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Author: Shihan

What´s in a title?

Written by Shihan on . Posted in Image highlights, My thoughts, Philosophy. No Comments on What´s in a title?

There are many of us who use exotic titles before our names, such as Shihan or Hanshi etc.  Are we eligible to these titles or is it that some people just give themselves the title. First what do they mean, perhaps not an easy question because after all they are foreign words that we assume we understand. For example Shihan, would mean to set an example to others a high-class word for Sensei.

Everyone wants to be a Hanshi, this is a title that should be given to you from your teacher, in my case it was Sosai Oyama, it’s more of an honorific title a teaching title. But to be different people use it before their names, maybe to be different?

Soke is another strange title a simple answer would mean a founder or head of a family or such like, nothing to do with karate qualifications.  Kaicho is another strange one as it means chairman but if you put it in front of your name and you practice karate it sounds very grand.

Lots of titles floating around but many perhaps are misunderstood and misused.

…students do not have the same passion.

Written by Shihan on . Posted in Karate, My thoughts. No Comments on …students do not have the same passion.

I have been debating with myself whether to write the following blog or not as it may seem a little egoistic, but after some thought I decided to go ahead after all this is a blog. I have to turn back the clock a few years to when I started training, I would take every opportunity to train which in the early days was not so easy. There was never a question about how far or how long it would take to go somewhere to find a dojo, so I suppose going to Japan was a natural step.

Now lets come back to the present time, the opportunity to train is a lot easier as kyokushin karate has spread and there a many dojos and good instructors about. I travel quite frequently sometimes to small towns and big cities to teach yet I am still suprised that students do not take the opportunity to attend the training and learn, after all I am a member of the WKO technical committee I would think that most high grades would take the chance to come along and find out what’s happening and ask questions.

As I said at the start I would go anywhere to train but I am afraid that the present day students do not have the same passion or perhaps its society in general that makes people the way they are.

Sayonara Party 1975

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Singing was a very popular pastime at the sayonara parties in the early days. The master of ceremonies would call on someone to start and then he would ask the next person to sing etc. Having lived in Japan I was aware of what was going on so I had a very simple song prepared just in case. But for some people it came as a little shock.

Uchi-dechi 1971-1972

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During my two years in Japan apart from the training there were lots of publicity photographs. At the time I did not appreciate them but now I value the memories they give me of my days at Honbu. Camps, grading’s and competitions.

Well it’s over…

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Well it’s over, Christmas and the new year celebrations are slowly becoming a distant memory. 2015 was a big year for Göteborgs Karate Kai, we celebrated our 50 years anniversary and it was fifty years ago i walked into a dojo.

I cannot even start to sum up what has been achieved in the Dojo over the last fifty years perhaps the fact that we are still going strong says it all.

The first part of 2015 was taken up with organizing the 50 year party, which was held in June with about 150 guests, some from Norway, Spain and of course Shihan Heath from Wales.

Presentations were given, speeches made and some light entertainment was provided by some students.

We also had guest trainers from Brazilian jiu jitsu and a personal trainer who gave us some tips on weight training. At the end of the year three students went to Japan to try for their next Dan grade, Sensei Theresa, Sensei Luis who both succeeded for 4th Dan and Sensei George who succeeded  for 5th Dan, which makes him a Shihan. The first one we have produced in 50 years, so I guess you could say that at GKK it takes 50 years to make a 5th Dan.

Most people would talk about how many champions they have or how many competitions they have won but maybe it’s better to think of all the people that have been helped by the training they received. As a dojo we are still going strong and most new members come to us by word of mouth and the old students who have stopped training bring their children to train.

That must say something about Kyokushin Karate and the dojo when parents bring what could be the next generation to the dojo.

Japan 2015

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Well by know everyone is back in their own countries after a hectic few days in Japan. The World tournament is only held every four years, but what a tournament, on the final day Tokyo metropolitan Gymnasium was sold out.

The atmosphere was electric, for those who had travelled from far away it must have been a great experience. The fighting was hard, but I thought that low kicks where not so popular this time, rather the kaiten or rolling kick seemed to be in favour. Low kick were used but I can’t remember seeing any scores from them, but we did get some spectacular knockouts with no injuries.

Anyway after the Tournament there was the usual Sayonara party, but for many it was not sayonara as we had our seminar and grading yet to come. The seminar was full, we had 420 participants from 49 countries and 109 who wanted to grade, this was the biggest so far. So you can see that the WKO Shinkyokushinkai organization is growing.

Trying to give as much knowledge to so many in such a short time was hard, but I did my best, after the seminar there was the usual grill party where the students who passed the grading was announced.

All in all a very successful trip to Japan, we should say thank you for all the work that was done before hand to make the event a tremendous success.

Familiarity breeds contempt

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We are supposed to have a Budo style of Karate but sometimes we forget and become too familiar with our Semapi, calling them by their first name for example. Or when having a photograph taken with them and putting your arms on their shoulders and just hanging there, or just generally being a little too friendly.

Looking at the old photograph of Honbu brought back memories of my UchiDeshi days, not that I have ever forgotten them. Before I went to Japan, I had never heard the word UchiDeshi let alone understand the true meaning. When I arrived at Honbu, no one knew who I was or had any information about me, I had no place to sleep and very little money.

The first night I stayed in a hotel and then the Chief Instructor who was Yasuhiko Oyama Shihan (Now Oyama Karate USA) said I could stay with him. After one week, I moved into the dormitory and there I stayed for two years. Opening and closing Honbu every day, cleaning and training.

All these years later when I go back to Japan and meet my old Sempai´s I always show them the respect they deserve even though I may now have a higher grade.

Honbu

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Honbu 1971 consisted of a basement where there were changing rooms and showers. The first floor was the entrance and a small dojo, the second floor was the main dojo and then the office and finally Sosai’s living quarters. I lived behind Honbu at the uchi-deshi apartment.

Kihon application

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In this clip I am showing some application ideas of mawashi uke and kake uke. I also let the students practise different levels of bunkai in groups and make them analyse different techniques so they can come up with their own ideas. This helps them to understand what they are doing.

When do you start preparing to train?

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Are you the kind of person who runs into the dojo at the very last minute and then thinks about Training? Most of us like to get to the dojo at a reasonable time in order to stretch and warm up a Little. My blog this time is about when do you start preparing to train, here are some simple tips for you.

  1. If you start from work or home the idea is the same, try not to think about the days problems rather think about the training thats going to come, take a deep breath.
  2. When you take off your shoes place them tidily on the floor, this means that you have left the outside world and have started your preparation.
  3. You take off your daily cloths and put on a clean white gi, another step in leaving not only the outside world but also your ego. Once the gi is on we are all one.
  4. When you enter the dojo you give a loud Osu showing that you are ready to do your best and train hard.
  5. Great your Sempai, Sensei to show them that your ready.
  6. Lessons usually start with Mokuso, this is the final step before you can start training the last chance to leave the outside world and focus on what is to come. Breath deeply and slowly and calm your mind.

So don’t think that your training starts when your instructor says Hajime, think again.