Jon Lovett

In April this year I spent two weeks in Japan living and training in the Shidokan Honbu dojo. The dojo is in Tokorozawa, just north-west of Tokyo and home town of Kancho Yoshiji Soeno, head of the Shidokan World Karate Association. Kancho Soeno studied under the founder of Kyokushinkai Karate, Masutatsu Oyama, and then trained in Muay Thai. He founded Shidokan in 1981, the style combines traditional karate with Muay Thai and grappling.

Kancho Soeno now lives in his dojo on the Izu Peninsula south-west of Tokyo, on the slopes of the volcanic cone of Omuro near the hot-spring resort of Ito. The Tokorozawa dojo is run by his son, Shihan Tatsuichi. I was visiting the dojo to fulfil a dream of training in Japan and to take my Shidokan 2nd kyu. I work in a University, so was able to combine my visit with some lecturing at a nearby campus of Waseda University. This diary is put together from e-mails I sent back to the Shidokan dojos in London and York. Kirsty and Dennis from the London dojo were coming out to Japan to take their Shodans in May, so the diary was to let them know what it was like.

Arrival in Tokorozawa
I got to the dojo last night about 6 pm, by which time training was in full swing. Shihan Tatsuichi is away, but I met his wife and of course all the guys in the dojo. When I arrived they came out of the dojo and greeted me with a big OSU! I`m still working out everyone's names, but there is Saito-san from Mongolia who will be taking karate tonight and Yoshida-san who looks after the dojo. I think there are about five or six guys staying in the dojo and there must have been about 15 or so guys coming to training last night at different times. The reason I'm not sure is that I went to bed jet-lagged at about 9.30 last night before everyone had finished training, and there are people sleeping in different places around the dojo.

The dojo is on three floors connected by a spiral staircase which runs up through a cherry tree in full blossom. The ground floor is for kick boxing, it has three bags and a kick-boxing ring. I trained for a couple of hours on the bags and was given a session in the ring working with Saito-san on the pads. I have to admit I feel pretty slow and clumsy compared to the rest of the guys - they are awesome, amazingly fast with wonderful powerful technique, but everyone is very helpful with training tips and technique correction.

The kicking-hand comes down with the kick, Muay Thai style, so I have to get used to that after all Steve's good work in getting me to keep my guard up with both hands, and I have to do a lot more work on the switch - right leg steps forward, right cross, left kick in close. Also I have to adjust my stance for kick-boxing, maybe I'll get the hang of it by the end of two weeks. There is a three minute timer, so everyone trains for three minutes, then there's a beep and everyone rests for a minute, then there's a beep and everyone starts again.

The middle floor is for karate. There was a group doing some sparring last night, the thumps came through to the ground floor below. Saito-san is taking a karate session tonight at 6 p.m., so I'll join that. The loo and shower are just off the karate dojo. The top floor is accommodation, there are three sleeping rooms and I have one all to myself. There is also a common area with a TV and table. Water is downstairs on the ground floor, I've bought some bottled water so can keep the bottles topped up now. There are several supermarkets nearby. The guys prefer the Co-Op which is just opposite the dojo, but it closes in the evening and is not open until 10:00 am, so I haven't been in it yet. Just down the road (to the left and on the opposite side of the road) is a large 24 hr supermarket (where I bought water and fruit last night) and drug store.

The Shin-Tokorozawa train station is a short walk away and it is two stops from there to the main Tokorozawa Station (the stop in between is Koku-Koen). This morning Mrs Soeno and Tatsuichi`s wife took me out for breakfast in a coffee shop - everyone is just so incredibly kind and helpful. More later, have to dash now to do some work with Prof. Amano.

Honbu Dojo Training
Yesterday evening I got back to the dojo around 4:30 p.m., which is about the time that things start gearing up for training. Reku-san [Note: Panomthoa Lek from Thailand], who is the kick boxing trainer came in about at about 5:30, and as the dojo was quiet he gave me some training on stance. Then I worked on the bags for a while before karate. Saito-san took the karate session; there were about 10 people there, mostly youngsters, but also two of the guys who live in the dojo, Yoshida-san and Takahashi-san. The karate was fairly basic kihon, then we did some flexibility and Saito just goes straight into a full front split. Right down. Then bends forward flat. Eeewwwww. I've been trying to work on flexibility, but this is too much, I've still got my bum about 3 feet in the air and the flexibility session is nearly over. I've got a way to go me thinks.

Then Saito asks one of the youngsters who is a high grade, to run through kata with me. They have some minor variations on the kata we do, so I'll try and bring those back. After karate, Saito tells me to learn another kata before the next session and then says "me go kick now" and heads off down to the kick boxing ring. Then JJ phones! Hooray! (Note: Shihan JJ Burnel is head of GB Shidokan, see Traditional Karate April 2005) Then I went down into the kick boxing floor and worked on the bags and fitness for a couple of hours. This is where the grown ups are - a bunch of very fit, hard looking guys working out like there was no tomorrow. At one point a big OSU! goes up when a guy walks into the gym. As he works out with Reku, Saito says to me "World Champion".

So in this small gym, which is just about big enough for a kick boxing ring, there are three kick boxing champions training right now. Just as I'm about to head off upstairs for food and bed around 9:00 pm, Saito is lying on the mat whilst Reku does some conditioning on him. Reku is belting him in the stomach with something hard and heavy, full power. More later - I'm heading off to go cherry blossom viewing in the hills now, the weather forecast is for rain next week.

Mata ashita!

Part two

This article is also published in the October edition of Traditional Karate magazine.