It is extremely hot and humid here in Tokyo... There is air conditioning in the dojo... But they generally don't turn it on... It helps make the training much more difficult, bordering on treacherous at times! Although, there is a cut-back on electricity usage here in Japan because the nuclear reactors have been shut down. There is notices everywhere asking people to conserve electricty. (Photograph of the main street in Sugamo below as I was walking to the dojo.)
I slept okay last night. The air conditioning in my room is pretty noisy but when I turned it off on a couple of occasions the room became unbearably humid within five minutes. When I arrived at the dojo this morning I was greeted by Ishimine Sensei and Watanabe Sensei. Ishimine Sensei was anxious to know how long I was back in Japan for. Yamaguchi Sensei and Nagaki Sensei took the 10.30am - 11.30am session. Nagaki Sensei took the first half an hour where he concentrated on kihon. Kizami - gyaku -zuki (40 times each side), maegeri (leg back) kizami, gyaku zuki (40 times each side), Mae geri, yoko geri (to the side) then mawashi-geri (20 times each side). Nagaki Sensei was emphasising the importance of bringing the kicking leg for mawashi-geri back along the same course that it started out on. We did then ido-kihon up and down the dojo for about ten minutes. Thankfully, Yamaguchi Sensei asked Nagaki Sensei to give us a break and have a drink.
Yamaguch Sensei took the remaining 30 minutes. We did kata. Hiean Shodan, Junro Shodan, Heian Nidan, Junro Nidan, Heian Sandan and Junro Godan. Yamaguchi Sensei was stressing the importance of the turn after the second kiai in both Junro Shodan and Junro Nidan. Junro Shodan - step up to feet shoulder with apart and then turn into uchi uke in kokutsu dachi. In contrast, the turn in Junro Nidan is come up through the centre and go into kiba dachi before turning uchi-uke in neko-ashi dachi. We did each of the kata's slowly to teh count once and then fast one count. Before the class started, almost all of the Sensei's came into the dojo and I made sure that I greeted each of them with a deep bow and a good "Oss!". Inada Sensei (he gave me a smile while I think he was probably think he was probably conjuring up a plan for me for his next lesson), Makita Sensei and Kanayama Sensei.
As I was walking from the dojo through Sugamo, I was sweating profusely... my tee shirt was saturated and my hair drenched! When I turned the corner to head down the main street I met Kagawa Sensei. He saw me a mile off and I greeted him with a deep bow. Awkward! I got a Suica card at Sugamo Station before I headed back to Nippori. This is a Japan Rail commuter pass. It will save me hassle of buying tickets for each journey. It's specifically for my daily journeys from Nippori to Sugamo. In addition to that I can put credit on it for when I go outside that zone. This is very handy as the prices and station names are usually in Japanese at the stations and you wouldn't know what price you have to pay. This way it will just deduct the correct amount each time. Below is a picture of the Yamanote Line at Sugamo Station and my new Suica card!
When I got back to Nippori I had to meet Kyoko-san (the landlord for the apartment that I'm staying in). I had to give her the remainder of the rent in addition to a photocopy of my passport which I copied at the local 7-11 store. I slept for about three hours in the afternoon. Still trying to recover from yesterday’s flight and the heat just knocks the stuffing out of you here. I have added a picture of the area in Nippori where I'm staying. The street you can see here is pedestrianised and lined with small shops and restaurants. A really nice place.
I headed back for training at the dojo from 7-8pm. It just would not be possible to do the two hours in the evening. I actually think that it would be dangerous! Kagawa Sensei took this class. It was all adults and a mixture of low grades and black belts. Watanabe Sensei (who is a new kenshusei) took the beginner grades for the first 30 minutes while Kagawa Sensei took us. We started off with about fifty squats in shiko-dachi where an emphasis was placed on keeping a straight back, tail bone in while making sure that the knees don't collapse inside. Kagawa Sensei also wanted us to squeeze as we neared the bottom of the movement and use this to rebound back up. We then did kihon, a lot of which was the same as this morning with Nagaki Sensei. We did a lot of ido-kihon where Kagawa Sensei was really stressing the importance of creating kime from the abdomen. Kagawa Sensei told me to concentrate more on extending my second punch in sanban-zuki. I tended to be a bit short. Everything long and fully extend! Another technique for example was - step forward mae-geri, back leg mae-geri (and return to behind) then mae-geri off the front leg. We did all the Heian kata's and Tekki Shodan to finish. Kagawa Sensei was constantly reminding us to make our techniques long. One example was the first three moves in Hiean Nidan. He was saying that people tend to make these short with no hip movement and that this is no good. Instead we were told to focus on engaging the hip properly for each of the movements. Same for Tekki Shodan.
We finished the class off with some ippon kumite. I faced one of the older guys in the dojo. Maybe mid fifties. Kagawa Sensei demonstrated the movements first of all. He seemed quite relaxed and wasn't going in very fast. I thought that I would replicate the same. So... I started with Jodan zuki - nice and relaxed... not flying in. Kagawa Sensei stopped me and asked me to do it again... This time fast! Okay...! I launched myself into Jodan and put the gut under pressure. I smacked him with chudan... Kagawa Sensei looking on all the time. Mae-geri, yoko-geri, mawashi-geri and ushiro-geri... still in good and strong. I made the guy work hard and caught him with a couple. We were really struggling with the floor at this stage. Next up.. it was my turn to defend.. Kagawa Sensei still looking on eagerly... I was thinking what way this guy would attack me... He looked like an older Nagaki Sensei! First up Jodan.... BANG!.. I totally miss timed the block... Welcome to Japan I guess! That belt tuned me in straght away... He won't do THAT to me again! I had no problems defending the remainder of the techniques. This guy was very very good and fast! We changed partners for this three times altogether. No problems. I gave as good as I got.
After class, I was talking with a westerner who is training at the dojo - Nicholas from France, a white belt who has been training at the dojo since December. He lives and works in Tokyo and has excellent Japanese. Actually there is a younger guy from Kuwait who is also training at the dojo for the summer. Ahmad is his name. His mother is Japanese. He doesn't seem to be JKS as he doesn't know the Junro kata. He's a good guy though and trains hard. He just trains in the mornings! Probably wise!
After training, I stayed around the dojo for about 20 minutes taking with the members... We would all say "Otsu-kara-same-deshita" - this basically means well done for your hard training! I stopped at Jonathan's in Sugamo for a high calorie dinner (photo below) and the much appreciated drinks bar! I was pretty weak and tired as I got the train back to Nippori. You can't really walk too fast around Tokyo at this time of year! It's just way too hot!
I thought that the holder for the receipt was conveying an important message in a cool way!
No training again until next Monday morning. The All-Japan Championships take place this weekend and the dojo closed after tonight’s class.
A great read, thanks for sharing. Ossu!
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