Gasshuku Day II

Day two of the weekend Gasshuku and now the class is open to all kyu grades. The weather was horrible and it put a lot of people off. It is sad for Sensei George when the class is small yet perfect for us attention whores! In the words of the man himself, "If one person turned up, I'd be here till 2 o'clock regardless". Truly the man's dedication to spreading traditional karate is amazing.

With a range of experience going from none (but some previous Taekwondo) to 2nd Kyu, we jumped straight into things everyone could work on - basics. After the punches came the blocks and after the blocks came moving. Moving is one of those much otherlooked things, like housework or breathing, people seem to take it for granted. Yet when it comes to moving in a very specific way, suddenly a group of grown adults looks like a bunch of shaky toddlers!

We worked on Sanchin Dachi and Neko Ashi Dachi - both stances which require attention to detail to appreciate the subtle advantages of these postures. Certainly when it comes to suri ashi or sliding feet, I felt closer to clog foot than cat leg. With Sensei George's eagled eyed instruction we were able to attend to the finer details and after an hour or so of practice, I felt I'd improved 1 or 2%. Hey, don't knock it! If I improve just 2% a week that's 100% improvement a year. However if I set my expectation as a 100% improvement in 2 weeks, I'm sure I'll have quit Karate by Christmas.

Today was a really good class, even though we only practiced under 30 techniques for 3 hours. Maybe that should read was good because we only practiced a few techniques. As Sensei George says, the concept of Goju Ryu is quality not quantity.

Sadly I'm having to cancel attending Michael Tse's class this coming weekend, which was to be a birthday treat. However an unexpected tax bill has realigned my thoughts to working longer hours...

The month ahead

October promises to be a fistful of action with a ringful of seminars going down in addition to usual practice. In the 1st week of October Sensei George Andrews, one of the UK's original Goju Ryu men and founder of OTGKA, holds a Goju Ryu Gasshuku (training camp), which is followed the week after by a look at Dayan Wild Goose Qigong with Michael Tse, editor of Qi Magazine and founder of the Tse Qigong Healing Center.

The 18th sees Sensei Tony Christian coming to London and running a day seminar at the Institute of Traditional Karate Do. Sensei Tony Christian is yet another Liverpool's fine fighting exports and the seminar looks likely to be most lively.

Master Morio Higaonna inspiring us wimps at the European Gasshuku, Bournmouth 2007 - photograph by the Howie Lama

The following week I'm flying out Poland to take in the expertise of the lineage holder for Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate Do - Master Morio Higaonna. The literature IOGKF Poland (full Word document in English is here) have distributed for the event states of Master Higaonna:

What does he say about his trainings?
“I am pleased to say my training has hardly changed over the years. Recently I started to study meditation with Sakiyama sensei who is a famous Zen priest. Everyday I run, practice hojo undo, kata, and also meditation. My family is as supportive as ever so I am free to train for at least six hours each day.

“Of course you must remember that physical training is just the gateway to mastery of the mind. That's why you must strive to achieve true humility through training. Good karate makes good people, and I feel a responsibility to pass on what was given to me as a way of thanking my teacher, An'ichi Miyagi. (...) If you do not train hard you should not teach!”

What do other masters say about master Higaonna?
Don Draeger said “(he) is the most dangerous man in Japan in real fight ". Terry 0'Neil – the famous European karate Shotokan champion (kata and kumite), said: “As close as one can come to the model of the classical karate master". Harry Cook, when asked about the greatest artist of martial arts, said:“Of the Japanese teachers I would have to say Morio Higaonna. Higaonna sensei can do it all; his basics are very powerful, his kata are excellent and he can demonstrate many bunkai for all the kata. There is no doubt about his fighting ability and he is exciting to watch. We used to watch him do demonstrations in Tokyo and you were always glad that you weren’t his assistant! He’s also very good at grappling; when he gets you in close you are in trouble.

All to be held near a MiG jet fighter factory in North Poland! The ever excellent Sensei Nakamura is also there as are most of the UK's top Goju exponents such as Sensei George Andrews and Sensei Linda Marchant, so I'm really looking forward to seeing Master Higaonna again.