JAPAN TRAINING - July 22, 2013 - OMAGARI

The little laundromat has become my office, even though I am not washing clothes.  Des Tuck Shihan is doing his laundry and is using one of these tiny Japanese washing machines for a desk and I'm sitting like a white crane at the only table, which is about 18" diameter.  When you sit on the floor all the time, even this setup feels almost luxurious.  I have my usual two cans of hot Boss Coffee,  so I'm quite content.

Yesterday was a very hard training for everyone, but a special kind of hell for me because of knees and hip.  My knees ache and threaten to let me down but this hip thing alternated between having a little demon with an ice pick jabbing me constantly in my glut or total numbness there, the pain having taken a southern holiday to visit relatives in my IB band.  There were many times I actually became nauseous from it.  But enough about me....

The weather was almost monsoonal with rain pouring down in buckets, which to all of is is something of a blessing because it keeps the heat down.  When you are continually soaked in sweat anyhow, who cares about 100% humidity?  But I guarantee you do not want that extreme heat.  As we have each day, we started out (after Sensei Jamie Duggin's intense Aussie warm up session) with at least two hours of Sanchin and Tensho with Shihan Fujiwara letting us know we need to "not show our weakness" and to pretty much quit half-assing it.  Let me say that my own weakness at the moment was probably painted on my face like an advertisement!  But it is obvious just how much more understanding, strength, and improvement has setled in over the week.  Not to mention just how much discomfort you can take.

We moved on to partner kumite drills which are variations of the same drills we've been doing, and like kata, we keep returning to them until we basically "own" them.  Repetition is essential to training.  Golfers hit thousands of practice balls.  Karateka hit each other.

We finished out the day divided into groups by rank for an hour of prescribed kata -- mine, as rokudan, is Seisan.  It is especially wonderful with dead legs, which everyone has by then.  The nice thing about Mr. Fujiwara is he has a surprising sense of humor so he will goof on you in such a way that it is both comic relief as well as instructional.  We all get a bit testy with one another by that time of the training,  so a little humor goes a long way.

Shihan Yabunaga gave me his bicycle to ride to the dojo because of the knees and it was so much better for me.  Our translator, Mr. Suzuki, rounds up bikes for whoever wants one, and next year I will be the first in line.  Instead of a 25 minute walk to the Budokan, it is about ten minutes of good therapy.  The rain was kind enough to lift for me to get back to the ryokan.

Last night's dinner at the ryokan was especially exceptional:  unagi, maguro, miso soup, a bowl of hardy stew, tofu, rice, pickles, and cold beer.  I should have photographed it because description alone does not do it justice.  I had just come from the soaking tub and was in my yukata, which is perfectly acceptable.  I even received an excellent shoulder massage from Mr. Suzuki, who told me he learned English by watching American movies.  Wow!  We don't learn Japanese by watching Kurasawa films.  That is impressive.  The after dinner time is the best camaraderie.   I was on my futon by 10pm and as I have every night, fell asleep in my clothes.  That is exhaustion.

Today is our last training day in Omagari before traveling to Wakayama for the JKF Gojukai shindig.  I believe we will go until lunch then begin the grading for those grading for Seiwakai.  There are quite a few of them and the improvement this week across the board has been pretty amazing.  I will be happy to save my legs as much as possible for my grading in Wakayama.

Almost time for breakfast.   I definitely need another hot soak prior to training, so I will close for now.