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6
June 2007
Jon
Lovett
Part
one
Monday
Travelling
to Japan means getting up at 6.00 am on Sunday to catch
the 7.00 am bus from York to Leeds for an 8.00 am check-in
for Amsterdam and an afternoon connection for a ten
hour flight to Narita to arrive at 9.30 on Monday morning.
By the time I get to Customs and the green channel I
look just the sort of disheveled unshaven character
that must be on page 1 of the stop-and-search profiling
book.
The
customs officer taps my hold all: "Open this bag
please sir" and closes off the entrance to his
desk to the disappointment of the queue behind me. He
must think it will take a while. But on the top of my
motley collection of tee-shirts, socks and underpants
there is a pair of bag mitts and shin pads. "Is
this your hobby sir?" he asks. "Yes, Shidokan
Karate," I reply. "Ah, well, in that case,
enjoy your stay in Japan!" and he helps me zip
up the bag without looking any further.
It
is a warm sunny day and at Shidokan Honbu Dojo in Tokorozawa
I am greeted by Shihan Tatsuichi, his mother, Kaoru,
wife, Yuko, and one-year-old son. The cherry blossom
started flowering today and surrounds us as we climb
the spiral staircase to the dojo where we bow to the
shrine.
A
few hours later, after a shower and shave, I'm training
with Reku-san on pads. Maybe its lack of sleep, or just
bad technique, but Reku-san berates me for not hitting
the centre of the pads. He demonstrates with a punch
to the chin, pointing out that it is no good if it goes
to either side - it has to be on target. Another hour
or so on the bags and I'm ready for bed.
Tuesday
Although
the dojo is open every evening for training with Reku-san,
traditional karate classes are held twice a week on
Tuesday and Thursday. At 6.30 pm I'm training on the
bags downstairs and out of the corner of my eye see
someone in a gi heading upstairs to the dojo. Shihan
Tatsuichi has already started the class by the time
I arrive so I apologise profusely, rush upstairs to
change into gi and then join the class. After the warm
up Shihan Tatsuichi teaches us Seienchin or "tiger
claw" kata due to the use of tiger claw in the
opening sequence of moves performed in kibadachi which
consist of a double open-handed block centrally downwards,
followed by closed fists coming upwards together, then
crossing and going down into lower blocks on both sides,
then open hands crossing and turning to form a tiger
claw with one hand and spear hand strike with the other.
He
explains the bunkai as blocking a kick to the groin
then breaking a hold on the lapels followed by a tiger
claw grasp of the opponents cuff combined with a strike
to the solar plexus. Then he asks me what kata I will
use in my forthcoming test with Kancho Soeno. "Shikon
no Kata" I say proudly, as this is the kata that
Kancho taught me two years ago on my first visit to
Japan.
Shihan
Tatsuichi asks me to show him the kata and off I go.
After I finish he says "very good", but there
are some small things that need attention, and he lists
about ten major errors before going through the kata
with me move by move. "This is a jodan punch, not
chudan; hold the ball of energy for a count of five
and look at it; turn the fist at the end of the ibuki
breath; the left hand punches out from kibadachi before
the right shuto; this is an upper cut not a hook; jodan
empi; right side-kick at 45 degrees to the rear; no
hooking punch there; the move empi-uraken-gedanbarai-gyakutsuki
is fast to one count; and at the end you step forward
twice with Mawashi-uke twice in the same direction without
stopping before stepping back and reversing it."
Phew,
I'm glad he went through it with me before I ended up
demonstrating my application of Chinese whispers in
a special two-year-old personalised version of Shikon
no Kata in front of Kancho. Shihan Tatsuichi then tells
us to watch and demonstrates Shikon and Seienchin kata.
He explains that the movements must be dynamic, it is
not just a matter of technique, and as he goes through
the kata it seems as if it is not just him moving, but
also the space around him.
Part
2 : Part
3
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