It's in the bag

Thursday turned out to be rather problematic for me for a number of reasons. Work. Money. Sex. And the absence of all three in any worthwhile quantity in my life. So I was looking forward to releasing a little pent up energy. On Thursday nights, Sensei George Andrews opens the doors at the Institute of Traditional Karate in Elephant & Castle as he has done for many years. His dojo has a reputation for tradition, toughness and technique and tonight I would be honoured to train in such illustrious company.

Sensei George Andrews teaching in Moscow

Etiquette makes an important part of the study of Karate and there are a number of formal rules by which to abide as well as more general codes of conduct. Some of the more complicated rules can take the Western mind a time to grasp such as the concept of the precedence of seniority. Others however are much more straight forward such as bowing and saying "aregato" or thank you to teachers, senior students and training partners. Likewise the idea of wearing a uniform or gi is fairly apparent since you'd look a right fashion victim combining your latest Adidas trackie with a karate belt to denote your grade.

The standard traditional gi is white which is meant to depersonalise the training experience in the sense that we are all simply present to train together and there should be no undercurrent of "look at me" or egotistical behaviour. One trains for the improvement of one's self and not to compare between one another. If another student has a higher grade then they are the senior. If both are of the same grade, then the longest training student will be the senior. If that were to be the same then the eldest would take precedence. If one is built like a 900lb gorilla, it might make you very dangerous in a fight, yet it does not indicate that one has advanced far in their training. Therefore the white gi covers the body fully leaving only hands, feet and face exposed so there is no chance of the next door neighbour's washboard abs intimidating you!

Meeting me at the dojo tonight was Mohammed Alsam, a Shotokan Karate practitioner and founder of Aregato.com, a site that imports Tokaido karate gi from Japan. Japanese made Karate gi are well known for their sturdy construction and superior tailoring and two brands - Shureido of Okinawa and Tokaido of Tokyo - are considered the best one can get. Ah, hell, I'll say it! They are the Armani and Versace of the Karate world!

Mohammed was kind enough to bring several Tokaido gi to the dojo for me to choose from; I'd been looking for a new one for some time since first getting one from Meijin on Goldhawk Road, Shepard's Bush just over a year ago. When I went to Meijin in August to see if they had another, I found that the shop was shut and the windows whitewashed. I've been unable to contact the brothers - they were the first martial arts store I ever went to, over 16 years ago. Does anybody know what has happened? It'll be a truly sad day for the London martial arts scene if Meijin is no more. Anyone with any info, please do email me or post a comment on here.

"Tokaido gi are so hard to get hold of here in London," spoke Mohammed "and it was my experience of trying to get one that prompted me to start Aregato. To be more precise, I wanted one and so ordered a number from Tokaido and people started buying them off of me. I'm very happy to be able to help dedicated karateka and a Tokaido gi the choice of masters".

Well, the old one inch punch may need a bit of practice but at least I look the part! Actually when I first started training, I bought my gi through a local sports shop and the owner informed me very wisely that a heavyweight gi would last far longer and so cost in the long run. Hats off to the man and his psychic powers - I still have that gi to this day and it saw me through some of the most intense training I ever did. I even wore it the 1st time Sensei Paul Coleman took me to the Marble Factory.

Putting the rest of the gi away, Mohammed said "I haven't seen warm ups like those in a while". The standard Junbi Undo and strength training Sensei George Andrews asks of his students can be intimidating to beginners whilst dabs hands recognise the strenuousness of the work out. To the students of the club, it's just warm ups to an hour of bag work.

A big thanks to Mohammed for visiting, to Sensei George for organising and to Aidan for holding the pad. Thanks for a great night.