Learn Traditional Karate at Maroochydore's only fully equipped, permanent Karate dojo

I’ve been a bit slow keeping up with my journal as the days have been very full.  I am currently sitting at Fukuoka ariport waiting for my plane.  My last update was very late on Friday night, or perhaps better described as very earlly Saturday morning, so I’d like to rewind a few days back to Saturday… grading day.

After missing breakfast at the hotel on Friday due to morning training it was nice to have a bit of a sleep in until 6.30am.  Breakfast was a good simple Japanese style buffet breakfast.  I still can’t belive that the hotel provides this kind of breakfast included in the price of just 4990JPY.  Although with the AU$ falling in value so much that works out to be about AU$75, rather than AU$50 that it would have been just 2 months ago.

After breakfast, the growing number of foreigners staying at the Super Hotel jumped into the procession of taxis to the sohonbu dojo.  Everyone started arriving around 8am, which gave us a good bit of time for final grading preparations, as gradings were officially set to start at 9am.  As we got closer and closer to the start time, the dojo was nearly full of grading candidates, 18 people grading in total.  Due to the large number of people grading and the small amount of time, everyone had much less to do for teaching licences than is the normal practice, but that meant it was even more important to do a good performance.

As warm up time drew to a close, the testing panel entered the dojo.  If my memory serves me correctly, the panel consisted of Soke Sensei, Kugizaki Sensei (9th Dan, Kyoshi), Oyama Sensei (8th Dan, Kyoshi), Imamura Sensei (8th Dan, Kyoshi) and Nakashima Sensei (8th Dan, Kyoshi).  Tanaka Sensei (6th Dan, Renshi) was also present in an organisational capacity, but not actually part of the testing panel, at least I don’t think he was.  For those who don’t know who they are, more information about the kyoshi can be found at the sohonbu website.

By the time we got started, I was really nervous.  Normally I don’t get so nervous with things like this, but this time was an exception.  To say the least it was a little intimidating to have to get up in front of Soke Sensei and the Kyoshi on testing panel, with all eyes looking at your every move.

The gradings started with the teaching titles from most junior to most senior, followed by dan ranks from most junior to most senior.  For those candidated grading for both titles and dan ranks that meant they had to get up twice.  After the testing panel entered the dojo, everyone was sent out of the dojo and we were called in one by one.

First to test was Adam McDonald from Lithgow dojo, testing for Jun-Shidoin (assistant instructor).  Followed by Justin Rybie from Canada, who was challening for Shidoin, and then everyone who was challenging for Shihan, 6 people in total, including Mark Snow Sensei and myself from Australia, Hirose Sensei and Mark Waterfield Sensei who both train at the Sohonbu dojo in Japan, and finally Mitchell German and Milton Bourque from Canada.

Because there were so many people grading for shihan, our grading started in pairs, first up was the Japanese duo, then the Aussies, then the Canadians.  For the first part of the grading, we were asked to perform Sanshiryu in pairs as a compulsory kata, which is also the 4th dan grading kata.  Following that one of the pair was sent out of the room and the other would be asked to perform another kata of our choice.  After performing the free choice kata, the first candidate would be sent out and the other candidate would perform their free choice kata.  Then both were asked to come back in and perform the bo kata, Sukugawa no Kon.

When Mark Snow Sensei and I were up, Sanshiryu went well.  I was nervous before I started, but once I got up and got started I started to settle pretty well except for my breathing.  Mark Sensei was first up for his free kata, as I left the dojo, I let out a bit of a sigh of relief.  I must have looked as nervous as I felt as even Noonan Sensei commented with surprise saying that he had never seen me nervous like this before.  When Mark Sensei came out a little while later I went in to perform my free choice kata, I chose bassai.  I had  been given a few pointers from Soke Sensei on Thursday, which I think I managed to work with and did what felt like a good performance.

Then Sakugawa no Kon.  Both Mark Sensei and myself came into the dojo and positioned ourselves so that we had adequate room as Sakugawa no Kon uses quite a bit of space and the Sohonbu dojo is not really that big, only about 8m from front to back and testing panel were using the first 1.5m seated behind a long low table taking notes.  The funny thing was, that Tanaka Sensei asked us both to move back a few steps, he must have thought we were going to run into the Kyoshi.  Of course we stepped back but we both knew that it was going to make the space a little tight as there is one section of the kata in particular where you step back in shiko dachi striking kirikaeshi to the knee.  Throughout the kata I had to adjust the size of my step little by little because I knew if I didn’t I would definitely run out of space, and I had a stack of tournament mats right behind me for the kakedameshi.  In the end I think I got it just about right, as the tip of my bo ended up about 5-10cm from the stack of mats.  Mark Sensei didn’t adjust, instead, he made use of the open sliding door behind him, ending up half out of the dojo.

After us, the Canadian duo were up to do the same kind of thing, then the Japenese and Aussie Shihan candidates were asked back in to perform a set of self defence techniques, either Henshuho or Nage no Kata.  We all chose to do Nage no Kata, which is a set of 15 different throwing techniques.  I was Mark Sensei’s partner and he got to perform first.  Back on the Sunshine Coast, we train on tournament mats, but for the grading Nage no Kata was performed on wooden floor, so our breakfalling technique had to be spot on.  There were a few times when I hit the floor pretty hard, but that’s the nature of the game.  When it was my turn, I got started and thought I was doing pretty well, but about half way through, the Kyoshi suggested that I should be finishing off my partner after throwing, I was just focusing on the throw.  Of course that made me a bit more nervous, so on one of the next techniques that nervous energy came out as a punch to Mark Sensei’s ribs after I had thrown him to the floor.  Of course I didn’t mean to make contact as hard as I did, but after a few very deep breaths he got up and we continued.  It was not the best Nage no Kata that I have ever done, but in the  end it was OK.

Once we had our part done, it was interesting to sit back and watch the various reactions of people as stepped into and out of the dojo with their turn to perform.

Surpisingly, the last person finished about 12:15, to be honest I thought it would have taken longer than that even with the condensed format.  Then everyone was asked to re-enter the dojo while the grading panel went into the tatami room to discuss what they had seen.  While this was going on, everyone who graded got together for some photos. I didn’t take any, but when I get a hold of some I’ll post them.

Around 12:30, they came out, everyone lined up and they announced the results.  All Australians who had stepped up to grade had passed, including me, so it was a very good result for Australian Chito-Ryu.

• Adam McDonald Sensei graded Jun-Shidoin
• Shane Ker Sensei graded to 3rd Dan
• Mark Snow Sensei and I graded to Shihan
• Mike Noonan Sensei graded to Renshi and 6th Dan

All around nearly everyone graded to new levels, there were just a few exceptions with candidates that required a bit more work.

Following the grading we had about an hour break in which time we went across the main road from the sohonbu for lunch at the local Ajisen Ramen resturant, which also happened to be one of the sponsors for the Kakedameshi tournament.

Following lunch, there was an ICKF international meeting.  This is the first one that I have attended, as it was for many of the people who were there.  It was quite a formal meeting in that everyone was dressed in official uniform in a large meeting room.  While it’s perhaps not appropriate to discuss the content of the meeting in detail in this medium, a very large part of the meeting was devoted to getting to know everyone in order to start building stronger relationships between countries.

Here are a few photos from the meeting , courtesy of Inazuka Sensei.

R-L:  Fraser Clarke Sensei & Christina Clarke Sensei (Scotland), myself and Mike Noonan Sensei (Australia).

Towards the end of the meeting, Soke Sensei shared some old 8mm video footage of O Sensei, which also featured quite a bit of Kugizaki Sensei and also Inazuka Sensei, taken about 50 years ago.  In recent years, there have been many old foreign instructors who have claimed to be experts in Chito-Ryu because they have trained with O Sensei, and perhaps feel that they know better than the current Soke.  While it may have been true that they did train with O Sensei, Kugizaki Sensei made it very clear that Soke Sensei is THE authority on Chito-Ryu and has clearly followed in his father’s direction capturing the essence of Chito-Ryu unlike anyone else has been able to do.  Kugizaki Sensei also made it clear that he felt he had authority to speak on this topic, due to the fact that as a young man, he had left his position in the Japanese Self Defence Force to live near the Sohonbu and trained every morning and night with O Sensei for the next 10 years.

This was the first time that I had seen any of this video footage and there is said to be loads more that was made especially for Soke Sensei so that he could continue to study and capture the essence of O Sensei’s technique even after he had passed away.  We were also told that some parts of this footage will be made publicly available in the near future, which I personally am very excited about, as there is very little footage around of O Sensei that is publicly available.

The meeting went over-time and eventually finished about 5:30pm.  From there we caught a taxi back to the hotel got changed quickly into some more comforatble clothes and most of the foreign deligates got together for dinner at a great Japanese style resturant.  Dinner was great, company was great, and most had a relatively early night, as there were a couple of us who were ented in the Kakedameshi the next day.  I got back to the hotel about 10pm, but still had a few things to do:  washing, onsen while I was waiting for washing, mould my new mouthguard and pack my bag ready for the next day.

Here are a few photos from the dinner:

Christina and Fraser Clark (Scotland)

Heyton Tze and Emily Wong (Hong Kong)

L-R: Milton Bourque, Mitchell German and John Show (Canada)

L-R: Milton Bourque, Mitchell German, John Show and Soke Sensei

Following this I caught up with Sandra and the kids via skype.  Even though it had only been a few days I was missing them all so much!  So much for an early night, I ended up getting to bed about 1.30am…

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Another full on day, but really good.  Weather has been warm and muggy, not much different than Sunshine Coast, maybe just a little higher humidity and we have had a bit of rain this evening.

The day started early about 5.30am wake up, 6.00am taxi to the sohonbu, then morning training started at 6.30am.  As is usual form, we started with half and hour of seiza and mokuso.  It just reminded me how much I miss doing that,  it’s something that I really enjoy and just don’t make the time for usually.  The dojo was pretty full, with all the Aussies, a few Canadians and several Japanese.  Given that the gradings are tomorrow morning, I think Soke Sensei took it a little easy, although we did most of the usual kihon routine, but not speed training that he usually enjoys to do in the mornings.  Followed by all kihon kata and kata.

The seniors were in the front line, then 4th dan instructors in the second line and everyone else in the third line.  I was very fortunate to be positioned right behind Tanaka Sensei,  he’s just got such great energy, especially during morning training.  For the first time ever I forgot a kata half way through, not a good thing to do the day before a grading.  But in my defence, it’s a kata that I haven’t really been putting a lot of time into practicing lately as it is the 6th dan grading kata (Ryusan) a few steps beyond my current level.  After all kata were complete, Soke Sensei gave everyone a few minutes break, expect me, I had to redo Ryusan kata.  In the end it worked out to be a good thing, because I got a few special points to work on that haven’t been pointed out before.

After everyone else got a break, we did partner training for nearly all of the remainder of the class.  I got to work on Nage no Kata with Snow Sensei.  Given the distance between dojos in Australia, we don’t get to train together that often, so it was great to train together in this context.  We had a few good breakthroughs and enjoyed working with each other.  After training was complete, it was time for soji.  Cleaning the floor, with with small, wet towels, pushed up and down the dojo by hand.  It’s good to have so many people in to do this job as it goes quite quickly.

It brought back memories for me.  During my year in Japan the Sohonbu was very quiet, often just Tanaka Sensei and myself for morning training at that time.  I think out of the year, there would have been maybe 100 times that I cleaned the whole dojo by myself after very tough physical training, now that’s shugyo.  While it’s very tough physically and mentally to do at times, it’s also a very humbling experience and a pleasure to do.  If nothing else than a small thank you for the time that Soke Sensei so freely gives.

After that, breakfast, hotel, change of clothes, wash gi and back out to the Kamitori via the bank.  Now to say the least the exchange rate it not that amazing right now, and every day it seems to be dropping.  Just 2 months ago, AU$1 would buy 102JPY, this morning it was down to 64JPY, I think it’s going to be a bit of an expensive trip this time.

We had lunch Japanese style at a nice little restaurant, simple lunch, but good.  When you walk in the front door, there is a vending maching, where you select a meal and pay then find a spare table.  Then staff come to collect tickets and about 5 minutes later out comes the food.

After lunch we continued up the kamitori to a photo booth, where we all had to get passport sized photos to goo with our grading applications.  The locals must have thought we were carzy, one at a time we went into this tiny booth, obviously built for the locals…  Once inside, we’d change into a gi top as that is what’s recommended for the photos as one will go on grading certificate if successful.  After many bumped elbows and so on, we all managed to get it done.

Next mission, was to get to the sports store, as I needed to get a mouthguard and groin guard for the kakedameshi.  That morning Tanaka Sensei had showed us the bogu (head gear, body gear and gloves) that all entrants are to use.  It looks good, very light weight body gear, just enough to stop any major internal damage, but I think that broken ribs are still a possibility… not for me though, that’s not part of my plan.

After shopping, I ran into Noonan Sensei who I spent the next few hours with catching up sharing ideas about various things, then back to the sohonbu dojo.

We got there in time for the kids class.  Chris Taneda Sensei had arrrived a little earlier and was talking with Soke Sensei.  I was asked to join Tatsumi Takatsu Sensei teach the kids class.  It had been a while since I last taught any kids in Japan, but it was interesting.  My Japanese has slipped quite a lot so my confidence in teaching the kids was not that great, but I tried to give them something different that they might not normally receive.  Most of the kids were just in awe of my size, by Australian standards I’m tall, but not out of place at 194cm, but in Japan with Primary School aged kids it’s a bit of a novelty.

For evening classes nearly everyone was back again from the morning class, plus a few more people that had arrived that day.  Again training was very similar to the morning class, and tuaght by Soke Sensei once again.  After training, 7.30-9.00pm, Tanaka Sensei sat everyone down to explain the schedule in more detail for the next few days.  Tomorrow’s grading is going to be very big, 18 people grading in total, some for dan grading, some for teaching titles, some for both.  Given the size of the grading, what we have been asked to do is a condensed version, if everyone was to do the full grading requirements it had been calculated at nearly 6 hours just to check, plus feedback time.  Unfortunately we only have 3 hours allocated for grading so given that we have less to do, it is going to be even more important that everything is correct.

Following explanation of the schedule, Tanaka Sensei invited everyone back to his house, across the road from the Sohonbu dojo for some snacks, pizza and drinks.  I think everyone was quite tired, especially those who had arrived that day, but it was nice to sit down for a while and catch up.  It always impresses me how hospitable Tanaka Sensei is with everyone.  I just hope that next time he’s on the Sunshine Coast, we can return the favour again.

Then finally back to the hotel, wash gi, hotel onsen while I was waiting and back to writing this entry.  I hope that everyone enjoys reading about my adventures as much as I am having them.  it just makes me realise how nice it is to be able to train at the sohonbu.  I will certainly be encouraging all Sunshine Coast members to get to the Sohonbu dojo to train once they have graded to black belt.  I think it’s something that everyone should do at least once.  Soke Sensei’s growth in technique just continues to amaze me, we are so lucky to be a part of the ICKF and have direct access to a true master of karate-do.

I’m going to call it a night, it now after 1am and I need to be up around 6.30am to pack my bag.  Breakfast downstairs at 7.00am, then taxi to the Sohonbu dojo at about 7.30am for final grading preparations.  I guess I’ll get a sleep when I get home, maybe.

I still didn’t get any photos today, maybe tomorrow…

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