Monthly Archives: July 2017

WOW, What a weekend

This weekend, we still had a training session each day, Saturday morning session was just more of a stretching and talking about that things we are learning. After that we had some breakfast, Sam and Sandra then had to take me to a chemist to find something to help with my eye. As it was the worst it had ever been Friday night and Saturday morning, had a lot of pain and more swelling, pretty much hurt so much I had to hold my eye closed for hours at a time. We got some drops which I was hoping would work, otherwise we were told to get me to the hospital first thing Monday morning which I was very scared about. We got back by 11am where we met Helen who had just arrived at the Sohonbu.

Sam, Helen and I went out adventuring no real plan mainly have a look at the castle and at a few shops. We were about 15 minutes away practically stepping on the bus, when we realised that we had the key to lock up the Sohonbu, therefore Sandra and the kids couldn’t leave. We then had to walk all that way back to return the key.  Had a quick shirt change and headed out again.  We tried catching a train which went wrong as we ended up waiting for the wrong train and had missed ours.  We went across the street and waited for the bus to take us to the city centre. We eventually got there 2 hours later to when we first left to Sohonbu.

Walking over to the Kumamoto Castle, areas were taped off and looked like there was no entry, when we asked a staff member he then pointed to the map and pretty much the whole castle was closed off. Quite disappointed, I was really looking forward to seeing it and looking through it.  I then remembered that the Suzenji Gardens wasn’t far away and we decided we would get some food, then catch the tram there.

Public transport over here is very easy I you know what busses to take, trains and trams are easy, buses you need to know which one and where it takes you. Also, defiantly must have exact change as they don’t give you change back. There is a change machine on the trams trains, and buses which is very handy.  You put in 100 yen 50 yen coins and it gives you 10 yen coins.  Most of the time ive been paying 150-170 yen per ride which isn’t much probably around $2.00 or so depending on how far you are going.

We got off the Tram at stop for the Suzenji Gardens, number 18 I think it was.  From there it’s about a five-minute walk and we were at the entrance.  There was a 500yen entry fee and they gave you a map and a fancy little ticket.

It was absolutely beautiful, so green and hilly, lovely shaped trees had a very instant relaxing, peaceful feel to it, I was instantly happy to be there. Sam, Helen and I were there for a few hours looking around taking photos and enjoying the scenery.  It was in the late afternoon by the time we got there so it was very quiet, not many other people around which was good, we could enjoy it more.  We left around 5:00pm as far as I can remember.  Did a bit of food shopping and headed home.

  
 

Where we had a shower, and got ready to go out for dinner. We decided on a Korean BBQ.  I’m not sure of the name, but was just 5-minute walk from the Sohonbu, practically at the end of the street. We sat at a kotatsu, a small table where we sat in seiza, and many other positions as it was actually very uncomfortable where I thought it would be fun and different, definitely going to choose a normal table next time. Haha, my bad.

That was just Saturday such a big day, we went on a little detour walk on the way back.  Sam and I sat down and watched a movie where we both kept nudging each other to stay awake.  Haha, bed time!

Finally a sleep in well kind of… I still woke up at 6am! Haha, nope go back to sleep!  I woke up properly at 8am.  Yeah that’s better, had a nice relaxing morning. Found out we had Kobodu training 2-4pm so wasn’t much time for too much adventuring. Was contemplating on staying home and watching movies until training. But when I’m in another country, I like to use all my energy and force myself out to enjoy it and see it as much as I can while I’m there.

Sam seemed as though he wasn’t going anywhere, Helen was just going to pop out for some groceries and Sandra and the Kids weren’t going out either. I was just about to sit down and stay as well as I was scared of going out in Japan by myself alone.  I decided against it, I’m an adult I can take care of myself. Got sun screen definitely need sun screen had and glasses, shoes and went out.

I was planning on adventuring the left side of the park as we always go to the right, was only like 5 minutes and it ended, well that’s boring, but I kept walking up to the road and onwards, didn’t look like there was much ahead but I just wanted to get out, kept walking then I noticed that the big net was quite close. The big net that I was told was a golf driving range, I’m not a big fan of golf but the big net with huge red poles just looked so interesting and I wanted to go since I first saw it upon arriving in Kumamoto. I just wanted to go there, just to be there, very random I know.

Any how I came to a T-intersection with the big net right up on the hill in the middle.  Damn, where do I go now.  I knew one path would take me there and the other wouldn’t I chose to go right, I thought that looked more promising.  Hahahah WRONG!!!!!!!!!! Had to walk all the way back about 10 minutes.  Got to the T- intersection.  I tried looking up kumamoto golf range, the big net didn’t come up. Well looks like google maps won’t be helping me get there, it’s all up to me.

As I kept going I got more and more scared I would get lost and wouldn’t make it back in time to get picked up for training, but I wanted to keep going.  I took the left path which I should of originally taken. Kept following and following the road was very narrow and had to keep stopping to let cars past, got very creepy all by myself, people giving me weird looks.  Surrounded by old houses, some looked clean and respectable others looked like a lot of trouble.  God I hope I don’t get taken, that wouldn’t be very nice. I came to an area where I felt as though I could touch the net it was so close, but the road went all zig zaggy up the hill I still didn’t know if it would actually take me there.  But I kept on following the path, got to some steps which looked like a cheat way instead of following the windy road.  One more lap got to the top and I saw a sign that said “Kumamoto Golf Range”.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I’m there I actually got so excited that a ran all the way to the entrance.  Mainly because I got myself there all by myself.   Usually I don’t really go out without a friend so this was quite an adventure for me, I actually felt proud of myself, silly I know.

Next problem how do I ask to hit some balls. Went up to the counter talking for about 10 minutes.  No one had a clue what I was trying to say, they sat me down at a table and served my ice coffee, I don’t like ice coffee.  But after that hike, just getting into Aircon!!!! And very much enjoyed it, was like water to a person who had been in the dessert for months.

A man came up who could speak some English, found out he actually lived in Brisbane for 5 years and just came home, so we chatted about that for a bit, I told him I just wanna shoot 50 balls for 600yen he sorted that out for me and they lent me some golf clubs for free I still think they done that cause they felt sorry for me. Also gave me the iced coffee for free, god I felt like a rich billionaire they were all so lovely and nice.

I finished my drink grabbed the clubs, went outside, they gave me a spot on the second floor, whoop whoop. I started hitting some balls only had a little bit of knowledge back from playing golf at school.

It was automated where the ball rolls out and the t pops up from the ground haha very very entertaining.  Every ball that came out I sat and watched it roll out and pop up.  It was all new to me. I hit some pretty good shots, I got a few to the 150m area most was at the 100m though still alright.  I do think that being on the top gave me more distance advantage.  Still it felt good getting those shots in.

As I was alone and wanted a photo, I went up and asked this elderly man that helped me get the balls from the machine earlier to take a photo of me.  I was waiting for him to sit down as I didn’t want to interrupt his practise.

All 50 balls were gone time to head back down, I sat there for a moment though.  This was another happy time where I felt completely relaxed and happy, nothing on my mind.

Time to head back to eat and rest before training.  It was only a 20 minute walk if you don’t get lost the first time hahha. Had some food and laid on my bed to shut my eyes for about half an hour then time to get ready for Kobudo. I mentioned in an earlier post so ill skip that part now.

Time for Steven’s Birthday dinner party at Miyazaki Sensei’s house. We got there and they were all very lovely.  We sat at an kotatsu again, more fiddling around with seating positions. We mainly just had a casual talk about life.  A little bit of karate, mainly our life styles, things we like to do, just normal conversation that you would have with friends.

This was the first proper Japanese home that we’ve been in so far. Take your shoes off at the front door make sure you don’t have stinky feet. They had quite a spread of food, pizza, veggies, sushi, chicken, fruit, wide variety of things I thought I was at a buffet. The food was amazing, also was different for me.

As I was sitting next to Miyazaki Sensai, I was on duty filling his drink.  I was constantly checking his cup to see if it was empty, it was customary to never fill your own drink, others had to do it for you. I was offered some beer, Ashashi I think it was I only had one cup then I went to coke haha, I’m not much of a beer person but I like trying different things.

We were lucky enough to see Miyazaki Sensai’s upstairs Dojo while we were there, got a group photo and saw all his grading certificates, too many to count, went back down and talked some more while we enjoyed some cake.

It hit around 10:30pm time to take us home, we pilled into the cars and they were kind enough to drive us all the way back to the Sohonbu.

As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out cold haha.  That’s just our first weekend here gosh, wonder what next weekend will be like.

Week 2

Yesterday we attended a Kobodu demonstration practise rehearsal session, kihon bo 1-15.  1-8 I already know, 9-15 however was very new to me. We started learning it last Thursday in our morning kobodu session, and yesterday we got to go through it again and mainly remember the sequence.  The sequence i found easy to remember, the technique on the other hand I found very complicated, much more advanced techniques then i’m used to, especially number 14. I think it is when both hands on the bo are holding the bo the same way, that felt bazaar, and un-natural. I very much enjoyed doing it though I found it fun and love learning new bo techniques and kata’s. My shushi no sho I think is coming along well, with technique, speed and understanding on the kata. I do find number 1 quit hard to grasp though, I never feel completely happy with how it feels, I feel as though i’m no where near where it should be.

We had our first morning training of the week this morning, which was quite similar to every other morning we’ve had with Soke Sensai, we done some partner work where we match each others steps.  We then bring our hands together and one person has a soft movement around the hand and tries to tag.  The other person tries to block and then quickly counter. I couldn’t quite get my hips to work with me for that activity.

We all have the night off tonight celebrating Stevens Birthday then a big day tomorrow with two morning sessions and an afternoon session. Otherwise for now its time to relax and celebrate.

How I am holding up after a week of training

Its already Friday, wow!  Doesn’t feel like we’ve been here that long but it’s also feels like each day is a few days long. Not sure how that works. I am getting use to the heat but my feet are cutting out on me, getting very achy and sore, I haven’t yet attended a class with 100% energy, I’ve been mostly training with 80% – 90%, so I’m guessing I’m still getting use to these conditions.

We’ve been having a few late nights. On Wednesday, we went to a big open gym to train, as the sohonbu was too small to train in for kobudo training.  We didn’t get home until 10:15 and every morning we wake up at 6:00am for either park training or morning sessions with Soke Sensai, so it has been a bit difficult to get a good night’s rest. I think it all caught up to me yesterday as I actually had two naps during the day and didn’t feel like going out and adventuring at all. It was actually weird to sleep during the day I don’t usually do that unless I am really really out of energy. But I am really enjoying the training and am learning a lot from a lot of different Sensei.  I’m am enjoying having a few hours just to sit around and do nothing.  Back home I don’t have any time for that at all, I’m always going from one thing straight to the next and am lucky to get a good 7 hours of sleep a night. So, it’s good just resting here through the day, I think I definitely need it.

We have one or two more sessions for the day and Sami is going to lead us through a stretch tomorrow morning and have a chat about how we are all holding up, then we got the weekend which I’m hoping to do some sightseeing and adventuring. Then getting back to our last week of training in the Sohonbu, which I’m scared will go way too fast.

Already Such a Big Day

Tuesday- started out with morning training in the park gi pants and t-shirt. Pretty much just preparations for Soke cup with kata and kumite practise and performances, was quite hot and by the end of the hour and a half training, but it was a good atmosphere to train, with a nice breeze every now and then.

We then had a two hour 10:00 -12:00 Kobudo training with Higuchi Sensia, where Sam and I learnt shushi no sho bo kata mainly just remembering the sequence not so much worrying about to much detail at that stage. I found that very helpful and enjoyable just to have time to go through it as many times as we wanted. I am now very confident with shushi no sho, so I can now start looking at detail of my stances, targets ect.

During the day Sensie Sandra took us out to the city centre mostly to show us where shops and things we can go see are, we enjoyed some really yummy crepes that Sam spotted. Then Sensai Sandra took the kids home as Sam and I kept exploring around all the shops. At about 5:50pm Sam and I received a message from Sensai Sandra saying that we are getting picked up from the Sohonbu in an hour to go train in Masuda Sensia’s Dojo. We went to the bus stop to try and get back in time to have showers and eat, when our bus did not arrive, we then had to run!!!! 1.6km to the train station to get back in time, we just made it in time to have a 30 second shower each, jump in the car and go. We feel sorry for the people who has to clean the train as we left quite a bit of a sweat pool for them. 😛 As you could guess after such a big day Sam and I were both very worn out and exhausted, and had another training session ahead of us.

We walk into Mesuda Sensai’s Dojo wearing gi pants a t-shirt and a belt which felt bazar without a gi jacket on. We got introduced luckily, we had a lady who could speak English to help us understand what was going on during the class. We followed along with some basic’s and a few junior kata, we then got to relax and watch the class perform some higher-level kata’s for us, Sam and I then performed Bassai, and Sami and Steven demonstrated shihohai. After that Sensia Sandra, Sam and I had a surprise attack of teaching small groups of students each, which was quite scary as we do not speak their language and they have small differences of technique to us. Such as their blocking is to the side of their body not the centre, small details like that, that their Sensei teaches them. I was put in charge of teaching four young green belt girls. Which one of them spoke a tiny bit of English, but I had to do most of my feedback and comments by demonstrating to them. It was quite difficult as most of the time I just got a blank stare back in my direction and did not really know how to be clear to them to what I was trying to say.

At about 8:30pm adult class started which consisted mostly of black belts only one was a green belt of a class of about elevenish students. They said it would finish at 9:45pm, so late. So Sensei Sandra took the kids home and Sam and I stayed back to train which was a bit scary as Sandra know more Japanese then we do and she was helping us out a lot with understanding instructions and having conversations. It was a great adult session mainly just went through senior kata’s first slowly than normal speed with intensity and intent. Sam got taught how to do rohai dai, and I got some more touch ups on sochin. Which I found very helpful, but the first four directions in that kata they do extremely fast was actually hard to keep up. Another funny thing I found was that a few of the men in that class was getting effected by the heat more than Sam and I were.  I found that amusing as they should be use to training in those conditions. We finished the class with a kumite round between Sam and a boy about 20 that was going to Soke cup for kumite, it was very interesting to watch him fight as he got very low to the ground, and had a good amount of speed.

Masuda Sensei’s adult class

By the end of class I was ready to pass out for a good 9 hours, but by the time we got home it was just past 10:00pm, we had a shower got some food and got into bed by 11:00pm and had an early morning training with Soke Sensei to look forward to.

Such a big day

Japan First Day

Okay so the travelling was obviously the worst part of getting here long flights waiting at airports and delayed flights.  The car drive from Fukuoka to Kumamoto was great, such a beautiful country with lots to look at. The heat here isn’t as bad as I thought it would be but still quite humid and makes you sweat even when you are sitting down having a cool drink.

Sensai Sandra, Sami, Sam and I had our first training this morning from 6:30 – 8:00 am, first 30 minutes was in seiza which at the start was comfortable, about half way through I noticed my feet went fully numb without me realising it, and obviously it got worst to the point where I couldn’t bend my toes underneath my foot as we were meant to be standing up, when I finally got up I looked down and seen my left foot was securely on the ground but felt as though I was looking at someone else’s foot because I could not feel a thing. Was a bit scary cause I’ve never experienced that before.

As we started to train just with basic chudan-zuki in uchi-hachi-datchi, I wasn’t very stabilised as my feet were still coming back to being alive. Then we got into some basic stepping up and down the dojo, it took me a while getting use to training on wooden floors but by the end of it I was getting the hang of it. Having a smoother step transition instead of a bumpy one as my feet kept sticking to the ground.

Seeing as though it was early morning training the heat wasn’t too bad, mainly just the gi sticking to you was making it difficult to train properly. We got into doing all kata from kihon dosa ichi up to the highest kata we know and back down.  I found that a little bit difficult whilst getting used to the heat, and the floors, also didn’t help that my left eye and cheek was swollen up and my eye was hurting for some unknown reason. So I spent 80% of the lesson with my left eye closed, which did not help my balance as I was changing direction. But overall I really enjoyed the first session in the sohonbu dojo with Soke Sensai.

Preparations for Japan

Okay so Sunday the 16th was our last squad training before Sensai Sandra, Sam and myself leave for Japan this coming weekend. It was a great session with Special guest visitors from previous Soka cups, it was very interesting to hear their perspectives and experiences from when they attended their international tournaments in previous years.

During this squad training we experimented on making our presence stand out to others, have a strong, focused, confident and level presence in the way that we present ourselves in the ring while doing not only kata but kumite. Throughout this training I didn’t feel quite at my peak with my energy and concentration. However I feel as though since the start of my journey training for the Soke Cup, my kata and kumite has improve quite a lot, with technique, better understanding of kata and improving my technique using my stance to excel my technique and better, more soft use of my hips.

With my kumite, my fighting style has changed quite a lot from how it was a few months ago, I am using different attacks as in faking an attack pull back then attack again, I am doing more than one or two attacks now I am following through a lot more doing three or more attacks, I feel lighter on my feet and have stretched out my stance so I am more stable and can move quicker while attacking and getting out of the way of an attack.

As a conclusion I am happy with where I am at with my karate technique and spirit. I found this last squad session together very enjoyable and helpful with my preparations for my scholarship to Japan.