Sakura!

Erica here.

This past week, cherry blossoms all over Tokyo were in full bloom. Two weekends ago, I went hanami-ing? (is that the right term?) The kanji for hanami is 花見. 花 = hana = flower, 見 = miru = to see. I went to Omiya-koen (Omiya park) one day and Kinrin-koen (in Sugito) the next day with Yoshinhara Sensei.

We have cherry blossoms in Vancouver as well, but it is nothing compared to Japan.

At Omiyakoen, a big area of the park was filled with sakura trees and in every which direction you looked was a canvas of cherry blossoms. It was breath taking and definitely a must-see if you visit Japan around this time.

Omiya-koen

Then last Saturday after karate class, two very nice guys from the dojo (Okano-san and Hirai-san) took Louise and I to Gongendo in Satte city to view cherry blossoms at night. This is apparently called yozakura. Gongendo is popular site to see sakura because it has a 1km path with cherry blossoms on either side of it. At night, there are flood lights that shine on them so they can be seen. I was told that the yozakura is for all the people who work during the day and don't have a chance to go see the cherry blossoms. So after work, when it is dark out, they light up popular areas with sakura so that people can enjoy at anytime of the day.

Seeing cherry blossoms at night is completely different than during the day. It might be the romantic/mysterious aura that is given off by the contrast of dark and light and something so beautiful. It was a very memorable experience!

Yozakura at Gongendo

Group picture!
From left to right: Okano-san, Hirai-san, Erica, Louise, Louise's friend Toshiki

Kimonos!!

This week, Louise and I were invited to have lunch and try on kimonos by some of the ladies who rent out the dojo once a week for hula dancing! First we were roped into doing some hula dancing. It was slow paced in general, but a little difficult to follow since it was our first time and didn't know any of the movements. After about 30 minutes of hula dancing, we commenced the fitting of kimonos!! There were 4 ladies present so we each had 2 of them to help us.

I first tried on a kimono that can be worn year round. However, before putting on the actual kimono, a towel was wrapped then tied to my waist for a 'small waist look'. Then undergarments were put on and then the actual kimono went on top. There were lots of ropes tied here and there before the obi (belt) was wrapped around. They showed me how to tie it, but I have forgotten now =_='

The second one I tried on was a summer kimono. The fabric is lighter and the design is more intricate. The obi on this one was far more complex than the last one because it was a lot bigger. They didn't show me how to do this one, but they spent a good 10 minutes on it.

After trying on a couple more we decided to have lunch. There was so much food that I was glad we were eating after we had tried on the kimonos and that we weren't eating IN the kimonos because it was a little bit difficult to breath in them =p

Louise being dressed in a summer kimono

The huge bow on summer kimonos
(This type of bow is worn on single women. Married women have a different type of knot at the back)

kimono #1

kimono #2

Louise in a year round kimono

One of the ladies modeling a child's kimono for us =)

At the end, the ladies gave us the kimonos as gifts! Thank you very much!! We love them!!!

Shodan shinsa - black belt test!

Erica receiving her black belt from Arakawa Sensei in the Shiramizu dojo several days after the shodan test. (check out the pink Japanese tabi socks...!)

Also, click here Erica's short bilingual video message on the first night of wearing her new black belt! (From Sensei's blog!)

Erica here.

Last Monday, the 22nd of March, about 15 Shiramizu members and myself attended the shodan test (Wadokai Kanto Area Dan Examination, or in Japanese, Wadokai Kanto-chiku Shodan Shinsa, 和道会 関東地区 昇段審査) in Chiba. Because the Shiramizu tournament was on the same day, we participated in the opening ceremony that morning first before rushing off to the exam.

Kikuchi Sensei accompanied us that day and we arrived just in time for the pre-test seminar. There were about 90 people in total I would guess. About 70 were there to try for their shodan (1st degree) and most of them were kids and teens along with a few university students. I think I may have been the oldest person in the shodan category =_=' The other 20 were candidates for nidan and sandan (2nd and 3rd degree) and most of them were adults.

We were all seated on the gym floor and called up 5 at a time to do standing kihon and ido kihon. After a short break we were called up again to do 1 kata (for the shodan candidates) or 2 (for the nidan and sandan candidates). After another break, we were asked to do kihon kumite and free kumite right after that. Now all this may not sound very difficult and in essence it shouldn't be because we should have trained so much that it comes to us naturally when we are up there. The thing that got me the most that day were my nerves. I couldn't even think about what I was doing because I just blanked out. Fortunately, my muscle memory kicked in and carried me through.

It took about 4 hours to get through everyone and in reality we only spent about 5 or 6 minutes in total up there in front of the examiners and everyone else. At the very end, results were announced. Most shodan candidates passed, but only a few of the nidan and sandan candidates passed. Of course, all the Shiramizu members received a pass! It was a happy day for all, except for the fact that we had to miss the Shiramizu tournament to be at the exam =(

Sorry, I was too distracted to take pictures..so there are none for this post. Gomenasai!

(Editor's note: We're of course very happy Erica passed her shodan in Japan! This is exactly what we're hoping for from all the interns each year, to try hard continuously to the point they have developed to the next level in their Karate, and then they can formally realize that improvement by passing a milestone event here like achieving their next dan rank! Just aiming to pass the next dan test only is not the goal, but more a recognition that the efforts they put into their daily training are paying off.)

第22回国際武道文化セミナー

Erica here!

Last weekend, Louise and I attended the 22nd International Budo Culture Seminar in Katsuura, Chiba. This is an annual event for foreigners who reside in Japan and study a budo art. The 9 modern budo arts are kendo, judo, karatedo, sumo, aikido, shorinji kempo, kyudo, jukendo and naginata.

At this 4 day seminar, we attended lectures at the International Budo University (where Arakawa Sensei attended) on different aspects of budo during the day and trained in our own style as well as trying a new budo art in the afternoon and evenings. Over the course of these 4 days, we were given the opportunity to try 3 different budo arts. I tried judo, kyudo and shorinji kempo and Louise tried naginata, kyudo and shorinji kempo. Each art is different but there are similarities as well.

I would definitely recommend this event for any foreigner who will be in Japan for the seminar next year. Not only do you get the chance to train with top instructors in each respective style but it is also a very good place to meet new friends. There were 102 participants representing 33 different countries. Out of the 102 participants, only 18 were women. Interestingly enough, there was a lecture on "Women in Budo". Louise will be writing a post on that lecture.

The 4 days at the seminar was like being at University again. I never lived in dormitories so it was very fun for me to have roommates, share 3 meals a day in the cafeteria with everyone, relax and get to know people at the end of the day. This has most definitely been a highlight of my time here =)

Group picture!

Maeda Sensei (Director of JKF) and I after a hard hour of karate

Some of the few girls and I fooling around after training =p

A friend from Sweden

Erica here!

Last week, Fred Jarbro Sensei from Sollefteå, Sweden came to Japan for 8 days. His main purpose was to attend an instructor's seminar held in Ikebukuro. He dedicated the rest of his time to self-training and going to as many Shiramizu classes as possible to train and to help instruct. Arakawa Sensei felt that Fred Sensei was spending too much time doing karate and needed some touristy activities. So last Monday, Arakawa Sensei, his wife Keiko san, Fred Sensei and I went sightseeing in Asakusa and took a sea bus to see Tokyo Bay as well as visit Hamarikyu Garden in Tokyo!! Unfortunately, Louise had to work that day so she couldn't come with us =(

View of the city from our sea bus

Fred Sensei and I on the sea bus. Hai, chizu!

Hamarikyu Garden

We stopped in a teahouse in the garden for some traditional matcha tea and sweets.

Arakawa Sensei, Fred Sensei and I in front of Kaminarimon in Asakusa.

Afterwards, we went to the Wadokai Headquarters in Shinbashi to complete some paperwork for Fred Sensei's club in Sweden. It was a great day for me because it was the first time I've been to any of these places!

Fred Sensei pointing to the Wadokai Headquarter sign

Wadokai merchanise! Gifts from headquaters =)

** If you're a JKfan magazine reader, keep an eye out for an interview with Fred Sensei in Richard Sensei' Corner!! Possibly coming out this summer!

The 37th All Japan Karatedo Championships

Erica here.

On the weekend of December 12^th and 13^th, the All Japan Karatedo Championships were held. I’m told that this is THE competition to win if you’re going to win one. To qualify for this competition, you must have won a competion in your prefecture. Then you compete with all the other gold medalists in your area and the winner advances to represent their prefecture at the All Japan Karatedo Championships.

All of Saturday was used for qualifying matches for team kumite and this took place at the Tokyo Budokan. On Sunday the 13^th, the day I went to watch with Richard Sensei, the final rounds for team kumite, qualifying and final rounds for men and women's kata and individual kumite occurred at the Nippon Budokan.

Men's kumite. Intense.

We arrived at roughly 9am, when the competition started, and already the first 2 levels of seats were filled!! So we settled up on the third level and watched the individual men’s kumite. When I first started watching, the fighters were so fast I wasn’t able to tell who had scored a point first. Then after awhile I slowly began to be able to tell, with the help of Richard Sensei of course. There were 2 big screen TVs on either side of the stadium that had instant replay and that helped spectators to see the reasons for some of the calls the judges made. For example, there were quite a few times when to us it looked like red had scored the point, but the judges would award the point to blue. A replay of that point would come up on the big screen and we’d see that red had actually missed and blue had scored with a counter attack, but from our angle it looked different.

Kata being shown on the big screen.

After the qualifying rounds were over for kumite, kata started and it was amazing to watch. For me, I got to see katas that I’ve never seen before. Sitting up in the stands with Richard Sensei and Arakawa Sensei, we would guess which colour would win right before the judges made their call. Richard Sensei got all of them right except one. I stopped after awhile because I kept guessing the wrong one =_=’

Results!

Men’s Kumite -- Araga Ryutaro

Women’s kumite -- Miyamoto Yu

Men’s kata -- Furukawa Tetsuya (Suparinpei – Goju-ryu)

Women’s kata -- Usami Rika (Chatanyara Kushanku – Shinto-ryu)

Men’s team kumite -- Kyoto

Women’s team kumite -- Tokyo

This is definitely a must watch event!

Me! It was really windy =p

Mochitsuki

Louise here,

Last Wednesday, instead of going to karate practice in the morning as we usually do, Erica and I accompanied Arakawa Sensei to the Sugito Shirayuri Kindergarten to see how to make mochi, (rice cakes).

Rice is the staple food of the Japanese, and is very important to their way of life. According to Boyé Lafayette De Mente, in the book “Japan Unmasked: The character and culture of the Japanese” (2005, Tokyo: Tuttle Publishing), the methods of wet-rice farming have shaped their culture significantly, by requiring group cooperation and self-sacrifice.

Nowadays, most mochi are made by machines in factories, but we saw group work in action at the kindergarten, where the parents and teachers carried out the traditional way of making mochi. (Also see Wikipedia's article about mochi)

Pounding za rice, yoisho!

Rice was steamed in pots over a fire, then put in a large wooden mortar called an usu. People took turns pounding the rice using large wooden mallets, called kine, while the rest (including the kindergarten kids) cheered them on in time with the strikes. The rice was kept moist with hot water by a brave soul wiping and turning it with his hand between strikes. All the kids had a go pounding as well, though using smaller kine and helped by the parents.

When the rice was smooth, stuck together and well mooshed, it was taken out of the usu and another group of people separated it into small cakes. These were rolled in sweet soy powder (kinako), and were then ready to be eaten.

Making cakes

I had a go at pounding the rice, and I can see why it requires a group effort, because it was rather tiring. It helped having people cheering me on though, and it was fun being a part of this traditional event.

Tobu Taikai Surprise

Louise here,

Last Monday, the 23^rd of November, Erica and I competed in the Sainokuni East Friendship Competition, otherwise known as the Tobu Taikai. This competition is organized by Takamasa Arakawa Sensei and Shiramizu, and is a 'friendship' competition because it isn't a selection for another, higher level tournament; it is just a chance to get competition experience. Held at the Kuki City Sports Hall, about 600 children and adults entered.

Competition Programme

I didn't do so well in kumite, losing my first round. I was nervous and didn't fully commit to my attacks, so they were too short and obvious. At the end of the time the points were 2-2, so we went into encho-sen. My opponent and I both punched at the same time, but because she initiated it, she got the point and won the match.

Kuki City Sports Hall set up with eight courts for the competition

There were five women in my kata division (Dan Grade Women). In the first two rounds I did Chinto, and both times managed to mess up the last spin and kick, so you can imagine my surprise when I won those rounds. My opponents and I performed our kata at the same time so I didn't see how they did. In the finals I did Kushanku and, to my even greater surprise, I won again. So for the first time ever I won a gold medal in kata.

Erica won her kumite division as well and she'll be telling you about that soon.

Erica and I with our medals

Nippon Budokan Budo-gakuen Training Camp

Louise here,

Last weekend, the 24^th and 25^th of October, Erica and I attended the Nippon Budokan Budo Gakuen's training camp at the Saitama Kenritsu (Prefectural) Budokan (埼玉県立武道館） in Ageo City, Saitama.

Yoshihara Noriko sensei, Yamazaki Yukiko sensei and two junior high school students also attended from Shiramizu. It was a camp also for other martial arts: there were people practicing kendo, judo, shorinji kempo, aikido, jodo, and naginata. Takamasa Arakawa sensei, and Kazuhiro Toya sensei from Guseikai Tokyo, taught the karate sessions. Including the Shiramizu people, there were maybe only a dozen karate people training.

Cover of the camp programme

I was very impressed with the Budokan training halls. The main training building seemed newly built and besides wooden-floored training halls it included an archery range.

The first day we trained in a very large hall with kendo, nagainata and jodo people. In the afternoon there was a seminar about how to treat sport sprains and strains, where we taped up each other's ankles.

The second day we trained in another very large hall. Though there were only a few of us, I enjoyed the training, especially practicing applications from chinto, kihon kumite and jiyu kumite drills. It was also interesting to see how the other martial arts trained, especially naginata, which I hadn't seen before.

One end of the main training hall (jodo to the right, kendo behind to the left)

Seiritsu's 36th Cultural Festival

Louise here,

On Sunday Richard Mosdell (internship director) invited Erica and I to the school he teaches at, Seiritsu Gakuen Junior & Senior High School. All weekend the school had its cultural festival. The first and second year students set up stalls and entertainment in their home rooms, while various performances were put on in the middle of the school, on a stage on the school's tennis courts.

Seiritsu's cultural festival: main stage

Erica and I wandered around the school a bit, and had a go at a quiz that we didn't understand either the questions or answers (luckily it was multi-choice, so we could point and grunt). Strangely enough we didn't do very well. We also met Nick Smith, a turbaned, fortune-telling international teacher. My fortune was 'Fix your uniform', and I'm still waiting for inspiration about what it means.

We watched some very interesting hip hop on the main stage (one routine was done to the theme music of 'Pirates of the Caribbean'). Then came the event we'd all been waiting for: Richard's karate club demonstration. Five girls performed Empi, a Shotokan kata similar Wado's Wanshu. Then after a rather amusing demonstration of kumite rules and how to get penalised, two kumite bouts were refereed by Richard. Finally, they demonstrated board-breaking, Richard finishing it with a flying side kick and a spinning roundhouse kick.

Richard in full flight

45th All Japan Wado-Kai Karate-Do Championships

Louise here,

Last weekend, the 15^th and 16^th of August, was the 45^th All Japan Wado-Kai Karate-Do Championships. Erica and I were both entered in the Women's Kata and Kumite events, so had been training hard in preparation.

The programme, sideways view

The first day of the competition was held near Tokyo Disneyland at the Urayasu Park Gymnasium, and the second day was held in the Nippon Budokan. It varied, but the first rounds of most events were held on the first day, and the later rounds and finals were held at the Nippon Budokan. With about 2000 competitors, it was definitely the biggest tournament I've entered.

Women's kumite was first thing in the morning, so I warmed up and turned my fight brain on. I had no expectations as it has been many years since I've competed in kumite, but I surprised myself by only narrowly losing 3-4. I did find wearing a head guard off-putting, and I suspect my fighting style changed due to the reduced peripheral vision. However I am now inspired to take kumite seriously.

Preparing (I'm kneeling behind the Aka competitor who is standing)

Women's kata was after lunch, and the first round compulsory kata was kushanku. Again I lost narrowly, with 2 flags to 3. As usual, I need keep working on my kata.

At lunchtime on the second day, in the Nippon Budokan, a mass demonstration of basic kihon was led by Arakawa Sensei in time to beats on an enormous taiko drum. Two teams from Shiramizu also performed the Kata Niiseishi and Kushanku.

Mass kihon, Nippon Budokan

I really enjoyed the team spirit that the Shiramizu dojo had, before, during and after the competition. Everybody supported each other, from the elementary school students up to the senior instructors.

Saitama Wado-Kai Technical Seminar

Louise here,

On Sunday the 5^th of July, Erica, Lawrence and I attended the Saitama Prefecture Wado-Kai technical seminar and skill exchange meeting. It was held at the Asukaru Satte City Cultural Hall from 9.00am to 3.00pm. This was organised by the Shiramizu Shuyoukai dojo and Takamasa Arakawa Sensei, and instructors and students from Wado clubs all over Saitama Prefecture attended. After a mass warm-up and basic kihon training, the adults went into a separate hall for in-depth training with Takagi Sensei and Sonoda Sensei. We practiced more kihon then seisan, chinto, niseishi and kihon kumite.

Takagi Sensei expounding

Unfortunately, I didn't understand most of what Sonoda Sensei and Takagi Sensei explained in Japanese. By concentrating hard and watching their demonstrations closely I tried to get the gist of what they were teaching, but I know I missed a lot. It was very helpful when Takagi Sensei came round and gave us suggestions individually, because then he used English and if we still didn't understand then he hit us in ways that made us understand.

The universal language of demonstration

New Recruits... Part 2! (Erica)

Carl here,

Erica arrived late on Monday evening, so after training at the Branch dojo is Satte City, Louise, Arakawa Sensei and I went to Kuki station to pick her and Lawrence up. Lawrence kindly agreed to chaperone Erica from Narita airport because Arakawa Sensei couldn't make it.

Once Louise and I had finished working at the Sugito Shirayuri Kindergarten (Louise' first day of work), we (Louise, Erica and I) had a walk to a local restaurant to grab some lunch, talk over the intern work schedule and generally get to know each other. I'd say we all 'gelled' very well, with each of us making fun (in a nice way!) of the differences in the way we all talk... I was trying to explain that I spoke 'Queens English' or 'Correct English', whilst they both speak a version of English that isn't quite as pure... I'm not sure they agreed though!

On the afternoon, Erica joined me at the Shiramizu English class for two lessons which were both very loud, high energy affairs. Erica settled into the classes immediately, the kids quickly got over their initial shyness around the 'new foreigner', and Erica helped me run both classes. Meanwhile Louise was asked to assist at one of the kids karate classes.

Sorry, I don't have as many photo's as the last blog post - I didn't realise I had my camera in my kit bag until after the English Classes!

On the evening, Erica had her first taste of Japanese Karate - Shiramizu Style, with the adult class that was taken by Uehara & Kikuchi sensei.

Sensible pic: Louise (left) and Erica (right), at last nights adult karate class (Erica's first Karate class)

Trademark 'Intern-Style' Pic: Louise (left) and Erica (right)

Wednesday morning, both ladies attended the Adult Karate class at the dojo and afterwards we joined some of the Sensei and went for lunch.

Louise (far right) & Erica (2nd from the right)