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!
Monday, 28 February 2011
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)