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

11th Shiramizu Taikai

Louise here,

On the day Erica had her shodan test in Chiba, I went to the Shiramizu club tournament. All the members of Shiramizu younger than senior high school were entered, which, including a few members from other closely related clubs, totaled 366 competitors.

Lining up half an hour before the hall opened

In the first rounds in each age group, the kids had to do kata and then the final rounds were kumite (the kindergarten kids did kihon then kata). I thought this was an interesting way to organize it, so they had to be good at both to win a medal.

(Editor's note # 1; Kata was judged using a ballroom dance judging style. The young athletes in groups of 6-8 did the same kata as many times as possible within 3 minutes while the judges walked around scoring them best to worst. At the end of 3 minutes, the judges would meet to determine the best 2-4 to go onto the next round. It was a great way for judges to see the true abilities of the athletes, and it allowed the athletes to perform much more than if they had just one round of one kata to do, especially athletes who didn't go past the first round.

Note #2: The gym used was a performance auditorium which held hundreds of tiered, cushioned seats and the floor stage was big enough for 3 rings. This allowed families to see the tournament quite well while also being somewhat more comfortable during the whole day compared to a normal arena or gym space.)

At lunchtime and in the early afternoon there were demonstrations by the adults and senior high school students, along with the traditional 'Karate man' demonstration. From what I gather, this happens along the same lines every year, including the intern for that year. What a pity Erica wasn't there to be embarrassed with me. Choreographed by Okano san, the story this year was that three bad guys try to take over the tournament, I fight them off, get shot with an evil medicine bullet and become bad, five karate man heroes appear wearing hero suits, we all fight, I become good again, the good guys win and live happily ever after.

Victory pose

At the end of the tournament after the finals had been held, the adult class demonstrated board-breaking. That was the first time I'd done it, and it was very very fun.

Breaking those boards

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!!!

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

Let it Snow

Louise here,

Last night and this morning it was rather exciting for me because it snowed. I know that for a lot of people that's no big deal, but I come from Hamilton, NZ, and it never snows in town there. The only time it gets cold enough there, it's because the skies are clear at night, so there's no moisture to form snow. So this is a first for me, to have snow outside my home. My shutters even froze shut and I had to wait for them to melt this morning to open them. Woop woop.

The neighbours' garden under snow

I must admit that I'd probably not be as enthusiastic if I had to go out and work in it. I was just remembering the other time I've been in a snowstorm in Japan, at Miyajima (near Hiroshima) on New Year's Eve. It was fun for about two minutes, then as the snow kept blowing in my face, it wasn't fun anymore. I had to shuffle along huddled behind my umbrella, at risk of crashing into inanimate objects, other people and deer.

The famous floating Otorii. In the snow.

Deer, one wearing a snow-hat

But after it stopped snowing, it was magical climbing the mountain in the forest. I even wrote some (not very profound) haiku poems as I walked.

Cold white in my eyes

Not down but down, up, around;

Footprints follow me.

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

First Time to Disneyland

Louise here,

On Monday I went with the Arakawa family (Arakawa sensei, his wife Keiko and his two sons, Yusuke and Masatoshi) to Tokyo Disneyland for the first time, hooray! Erica was spending time with her parents who had come over to Japan for a short visit. It was a cold and cloudy day, but that didn't stop what seemed like half of Tokyo also going to Disneyland.

We went on the big rides: Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain and Space Mountain. I think the best one was Space Mountain, an insane roller coaster ride in the dark. It was scarier not being able to see where we were going.

Before the crowds got bad, Big Thunder Mountain

The main detraction from the experience I found was the crowds. We spent a lot of the day standing in line for rides that'd be only a few minutes long. Also, there were so many things to do that, to do everything with those crowds, we'd have to spend several days there. In other words, I will have to go back again!

In front of Cinderella's castle: l-r Arakawa sensei, Masatoshi, me wearing my newly acquired Monsters Inc. hat

Finally, after indulging my inner child by riding the merry go round, we watched the Electrical Parade Dreamlights. There were many floats with Disney characters outlined in coloured lights, such as Mickey and Minnie Mouse (of course), Cinderella, Sully and Mike from Monsters Inc., Nemo, Peter Pan and Pooh.

Just as we were heading home, walking toward the carpark, the clouds burst and it was like someone had turned on a garden hose above us. We ran for the car but still got very wet. The many people still in the park must've been soaked as well. Good thing it happened on the way home.

Half of Captain Hook's ship

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)

My Job at the Sugito Shirayuri Kindergarten

Louise here,

So what do I do when I'm not gainfully employed doing karate? No, I don't lead a life of idleness and dissipation, but have various part-time English teaching jobs, picked up from Carl and Amy, the previous interns. On Monday and Tuesday mornings, and Friday afternoons I work at the Sugito Shirayuri Kindergarten, which is very near to the Shiramizu dojo.

Entrance to the Sugito Shirayuri Kindergarten

I ride one of the buses for an hour or so, saying good morning to the kids as they are picked up.

In the kindergarten bus

Then, depending on the weather, I might play outside with the kids, or help get them sorted for the day in one of the classrooms.

Me and the red hat class (a.k.a. Kobato) of four and five year olds

I usually give one or two half-hour English lessons, but for the past month, the entire kindergarten has been preparing for their sports festival, so I've been tagging along and distracting the kids as they practice. The festival is taking place this Saturday (the 10^th of October), at the kindergarten's sports' ground, so by now everyone is looking pretty good. I'm quite looking forward to it.

Practice in the hall

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

The Grand Fuji-san Expedition

Louise here,

This a rather belated and rather long blog of a very important event I took part in straight after the Wado-Kai Nationals (drum roll please): the international assault of Fuji-san. Our team consisted of Carl (holding the banner for England), Chris Heinmiller, our Canadian friend, and myself (from the land of the long white cloud). For better or worse, we decided to climb through the night in order to catch the sunrise from the top. We caught a bus from Shinjuku station, arriving at Fuji-san's Kawaguchi-ko-guchi Hachi-gome (Eighth Station). After mucking around for a bit, doing important things like buying walking sticks and taking photos, we set off into the unknown at 9 p.m.

The Culprits at Base Camp (L-R: Carl, Louise, Chris)

As it was dark by then, we were relying on our trusty head torches for guidance. It wasn't too difficult however, as we could've driven a car down the track, it was so wide. Nonetheless, my fellow team-mates began to cast aspersions on my route-finding skills, as the track went down the mountain for a little way. They shouldn't have worried: the path soon began climbing, and didn't stop climbing until the top.

Chris and one smart salesperson

We had fun at every hut we passed, persuading Chris to spend money on getting his walking stick branded (each hut had a different brand to prove that you'd reached it). Sometimes we were helped in our persuasion by a hut attendant.

Does this mean they sell hot water along with something else unspecified?

After midnight, we began to be joined on the trail by all the people who'd stayed in the huts spread up the mountain. We spent a lot of time trying to get in front of groups who were moving slower than the pace we wanted to go. By about two or three in the morning, the trail was one mass of people, with a slow queue on the inside, a slightly faster queue in the middle and the people like us who were overtaking on the outside. I must say it was one of the most surreal experiences I've had climbing a mountain, doing it at the same time as the population of a small town. Looking back down the trail, there was just one long line of lights zig-zagging up the slope, broken up by the bigger lights of the huts.

We arrived at the top at 4 a.m., and sat for an hour watching the dawn develop and the sun rise. It was quite cold by that time.

The sun appears

Superman strikes again

I think that we probably climbed too fast, and with the high altitude and lack of sleep, I wasn't feeling too well at the top. We had intended to walk most of the way around the crater rim to the track we were going to take down, but we decided it'd be best to lose some altitude as soon as possible. So we took the short way round, and after getting diverted a little by rocks and taking photos, we started down the Gotemba-guchi track.

Cool rocks + Carl

Over the edge

Now, why weren't we going back down the track we came up, along with the rest of Japan, and why had we chosen the longest track down? Well, the attraction of the Gotemba-guchi track was the sunabashiri, a giant sand slide that stretches maybe five kilometres down the lower slopes of the volcano. Besides falling, this is the fastest way down the mountain.

After taking two hours to cover one and a half kilometres, stumbling over loose rocks, I was beginning to worry that it would take all day to get to the bottom. But then …. we reached the sunabashiri.

Scree walkers' heaven

Imagine gliding smoothly down over an ankle-deep bed of small stones, the cool wind in your face and dust in your eyes, a barren landscape stretching on either side, and in front of you the track disappearing over the edge and into the clouds. Then imagine getting to the bottom and being covered in dust (yes, literally), with sore knees and stones in your shoes (if you didn't wear gaiters). That was the sunabashiri. We covered five kilometres in one and a half hours. Grand total: seven hours up, three hours at the top, three and a half hours down, zero hours sleep. Woo!

Climbing Fuji-san was certainly an experience of a lifetime. We probably did it the hard way, climbing when normal people are asleep, and I don't think I'd do it that way again. However, we saw the sun rise from the top of the tallest mountain in Japan, and had a lot of fun on the way.

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.

Jimba-san

Louise here,

On Saturday I went mountain climbing with one of my adult English students, Setsuko Kimura, and two of her friends, Mr Tachikawa and Mr Taniyama. We climbed Jimba-san, an 857 m high mountain that is 40 minutes by bus from Takao station on the Keio Line.

At the bottom (L-R: Setsuko, moi, Mr Tachikawa, Mr Taniyama)

We climbed through a plantation cedar forest for two hours, trading Japanese and English sayings, like “I'm sweating a lot” and “It's slippery.”

On the way up

At the top we found an interesting statue of a horse (representing Jimba-san the mountain), a cafe selling noodles and ice desserts, many picnic tables, many people dressed in expensive hiking gear and an elusive view of Mt Fuji.

At the top

It's still civilisation if there's somewhere to buy dessert

We took a shorter way down and spent the time composing haiku and trading names for the wildlife we saw and heard, like 'higurashi cicada,' 'killer whale' (we didn't see that one) and 'SNAKE!'

On the way down (before the snake)