JKF Gojukai UK 2010 Seminar: Fujiwara Hanshi and Kiyohara Hanshi

The heat of summer 2010 was short-lived and the cold weather struck sooner than any of us had hoped. The 24^th, 25^th and 26^th of September were particularly chilly but 7 Kaizen Ryu students braved the weather to spend the weekend training with the Japanese masters! What better way to warm up than a whole weekend of karate?

Chris Seth Sensei was lucky enough to train on the Friday evening along with Aaliya and had this to say about it:
“Friday's seminar was under the tuition of Kiyohara Hanshi, whilst the other instructors assisted. I was overwhelmed by the number of high grade Karate-ka who were passing on their knowledge and information and that they represented many countries. All students trained together and were initially led by Abel Figueiredo Shihan. We first went through some basics, followed by Kata's; Sanchin, Tensho, Gekki Sai Ichi and Gekki Sai Ni. The three hour session was too short and I was left wanting more - I felt uplifted to train in such a high profile seminar and grew stronger and stronger as the weekend progressed.  I learnt the importance of regular Kihon training and can appreciate how my instructors insist on repetition of a technique as a means to achieving good quality karate.”

After a quick warm up, the Saturday morning seminars began with the –kyu grades being taken into another hall separate from the Dan grades to be taught by Fujiwara Hanshi. The first portion was spent on reverse punch and its use in kumite. Fujiwara explains the importance of breathing to increase speed and power in punching and demonstrates this on Ratislav Mraz Kyoshi before setting the kids off on a little competition to see who can punch faster. Sunit Jogia (Ilford) and Lauren McAllister (Dagenham) were two such students who impressed and made it past the first round! Following the morning session and a nice lunch break in the cold, Fujiwara dove into more Kihon with a strong focus on stances and blocks - in particular: zenkutsu, neko-ashi and shiko dachi; and jodan age, chudan and harai uke. Little details including how to turn after reaching the end of the hall were discussed and gone over numerous times until everyone had it right – it was amazing to see how different the cultures’ views are on the importance of what some Westerners might consider minor details.

 After a good hour or so, Fujiwara Hanshi asked us to perform katas Gekki Sai Ichi and Gekki Sai Ni. Having had such an in-depth look at basics, the kyu grades performed these to a satisfactory standard. It was when we were asked to perform Saifa that things began to go wrong and Fujiwara Hanshi stopped the group, clearly shocked by our “bad kata”. He then spent the rest of the afternoon session breaking down every step of the kata, going through it bit by bit and hammering it in to our memory. There is a saying: “suffer for your art”. By the end of the day, the entire group had certainly suffered for their art: “It was great and I got hurt!” said Lauren. Jack McAllister (Dagenham) said, “I enjoyed the session and think what we learnt today will help in my teaching.” It was clear to see that the hard work and effort put in to the Saturday session helped keep the burning passion for improving our karate aflame!

This passion was carried on to the Sunday session where Chris Sensei, Gina Boot (Dagenham) and myself started the morning with a smile and a whole lot of enthusiasm! Kicking off with a warm up taken by Chris Sensei, Fujiwara Hanshi took us again through every stage of Saifa, from beginning to end until it felt as though our bodies were close to breaking, after which we had to perform the kata as a whole. Recalling our embarrassing performance of Saifa on Saturday, one can only imagine how chuffed we were after hearing Fujiwara Hanshi’s approval when we had finished the kata! Keeping our cool demeanour, we continued the rest of the morning session smiling proudly on the inside, even as we repeated the kata numerous times and followed it up with more Gekki Sai Ichi and Ni.

The afternoon followed a similar pattern to that of the Saturday afternoon session – basic blocks and stances with Paul Coleman Shihan offering translation and his wisdom in order to further improve our Kihon. The afternoon died down as Fujiwara Hanshi was called to be with the Dan grades, allowing Ratislav Mraz Kyoshi and Stanko Kumer Shihan to take us through kata Sanchin for the remainder of the afternoon. The day ended with the kyu grades joining the Dan grades in bowing out followed by photos and farewells. As we got changed, it gave us a moment to take everything in and, when asked how she felt about the session, Gina said “I found it useful and know that it will improve my karate – I feel honoured to have trained with the Japanese and am glad I took this opportunity, I would have regretted it otherwise.”

It was a long weekend and in the car on the way back, we all sat with a satisfied smile on our faces knowing that we had worked incredibly hard and had gotten so much out of it.

Oh, one more thing: There is NO better way to warm up on a cold day than a whole weekend of karate!

Written by; Jasmine David

Photos by: Farah Shukla