This autumn, past World and All Japan Champion Shiina Katsutoshi 7th Dan and Sawada Kazuhiro 7th Dan from the JKA Europe Technical Committee joined Ohta Yoshinobu 7th Dan for the three day joint training camp in England.
There was a lot of kumite; investigating how it links into kata and vice versa. With an interesting take on Heian Yondan, Sawada Sensei demonstrated how the opening moves might be utilised to control an opponent during free-kumite. We practised this and parts from other forms in the same way; good to make one rethink our first katas and consider how to apply techniques in a more advanced way.
Shiina Sensei’s take on kata bunkai was involving to say the least! Many karateka have practised a kata against multiple opponents, but what captivated was how he linked techniques with such fluidity. Then, when back to the first attacker, it was another rotation but this time with ten free-kumite attacks.
On the first day, Shiina Sensei’s kata applications were for Heian Shodan. On the final day, Sochin! There was a great demonstration with the same ten free-attack kumite against a dozen-or-so opponents. Two members of the JKA England squad were first in the middle then Shiina picked out a slightly older, non-squad member to highlight a different approach. Their softer approach showed a great contrast in style but even so, they had left nobody standing!
Ohta Sensei gave us what has become his customary, in-depth kata lesson. Each course, he breaks down one particular form for practise. It’s not always immediately obvious which kata we’ll be doing until some time into basics and kumite. This time though it was Chinte and true to form, he broke it up into parts then pieced everything back together with ease. Just like a puzzle, it can seem easy when you first look at the finished article, but when yours is less than picture perfect, that’s when you realise how complicated it really is.
A dan grading followed training on Sunday and it was great to see club members Anju and Alex pass Shodan and Sandan respectively. Well done, both!
We had a good turnout from Shiranamikai students. It’s important to attend these courses – brown belts especially, for whom it is a JKA England requirement in order to grade – to train alongside members of other clubs and see the standard of the JKA members across England, Europe and worldwide who make the effort to pursue their pastime so dedicatedly.
