Shiramizu Summer Camp- 17-18 July

Peter Here:

Goodness, what a weekend!

On Saturday and Sunday 17th-18th July The Shiramizu Summer camp was held in Nasuyumoto, In the Tochigi mountains. We were blessed with fine weather for the weekend, and the stunning landscapes did not disappoint.


The Coaches departed early saturday morning, with a 3 hour journey ahead of us. During this time, Fabian Sensei, Uehara Sensei and I were discussing the difficulty of language, before being united in the entertainment of My Neighbor Totoro (my Favourite!), which was put on for the kids but I was just as wide-eyed as any of them.



Arrival was celebrated by a quick lunch, elegantly wrapped in boxes (mine was branded 'mystery box' as Yamazaki Sensei could not tell me what was in it), then off to the dojo.

Warm ups were taken by the support Sensei, Yamazaki Sensei with the stretching, and Uehara Sensei with the kihon- intensive drilling of Juntsuki, Gyakutsuki, with kette and no-tsukkomi.

After that, we split into groups for Kata. I was support staff for the weekend, so I was helping with the green belts to learn Kushanku, while the Yellow/Blue belts were learning Pinan Godan, and the more senior grades practicing Wanshu. Wanshu Aside for the black belts, it must be noted that these Kata are above what are required for the grades of the students- so it was interesting to gauge the different reactions; who was excited for new kata, who was frustrated with the unknown- although the latter hardly happened, and the opportunity to climb a little higher in the Karate world was attacked with great enthusiasm.

This enthusiasm took it's toll on my knees, as I had to help repeatedly instruct the two big drops in the kata, in the manner of a lightweight flexible karateka- which I am not!

After the practice sessions the groups performed the kata as best they could in front of the whole class. I'm happy to say that most of them retained the movements. Wanshu was particularly impressive, furthering the love I have for that Kata even more.

Then the top students performed their kata- Mikea did Wanshu, and it was award winning.



Evening time was spent with a very traditional Japanese meal, some games and study of the JKF rules for kids, then a nice relaxing soak in the onsen and an after-party for the adults and support staff after the kids were tucked up.

In the morning, the hotel had a Mochi demonstration. Being the adventurous sort, Arakawa Sensei joined in...


...this was quite infectious...


Even with Fabian Sensei!



Kumite training lasted from 9:30 to 11:30 (after a brief Kata recap), where I was supporting Fujimoto Sensei in his group. His drills were well structured, involving movement shadowing, and line deviation by moving around your opponent and striking as fast as possible (a drill that Richard Sensei also showed me when I visited his dojo). After which was an endurance kicking drill where you had to literally kick your way down a line of 13 people. Impressively, the kids did amazingly at the drills.

The weekend was finished by a trip to the Nasu Switzerland Theme Park, where we enjoyed a 'viking' style barbecue and a good walk around.



After another 2 hours journey, we arrived back at the Satte Dojo to deliver the exhausted but happy children back to their parents, many of them thankful that the next day was a public holiday so they can sleep off the training!

Shiramizu Summer Camp!

The kids working harding during sparring drills.

Erica here!

The weekend of July 25th & 26th was the Shiramizu summer camp. There were about 120 kids ranging from 3 to 17 years old and a handful of adults that attended. We went to Kinugawa City (near the famous Nikko resort town in Tochigi Prefecture north west of the Saitama prefecture) and stayed at Manyoutei, a beautiful, traditional hotel complete with pull out futon mats and shared baths.

We arrived at the hotel around 1pm on Saturday, had lunch then proceeded to a school gym where the training was going to occur only to find the gates locked. After 20 minutes or so of phone calls and kids getting restless on the buses, we managed to gain access.

Once inside, we all did laps around the gym then had a group warm-up. We bowed in and then proceeded to do ido kihon (moving basics). After about 40 minutes of that, we split up into our different ranks and we worked on kata. The group I was in did Chinto and after another 40 minutes there was a water break after which we then moved on to sparring drills lead by Kazuhisa Fujimoto Sensei and Toya Sensei (from Takagi Sensei's Guseikai Dojoo in Tokyo). Somehow, by the end of that, 3 hours had gone by and it was time to finish up and head back to the hotel for dinner. Dinner was a delicious meal of all you can eat hot pot. Some of the guys had quite a bit of meat.

After dinner, there was some free time and then (from what I could tell with my seriously limited Japanese) there was a mini lesson on how points are awarded for sparring. This was followed by games and the losing team of each round had to get up on stage and act out a word. Everyone had a great time and went to bed tired, but with smiles on their face.

The next morning, we woke up at 6:30am, had breakfast at 7am and commenced training at 9am. The structure and content of what we did was almost identical to the previous days except there were more instructors who participated, including Toshiki Fujimoto Sensei (of Tokyo Guseikai), because they couldn’t make the day before.

On the way home, we stopped at Tobu World Square which is an outdoor museum of miniature models of famous building and places around the world. It was very entertaining and the detail in which these models had were amazing. There were little people, moving boats, cars and trains! It was a hot and sunny day, so naturally the kids were running around with ice cream cones.

Overall, it was a great weekend and everyone had tons of fun =)

Everyone waiting to board the bus.

Warm-up run.

Yamazaki Sensei having fun with the kids.

Yay!! Water break!!

Tobu World Square. Looks real doesn't it?

Shiramizu summer camp 2009!!

Shiramizu Summer Camp, 19th & 20th July 2008

The Nippon Budokan Training Centre in Chiba was the venue for the Shiramizu dojo annual summer training camp. It took place on Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th July 2008 and 97 Shiramizu students attended.

Amy and I were kindly invited to go along by Arakawa Sensei, despite it primarily being a child-orientated weekend. With us being big kids ourselves, we naturally jumped at the chance! It would be a great way to see how this camping trip compares to our own Hartlepool Wadokai version and it would also be a good training weekend.

We had an early start on the Saturday morning where we had to meet in the local kindergarten car park at 6:00am. Arakawa Sensei gave a short talk to everyone and when he had all the helpers/instructors lined up, he introduced us all and we all had to give a short speech.　Amy and I weren't actually officials, we were just there for kicks,　though we would still help out wherever we could.

The various Sensei got everyone locked and loaded on the coaches and we were ready to leave for 7:00am. We were on bus 2 with Yoshihara & Yamazaki Sensei and also Yuki Sempai, one of the cadets who was acting as an official for the weekend.


The journey was very long, approximately 6 hours including a number of breaks. The kids didn't seem to mind the journey and had very high spirits throughout. The kids all started cheering as soon as they could see the coastline.






We got to the Nippon Budokan Training Centre at about 1.30pm, and by the time we got everyone unpacked and had got through the welcome/introductions in the hotel foyer, it was close to 2pm. Sensei announced that training would begin at 2pm, so we had a few minutes to get changed and get to the Dojo. In the medley that followed, I managed to lose Lawrence who had the key to our room and, more importantly knew my room number. Uehara Sensei must have sensed my dismay, because he quickly told me which room I was staying in.

The room that we were staying at was very traditional, with tatami on the floor and futons hidden in a big cupboard that are simply pulled out and rolled along the floor when its bedtime.

We got changed and headed down to the training venue; we walked past a huge dojo which had Kendo-ka and Judo-ka busy training inside. I had to resist the urge to stay and watch.


The training was pretty standard by Shiramizu standards, we ran through a lot of basics and then we split for Kata. All the officials were given their own group of students to teach. I think Sensei could tell that everyone was starting to tire a little. So he stopped the training and got everyone to have various races from one end of the hall to the next, performing different techniques. The highlight of this bit of training was the jumping Sando-geri which Arakawa Sensei expertly demonstrated. This short ice-breaker gave everyone enough of an energy boost to finish off with Kumite.

We (the Dan grades) were primarily taught Kumite by Fujimoto Sensei, who use to be on the Japan National Team. He was very good at explaining things, and his English was pretty good too. I learned quite a lot about closing down the distance and breaking the line from him. The other students were split into smaller groups and led by different people, including a few University students. The day's training finished with the Seniors (...and me!) having a short Kumite session whilst everyone else observed.

The training finished and we bowed out and went to get changed for a barbeque. It was pretty cool, the kids were divided up and the Dan grade kids were put in charge of cooking on the hot plate for their respective teams. It was really good to see and quite funny watching some of the kids concentrating really hard on cooking one burger at a time, and then be uncertain of which hungry kid to give it too. The various sensei gave them all some advice, which was basically 'throw everything on!'

Everyone got there fill and we finished off with some fireworks. All the kids (and me and Amy!) were given a big pack with various sparklers.

After everyone got cleaned up and the kids were all in bed, we had a bit of a chill out in Arakawa Sensei's room, all the officials (and us) were treated to a late night snack of ice cream, which was lovely!

Sunday...
It was another early start, 6.00am. The original idea was to go for a run up to a close-by vantage point, do a bit of training and then run back. However, Arakawa sensei hurt his leg yesterday, so the run turned into a walk, for the most part anyway. For which we were all grateful. We stopped at the half way point to perform some basics and work up a sweat, and then we headed back.
After the walk, we had a Japanese style breakfast and then we were off to the Dojo for more training. This session was a little over an hour, and we covered more basics and quickly moved onto kata. This time, Amy and I were taught by Yamazaki Sensei along with the other Dan grades. Todays training was finished off with an exhibition match between two younger students, with full head gear.

After training, we packed up and loaded the coaches and set off for Kanagawa Sea world. This was a relatively short bus ride, and the scenery kept the children occupied.

The kids were organised into their teams again and sent on their way into the park to see the sights. The team leaders were kitted out with synchronised watches so that they wouldn't be late back too, a very good idea!. We spent a few hours there, and had lunch, and then headed home.

All in all, it was a very well organised weekend. It was a lot of travelling for two days, but it was still very enjoyable for everyone. The trip to sea world in particular was very enjoyable for the kids.

Carl