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