New Year's card: nenkajo!

Here the Shiramizu New Year's card, listing the main events of 2011 on the right and the contact information on the left.

Around January 20th we'll announce who will be the next selected intern for the 2012 position.

Shiramizu Temple Walk and Start of Year Training, 9th January 2011.

Peter Here,

The frost was well and truly biting when people gathered at Sugito Takanodai park for the annual Temple walk (hatsumode) and start of year training (hatsu geiko) on January 9. Leaving the park at 8:30, we were to walk to Satte Jinja (Shinto Shrine), be blessed by a Shinto priest, and then walk to Asukaru Taikakan (training hall) to begin the year by training all together.



As my toe was still in its cast, I couldn’t walk; however I was determined to take part so I was allowed to take the bicycle instead! As well as not being able to walk the distance, I couldn’t wear shoes yet either, so endured the cold with sandals and socks (a fashion no-no, but it can slide this time):



By the time we walked to the temple, my extremities were well and truly frozen!

Having arrived at the temple, there was a quick ceremony, and we then did 100 punches, followed by 100 kicks. It was a lot harder work that it has been in the past, because of the cold but also because of the holiday too! We then received an offering of sake (well the adults did- no drunken kids, they got lollipops), and made a prayer for the new year.





We then walked to Asukaru Taikakan, the Satte training hall that houses many Shiramizu competitions and weekly dojo training, with a quick pause for lunch and a recharge when we arrived. Richard also came along at that point to, so it was great to see him for the start of training too!



I could only take part in a small part of the training because of my toe, although I really wanted to join in more. Despite that, the energy on display in the room was seen and felt by everyone, from the kindergarten kids to the adult spectators. It just goes to show how great Arakawa Sensei and the rest of the Shiramizu teachers are at motivating everyone!



A great start to the year, and plenty to work on for the times ahead!

Cycling back on the way home, I also caught a very nice view- Mount Fuji in the sunset, all the way from Saitama. Happy New Year indeed!

New Year's Resolutions!

Peter Here!

Happy New year to everyone! I hope 2011 is a marvellous and successful year.

A tradition that seems to span the globe is that of New Year resolutions (shinnen no houfu, 新年の抱負) ; goals you want to achieve, bad habits you want to kick, life decisions to be made, mindsets to change, etc. I thought I would write down my own, so that people can kick me up the backside if I'm not keeping to them!

1. I will practice Karate every day: This is no different to what I am doing now, but it is good to set it in virtual stone. I will stretch Every Day for at least 30 minutes too, and make sure I keep up with my cardio exercises once my toe is completely fit!
2. I will practice Japanese for at least an hour every day: I want to be able to read and write too, so I will probably go to a language class this year- something that I didn't get round to doing last year!
3. I will listen to advice more, for Karate and teaching.
   
4. I will make more of an effort to remember names!
   
5. I will open a bank account: I usually have a lot of money in my wallet which, when I think about it, can be quite dangerous. A bank account would probably make my life here much easier.
6. I will prepare for lessons at least two days before the class: Sometimes Monday's lessons are planned on the day because I was busy over the weekend, which means there's less margin for error if I check them. Ideally I would like to make the next lesson plan immediately after the last lesson, so I'll try and do that.
7. I will complete private projects: I have a couple of websites that are karate-related on the go, but they have been very slow to get started. I want to have them finished by March! Then, any other projects can be tackled without these hanging over my head.
8. I will get a gold in at least one tournament this year, and at least two more silver: After the amazing training at Shiramizu, I want to get back into winning ways! At least one gold is an absolute minimum!
9. I will compete and spar with more confidence this year: I started doing this just before injuring my toe, so I look forward to getting back to competition fitness as soon as possible.
   
10. I will pass my JKF Wadokai Shodan test this year! This is the big 'Must Do' resolution; if I don't do this then I will be very very disappointed.
    
11. I will grade in Aikido: I was starting to really like aikido last year, and the bokken and jo practise was very interesting. I would like to grade or advance a little in it before my time in Japan is over, so I could do something similar back in the UK as well as karate.
12. Finally, I will find more people to teach English to, and improve the Internship.

I hope everyone who has made resolutions this year will succeed in sticking to them. Good luck!!

Happy New Year! It's 2010!

Richard here, just wanted to share Shiramizu's New Year's postcard (nengajo - see Erica's post for details).

It lists the major happenings of 2009 - all of which are have been written up in our internship blog.

January

- dojo walk to the shrine

- dojo participation in the Kagami Biraki at the Nippon Budokan.

February

- 10th Annual Shiramizu inter-club tournament & participation at the Wing Cup.

March

- Kanto Wadokai Regional Tournament

April

- New Members! (most new members join in April at the start of the Japanese school year, as most new members are elementary first graders who move up from one of the five kindergartens that Shiramizu teaches at).

May

- JKF Saitama Tournament, where the Shiramizu Junior High Boy's Kumite Team took first place

June

- Arakawa Sensei's trip to Germany

- intern's Carl and Amy graduation

- new interns Louise & Erika's arrival

July

- Shiramizu gasshuku - summer camp - at Nikko.

August

- 2 members took part in the JKF National Youth Championships

- some members were part of the Sakae High School's 3rd Boy's Team Kumite place finish in National High School Interhigh Championships

- JKF Wadokai National Championships at the Nippon Budokan

- JKF National Junior High School Championships Boy's Kumite Team 5th place, as part of the Kita Kyushu City team (I suspect they from the Shiramizu dojo in Kyushu run by Arakawa Sensei's father and old brother)

September

- Arakawa took 2nd place at the JKF Master's tournament in the 40-44 year old Kumite division

October

- Sugito City Karate Championships

- Kanto Region JKF Junior High School Championships

November

- Tobu City Championships

December

- member Rie Hirai took part in the JKF National Championships as part of the Tochigi Prefectural Team.

- 1000 punches at the year-end training session

A few final notes about Rie Hirai making the JKF All-Styles National Team, other high school student's success, the reasonable cost of the Shiramizu Summer Camp in Nikko, and the 2500 athletes who compete in the Wadokai Nationals where this year the club wants to get some friendly revenge with better results.

The Travelling-on-Trains Fairy Tale

Written and Illustrated by Louise

Once upon a time, there was a karate student, intelligent, modest and with great hair, who went on an epic journey, travelling intrepidly and fearlessly into the great unexplored reaches of western Honshu. Because she preferred to spend her money on other things (like food and nice places to stay), she bought the cheapest train tickets she could (aka the Seishun 18 Kippu), which each gave her five days free travel on Japan Rail (JR) local and rapid trains, anywhere in Japan. Those trains are actually the slowest you can find, but the magnificent karate student bravely endured this hardship.

At first she amused herself by watching the outside going past (though the insides of tunnels are pretty boring) and by looking at other people's shoes ('Can one judge a person by the shoes they wear?' she asked herself); then when it got dark she meditated (i.e. practiced being a vegetable); and when this became too tiring, she read the insides of her eyelids.

Snacks for the journey. Note the Tiger-Bun (or toraman) on the left.

Snacks, a bit later

Snacks see the sea

Who ate the snacks? Must've been the Tiger-Bun

In this way, the courageous karate student travelled without major mishap up hill and down dale, from Saitama to Nara, to Koya-san, to Hiroshima, Tsuwano, Matsue and back to Nara. Snacks were bought and eaten, photos taken and sights were seen. But little did she know what would happen on the last leg home.

The day started like any other, not a cloud in the sky and no premonition of what awaited. The first sign that something was amiss came when the first train to Kyoto kept stopping between stations. The karate student used her super-duper Japanese skills and picked out one word in the conductor's announcements: traffic lights. 'The train signals must keep changing', she deduced. 'Not to worry, I have 40 minutes to spare before my next train from Kyoto at noon.' That first train arrived at Kyoto 37 minutes late, so the athletic karate student ran into the station for her next train and on the way past read the station signboards.

Shock, horror! There had been a level crossing accident between Kyoto and Maibara, her next transfer point. 'Hmm.... I still have to get home, so I'll go as far as I can along the line, and maybe it'll have been sorted out by the time I get there,' she thought. This she did, but nope, it hadn't.

What to do, what to do. By sheer chance, the station that the fortunate karate student had reached was connected to a private railway line that also went to Maibara, though the long way round. With some help from a very friendly station attendant, she decided to take the private railway, throwing her luck to the winds and gambling that it would be faster than waiting for the JR trains to start again.

Thus, along with half the population of Kansai (the other half travelling in the opposite direction), she crammed into a rather slow, hygienically challenged train, and became more acquainted with her fellow passengers than she really wished. But because the karate student was the type of popular, kind and generous person everybody wants to know, she made some lifelong friends without even mussing her hair, and arrived at Maibara only three hours late.

To cut a long story short, she continued on her journey home, navigating at each transfer point by sense of smell (her carefully prepared itinerary no longer applicable), and arrived successfully at Omiya, Saitama, at midnight. But this wasn't the end of her troubles. Omiya is not home for the patient karate student, and to her disappointment, as her train pulled into the station, she saw the last train to her final destination pulling out.

Having fun at the end of a long day. Ha ha.

Now Omiya is a nice place in which to shop and go to karaoke in the daytime or early evening, but after wandering around for a bit, the tired but undefeated karate student concluded that Omiya in the early morning was not where she wanted to be. No internet cafes presented themselves, and spending the night in MacDonalds was decidedly unsavoury, so after a short conversation with a couple of friendly taxi drivers, she set off at last on the final, most expensive, part of her journey. In record time the taxi had dropped her home, and she lived happily ever after.

The End

Hatsumode - Shiramizu style!

Carl here...


Hatsumode
At the start of each year, a lot of Japanese people visit shrines or temples to pray for comfort and health in the New Year. Shiramizu held their version of this event on Sunday 11th January, but to make things a little more interesting, Shiramizu walked to and from the temple which is in the nearby Satte City, a journey of approximately 15 km. This isn't a great distance, but it is when you think that some of the kids on the walk were only 6 or 7 years old!.

For us, the day started at 7:30am, when Iwasaki Sensei kindly picked up Amy, Lawrence and I from the Intern apartment and took us to the meeting place, the Sugito Town hall.

The Walk

Arakawa Sensei - leading the way!
Picture taken from the blog of Arakawa Sensei
At 8am, approximately 100 people started the walk to the temple, with a clear blue sky, and a great view of Mount Fuji in the distance.


The boys are back in town...
Everyone was in high spirits for the walk, and it was a great chance to catch up with friends after the holidays.





Yoshihara Sensei (left) and Masatoshi - Arakawa sensei's youngest son, dressed like a Canadian Ninja!

The Shrine

Shiramizu enter the shrine...
We had a short wait at the Sachi Miya Jinja temple whilst a baseball team finished off, and then it was the turn of Shiramizu. Obviously 100 people wouldn't have fit easily inside the temple, so we all waited outside.

We all lined up outside and Arakawa Sensei was invited inside to make an offering, when Arakawa Sensei came back out, the monk came outside to bless everyone.


Picture taken from the blog of Arakawa Sensei

He said some words in Japanese and we bowed, he said some more and we bowed again...


After we were all blessed, we did a short 5 minute training session of basics, which was actually hard work in the freezing cold! Then everyone lined up to pray at the temple, and also made a small offer of money towards the upkeep of the temple.

All the kids were given a lollypop and the adults were given some Sake, I would have prefered the lollypop but never mind!




This is me, getting caught on camera!
Once everyone had finished praying at the temple, we headed back to the start point where we were all given some delicious miso soup.

Soup Kitchen
After finishing the rest of our packed lunch, mine mainly consisting of rice balls, chocolate and cakes, we headed home to warm up!.

It was a really good morning, and everyone enjoyed catching up with each other on the walk, but it also had real significance in Japanese culture. I think events like this explain why Shiramizu has such a great family feel to it, despite the large number of students.

Happy New Year!

Richard here... Happy New Years to everyone!

This is the official Shiramizu 'nengajo', New Year's Card, sent out by Arakawa Sensei.

Yes, that's him with a kumite helmet on that has an Ox picture on it, since 2009 is the Year of the Ox. On the right in bold are the many tournaments and events listed by month, followed by a message, then some January and February 2009 event reminders (which I've added to our events list in the blog's right column).

Pretty much all adults in Japan send out nengajo cards to everyone they know, and these are delivered by or on Jan 1st by a huge fleet of postal delivery men on little red motor bikes. These are designed like a post card, with a personal message and picture on the front, which a person can have made easily at stationary stores, post offices, printing shops, photo stops, etc.

Between Dec 22 to about the 27th, Japanese people are madly trying to get their cards done and get them mailed so they can be delivered on Jan 1st, as Jan 2nd would be late and lateness by even one minute in Japan is a no-no...

As for international squad here at Shiramizu, we had a great 2008 and the new year looks even better. I wish everyone a wonderful, peaceful 2009.

The Shiramizu 2008 Start!

( Picture courtesy of Arakawa Sensei's blog.)

In Japan, as you might have read two posts prior, there's a tradition called hatsumode where one goes to a temple at the start of a new year to cast away bad spirits and to wish good luck upon the people one cares for. At Shiramizu, the hatsumode is a bit more large scale, encorporating the first training of the year.

The day (this year happening on Jan 6th), started at 8:30am at the nearby Shirayuri Kindergarten parking lot. After almost 100 Shiramizu students assembled, we started our walk to a temple in the neighbouring Satte city.

It's a touch unfortunate that suburban city clusters can't offer truly scenic views these kind of walks go well with, but it's still a fun time to chat with friends as we paraded across the Satte city in our dogis (admittedly with a few layers of clothes underneath them). The walk took a bit less than 2 hours and we arrived at a small temple amidst rows of houses.

While we waited our turn (a baesball team was paying their respects before us), it's nice to look around the small temple grounds which had, amongst other things, a small stage for traditional Japanese plays, the temple itself, and a square pile of smoldering wood and other burnable paper offerings put in there by people. I was told the name (which I forgot, sorry! But it was unbelievably long) and it has something to do with the fact that if one believes the crackling wood was (or would turn into) water, thrusting a nukite into it would not result in any burns. That was what I caught from the mix of Japanese and English, though I thought it best to do some more research before I tried.

When it was Shiramizu's turn, we all lined up and the presiding temple priest went through the ritual. It starts with the priest playing a drum briefly, then coming out to wave the bad spirits away as we bowed before him. He then read a poem and presented Arakawa Sensei with a hamaya, the arrow also mentioned two posts prior. Lastly, a small dish of sake was offered to all the (of-age) members.

With that done, Shiramizu did a quick 10 min practice consisting of punches, blocks, and mae geris. After that, each person was able to go up to the temple, ring a bell of sorts, and pay their respects (it's two bows, two claps, one bow). And then we got a lollipop! I'm not sure if there is any traditional meaning behind the candy offered (I wouldn't be surprised if there was), but a lollipop is a lollipop. I should point out that anyone who gets a chance to take part in this fun in the years to come to not do the practice standing next to the smoldering wood. The smoke makes for rather interesting breathing patterns as you practice...... don't ask how I know.

With the hatsumode finished (at around 11am), we set out again for the Asukaru Satte community centre, where Shiramizu held their year-end training session. It took about an hour and after a quick lunch, the official first training of the year kicked off at 1pm.

It was relatively standard with ido kihon exercises, some kumite drills, and finishing off with kata practice. It wasn't standard in that having holidays really put me off my game. It's not like starting at square one, but it took a bit more warming up than usually to get back into the groove. In the end though, it was no problem and the practice wrapped up at 2:45.

For most, it was the end but for me and Arakawa Sensei and his family, it was back home to get ready for Richard Sensei's house warming party! With lots of food, lots of stories, and lots of laughs, it was a very nice way to kick off 2008 by having everyone together.

And so, I wish everyone a very great and properous 2008 and hopefully I'll see some of you at the Wadokai World Championships in August in Vancouver!

Happy New Years (in Japan!)

Below is a great article from the Japan Times English newspaper about new year's customs here in old Nippon. Pretty much everything written in this article one experiences here for sure.

Future interns take note...

Sights, sounds and tastes of new year in Japan
By MARK SCHREIBER
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/ek20080103a1.html

Don't be surprised if you've noticed an unusual proliferation of rodents lately. Today marks the start of a nezumi-doshi, or Year of the Rat, the first in the order of 12 celestial animals of the Chinese zodiac.

In 2008, toshi-otoko and toshi-onna, men and women who were born in the year of the rat, will be turning age 12, 24, 36, 48, 60 and so on.

When marking the occasion, however, nezumi is never written using the Chinese character for rat, but instead with the same kanji as ko (as in kodomo, child), which in this case is pronounced "ne."

According to the ancient Chinese sexagenary (60-year) cycle, 2008 will be a tsuchi-no-e-ne, (year of the "earth-rat"), superseding hi-no-to-i (year of the fire-boar).

The New Year is a time to celebrate renewal, and you can expect to encounter numerous terms incorporating shin (new), such as shin-nen (new year) and hatsu (first), as in hatsu-mode (visit to a shrine at the New Year).

Of course, preparations have already been under way well before. On Omisoka (December 31) people rush to complete their osoji (big end-of-the-year cleanup). New Year's Day is referred to as ganjitsu or gantan. Gan means "original" or "first." The characters for jitsu (meaning sun and day) and tan are almost the same, except the latter adds one stroke beneath it to represent the sun above the horizon at dawn. Jan. 1 is also a public holiday, and buses and street cars display the Japanese Hinomaru flag.

If you go anywhere aboard public transport, you may see people, many dressed in kimono, returning from hatsu-mode carrying a white arrow, a talisman called a hamaya, which is used to ward off demons and protect households during the year.

Most decorations, while rooted in Shinto traditions, have become a social custom detached from religious overtones. Kadomatsu (gate pine) that flank the entrances of buildings or homes provide a short-term abode for the spirits. Assembled, in the most elaborate cases, using shochiku-bai — the alternate kun readings for matsu, take and ume (pine, bamboo and plum) — these are removed on Jan. 7.

The ornaments affixed to doors and car radiators are called shimekazari. Traditionally sold by tobishoku (scaffolding workers), they incorporate a shimenawa, a straw rope that serves as a Shinto symbol of purity.

From Dec. 28 or 29, two slabs of mochi (cakes of glutinous rice) topped with a small bitter orange, called a daidai, a homonymn for the word that means "generations," are placed on home altars. These kagami mochi, which look something like a headless snowman, are customarily cut up and eaten around the second weekend in January.

If you visit a Japanese home, you might see children receiving otoshidama, monetary gifts from relatives, close friends and neighbors. The colorful small envelopes into which money is inserted are called pochibukuro.

This occasion certainly wouldn't be the same without nengajo New Year's greeting cards, some 400 million of which are sent each year. The postal service hires some 210,000 part-timers to deliver them on Jan. 1.

While "Hotaru no Hikari" (light of the fireflies, as "Auld Lang Syne" is called in Japanese) has been around since the 1880s, Japanese people are more likely to associate New Year's Eve with popular songs on the NHK program "Kohaku Utagassen." The famous Red vs. White Song Competition has been broadcast annually since 1951 (originally via radio, and on TV from 1963).
Then from 11:45 p.m., NHK shifts to the solemn tolling of the "Joya-no-Kane," the bell that marks the passing of the year. This is usually broadcast from the Chion-in temple in Kyoto, where the huge 74-ton tsuri-gane (hanging bell), cast in 1636, is sounded 108 times, symbolically driving out the 108 bonno (evil passions or earthly desires).

New Year's foods, called osechi ryori, a tradition dating back to the Heian Era (794-1185), are served from a three-tiered lacquered box (oju). The various items, all of which have some symbolic meaning, include date-maki (rolled omelet); kohaku kamaboko (red and white fish sausage); kurikinton (a mashed mixture of sweet potatoes and chestnuts); and konbu maki (rolled sea vegetable). Eaten cold and rather sweet to the palate, these are definitely an acquired taste. Other seasonal foods and beverages include toshikoshi soba (buckwheat noodles consumed on New Year's Eve), ozoni (vegetable soup with rice cakes) and otoso (a special spiced rice wine).

Finally, on this auspicious day, I'd like to say, "Minasama, akemashite omedeto gozaimasu (Happy New Year, everybody)!" and "Kotoshi mo yoroshiku onegai shimasu (please treat me favorably in the year ahead)."