Thursday February 4th... Setsubun

The end of my first day on my own in Tokyo.  I'm sitting in my apartment writing this blog, listening to Live95FM after a feed of sushi.  One of the students in the Hombu Dojo kindly offered me this food and explained that tonight is a very special occasion known as Setsuban and it marks the change in seasons from winter to spring.  On the night of Setsubun, many households do mame-maki - a bean-throwing ceremony. They fill a masu (a wooden measuring cup) with roasted soybeans and throw the beans all about the room, shouting "Oni wa soto! Fuku wa uchi!" meaning "Out with the goblins and in with fortune!" They also open the windows and throw the beans outside. Mame-maki began as a New Year ceremony (in the traditional Japanese calendar) to drive out evil spirits and the seeds of misfortune, as well as to pray for the family's well-being and good business.

When I arrived at my apartment at 12 midday today, I must admit that I was a bit overcome with the idea that all of the group that I had spent the last 12 days were on a flight home and I was here in a very strange place trying to figure everything out!  After a few trips up and down through the streets of Niporri I found my feet somewhat and managed to figure out what some of the goods were in the shops.  Everything is in Japanese with little or no English so its not easy!

I was feeling tired towards the evening and was feeling anxious about going to training at the Hombu Dojo for the first time on my own.  I got the JR train from the local station to Sugamo using my railpass that Angelo and Micchiko kindly helped me to sort out.  When I arrived at the dojo Kagawa Sensei was drilling a class with Yamaguchi Sensei looking on.

Haga-san gave me the sushi in the changing room and we warmed up by the side while the 6-7pm class concluded.  Yamaguchi Sensei took the first 40 minutes of the class.  He concentrated on squeezing of the back leg to generate the forward impetus in kumite techniques while at the same time stressing the importance of big shoulder turns and expansion in techniques.  We did a lot of kicking techniques with partners... Mawashi Geri...ura-mawashigeri and mawashi-geri same leg without dropping.  Difficult to maintain the correct height of the knee in between techniques.

Kagawa Sensei took the final 20 minutes.  We did oi-komi up and down the dojo for a good 10 minutes.  I found this difficult and draining... need to relax more!  We also did some dojo kumite while Kagawa Sensei looked on eagerly while holding his stopwatch.  At the end of class he explained that it is important to follow up with additional techniques during kumite and to change direction.  He related this to a recent soccer match where a Japanese player sold a dummy on his opponent by switching his weight while running with the ball.  All in all it was a very enjoyable class, intensive but with a warm atmosphere and plenty of smiles.

I walked back to the station with 5 of the students from the dojo and we all went our separate ways.  I tweaked my knee a small bit during class.  Hopefully it will be okay for morning training tomorrow.  Tired now.  Off to bed!