英国空手白浪会 Shiranamikai Karate
Top session with our Association’s Chief Instructor, Ohta Sensei, this week. Kyu grades received special guidance on their katas while brown & black belts were kept busy working through an exhaustive set of kicking and kumite drills!
Congratulations to everyone on passing their grading!
Our next karate sessions will be 4pm on Saturday 28th December 2019 at Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre, and 10am on Sunday 29th December 2019 at North London Collegiate School.
Come and join us – everybody is welcome!
We then start 2020 on Saturday 4th January when all our classes are back to normal.
Shiranamikai members performed a karate display at the 2019 Japan Matsuri in London’s Trafalgar Square, the largest outdoor Japan-UK cultural event bringing together the best of music, food, dance and of course, martial arts!
We did our best to illustrate core elements of JKA Shotokan karate, demonstrating Kihon (fundamentals), Kata (set pattern sequences) and Kumite (partner work). We also saw a lighthearted interaction between one of our most experienced members and one of our most junior, with a little help from her friends!
This year was an occasion where the best of Japanese culture met the test of UK weather so we’d like to thank everybody who braved the elements to stay and watch our performance – we really appreciated your warm welcome – and hope you enjoyed the whole festival as much as we did 🌂🥋🇯🇵🇬🇧
Japan Matsuri 2019 also marked the official launch of the Japan-UK Season of Culture, celebrating the unique bond between our two island nations as Japan plays host to the Rugby Work Cup and the 2020 Olympics.
See you next time!
There was a great atmosphere during Ohta Sensei’s karate class at Shiranamikai this September with everybody trying their best and pushing themselves throughout his demanding kumite drills. Not a single brow was dry!
Congratulations to everybody who graded on achieving their next level!
Shiranamikai participated at the 2019 Hyper Japan exhibition at the London Olympia in Kensington.
Our club members demonstrated the three pillars of Shotokan karate under the Japan Karate Association: kihon (basics/fundamentals), kumite (partner work) and kata (forms). Katas shown were Heians: Shodan, Nidan, Sandan, Yondan and Godan, followed by Bassai Dai and Sochin. We also incorporated some light-hearted bunkai (application of technique) from Heian Godan.
During our performance of ippon kumite we could hear something big going on at the J-Culture stage on the other side of Olympia: Kuni-Ken, a tsugaru shamisen duo, were performing their own version of ippon! Literally, their title track “Ippon”. What a coincidence!
Thanks to everyone at Hyper Japan. See you next time!
Music by KUNI-KEN
Available on Spotify, iTunes store etc. Check them out!
Ohta Yoshinobu, Chief Instructor of The Japan Karate Association in England, visited Shiranamikai to teach a special class followed by a Kyu grading this June. Karate instruction really doesn’t get any better than this!
It was a hot session and everybody did well with some strong performances by those grading; well done!
It was a top session this spring with Ohta Yoshinobu 7th Dan, Chief Instructor of The Japan Karate Association in England.
After some solid fundamentals practise and kumite drills, Ohta Sensei took students through each of their katas, offering feedback and pointers to work on.
Well done to everybody for trying their best. This was a highly motivated group in what was a very hot dojo absent of aircon. If your brow was dry, you weren’t there!
Congratulations to those who graded!
Shiranamikai started 2019 on a high by celebrating the club’s 10-Year Anniversary. Ohta Sensei, our association’s Chief Instructor, visited to deliver a two hour training session with lots of basics and kumite followed by Heian Sandan, Tekki Shodan and Bassai Sho!
Afterwards we enjoyed dinner together where there was an unexpected presentation with an eloquent speech, a beautiful hand-drawn card filled with paper cranes (and touching messages!), and an incredibly thoughtful gift… club instructor Austin Biesty was so overwhelmed that he forgot to take any photos!
We enjoyed a fantastic training session in Harrow this December with the Chief Instructor of The Japan Karate Association in England.
After basics, kumite and helping everybody with their Heian and Tekki katas, Ohta Sensei led the more senior grades through Gojushiho Sho. This kata’s characteristics are smooth movements mainly in front, back and side stances. It has strong transitions and fast, dynamic strikes necessitating good body control and fluid hip movement.
Kyu grades had time to refresh before their assessment. Congratulations to everyone for passing!
We enjoyed a brilliant lesson with Ohta Sensei this September. Some of the kumite combinations, which in practise seemed straightforward, proved to be much more challenging when facing an opponent! Later on in the session, he led everybody through the katas of those grading and Kanku Dai for the brown and black belts of the club. As we have come to expect from the Chief Instructor of The Japan Karate Association in England, his technical feedback and his own performance was second to none.
Well done everybody for training hard and to those who graded. Our next session with Ohta Sensei is coming up in December!
