading academics in the same area. So before I came to Japan I completed a draft thesis of my research and at the moment I am finalising the final thesis which will be submitted for examination. I will be examined when I return home from Japan in May.
To take a break from my research for an hour today I travelled to Kasuga to see if I could buy a shinai (a bamboo sword/stick). I eventually found a budo shop that sold them and I bought a 39" one along with a cover sleeve. It cost about €30. I often see Kagawa Sensei using this in the dojo practicing his stretches and Inada Sensei gave me a couple of exercises on Tuesday night to help me with my yokogeri kekomi in which I can use the shinai. So when I got back to my apartment I spent a lot of time in between my research doing leg raises, kicks and stretches in front of the mirror and using the shinai as a balancing aid and as a vertical reference line to make sure that I am not breaking the centreline. I'm finding it a great help so far!
So research day planned again for tomorrow and I am supposed to be meeting Scott Sensei's friend Nick and maybe Hiroshi tomorrow night for a couple of hours. So for those of you who are waiting for dojo updates you will have to wait until Saturday I'm afraid!
Wednesday 2 March 2011
Wednesday March 2nd
I think yesterday evenings training was both mentally and physically very hard for me. The physical "bashing" is easier to deal with than the mental "bashing"... Not that I didn't enjoy that 20 minutes with Inada Sensei because I actually did and I was so glad that he took me aside and ripped my technique apart!! The only problem for me is that I was doing yokogeri-kekomi in my sleep all night last night... very restless nights sleep! I'm not sure if I can afford to be having sleeps like that especially when my PhD thesis is due for final submission in 11 days time..!
I was up early this morning and I had a pretty good day at my research thankfully and at intervals in between I would find myself going to the mirror and practicing my kekomi making sure that I was keeping my back straight and my upper body relaxed... Went to the Swiss chalet restaurant for a nice lunch. I decided to give training a break tonight to concentrate on my research and so that I will be fit enough to be up bright and very early (7am!) tomorrow morning to continue with it. Have to prioritise at this stage I'm afraid! I did however go out for an hour and went to Ikebukuro to buy a shinai to help me with my kicking and stretching exercises but I was unable to find the martial arts store... I continued on the trains to Akabane and to a wholesale store which Angelo and Michiko introduced me to last month.. I had to stock up on cornflakes (very big bag!) and pasta. Had some Ramen with roast pork on the way home... Very nice!
So nothing much to report today... will plough on with my research tomorrow and looking forward to training with Kagawa Sensei and Yamaguchi Sensei tomorrow night
I was up early this morning and I had a pretty good day at my research thankfully and at intervals in between I would find myself going to the mirror and practicing my kekomi making sure that I was keeping my back straight and my upper body relaxed... Went to the Swiss chalet restaurant for a nice lunch. I decided to give training a break tonight to concentrate on my research and so that I will be fit enough to be up bright and very early (7am!) tomorrow morning to continue with it. Have to prioritise at this stage I'm afraid! I did however go out for an hour and went to Ikebukuro to buy a shinai to help me with my kicking and stretching exercises but I was unable to find the martial arts store... I continued on the trains to Akabane and to a wholesale store which Angelo and Michiko introduced me to last month.. I had to stock up on cornflakes (very big bag!) and pasta. Had some Ramen with roast pork on the way home... Very nice!
So nothing much to report today... will plough on with my research tomorrow and looking forward to training with Kagawa Sensei and Yamaguchi Sensei tomorrow night
Tuesday 1 March 2011
Tuesday March 1st
There is no hiding in the Hombu Dojo... The instructors eye for details coupled with the small number of students in each class makes it enevitable that all your bad habits and mistakes will be weeded out... if you are training everyday in the dojo! There are always many things running through my mind in terms of technical details that I need to improve on... One of these is my ability to perform yoko-geri kekomi correctly... I know that I am not doing it 100% right and I'm trying to work on it....
Inada Sensei and Matsue Sensei were teaching at the dojo tonight... Ususally Tuesday evening classes are pretty quite... Actually as I was making my journey towards the dojo I was thinking to myself that it would be great if I could get Inada Sensei to help me iron out a few issues and critique my yoko-geri kekomi... Unfortunately there were five of us training in the 6-7pm class so the chances of him working on my kekomi with me on a one to one basis were slim. We started off the class with kihon from zenkutsu-dachi.. gyakuzuki... kizami gyakuzuki and then geri. As we were doing these Inada Sensei called me with a surpised expression and said that he forgot to do the "chairs dips"... So we finished off the kihon and I went to get the three chairs... The first night we did these particular dips we did 6 sets of 10 repititions... last week we did 6 sets of 15 repititions and tonight we did 6 sets of 20 repititions... There were just two kids training and Inada Sensei and myself gave them a helping hand in completing sets of 5 repitions. The other two people who were training found these extremely tough but it was great for me to be able to power ahead with Inada Sensei! I must admit that I did find the third set extremely hard but I rallied after that!
Shortly after the "chairs dips" we did some ido-kihon up and down the dojo and of course we did yoko geri kekomi from zenkutsu dachi and I could see Inada Sensei was eyeing me up and he didn't seem totally happy with my technique... He disappeared into the office for a minute and Matsue Sensei came out... Next I heard "DI-A-R-MADO" from the front entrance... Inada Sensei was calling me and gave me an elastic tube and joked about my name being so hard to pronounce... Low and behold, Matsue Sensei started to teach the other 4 students and Inada Sensei brought me down to the back of the dojo for one to one practice for my yokogeri kekomi. So the main problem for me is that I break my centreline when I extend my kick by leaning slightly forward.. This messes everything up and results in a loss of power and length in my kick... I guess if one took a photograph of the extended position of my "bad" kekomi one might think I was doing mawashi-geri.. So I practiced about 30 repititions of kekomi on each side with the tube wrapped around my foot. Sometimes Inada Sensei would shout "kekomi" (thrust) at me and he would smack me with the shinai (bamboo stick) if I didn't do it correctly... When I was getting "better" at it he asked me to take away the tube and practice freely using the shinai for balance... This breaking of the centreline is such an old habit that I had built into this kick.. I felt so "awful" at times in trying to change it! I then practiced in front of the mirror and it was nice to get an odd nod of approval from Inada Sensei... He then gave me a couple of stretching exercises to help me improve... For me this 20 minutes with Inada Sensei was very special and I really appreciated him giving me this tuition... Even though I felt awful at times and just wanted to walk away from it, I now feel much better about what I'm doing incorrectly and what I need to do to improve my execution of the technique... I really need to try and relax my shoulders and upper body and just let my hips do the work!
Matsue Sensei took the 7-8pm class. There were only three of us training. I had a feeling he might have done kata... well I was hoping that he might do kata because I was so wrecked after the previous class! But we started off with kihon... just gyakuzuki from zenkutsu-dachi and then Matsue Sensei went to the front entrance and gave us all a rubber mat, a weighted metal geta (Japanese style sandal weighing 5kg) and a belt. We first of all sat on the floor and dip mae-geri and yokogeri (sitting sideways) 40 times each side slowly... We proceeded to practice mae-geri, mawashi-geri and yokogeri-kekomi with the sandle tied to our kicking foot with the belt... 30 kicks on each side... very slowly. When we had sets for maegeri complete we removed the geta and performed the kick freely 10 times on each side.. We did the exact same for mawashigeri and yokogeri kekomi (front and side) from zenkustu dachi... This was all extremely difficult training... Matsue Sensei was giving out to Haga san about the way he was breaking his centreline when doing kekomi.. So I'm not the only one!
Tonights training was probably the most special for me so far.. Mixed emotions... Feeling totally "awful" in my technique at times and then sometimes feeling that little improvement which gives me a positive boost! I don't know.. it's very hard to explain the feeling! On a different note, I had some good progression in my thesis again today so was happy about that.. The days for submission to examiners are counting down fast!
Inada Sensei and Matsue Sensei were teaching at the dojo tonight... Ususally Tuesday evening classes are pretty quite... Actually as I was making my journey towards the dojo I was thinking to myself that it would be great if I could get Inada Sensei to help me iron out a few issues and critique my yoko-geri kekomi... Unfortunately there were five of us training in the 6-7pm class so the chances of him working on my kekomi with me on a one to one basis were slim. We started off the class with kihon from zenkutsu-dachi.. gyakuzuki... kizami gyakuzuki and then geri. As we were doing these Inada Sensei called me with a surpised expression and said that he forgot to do the "chairs dips"... So we finished off the kihon and I went to get the three chairs... The first night we did these particular dips we did 6 sets of 10 repititions... last week we did 6 sets of 15 repititions and tonight we did 6 sets of 20 repititions... There were just two kids training and Inada Sensei and myself gave them a helping hand in completing sets of 5 repitions. The other two people who were training found these extremely tough but it was great for me to be able to power ahead with Inada Sensei! I must admit that I did find the third set extremely hard but I rallied after that!
Shortly after the "chairs dips" we did some ido-kihon up and down the dojo and of course we did yoko geri kekomi from zenkutsu dachi and I could see Inada Sensei was eyeing me up and he didn't seem totally happy with my technique... He disappeared into the office for a minute and Matsue Sensei came out... Next I heard "DI-A-R-MADO" from the front entrance... Inada Sensei was calling me and gave me an elastic tube and joked about my name being so hard to pronounce... Low and behold, Matsue Sensei started to teach the other 4 students and Inada Sensei brought me down to the back of the dojo for one to one practice for my yokogeri kekomi. So the main problem for me is that I break my centreline when I extend my kick by leaning slightly forward.. This messes everything up and results in a loss of power and length in my kick... I guess if one took a photograph of the extended position of my "bad" kekomi one might think I was doing mawashi-geri.. So I practiced about 30 repititions of kekomi on each side with the tube wrapped around my foot. Sometimes Inada Sensei would shout "kekomi" (thrust) at me and he would smack me with the shinai (bamboo stick) if I didn't do it correctly... When I was getting "better" at it he asked me to take away the tube and practice freely using the shinai for balance... This breaking of the centreline is such an old habit that I had built into this kick.. I felt so "awful" at times in trying to change it! I then practiced in front of the mirror and it was nice to get an odd nod of approval from Inada Sensei... He then gave me a couple of stretching exercises to help me improve... For me this 20 minutes with Inada Sensei was very special and I really appreciated him giving me this tuition... Even though I felt awful at times and just wanted to walk away from it, I now feel much better about what I'm doing incorrectly and what I need to do to improve my execution of the technique... I really need to try and relax my shoulders and upper body and just let my hips do the work!
Matsue Sensei took the 7-8pm class. There were only three of us training. I had a feeling he might have done kata... well I was hoping that he might do kata because I was so wrecked after the previous class! But we started off with kihon... just gyakuzuki from zenkutsu-dachi and then Matsue Sensei went to the front entrance and gave us all a rubber mat, a weighted metal geta (Japanese style sandal weighing 5kg) and a belt. We first of all sat on the floor and dip mae-geri and yokogeri (sitting sideways) 40 times each side slowly... We proceeded to practice mae-geri, mawashi-geri and yokogeri-kekomi with the sandle tied to our kicking foot with the belt... 30 kicks on each side... very slowly. When we had sets for maegeri complete we removed the geta and performed the kick freely 10 times on each side.. We did the exact same for mawashigeri and yokogeri kekomi (front and side) from zenkustu dachi... This was all extremely difficult training... Matsue Sensei was giving out to Haga san about the way he was breaking his centreline when doing kekomi.. So I'm not the only one!
Tonights training was probably the most special for me so far.. Mixed emotions... Feeling totally "awful" in my technique at times and then sometimes feeling that little improvement which gives me a positive boost! I don't know.. it's very hard to explain the feeling! On a different note, I had some good progression in my thesis again today so was happy about that.. The days for submission to examiners are counting down fast!
Monday 28 February 2011
Monday February 28th
Wow... The end of February and March 1st tomorrow. People here in Tokyo are speaking about the blooming of the cherry blossom "sakura" which will happen towards the end of March or early April and only lasts for a few days! I was stiff and sore when I woke up this morning.. I think that Thai massage yesterday may have been a bit severe..! Got a good bit of work done on my research thesis today so I was happy with that. Monday seems to be a quiet enough day around Nippori... A good few of the shops and restaurants stay closed all day. It was a pretty bad day here weatherwise... Cold, rain and wind... not very pleasant! Spoke with my uncle Francis in Chiacgo this morning and got filled in on all the action there!
Went to the dojo at the usual time for 6pm training. No sign of Kagawa Sensei at the dojo and it was Nagaki Sensei and Kai Sensei who were teaching. They both appeared a little tired tonight but I think there was a Teikyo University party held over the weekend so that might explain that! Nagaki Sensei took the class from 6-7pm. About 8 people training. Like Monday night two weeks previously we did all kata during this lesson. All of the Hiean kata, Tekki Shodan and all of the Junro kata. If I'm honest if feel that I have a lot of little errors taken out of my Hiean kata's over the past couple of weeks. You'd be surprised how many subtle changes I have made but it's important to realise that I hadn't really been doing techniques "incorrectly" previously. Matsue Sensei explained to me at the post-competition party a couple of weeks ago that he understands people in different JKS dojo's around the world have little differences in their katas... He said that these "differences" are not incorrect but the JKS Hombu Dojo like their students to do kata in a specific way and he said that he hopes other people will follow this way but he realises that it is almost impossible to achieve this.
Nagaki Sensei pointed out that my execution of yokogeri kekomi in Junro Godan is not totally correct and that I really need to squeeze my stomach muscles and lift my knee up close to my chest before extending my kicking leg.. I tend to be a bit loose in this particular movement. So I need to work on this! It was great to go through all the Junro's several times and Nagaki Sensei was always willing to answer any questions that I had. I'm not afraid to ask questions because I hate not being sure about certain elements and I'll be back in Ireland come May! For example in Junro Yondan I wasn't sure about the combined gedan barai and kagae zuki in kiba dachi early in the kata. I needed to know if this was kagae zuki or gyakuzuki... I had forgotten and I Nagaki Sensei hadn't performed the movement. Answer = kagae zuki (similar to Tekki Shodan)... Also the last two punches for the kata... I wasn't sure if the oi zuki - gyakuzuki was hamne/shomen... or shomen/shomen... Answer = hamne/shomen! We also did Tokui kata.. Once again I did Gojushiho Sho... Nagaki Sensei pointed out a couple of little improvements that I need to make.
Kai Sensei took the second class. Seven of us training and I was the only person who continued from the 6-7pm class. We practiced a lot of oi-komi up and down the dojo... Focusing on the compression and expansion of the back leg with different types of foot movements using both zuki and geri... Kai Sensei pointed out to me that I need to relax more in my shoulders and extend my punches more with shoulder snap. We also did some kumite for about 15 minutes.. Jodan, chudan and geri... Everybody in a line and attacking one person... We then progressed to jiyu kumite.. again attacking the person at the top of the line... Kai Sensei acted as referee and would say who got the score each time.. This was very good training and it was a challenge having to deal with people of different grades and physical size. The atmosphere in the dojo is always a little different when Kagawa Sensei isn't there. Even though the training tonight was very hard, I think everybody including Nagaki Sensei and Kai Sensei were a little more at ease. One of the students told me one time that he finds training under Kagawa Sensei the hardest.. solely because of how "great" Kagawa Sensei is and his stature within the karate world.
Had my dinner as usual in Jonathan's in Sugamo before getting the train back to Nippori. Spoke with Christina and my father on Skype. I have hotels booked in Hiroshima and Kyoto for when my parents visit. I'm lucky I did this yesterday because when I checked today, the hotels were booked out. There is a holiday period in Japan during their visit. Up early again tomorrow morning to crack on with my thesis. Hopefully I won't feel as stiff after my massage tomorrow!
Went to the dojo at the usual time for 6pm training. No sign of Kagawa Sensei at the dojo and it was Nagaki Sensei and Kai Sensei who were teaching. They both appeared a little tired tonight but I think there was a Teikyo University party held over the weekend so that might explain that! Nagaki Sensei took the class from 6-7pm. About 8 people training. Like Monday night two weeks previously we did all kata during this lesson. All of the Hiean kata, Tekki Shodan and all of the Junro kata. If I'm honest if feel that I have a lot of little errors taken out of my Hiean kata's over the past couple of weeks. You'd be surprised how many subtle changes I have made but it's important to realise that I hadn't really been doing techniques "incorrectly" previously. Matsue Sensei explained to me at the post-competition party a couple of weeks ago that he understands people in different JKS dojo's around the world have little differences in their katas... He said that these "differences" are not incorrect but the JKS Hombu Dojo like their students to do kata in a specific way and he said that he hopes other people will follow this way but he realises that it is almost impossible to achieve this.
Nagaki Sensei pointed out that my execution of yokogeri kekomi in Junro Godan is not totally correct and that I really need to squeeze my stomach muscles and lift my knee up close to my chest before extending my kicking leg.. I tend to be a bit loose in this particular movement. So I need to work on this! It was great to go through all the Junro's several times and Nagaki Sensei was always willing to answer any questions that I had. I'm not afraid to ask questions because I hate not being sure about certain elements and I'll be back in Ireland come May! For example in Junro Yondan I wasn't sure about the combined gedan barai and kagae zuki in kiba dachi early in the kata. I needed to know if this was kagae zuki or gyakuzuki... I had forgotten and I Nagaki Sensei hadn't performed the movement. Answer = kagae zuki (similar to Tekki Shodan)... Also the last two punches for the kata... I wasn't sure if the oi zuki - gyakuzuki was hamne/shomen... or shomen/shomen... Answer = hamne/shomen! We also did Tokui kata.. Once again I did Gojushiho Sho... Nagaki Sensei pointed out a couple of little improvements that I need to make.
Kai Sensei took the second class. Seven of us training and I was the only person who continued from the 6-7pm class. We practiced a lot of oi-komi up and down the dojo... Focusing on the compression and expansion of the back leg with different types of foot movements using both zuki and geri... Kai Sensei pointed out to me that I need to relax more in my shoulders and extend my punches more with shoulder snap. We also did some kumite for about 15 minutes.. Jodan, chudan and geri... Everybody in a line and attacking one person... We then progressed to jiyu kumite.. again attacking the person at the top of the line... Kai Sensei acted as referee and would say who got the score each time.. This was very good training and it was a challenge having to deal with people of different grades and physical size. The atmosphere in the dojo is always a little different when Kagawa Sensei isn't there. Even though the training tonight was very hard, I think everybody including Nagaki Sensei and Kai Sensei were a little more at ease. One of the students told me one time that he finds training under Kagawa Sensei the hardest.. solely because of how "great" Kagawa Sensei is and his stature within the karate world.
Had my dinner as usual in Jonathan's in Sugamo before getting the train back to Nippori. Spoke with Christina and my father on Skype. I have hotels booked in Hiroshima and Kyoto for when my parents visit. I'm lucky I did this yesterday because when I checked today, the hotels were booked out. There is a holiday period in Japan during their visit. Up early again tomorrow morning to crack on with my thesis. Hopefully I won't feel as stiff after my massage tomorrow!
Sunday 27 February 2011
Sunday February 27th
Sunday, a day of rest! When I got up this morning I carried out my usual routine of watching the Nine O'Clock Irish news (from the previous night) online as I ate my breakfast. Wrote some emails, looked over some of my research and at around 11am I decided that I deserved a little luxury... So I hit off for Spa La Qua in the Tokyo Dome (Kasuga) area of the city. I took my PhD thesis, a guidebook for Japan and my iPod with me. This spa is noted as being Tokyo's most sophisticated bathing complexes and uses real onsen water pumped from 1700m underground. So I enjoyed some time between the different baths of varying tempertaures, steamrooms, jacuzzi's and plungepools. I also had a Thai massage for an hour (expensive but I think I deserved it!) and I spent the remainder of my time in the healing baden area where I slept, read and listened to my music as I looked out over Tokyo as day turned to night!
Spoke with my parents, my aunt Christina and uncle Pat when I got back to my apartment. It's always great to hear from home and Skype is a great job! In terms of my week ahead... I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in in the dojo again this week. I'm feeling fresh again after the weekend.. My research is going okay.. Feeling happier in myself about it.. This time two weeks I will hopefully have it wrapped up and emailed to both Niall and Seamus (my research supervisors) for them to review. When you are near the end of a PhD you go through this process several times... Refining and more refining! But I think/hope I'm nearly there.
I'm anxious to correct this little timing error which Yagi Sensei pointed out to me. I know its very minor but I always had an idea that it was there as I feel that my gyaku-zuki zuki on one side is a little bit more natural/smoother than the other. So I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to practice this in front of the mirrors in the Hombu Dojo during the week! Everyday over the past three weeks I do about 45 minutes of stretching in my apartment, particularly focusing on the inside of my thighs/groin area. I know that it is benefiting me in terms of my flexibilty and my kicking but it is a slow process! So looking forward to a good hard week of training and hopefully a little bit more improvement!
Spoke with my parents, my aunt Christina and uncle Pat when I got back to my apartment. It's always great to hear from home and Skype is a great job! In terms of my week ahead... I'm really looking forward to getting stuck in in the dojo again this week. I'm feeling fresh again after the weekend.. My research is going okay.. Feeling happier in myself about it.. This time two weeks I will hopefully have it wrapped up and emailed to both Niall and Seamus (my research supervisors) for them to review. When you are near the end of a PhD you go through this process several times... Refining and more refining! But I think/hope I'm nearly there.
I'm anxious to correct this little timing error which Yagi Sensei pointed out to me. I know its very minor but I always had an idea that it was there as I feel that my gyaku-zuki zuki on one side is a little bit more natural/smoother than the other. So I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities to practice this in front of the mirrors in the Hombu Dojo during the week! Everyday over the past three weeks I do about 45 minutes of stretching in my apartment, particularly focusing on the inside of my thighs/groin area. I know that it is benefiting me in terms of my flexibilty and my kicking but it is a slow process! So looking forward to a good hard week of training and hopefully a little bit more improvement!
Saturday 26 February 2011
Friday February 26th & Saturday February 27th
Yesterday, I travelled to Akirano-shi to visit the Sobajima family. I stayed with this family for a home-stay during my first visit to Japan in the summer of 2009. I arranged to meet Yasuyuki (the father) at the police box at the front of Sugamo JR station at 17.30pm. As I was waiting at the police box, Makita Sensei passed and when he saw me he stopped and asked me if I was going training. For a split second I didn't recognise him because he was wearing one of those surgical type masks which Japanese people commonly wear if they have allergies etc. Anyway, I explained to Makita Sensei that I wouldn't be going to the dojo as I was going to Akirano-shi and training at Yagi Sensei dojo in the morning.
Yasuyuki was maybe two minutes late and he felt very bad about this.. typical Japanese attitude where they like everything to be "perfect"! We travelled by train to Akirano-shi... About a 2 hour journey... It was Friday evening rush hour so we were standing for most of it! When we arrived at the family home I showered (in Japan you wash a lot!) and then we had shabu-shabu (Japanese "hotpot") and different types of raw fish for dinner. So the family's grandparents live with them as well. They are aged 80+ and it was interesting to see how they live with the "younger" family and they just do their own thing! I remember Scott Sensei telling me that Japanese people typically take out a mortgage that is paid off over maybe 3/4 generations... So this is why the grandparents are living with the family I guess... It was probably their homeplace initially.
I didn't sleep too well Friday night to be honest.. Tossed and turned all night on the futon! Up at 7.30am for breakfast and then Yasuyuki, Kotoro (16 years old) and I cycled to Yagi Sensei's dojo for training at 9am... Cycling through the village on a bike that was way too small for me was great fun! We were first to arrive at the dojo and I said "o-hi-sa-shi-buri-des" (good to see you again) to Yagi Sensei. There were around 12 people training. Training was a little less intensive than the Hombu Dojo so this was welcome! We did lots of kihon and Yagi Sensei took particular interest in a slight timing error that I have when I do gyaku-zuki from zenkutsu-dachi on my right side... My punching hand seems to finish a split second after my hip engages into shomen.. This is something I need to look at but it was great that Yagi Sensei took interest in this. Like the Hombu Dojo instructors, he has a very sharp eye for detail. We did a lot of kicking techniques with an outstretched elastic band across the dojo, in addition to all Hiean kata and some kihon ippon kumite.
One very interesting story from training... Yagi Sensei has several A4 laminated posters of different Hombu Dojo Instructors such as Nagaki Sensei, Nihei Sensei etc... These are all former/current world champions with very famous reputations. One of the training drills that we did was for our partner to hold these posters and we had to do different punching and kicking techniques.. Hitting the picture of Nagaki Sensei everytime! This was very strange for me but funny at the same time as I see and train with Nagaki Sensei for example in the Hombu Dojo all the time! The kids loved it though and were really smacking the posters! We finished the session with lots of leg strengthening and abdominal strengthening exercises.
After training I gave Yagi Sensei a chocolate gift set.. Good old reliable "Ginza Cozy Corner" chocolates! Yasuyuki told me after training that it was more intensive than normal.. becuase I was training! For the remainder of the day we did some sight seeing around the local area.. We visited a place where there were "Ume" (plum) trees in full bloom, we visited the house and museum of Yoshikawa Eiji (a famous Japanese writer) and we also went to this really strange place to do some "fishing"! And we also went to a small local restaurant for Ramen (Japanese noodle dish) in between! We were all very tired when we got back to Akirano-shi.
When I was leaving the family I was sure that Yasuyuki was going to drive me to the train station so that I could get the train/s back to Nippori. However, as we drove near the train station Yasuyuki told me that he would like to drive me back to Nippori! I was really surprised and told him that he did not need to do that but he insisted! So I was able to sit back and enjoy the journey by road back to Nippori and see lots of different sights along the way. Got back to Nippori at 6pm!
So it was a very enjoyable 24 hours.. Making friends with people like the Sobajima family is a very special experience as they treat me so well when I am visiting them.. It is almost embarassing how generous they are with everything. Of course I gave them a gift as a "thank you" but I think the best thing that you can give them in return is to "go with the flow" while you are there! Day of rest tomorrow... Research, some sightseeing and maybe a visit to an onsen maybe!
Yasuyuki was maybe two minutes late and he felt very bad about this.. typical Japanese attitude where they like everything to be "perfect"! We travelled by train to Akirano-shi... About a 2 hour journey... It was Friday evening rush hour so we were standing for most of it! When we arrived at the family home I showered (in Japan you wash a lot!) and then we had shabu-shabu (Japanese "hotpot") and different types of raw fish for dinner. So the family's grandparents live with them as well. They are aged 80+ and it was interesting to see how they live with the "younger" family and they just do their own thing! I remember Scott Sensei telling me that Japanese people typically take out a mortgage that is paid off over maybe 3/4 generations... So this is why the grandparents are living with the family I guess... It was probably their homeplace initially.
I didn't sleep too well Friday night to be honest.. Tossed and turned all night on the futon! Up at 7.30am for breakfast and then Yasuyuki, Kotoro (16 years old) and I cycled to Yagi Sensei's dojo for training at 9am... Cycling through the village on a bike that was way too small for me was great fun! We were first to arrive at the dojo and I said "o-hi-sa-shi-buri-des" (good to see you again) to Yagi Sensei. There were around 12 people training. Training was a little less intensive than the Hombu Dojo so this was welcome! We did lots of kihon and Yagi Sensei took particular interest in a slight timing error that I have when I do gyaku-zuki from zenkutsu-dachi on my right side... My punching hand seems to finish a split second after my hip engages into shomen.. This is something I need to look at but it was great that Yagi Sensei took interest in this. Like the Hombu Dojo instructors, he has a very sharp eye for detail. We did a lot of kicking techniques with an outstretched elastic band across the dojo, in addition to all Hiean kata and some kihon ippon kumite.
One very interesting story from training... Yagi Sensei has several A4 laminated posters of different Hombu Dojo Instructors such as Nagaki Sensei, Nihei Sensei etc... These are all former/current world champions with very famous reputations. One of the training drills that we did was for our partner to hold these posters and we had to do different punching and kicking techniques.. Hitting the picture of Nagaki Sensei everytime! This was very strange for me but funny at the same time as I see and train with Nagaki Sensei for example in the Hombu Dojo all the time! The kids loved it though and were really smacking the posters! We finished the session with lots of leg strengthening and abdominal strengthening exercises.
After training I gave Yagi Sensei a chocolate gift set.. Good old reliable "Ginza Cozy Corner" chocolates! Yasuyuki told me after training that it was more intensive than normal.. becuase I was training! For the remainder of the day we did some sight seeing around the local area.. We visited a place where there were "Ume" (plum) trees in full bloom, we visited the house and museum of Yoshikawa Eiji (a famous Japanese writer) and we also went to this really strange place to do some "fishing"! And we also went to a small local restaurant for Ramen (Japanese noodle dish) in between! We were all very tired when we got back to Akirano-shi.
When I was leaving the family I was sure that Yasuyuki was going to drive me to the train station so that I could get the train/s back to Nippori. However, as we drove near the train station Yasuyuki told me that he would like to drive me back to Nippori! I was really surprised and told him that he did not need to do that but he insisted! So I was able to sit back and enjoy the journey by road back to Nippori and see lots of different sights along the way. Got back to Nippori at 6pm!
So it was a very enjoyable 24 hours.. Making friends with people like the Sobajima family is a very special experience as they treat me so well when I am visiting them.. It is almost embarassing how generous they are with everything. Of course I gave them a gift as a "thank you" but I think the best thing that you can give them in return is to "go with the flow" while you are there! Day of rest tomorrow... Research, some sightseeing and maybe a visit to an onsen maybe!
Thursday 24 February 2011
Thursday February 24th
When I had a "bad" day about three weeks ago, Alan Sensei sent me a message and told me to "dig deep". Well, today I had to "dig deep"... When I went to bed last night I had a dose of the shivers, my stomach was upset and I had the whole toilet works thing going on... I felt really tired, cold and my muscles hurt when I woke up this morning... I wasn't sure whether I was sick or just really tired after the three sessions that I completed yesterday morning and evening... I only realised during the day how hard I trained yesterday and I possibly pushed myself a little too far... Maybe this was why I had the shivers etc. when I was in bed. I felt so bad during the morning that I had as good as decided to not train this evening... I wanted to go to the dojo though... and I thought to myself that I might just observe... Anyway, I ate and drank as much as I could during the day, did some research, went down to the local park for an hour and also rested... Come 4.30pm I was feeling better in myself and I decided to pack my dogi... Afterall, it was Kagawa Sensei and Yamaguchi Sensei who would be teaching tonight.... So I thought that even if I just train for one hour it would be okay...
When I arrived at the dojo, Yamaguchi Sensei was teaching the 5-6pm kids class. In contrast to yesterday this class was really relaxed and all the kids seemed to be having a lot of fun with Yamaguchi Sensei. I often wonder about the kids who train at the Hombu Dojo... Some of them constantly have a terrified look about them, others just keep smiling nervously at the Sensei's while others look totally at ease and really seem to enjoy what they are doing. I think all of the Sensei's possess "parent like" attributes where they can push the kids to their limits and even give them a smack with the "shinai" (wooden stick) but they also appear to have a caring side to them. I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out and realise what makes the Sensei's so "special"!
Kagawa Sensei took the 6-7pm class. There were only 7 of us training in this class. Started off with kihon... shizentai and then moving into zenkutsu-dachi. Kagawa Sensei and Yamaguchi Sensei went around to all of us as we were doing gyaku-zuki and they pulled our pullback elbow from inside out to make sure we had stability in our technique. I think commonly people will push their students elbows from outside to inside to make sure that they are pulled in and thus creating this compression. It was interesting to see how the Sensei's were pulling from the inside... But obviously in order for this to work, one has to have their elbow pulled in behind anyway. We then did some leg strengthening exercises for mae-geri working on both the back and front of the thighs followed by kicking drills involving all the basic kicks. One of the most difficult for me was mawashi-geri then using the snap of the hiki-ashi (pullback leg) to perform ushiro-geri. My first time ever trying this combination and I think I did well... Kagawa Sensei was stressing the importance of using the hiki-ashi and snapping action of the hips to engage the body into a position to perform ushiro-geri. We completed the class with kumite... First of all one side only attacking, zuki, then geri and then combinations... The defending side had to be flexible in their upper body, and as the attacks were coming in we had to move both sideways and almost into the attack at the same time... I was doing this with Yamaguchi Sensei... This was great... both of us were really relaxed and I felt comfortable that I could attack him with speed... All the time being aware that he could blast me out of it with one punch or kick! At the end of the class I was pretty wrecked but I decided to stay on for the next hour... You find yourself building up this close loyalty towards the Sensei's and it is difficult to leave.. Even though most people do leave after completing just the one session! Kagawa Sensei came up to me as the newcomers were warming up for the 7-8pm class and he was asking me how long I was staying for etc.. Out of all the Sensei's, Kagawa Sensei is the one that I have had least contact with because he seems to be away quite a bit with other teaching committments I guess.
Yamaguchi Sensei took the 7-8pm class. There were only 5 of us training. All female except myself! Yamaguchi Sensei called me to partner him straight away and we did pad work for about 30 minutes... Practicing kihon - gyakuzuki, maegeri and mawashigeri and then progressing to kumite with favourite waza. I tried really hard and I was a bit nervous partnering Yamaguchi Sensei for this. Everytime he would do mawashi-geri jodan I would hold the pad near my head and it was a struggle to absorb the impact of his kick without almost knocking myself out with my own hand as it rattled against the side of my head with the impact! I was really tired doing these kicks and found myself struggling for the last ten.. but I must admit that Ymaguchi Sensei appeared to find the going a little tough also! He brought over a towel so I could wipe the sweat from the floor that we were both generating! Kagawa Sensei intervened at one stage and corrected one of the girls for not snapping her hips into mawashi-geri as she was performing it. So Yamguchi Sensei got us to practice the initial movement of the technique in front o fthe mirrors and then we practiced mawashi-geri off the back leg on the pads again... Especially focusing on this snapping feeling... It was gratifying to hear Yamaguchi Sensei saying "oss... nice" on a couple of occasions!
Kagawa Sensei took over the rest of the class after this and we did some light jiyu kumite.. again I was with Yamaguchi Sensei and then we practiced all Heian kata, Tekki Shodan and our Tokui kata (favourite kata). I was feeling pretty tired doing all of these katas and was just thinking relax, deep stances and fully extend everything. I did Gojushiho Sho again as my tokui kata. Kagawa Sensei pointed out a couple of timing things that I need to improve on in the kata.
Was totally wrecked when class finished... Dogi (karate suit) was once again drenched in sweat but I felt great at the same time... especially considering how I felt all day... So I did "dig deep" and I was really satisfied with myself! I told Yamaguchi Sensei after class about my plans to go to Akirano-Shi tomorrow and train with Yagi Sensei on Saturday. He seemed happy to hear this and told me to "take care". As usual I stopped at Jonathan's for my dinner.. I must admit that I was so tired that it was almost a struggle to eat the big chunk of beef and the ice-cream desert that I ordered... Was glad to get back to the apartment and get into the shower!
When I arrived at the dojo, Yamaguchi Sensei was teaching the 5-6pm kids class. In contrast to yesterday this class was really relaxed and all the kids seemed to be having a lot of fun with Yamaguchi Sensei. I often wonder about the kids who train at the Hombu Dojo... Some of them constantly have a terrified look about them, others just keep smiling nervously at the Sensei's while others look totally at ease and really seem to enjoy what they are doing. I think all of the Sensei's possess "parent like" attributes where they can push the kids to their limits and even give them a smack with the "shinai" (wooden stick) but they also appear to have a caring side to them. I'm still trying to figure this whole thing out and realise what makes the Sensei's so "special"!
Kagawa Sensei took the 6-7pm class. There were only 7 of us training in this class. Started off with kihon... shizentai and then moving into zenkutsu-dachi. Kagawa Sensei and Yamaguchi Sensei went around to all of us as we were doing gyaku-zuki and they pulled our pullback elbow from inside out to make sure we had stability in our technique. I think commonly people will push their students elbows from outside to inside to make sure that they are pulled in and thus creating this compression. It was interesting to see how the Sensei's were pulling from the inside... But obviously in order for this to work, one has to have their elbow pulled in behind anyway. We then did some leg strengthening exercises for mae-geri working on both the back and front of the thighs followed by kicking drills involving all the basic kicks. One of the most difficult for me was mawashi-geri then using the snap of the hiki-ashi (pullback leg) to perform ushiro-geri. My first time ever trying this combination and I think I did well... Kagawa Sensei was stressing the importance of using the hiki-ashi and snapping action of the hips to engage the body into a position to perform ushiro-geri. We completed the class with kumite... First of all one side only attacking, zuki, then geri and then combinations... The defending side had to be flexible in their upper body, and as the attacks were coming in we had to move both sideways and almost into the attack at the same time... I was doing this with Yamaguchi Sensei... This was great... both of us were really relaxed and I felt comfortable that I could attack him with speed... All the time being aware that he could blast me out of it with one punch or kick! At the end of the class I was pretty wrecked but I decided to stay on for the next hour... You find yourself building up this close loyalty towards the Sensei's and it is difficult to leave.. Even though most people do leave after completing just the one session! Kagawa Sensei came up to me as the newcomers were warming up for the 7-8pm class and he was asking me how long I was staying for etc.. Out of all the Sensei's, Kagawa Sensei is the one that I have had least contact with because he seems to be away quite a bit with other teaching committments I guess.
Yamaguchi Sensei took the 7-8pm class. There were only 5 of us training. All female except myself! Yamaguchi Sensei called me to partner him straight away and we did pad work for about 30 minutes... Practicing kihon - gyakuzuki, maegeri and mawashigeri and then progressing to kumite with favourite waza. I tried really hard and I was a bit nervous partnering Yamaguchi Sensei for this. Everytime he would do mawashi-geri jodan I would hold the pad near my head and it was a struggle to absorb the impact of his kick without almost knocking myself out with my own hand as it rattled against the side of my head with the impact! I was really tired doing these kicks and found myself struggling for the last ten.. but I must admit that Ymaguchi Sensei appeared to find the going a little tough also! He brought over a towel so I could wipe the sweat from the floor that we were both generating! Kagawa Sensei intervened at one stage and corrected one of the girls for not snapping her hips into mawashi-geri as she was performing it. So Yamguchi Sensei got us to practice the initial movement of the technique in front o fthe mirrors and then we practiced mawashi-geri off the back leg on the pads again... Especially focusing on this snapping feeling... It was gratifying to hear Yamaguchi Sensei saying "oss... nice" on a couple of occasions!
Kagawa Sensei took over the rest of the class after this and we did some light jiyu kumite.. again I was with Yamaguchi Sensei and then we practiced all Heian kata, Tekki Shodan and our Tokui kata (favourite kata). I was feeling pretty tired doing all of these katas and was just thinking relax, deep stances and fully extend everything. I did Gojushiho Sho again as my tokui kata. Kagawa Sensei pointed out a couple of timing things that I need to improve on in the kata.
Was totally wrecked when class finished... Dogi (karate suit) was once again drenched in sweat but I felt great at the same time... especially considering how I felt all day... So I did "dig deep" and I was really satisfied with myself! I told Yamaguchi Sensei after class about my plans to go to Akirano-Shi tomorrow and train with Yagi Sensei on Saturday. He seemed happy to hear this and told me to "take care". As usual I stopped at Jonathan's for my dinner.. I must admit that I was so tired that it was almost a struggle to eat the big chunk of beef and the ice-cream desert that I ordered... Was glad to get back to the apartment and get into the shower!
Wednesday 23 February 2011
Wednesday February 23rd
I meant to give an update on the guy who had to be taken away to hospital after training with Matsue Sensei last week. I asked Matsue Sensei about this at the post-competition party and he said that he was given oxygen at the hospital and that he was treated for exhaustion. So that was good news. I haven't seen him back at the dojo since.
So I was up this morning around 8.30am... Had my breakfast and watched the news from Ireland before heading for morning training which was at 10.30am. When I arrived at the dojo Matsue Sensei and Kai Sensei were there. Matsue Sensei was surprised to see me after I told him last night that it was hard for me to come to morning training because of my research commitments..! Inada Sensei came in then and he seemed equally surprised but I think he was glad to see me there! There were only two of us training... Myself and Taka-san who came to the competition on Sunday and who was on the wrong end of a "beating" from me on Saturday. Inada Sensei made a big deal of giving the gift that I gave him for Kai Sensei to him. Kai Sensei thanked me straight away. As we were warming up with Kai Sensei, Yamaguchi Sensei arrived at the dojo and he came over to me and said "otsu-kara-same-deshita for the competition"... this means well done for your hard work at the competition. This was nice to hear and I replied "arigato gozaimsu-ta"!
So Inada Sensei taught both Taka-san and I. We did some kihon from zenkutsu-dachi at the start and then some ido-kihon up and down the dojo. Inada Sensei quickly got Taka and myself to use a towel under both feet for practicing oi-zuki up and down the dojo floor. Unlike Nagaki Sensei (who got us to use dry towels) a few weeks ago, Inada Sensei made us use wet towels... This was great training and Inada Sensei told me before we started that this would be good for making sure that I don't pull my front leg back by lifting my toes... Like I explained in yesterdays blog. We then progressed to doing Heian Shodan with the towels.. First of all slowly and then fast to the count. I couldn't help but think of how Scott Sensei teaches this when he makes us perform all movements to the extreme... preparation and hip turns almost exaggerated.. This really comes to life and has meaning when using the towels. I felt that I did this training pretty well...
After this Inada Sensei got Taka and I to put on our kumite mitts. We did our favourite waza (technique) first and then practiced attacking and defending jodan punch. Inada Sensei made sure we were separated far enough at the beginning of each technique and stressed the importance of realising when somebody has come inside a "safe distance". We then did about 8 minutes of jiyu kumite (free sparring). Taka seems to come flying in at the very beginning... Very strong punches and kicks... Unfortunately for him this didn't last too long... With Inada Sensei watching both of us, I really let him have it again today... Kicked and punched him around the place and he really wasn't able to defend. He kept retreating into the corner... I just grabbed him by the dogi (karate uniform) everytime he did this and pulled/threw him out of the corner... Inada Sensei appeared to be getting a real kick out of it all... but I got to a stage where I just wanted it to stop. Taka was absolutely wrecked at this stage... couldn't hold his hands up and he couldn't stand straight... Inada Sensei was still telling me to keep at him... But eventually he called "yame" (stop) and I patted Taka on the head and made sure he was okay... He's a really good lad and the Sensei's seem to have particularly good time for him. He's the same age as myself (28) and he is in his 4th year of medical school.
Even though the training with Inada Sensei was very intensive... he paused a couple of times and told Taka and I a couple of stories... One of these was that he recently went to Russia to teach a course. When he arrived in Moscow he had to travel 36 hours straight by train to his destination. He explained that he had a bed and that he read lots of books during this time. He also asked Taka to translate for him as he asked me several questions about my study. All the Sensei's seem interested in what I'm researching... I have a draft of my thesis with me so I think I might bring it into Inada Sensei someday and just show him briefly what I'm working on... I'll get Taka to translate! When training finished it was interesting to see all the instructors doing different tasks around the dojo... Kagawa Sensei and Nagaki Sensei didn't seem to be around... It was very obvious that Hidioshi Sensei (Kagawa Sensei's son) is the junior there... He was just warming up for instructors training on his own while the rest of the Sensei's were together in the office area doing their jobs.
When I got back to my apartment I must have been eating (intermittently) for about an hour... Trying to get as many calories into me before training later in the evening. Slept for about an hour and went out around Nippori for an hour and watched the leaders debate for the general election which is taking place in Ireland on Friday. Didn't complete much research which is not good, considering I want to be finished with it in nearly two weeks...
Went to Sugamo for evening training. I arrived at the dojo at the usual time of 5.30pm. Yamaguchi Sensei and Kanayama Sensei had the 5-6pm class split. Yamaguchi Sensei was teaching the higher grade kids... It seemed to me that Yamaguchi Sensei was in bad form and he was drilling the kids while training extremely hard with them... It was different to see this "tension" in the kids class but great to see it! One thing that I notice about all the Sensei's is that no matter of grade or age... they always make sure that everybody does every technique to the correct standard. One might think that they might give the beginner kids some slack but this doesn't happen... Everything must be done correctly with correct form... Drill it into them from a young age and it will pay off I guess!
Today's blog is getting rather long so I'll just summarise the 6-7 and 7-8pm classes... Hard.. very very hard! Kanayama Sensei taught the first hour and Yamaguchi the second hour. We did lots and lots of slow kicks with Kanayama Sensei... The hardest for me was mawashi-geri off the back leg broken down to the count and returning to the start position everytime... Mawashi-geri was done subsequent to doing mae-geri and yoko-geri in the same manner! I do feel that my kicks are getting better though. I imagine that this class was really intensive for most of the people there (who "only" train 2/3 times per week). There were two kids in the class.. about 12/13 and Kanayama Sensei did appear to give out to them on a couple of occasions... I don't really know why and I din't take much notice until I realised that the two of them were sobbing crying while they were doing the techniques... I think it may have been because they weren't trying hard enough. Kanayama Sensei pointed to me and a couple of others and our sweaty heads! In fairness to Kanayama Sensei he made sure that they were okay after this and told them to get a tissue and blow their noses etc.!! We finished the class with gohon kumite.. The floor was extremely slippery and lots of people had major trouble slipping..!
Mostly newcomers for the 7-8pm class. Yamaguchi Sensei taught.. We did a lot of switching left and right leg forward in zenkutsu-dachi with gyaku-zuki and mae-geri.. We then did a technique that involved three different blocks and counter attacks for oi-zuki jodan and chudan... Importance of moving to the sides and shifting weight back when blocking and forward when countering with gyaku-zuki. We then practiced with a partner... It was good training and I was feeling sharp! We finished with kata.. Yamaguchi Sensei taught a kata and unfortunately I do not know the name of it...! I forgot to ask after class but I will find out at the dojo tomorrow! We did tokui kata as well and I did Gojushiho-sho... It felt much better than at the competition on Sunday! I was so hot and sweaty at this stage that I could see the steam rising off my outstretched hands and I could feel the sweat travel along my arm as I punched and could literally see it shoot out form under my dogi as I completed my punches...!
Was glad to have done the three sessions today... but I have to be honest with myself... I really can't afford to be missing days at my research as I want to have it wrapped in two weeks... So I will not train tomorrow morning... I'll do the two hours tomorrow evening and then I'll do the morning training Friday morning before I head to Akirano-shi Friday evening... It was also great to meet Hisashi at the dojo. He's Japanese and is living in Edinburgh for the last few years.. He returns to Edinburgh tomorrow... I think he found the training pretty hard but it was good to see him training for the two hours this evening! Wow... this has been a long post! Off to leaba now!
So I was up this morning around 8.30am... Had my breakfast and watched the news from Ireland before heading for morning training which was at 10.30am. When I arrived at the dojo Matsue Sensei and Kai Sensei were there. Matsue Sensei was surprised to see me after I told him last night that it was hard for me to come to morning training because of my research commitments..! Inada Sensei came in then and he seemed equally surprised but I think he was glad to see me there! There were only two of us training... Myself and Taka-san who came to the competition on Sunday and who was on the wrong end of a "beating" from me on Saturday. Inada Sensei made a big deal of giving the gift that I gave him for Kai Sensei to him. Kai Sensei thanked me straight away. As we were warming up with Kai Sensei, Yamaguchi Sensei arrived at the dojo and he came over to me and said "otsu-kara-same-deshita for the competition"... this means well done for your hard work at the competition. This was nice to hear and I replied "arigato gozaimsu-ta"!
So Inada Sensei taught both Taka-san and I. We did some kihon from zenkutsu-dachi at the start and then some ido-kihon up and down the dojo. Inada Sensei quickly got Taka and myself to use a towel under both feet for practicing oi-zuki up and down the dojo floor. Unlike Nagaki Sensei (who got us to use dry towels) a few weeks ago, Inada Sensei made us use wet towels... This was great training and Inada Sensei told me before we started that this would be good for making sure that I don't pull my front leg back by lifting my toes... Like I explained in yesterdays blog. We then progressed to doing Heian Shodan with the towels.. First of all slowly and then fast to the count. I couldn't help but think of how Scott Sensei teaches this when he makes us perform all movements to the extreme... preparation and hip turns almost exaggerated.. This really comes to life and has meaning when using the towels. I felt that I did this training pretty well...
After this Inada Sensei got Taka and I to put on our kumite mitts. We did our favourite waza (technique) first and then practiced attacking and defending jodan punch. Inada Sensei made sure we were separated far enough at the beginning of each technique and stressed the importance of realising when somebody has come inside a "safe distance". We then did about 8 minutes of jiyu kumite (free sparring). Taka seems to come flying in at the very beginning... Very strong punches and kicks... Unfortunately for him this didn't last too long... With Inada Sensei watching both of us, I really let him have it again today... Kicked and punched him around the place and he really wasn't able to defend. He kept retreating into the corner... I just grabbed him by the dogi (karate uniform) everytime he did this and pulled/threw him out of the corner... Inada Sensei appeared to be getting a real kick out of it all... but I got to a stage where I just wanted it to stop. Taka was absolutely wrecked at this stage... couldn't hold his hands up and he couldn't stand straight... Inada Sensei was still telling me to keep at him... But eventually he called "yame" (stop) and I patted Taka on the head and made sure he was okay... He's a really good lad and the Sensei's seem to have particularly good time for him. He's the same age as myself (28) and he is in his 4th year of medical school.
Even though the training with Inada Sensei was very intensive... he paused a couple of times and told Taka and I a couple of stories... One of these was that he recently went to Russia to teach a course. When he arrived in Moscow he had to travel 36 hours straight by train to his destination. He explained that he had a bed and that he read lots of books during this time. He also asked Taka to translate for him as he asked me several questions about my study. All the Sensei's seem interested in what I'm researching... I have a draft of my thesis with me so I think I might bring it into Inada Sensei someday and just show him briefly what I'm working on... I'll get Taka to translate! When training finished it was interesting to see all the instructors doing different tasks around the dojo... Kagawa Sensei and Nagaki Sensei didn't seem to be around... It was very obvious that Hidioshi Sensei (Kagawa Sensei's son) is the junior there... He was just warming up for instructors training on his own while the rest of the Sensei's were together in the office area doing their jobs.
When I got back to my apartment I must have been eating (intermittently) for about an hour... Trying to get as many calories into me before training later in the evening. Slept for about an hour and went out around Nippori for an hour and watched the leaders debate for the general election which is taking place in Ireland on Friday. Didn't complete much research which is not good, considering I want to be finished with it in nearly two weeks...
Went to Sugamo for evening training. I arrived at the dojo at the usual time of 5.30pm. Yamaguchi Sensei and Kanayama Sensei had the 5-6pm class split. Yamaguchi Sensei was teaching the higher grade kids... It seemed to me that Yamaguchi Sensei was in bad form and he was drilling the kids while training extremely hard with them... It was different to see this "tension" in the kids class but great to see it! One thing that I notice about all the Sensei's is that no matter of grade or age... they always make sure that everybody does every technique to the correct standard. One might think that they might give the beginner kids some slack but this doesn't happen... Everything must be done correctly with correct form... Drill it into them from a young age and it will pay off I guess!
Today's blog is getting rather long so I'll just summarise the 6-7 and 7-8pm classes... Hard.. very very hard! Kanayama Sensei taught the first hour and Yamaguchi the second hour. We did lots and lots of slow kicks with Kanayama Sensei... The hardest for me was mawashi-geri off the back leg broken down to the count and returning to the start position everytime... Mawashi-geri was done subsequent to doing mae-geri and yoko-geri in the same manner! I do feel that my kicks are getting better though. I imagine that this class was really intensive for most of the people there (who "only" train 2/3 times per week). There were two kids in the class.. about 12/13 and Kanayama Sensei did appear to give out to them on a couple of occasions... I don't really know why and I din't take much notice until I realised that the two of them were sobbing crying while they were doing the techniques... I think it may have been because they weren't trying hard enough. Kanayama Sensei pointed to me and a couple of others and our sweaty heads! In fairness to Kanayama Sensei he made sure that they were okay after this and told them to get a tissue and blow their noses etc.!! We finished the class with gohon kumite.. The floor was extremely slippery and lots of people had major trouble slipping..!
Mostly newcomers for the 7-8pm class. Yamaguchi Sensei taught.. We did a lot of switching left and right leg forward in zenkutsu-dachi with gyaku-zuki and mae-geri.. We then did a technique that involved three different blocks and counter attacks for oi-zuki jodan and chudan... Importance of moving to the sides and shifting weight back when blocking and forward when countering with gyaku-zuki. We then practiced with a partner... It was good training and I was feeling sharp! We finished with kata.. Yamaguchi Sensei taught a kata and unfortunately I do not know the name of it...! I forgot to ask after class but I will find out at the dojo tomorrow! We did tokui kata as well and I did Gojushiho-sho... It felt much better than at the competition on Sunday! I was so hot and sweaty at this stage that I could see the steam rising off my outstretched hands and I could feel the sweat travel along my arm as I punched and could literally see it shoot out form under my dogi as I completed my punches...!
Was glad to have done the three sessions today... but I have to be honest with myself... I really can't afford to be missing days at my research as I want to have it wrapped in two weeks... So I will not train tomorrow morning... I'll do the two hours tomorrow evening and then I'll do the morning training Friday morning before I head to Akirano-shi Friday evening... It was also great to meet Hisashi at the dojo. He's Japanese and is living in Edinburgh for the last few years.. He returns to Edinburgh tomorrow... I think he found the training pretty hard but it was good to see him training for the two hours this evening! Wow... this has been a long post! Off to leaba now!
Tuesday 22 February 2011
Tuesday February 22nd
It was on this date one month ago that I arrived in Japan...! The weather is starting to warm up here slightly in Tokyo. It was about 13/14 degrees today and it is expected to get up to 18 degrees on Friday. So this is a nice change and a sign that spring is fully here! Went to Ginza Cozy Corner today to get another two boxes of chocolates for Inada Sensei and Kai Sensei. I must confess that I bought two boxes yesterday but I ate one last night with my tea! So I prepared two boxes of chocolates for Inada Sensei and one box for Kai Sensei. I'll explain something about Kai Sensei next week maybe... I think it may be a little secret at the moment!
Was at the dojo at 5.30pm for 6pm training. Inada Sensei and Matsue Sensei were teaching. While I was stretching Inada Sensei came over to me (smiling and nodding) and asked me if I would do some more of the dips with the chairs that we did a couple of weeks ago.. Of course I said "oss" while bowing and smiling as well! There were only three of us in the 6-7pm class... myself and two young purple belts. Inada Sensei increased the number of reps and sets this week so we (Inada Sensei and I) did sets of 30 while the kids did sets of 10. I was powering on with these and it felt much easier this week compared to a couple of weeks ago. Inada Sensei came over to me when we were finished the "chairs dips" and asked if I would go to morning trainings. I indicated that I have lots of study to do with my research in the mornings... He said "oss" and that he understands but.. I have a different feeling now. Yes, I'm busy with my research and this is most important... But, I feel this sense of loyalty towards the Sensei's... and the fact that Inada Sensei has mentioned it to me I think I should start... I didn't intend to take up morning training for another 2/3 weeks.
The remainder of Inada Sensei's class involved kihon and ido-kihon. As I was doing the ido-kihon and stepping backwards Inada Sensei pointed out to me that as I'm pulling my front leg backwards (initial movement) that I tend to lift my toes and drag my heel slightly... I should be keeping my foot flat and I need to work on this. We did Junro Nidan and finished the class with some jiyu kumite. Inada Sensei and I took turns sparring with the two kids... They were wrecked when we were finished with them! Inada Sensei didn't do kumite with me... I guess this will wait for morning training!
Matsue Sensei took the second class. There were only three of us in this class as well. The two kids finished up and two senior male black belts joined in. One of these who is Haga-san (the guy who gave me the sushi for Setsuban) said to me when we finished that first class that my delivery of the "Dojo Kun" is improving everytime he hears me. This was nice to hear! The Dojo Kun (training hall rules) is composed of 5 sentences that are said aloud at the end of every class. As the senior grade in the 6-7pm it is my responsibility to say this out loud.
Matsue Sensei's class was very enjoyable. He went through almost all kata that are required for SanDan. He explained that as a SanDan (third degree blackbelt) that it is important to know how to break each kata down using proper counts. So we practiced this. Everybody taking turns at counting through each kata. I thought that this was brilliant training and really focused me to think about timing for each kata. Matsue Sensei was in very relaxed form and he was willing us all to ask him any questions we wanted. For those of you who are interested... the "higher" kata we practiced were Bassai Dai, Jion, Empi, Kanku-Dai, Jitte, Hangetsu, Gankaku, Tekki Nidan and Tekki Sandan. Great training and lots of little points learned.
After training I gave Inada Sensei his gift and I also gave him Kai Sensei's gift as well. I gave them both an envelope with a note inside in which I thanked them for bringing me to the tournament etc. on Sunday. I wrote these letters in Kanji (with the help of Google Translate!)... They took quite a while to do... but it's nice to make the effort! Will do an hour of research early in the morning and I'll then head to morning training for 10.30am. So I'm climbing to the next level tomorrow.... morning and evening training every day! Off to bed now!
Was at the dojo at 5.30pm for 6pm training. Inada Sensei and Matsue Sensei were teaching. While I was stretching Inada Sensei came over to me (smiling and nodding) and asked me if I would do some more of the dips with the chairs that we did a couple of weeks ago.. Of course I said "oss" while bowing and smiling as well! There were only three of us in the 6-7pm class... myself and two young purple belts. Inada Sensei increased the number of reps and sets this week so we (Inada Sensei and I) did sets of 30 while the kids did sets of 10. I was powering on with these and it felt much easier this week compared to a couple of weeks ago. Inada Sensei came over to me when we were finished the "chairs dips" and asked if I would go to morning trainings. I indicated that I have lots of study to do with my research in the mornings... He said "oss" and that he understands but.. I have a different feeling now. Yes, I'm busy with my research and this is most important... But, I feel this sense of loyalty towards the Sensei's... and the fact that Inada Sensei has mentioned it to me I think I should start... I didn't intend to take up morning training for another 2/3 weeks.
The remainder of Inada Sensei's class involved kihon and ido-kihon. As I was doing the ido-kihon and stepping backwards Inada Sensei pointed out to me that as I'm pulling my front leg backwards (initial movement) that I tend to lift my toes and drag my heel slightly... I should be keeping my foot flat and I need to work on this. We did Junro Nidan and finished the class with some jiyu kumite. Inada Sensei and I took turns sparring with the two kids... They were wrecked when we were finished with them! Inada Sensei didn't do kumite with me... I guess this will wait for morning training!
Matsue Sensei took the second class. There were only three of us in this class as well. The two kids finished up and two senior male black belts joined in. One of these who is Haga-san (the guy who gave me the sushi for Setsuban) said to me when we finished that first class that my delivery of the "Dojo Kun" is improving everytime he hears me. This was nice to hear! The Dojo Kun (training hall rules) is composed of 5 sentences that are said aloud at the end of every class. As the senior grade in the 6-7pm it is my responsibility to say this out loud.
Matsue Sensei's class was very enjoyable. He went through almost all kata that are required for SanDan. He explained that as a SanDan (third degree blackbelt) that it is important to know how to break each kata down using proper counts. So we practiced this. Everybody taking turns at counting through each kata. I thought that this was brilliant training and really focused me to think about timing for each kata. Matsue Sensei was in very relaxed form and he was willing us all to ask him any questions we wanted. For those of you who are interested... the "higher" kata we practiced were Bassai Dai, Jion, Empi, Kanku-Dai, Jitte, Hangetsu, Gankaku, Tekki Nidan and Tekki Sandan. Great training and lots of little points learned.
After training I gave Inada Sensei his gift and I also gave him Kai Sensei's gift as well. I gave them both an envelope with a note inside in which I thanked them for bringing me to the tournament etc. on Sunday. I wrote these letters in Kanji (with the help of Google Translate!)... They took quite a while to do... but it's nice to make the effort! Will do an hour of research early in the morning and I'll then head to morning training for 10.30am. So I'm climbing to the next level tomorrow.... morning and evening training every day! Off to bed now!
Monday 21 February 2011
Monday February 21st
After contacting family and friends at home, it was almost 2am by the time I got to bed last night... I had been up almost 24 hours so I was wrecked! Had a sleep in this morning for a bit and I was still tired when I got up. So I decided that I would take a break today from training. As usual it's going to be a hard week of training again this week and I think its important to have that day of rest!
Shortly, I will come to a crossroads in my career and I will have some pretty big decisions... I may go to the U.S.A. to do post-doctoral research, go teaching at second level in Ireland or maybe see what opportunities arise in third level in the U.K. or maybe even Australia... Over the last three years I have built up relationships with people in all of these places who have told me to contact them when I'm almost finished my PhD. So today I spent time updating some stuff and I contacted one of the leading people in the world in graphics education at Purdue University to let him know that I'll be available shortly... all going well! I'll leave all the options open anyway.
I want to clarify something from yesterday's blog... I said something along the lines of that I was a little nervous of getting injured in kumite which could prematurely end my stay here in Tokyo... I was speaking to my Aunt (Christina) on Skype earlier and she thought that I was saying that if I injure somebody that I would be deported from Japan! So for those of you who thought the same... I meant that if I got injured myself! Although let me say that even though the kumite at yesterdays competition was fast and furious... Nobody was injured all day and I didn't see the medics on the floor once all day... Although, saying that I do recall seeing the guy who won the male senior kumite, checking his teeth after the final and it appeared that he had a loose tooth... He was missing his two front teeth (central incisors) before the start of the tournament!!
I meant to say in yesterdays blog why I was nervous at the competition... Hardly nobody there knew me so there was no real expectations... But for me I was nervous because the Sensei's from the dojo were there officiating... Yamaguchi Sensei and Kai Sensei were judging in the area where I was competing and I just had a feeling about me that I didn't want to let them down... But I tried hard (probably too hard because I ended up feeling a little stiff in the shoulders etc.!) and I also tried to make sure that I did every single thing like the Japanese... treating everything and everybody with the highest respect. I think they appreciate this.
Looking forward to training tomorrow. Inada Sensei should be teaching. I will get him a gift (box of chocolates or something) tomorrow morning to thank him for inviting me to the competition and for making sure that I was looked after all day. I'll get Kai Sensei something as well because he did the driving!
Shortly, I will come to a crossroads in my career and I will have some pretty big decisions... I may go to the U.S.A. to do post-doctoral research, go teaching at second level in Ireland or maybe see what opportunities arise in third level in the U.K. or maybe even Australia... Over the last three years I have built up relationships with people in all of these places who have told me to contact them when I'm almost finished my PhD. So today I spent time updating some stuff and I contacted one of the leading people in the world in graphics education at Purdue University to let him know that I'll be available shortly... all going well! I'll leave all the options open anyway.
I want to clarify something from yesterday's blog... I said something along the lines of that I was a little nervous of getting injured in kumite which could prematurely end my stay here in Tokyo... I was speaking to my Aunt (Christina) on Skype earlier and she thought that I was saying that if I injure somebody that I would be deported from Japan! So for those of you who thought the same... I meant that if I got injured myself! Although let me say that even though the kumite at yesterdays competition was fast and furious... Nobody was injured all day and I didn't see the medics on the floor once all day... Although, saying that I do recall seeing the guy who won the male senior kumite, checking his teeth after the final and it appeared that he had a loose tooth... He was missing his two front teeth (central incisors) before the start of the tournament!!
I meant to say in yesterdays blog why I was nervous at the competition... Hardly nobody there knew me so there was no real expectations... But for me I was nervous because the Sensei's from the dojo were there officiating... Yamaguchi Sensei and Kai Sensei were judging in the area where I was competing and I just had a feeling about me that I didn't want to let them down... But I tried hard (probably too hard because I ended up feeling a little stiff in the shoulders etc.!) and I also tried to make sure that I did every single thing like the Japanese... treating everything and everybody with the highest respect. I think they appreciate this.
Looking forward to training tomorrow. Inada Sensei should be teaching. I will get him a gift (box of chocolates or something) tomorrow morning to thank him for inviting me to the competition and for making sure that I was looked after all day. I'll get Kai Sensei something as well because he did the driving!
Sunday February 20th
Up at 4:40am! Had a restless few hours sleep... Was nervous about possibly sleeping in and missing my arrangements for the tournament! Internet still down this morning... Disaster! Tried ringing home from a public phone booth as I was walking down to Nippori station but had no joy dialling through. Got the Yamanote line train from Nippori to Shinjuku where I met Taka-san at 5.55am. From there we travelled by train to meet the Sensei's near Teikyo University. Kai Sensei was driving Inada Sensei's Landcruiser and we were joined by Makita Sensei and Matsue Sensei also. I realised pretty quickly that today was going to be a great experience for me... travelling to a regional competition with these Sensei's who are respected so highly and are so famous within karate circles in Japan and as well as that I was representing the JKS Hombu Dojo!
When we arrived at the venue I helped out with getting the venue set up... some heaters and tables etc. had to be brought in. I was more than happy to help out. This tournament was a championships for the Kanto area of Japan. I was the only westerner who was competing so I was probably the topic of a lot of conversation... I guess it's like having a Japanese competing in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship!! It was a long day... Competition started at 9.30am and finished at 5pm.. three areas were in use and as a whole the competition was run very smoothly.
I was nervous but I guess I did okay! There were 10 people in my categories for senior kata and kumite. The kata section was ran as a straight final... So we had to do a tokui (choice) kata. Considering I only found out about the competition a few hours earlier I hadn't much time to get into the zone but I performed Gojushiho-sho as I had practiced this in the dojo last night. I only felt that I did okay... felt a bit nervous and stiff in my shoulders and early on in the kata I felt that the hiki-ashi in my mae-geri was sluggish... Anyway, I was scored above average... 8.1's and 8.2's... Score of 8.5's won the category and I came 5th out of the ten competitors... So this was good I guess but still I felt that I could have done it better. In kumite, I was beaten in the first round (2 scores against 1) by the guy who came second. Didn't feel comfortable really and if I'm honest I was conscious of not getting injured... I didn't want to end up breaking a jaw or something and have to get on the next plane home to Ireland... Some of the competitors in this section were senior high school and Teikyo students... The nearest things to "animals" with lots of missing teeth! I really admire these people for their dedication to karate and they are so good because they train so much and so hard... Karate in number 1 in their life... school and education comes is number 2. This is just the way it is.
While the competition was taking place I met some of the family who Scott Sensei and I stayed with while we were on home stay at Yagi Sensei's. Their son came second in his kumite section. Yagi Sensei arrived a little late and he noticed me straight away and came over to me... I made sure I bowed and I said "Oh-hi-sa-shi-buri-des Sensei!" which basically means "good to see you again Senei!"... He shook my hand and said that he looks forward to seeing me in Akirano-shi and his dojo next weekend... So this is a story I haven't wrote about... In 2009 when I first cam eto Japan I stayed with a host family in Akirano-shi which is where Yagi Sensei's dojo is. This family have very kindly invited me to spend next Friday night with them and train at Yagi Sensei's dojo on Saturday. Obviously they had told Yagi Sensei about this and that is why he mentioned it to me. Yagi Sensei is a sempai (senior) of Kagawa Sensei and he was at the top table all day today. It was great to see how Yamaguchi Sensei and all the other Sensei's treated him with so much respect.
I received two certificates with my name in Kanji for competing on the day... This was very nice. When I received my certificate for the kumite (later section) I noticed that my name was written with pencil, whereas my name on the kata certificate was written with ink, but I didn't take any notice. As I was packing up my gear one of the Japanese ladies came over to me and explained that they would like to change the certificate so that my name was written in ink... So she took my certificate and said that they would post the proper on to the Hombu Dojo for me. This just sums up the Japanese for me.... Such honest and generous people who like things done right always.
After the competition myself and Taka were invited to go along to a private party with all the Sensei's. This was a very special occasion with lots of Japanese food and drink (alcohol!.... Asahai Beer and Sweet potatoe shochu!). The Sensei's were very nice to me, making sure that I had plenty to eat and drink at all times and they were always asking me questions about myself.. I'm trying to think of the Sensei who is the chief instructor for that area... he's a very nice and generous man... "Mira" Sensei I think maybe... I must find out! Also Sato Sensei was there and other Sensei's from the region. It was just a great evening and something special for me to be invited into this company and to be treated so well.
On the way back to Tokyo, the Sensei's asked myself and Tako if we would like to go for more drinks and food with them but we politely declined... it was a long day and I was looking forward to getting to bed! So we listened to Inada Sensei's Eric Clapton album for the rest of the journey and said goodbye at Teikyo university area. When the Sensei's were driving away I made sure that I said goodbye by standing beside the jeep and bowing a few times as they left.. Was glad to get back to the apartment, find out that the internet was working again and I was able to reconnect with my family and friends in the Western world! A great day!
When we arrived at the venue I helped out with getting the venue set up... some heaters and tables etc. had to be brought in. I was more than happy to help out. This tournament was a championships for the Kanto area of Japan. I was the only westerner who was competing so I was probably the topic of a lot of conversation... I guess it's like having a Japanese competing in the Munster Senior Hurling Championship!! It was a long day... Competition started at 9.30am and finished at 5pm.. three areas were in use and as a whole the competition was run very smoothly.
I was nervous but I guess I did okay! There were 10 people in my categories for senior kata and kumite. The kata section was ran as a straight final... So we had to do a tokui (choice) kata. Considering I only found out about the competition a few hours earlier I hadn't much time to get into the zone but I performed Gojushiho-sho as I had practiced this in the dojo last night. I only felt that I did okay... felt a bit nervous and stiff in my shoulders and early on in the kata I felt that the hiki-ashi in my mae-geri was sluggish... Anyway, I was scored above average... 8.1's and 8.2's... Score of 8.5's won the category and I came 5th out of the ten competitors... So this was good I guess but still I felt that I could have done it better. In kumite, I was beaten in the first round (2 scores against 1) by the guy who came second. Didn't feel comfortable really and if I'm honest I was conscious of not getting injured... I didn't want to end up breaking a jaw or something and have to get on the next plane home to Ireland... Some of the competitors in this section were senior high school and Teikyo students... The nearest things to "animals" with lots of missing teeth! I really admire these people for their dedication to karate and they are so good because they train so much and so hard... Karate in number 1 in their life... school and education comes is number 2. This is just the way it is.
While the competition was taking place I met some of the family who Scott Sensei and I stayed with while we were on home stay at Yagi Sensei's. Their son came second in his kumite section. Yagi Sensei arrived a little late and he noticed me straight away and came over to me... I made sure I bowed and I said "Oh-hi-sa-shi-buri-des Sensei!" which basically means "good to see you again Senei!"... He shook my hand and said that he looks forward to seeing me in Akirano-shi and his dojo next weekend... So this is a story I haven't wrote about... In 2009 when I first cam eto Japan I stayed with a host family in Akirano-shi which is where Yagi Sensei's dojo is. This family have very kindly invited me to spend next Friday night with them and train at Yagi Sensei's dojo on Saturday. Obviously they had told Yagi Sensei about this and that is why he mentioned it to me. Yagi Sensei is a sempai (senior) of Kagawa Sensei and he was at the top table all day today. It was great to see how Yamaguchi Sensei and all the other Sensei's treated him with so much respect.
I received two certificates with my name in Kanji for competing on the day... This was very nice. When I received my certificate for the kumite (later section) I noticed that my name was written with pencil, whereas my name on the kata certificate was written with ink, but I didn't take any notice. As I was packing up my gear one of the Japanese ladies came over to me and explained that they would like to change the certificate so that my name was written in ink... So she took my certificate and said that they would post the proper on to the Hombu Dojo for me. This just sums up the Japanese for me.... Such honest and generous people who like things done right always.
After the competition myself and Taka were invited to go along to a private party with all the Sensei's. This was a very special occasion with lots of Japanese food and drink (alcohol!.... Asahai Beer and Sweet potatoe shochu!). The Sensei's were very nice to me, making sure that I had plenty to eat and drink at all times and they were always asking me questions about myself.. I'm trying to think of the Sensei who is the chief instructor for that area... he's a very nice and generous man... "Mira" Sensei I think maybe... I must find out! Also Sato Sensei was there and other Sensei's from the region. It was just a great evening and something special for me to be invited into this company and to be treated so well.
On the way back to Tokyo, the Sensei's asked myself and Tako if we would like to go for more drinks and food with them but we politely declined... it was a long day and I was looking forward to getting to bed! So we listened to Inada Sensei's Eric Clapton album for the rest of the journey and said goodbye at Teikyo university area. When the Sensei's were driving away I made sure that I said goodbye by standing beside the jeep and bowing a few times as they left.. Was glad to get back to the apartment, find out that the internet was working again and I was able to reconnect with my family and friends in the Western world! A great day!
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