Preface
It is my great privilege to share with you the 2017 Aoyama Gasshuku trip report. In my capacity as Dojo Head for TSKF Five Dock, I feel incredibly humbled to contribute and share the experience with you given my relative newness to the wider TSKF family.
I learnt so much about my own Karate and how it has helped mature not only my practice but my general outlook on life. The top 4 insights that shaped my experience on Gasshuku and which I dedicate this report to are:
1. Ikigai – a way of living
2. Traditional Japanese instruction
3. Importance of kihon
4. Kime – Power, Speed & Distance
Planning for Gasshuku
We remain extremely grateful for their efforts here at home along with Shihan and his support team in Japan. Without them this special experience would not get off the drawing board. 2017 marked our biggest Gasshuku with 68 people travelling to Japan and over 100 training on the Dojo floor.
Travelling to Gasshuku
We departed Brisbane International Airport on the morning of September 9th. A wonderful opportunity to catch up with friends and re-acquaint in real life. It didn’t take long for the banter to start “how much luggage are you actually taking?”, “are you really fit enough for the next 10 days”?, “How many dogi’s are you bringing”? Now it may seem somewhat trivial, but I can assure you the packing of single or multiple dogi’s needs real consideration!
One of overseas travellers bought 7 dogi’s just to be sure! And on the other end of the spectrum there is Ben Skennar. Ben’s an old hand at gasshuku and he has mastered the concept of travelling with the bare minimum. One dogi only for Ben. In fact he tells me that next gasshuku he is only bringing his passport, cash and the clothes he travels in. Everything else he can borrow from somebody else! Let’s hold him to that one I say!
Japan
Arriving in Narita that evening after an easy flight had everyone pumped and ready to go. I was particularly excited to connect with my close friend and old karate training partner Steve Harris who flew in from London 30 mins earlier. Steve and I trained with Karate Union Great Briton (KUGB) under Andy Sherry Sensei. It was 5 years since we’d trained together and I knew this Gasshuku was a huge bucket list for Steve.
Almost immediately on your arrival to Japan you are exposed to the Japanese culture and their humble nature. Waiting to greet us all off the plane was Teruko Takahashi (Mama San), Nemoto Sensei with his wife and children and of course Hirata Sensei. We were now officially in their hands and it was clear they wanted to give us a VIP experience as we entered their country. Each of them our senior in terms of hierarchy and yet here they were, waiting to serve us. Karate creates deep and meaningful relationships, right here in Narita Airport we had a collision of cultures, gender and race – each as diverse as the next but all connected by one common truth, that of Shotokan Karate. Inspiring.
Our itinerary looked something like this for the next few days:
Sunday 10th Sept – Arrive Odawara, free time for sightseeing. Afternoon arrive Fuji Hakone Land Plaza Hotel (this was to be our home for the next 7 nights and where we would train every day). You can be sure that each day was meticulously planned to incorporate the maximum windows for training. Twice daily sessions with breaks for hydration, eating and recovery.
First Impressions
Our stay at Fuji Land Plaza was unquestionably enhanced by the meticulous attention to every detail that the hotel manager gave us – Hidiki Ogino was his name. From the moment our two coaches pulled up outside to the moment we departed Hidiki’s smiling face was there to ensure everything ran smoothly. He and his team also supported our party night after the last day of training with more magnificent food and Taiko Drumming – traditional Japanese drumming for our entertainment.
1. Ikigai
In Japanese culture there is something they call Ikigai – it translates to ‘reason for being’ or your ‘sense of purpose’. I found an incredible book which I’d highly recommend reading. ‘The Little Book of Ikigai’ written by Ken Mogi. It gave me real perspective in why Japanese have the ability to focus on the minute detail, to have such respect for theirs and others property or personal possessions. Why the streets are so clean and free from vandalism and why karate students follow instruction without question and practice so diligently and so hard on perfecting what we would consider just basic techniques. It’s also why someone like Hidiki – our hotel manager would put so much focus and attention into ensuring our stay at his hotel went without incident and a memorable experience.
2. Traditional Japanese Instruction
Let’s talk about the instructors we had the privilege to be taught by, the make-up of the training and hopefully an insight into the knowledge imparted onto us during the 10 training sessions which made up the Gasshuku. If you are serious about your karate then training with our Japanese Instructors is critical for your self-improvement and deeper understanding of the Martial Art of Shotokan Karate.
· Takahashi Shihan OAM, MNZM 9th Dan Chief Instructor TSKFA & TSKFNZ opened day one’s session.
· Kobayashi Sensei – JKA Instructor. Twice winner of the JKA All-Japan Championships for kata and three times for kumite. Kobayashi sensei teaches worldwide.
· Aragaki Sensei – a former world champion in kata in the 10th Shoto World Cup in Sydney, 2006.
· Nemoto Sensei and Hirata Sensei – who we are privileged to have instruct annually at each dojo starting from 2018.
It’s difficult to distill down into a few sentences or paragraphs the amount of leaning, transformation of techniques and self-improvement that comes from having this type of world-class instruction.
Takahashi Shihan – Despite Shihan’s ill health he absolutely made the point of taking the opening session and yes it did start with gedan bari. The two hour session was outstanding & incorporated both kihon and kata cleverly interwoven. We performed the 4 directional kihon starting with gedan bari, step gedan bari, gyakuzuki, mai geri, gedan bari, gyakuzuki. Multiple times of course, each one faster and stronger than the last. Swapping out techniques for agi uke, uchi uke and soto uke and each time multiple times focusing on proper application of stance and hip rotation, speed and power. Between each new 4 direction kihon set we performed a heian kata completing Heian Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, Yondan, Godan and Tekki Shodan. This was the only session Shihan was to take and there was certainly a sense of every student understanding the importance of giving everything one had for this opening session. The desire to demonstrate we had all trained hard in preparation to be worthy to stand on the dojo floor in Japan was profound.
The Aoyama University students (24 of them) are elite athletes, superb karateka and our younger TSKFA members (especially the squad) were keen to demonstrate they can train with the same level of intensity and commitment as our Japanese brothers and sisters.
Kobayashi Sensei – This was the first time I’d trained with this deeply respected JKA instructor. This impressively sized man conveyed power in every move he made. He communicated expertly through karate and it was immediately obvious the intent and meaning he was seeking to ensure we understood.
Aragaki Sensei – We did some pair work and strength training for our core (hara) and then moved onto perform Heian Shodan. But with a difference. We were asked to perform the kata as if we had no bone structure. Each move soft, light and with floppy arms and legs. Sounds easy but it wasn’t. Once we’d completed this a few times the tempo was increased and the use of our core or hara was incorporated for each strike, block and turn. The result was a transformation performance of Heian Shodan!
Nemoto Sensei and Hirata Sensei – I’m personally thrilled to have trained with these two Instructors over the years on a number of occasions now. It is my opinion that their karate form, knowledge and experience is something that will continue to enhance the overall standard of TSKFA students now and over the years to come. I trained with Nemoto Sensei for the last session of Gasshuku. Session 10 was kata and you selected the Sensei who was teaching the kata of your choice. For me that was Nemoto Sensei teaching Nijushiho. We had 2 hours perfecting this kata with Nemoto Sensei breaking down each sequence of movements. I’ve come to perform it very differently due to the expert instruction we received.
3. Importance of Kihon (Kobayashi’s training made real focus on the following)
· Kokutsu dachi– strength training required to master this stance. Learn to grip the floor, not just with your legs. Push your weight through your upper torso down. We all need to improve this stance was the sense I got.
· Zenkutsu dachi– front knee must remain stable and not rotate or twist. Motion comes from the core torso (twisting without raising the hips) for striking of blocking techniques. Use partners – one on each leg to hold you in position as you perform gyakuzuki until you can freely perform the technique correctly without knee movement.
· Blocking techniques– important in karate. Use blocks as attacks to create the chance to counter attack. Blocks should portray the sense that from a power perspective they go from zero to 100% and immediately back to zero again.
4. Kime– Emphasis on how Kime in karate is important elements include Speed, Power and Direction. Kime can be applied at any distance we performed a drill which had gyakuzuki performed close quarter, mid and long distance. Use your imagination to visualise your attack going through your enemy and it will be so. All 3 components must be in harmony (Speed, Power and Distance) for effective application.
Always perform at 100% - on all drills for attacks and defence. Train hard, practice techniques slowly at first for correct form building speed and fluidity as you become more familiar with the drill.
Closing
In closing I realise there are so many stories and experiences to share, an impossible task to give you a full sense of the comradery, mateship and for some – once in a lifetime, bucket list adventure that is created from gasshuku. Final high
lights from me would be;
Room sharing and investing in friendships with fellow karateka. Thanks Tom Wirth my twin. Aoyama Uni students – such a dedicated and hardworking fun bunch of youngsters. Japanese culture and the respectful way they live their lives every day. Awesome karate training with some of the best instructors in the world. Daily washing of dogi’s. Rice with every (I mean every) meal. ‘Good Morning/Afternoon/Evening Mr Russo’ after every mealtime. Onsen every morning and every night. Fuji Land Plaza Hotel, perfect setting for Gasshuku – so well chosen. Takahashi Shihan, John and Debbie Russo and all our Japanese support crew who made the trip possible and one to remember for a long time.
~ Andy Mckechnie
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