10 th Memorial of Sensei Eiichi Miyazato

The main event in the Jundokan calendar for 2008 was the memorial seminar commemorating the 10 th anniversary of Sensei Eiichi Miyazato's death. Sensei Miyazato was the previous head of the Jundokan and a greatly respected man both in Okinawa and in the rest of the world. Sensei Miyazato dedicated his life to karate and worked very hard to promote and develop Okinawan Gojuryu both locally and throughout the world. To mark the 10 th anniversary of Sensei Miyazato's death, students from shibu dojos from many countries travelled to the home dojo of Okinawan Gojuryu, the Jundokan. The memorial event was to take place over 5 days including training, gradings, demonstrations and a formal ceremony and presentation.

Four students from the Gosport dojo accompanied Sensei Ken Erridge to attend the memorial seminar. This included Sue, Bob, Luke and myself (Guy). In addition, three students travelled from our affiliate dojo the Shinsei Kan dojo in Sweden . This included Pegvak, Ali and Caroline.

The Gosport dojo group left England in the early morning of the 1 st November for their long trip to Okinawa . The route went from Southampton to Paris , then to Nagoya ( Japan ) and finally onto Okinawa arriving late afternoon on Sunday. In total, the trip took some 26 hours door to door! Sensei Glenn McIlvride met us at the airport and took us by monorail to our apartments in the Asato area of Naha city.

Our apartments, although small, were very well appointed containing a kitchen, cooker, washing machine as well as a bath and shower.

We took a short time to freshen-up and unpack before venturing out to find the dojo and Taira Sensei's bar. The dojo was right next to our apartment blocks and was still open when we arrived. We were too late for training that evening but it was nice to get our first look at the place.

On to Taira Sensei's bar just a short walk from the dojo on the main commercial street (Kokusai-Dori). We were the first ones there that evening but soon many people started to arrive from many different countries. We also met up with Taira Sensei and his wife and had a great evening meeting people and drinking!

We awoke the next day (3 rd November) to heavy rain but the temperature still remained in the mid-twenties. With the memorial seminar not starting until the 5 th November, we were able to train in the Jundokan dojo itself. We arrived at 2pm when the dojo opened eager to start training. For those of us who had not been to Okinawa before, it was a very special moment to finally be able to train in the Jundokan Honbu (home) dojo.

Afternoon training sessions in the Jundokan dojo began with a warm-up and basic training from Sunagawa Sensei. Sunagawa Sensei expressed upon us the importance of basic training in Goju-Ryu karate. He said that all training should start with a good warm-up and basic training before moving onto kata, chiishi / sashi or makiwara training. Sunagawa Sensei also tried to teach his basics in the same way as Sensei Miyazato had taught him. After just 45 minutes of basic training, we were all sweating heavily with our first real taste of the Okinawan humidity!

Following basic training, we were allowed some free training time to practice kata and get further help and assistance from other senior senseis. This often involved one of the senseis taking a small group of students and working through each kata correcting the mistakes along the way. This was very useful to learn from your own mistakes as well as those of student you do not usually train with. After a couple of hours of great training, we would leave to have a short rest before the evening training session.

Evening training sessions in the Jundokan dojo were taken by Taira Sensei supported by Gima Sensei and Kinjo Sensei (+others). Around the time of the memorial seminar, the dojo was extremely crowded in the evenings with very little space to move without bumping into someone! Taira Sensei began the sessions by warming-up concentrating mainly on hip movements and explosive techniques with kime. These techniques provide the basis for advanced kata training that was to follow.

The main focus of Taira Sensei's training sessions was to break down the kata into small sections and practice each with more emphasis on the application of the techniques as well as developing speed and power. This “next level” kata training is an essential step on the path from basic kata to the real application of the Bunkai. I found this training quite difficult but very rewarding as it really makes you think about each move in the kata as well as developing the speed and the power to actually use them.

The final part of the evening session was dedicated to conditioning. This consisted of practicing basic blocking techniques with a static partner with the focus on generating the power from the hips. After a long period of intense conditioning, we were all suitably tired and bruised.

Most evenings in Okinawa were spent in Taira Sensei's bar socialising with the various students from around the world. Although beer was expensive, free food was brought out frequently for anyone that was hungry. This was mostly spaghetti or noodles but occasionally the raw fish came out with was not to everyone's taste! Regularly, Taira Sensei would explain and demonstrate some of the finer points of the Bunkai in the middle of the bar. This was a great insight into the techniques and a lot easier to see than the crowded dojo!

The memorial seminar took place over 5 days at Naha City Gym starting on the 5 th November. Naha Gym is a much larger building than the Jundokan dojo and was much better suited to the 200+ students attending.

The first day of the seminar was for Shibu heads only. So Sensei Ken was able to attend but for the rest of us it was business as usual training in the Jundokan dojo. The first day of the seminar was focused on the kata in its basic form. The intention being to clearly demonstrate to all Shibu heads how the basic kata should be performed so that all Jundokan affiliated dojos throughout the world can practice the kata in the same way.

The second day of the seminar was for all 200+ students. Surprisingly, 50 taxis had been hired to transport all the students from the Jundokan dojo to Naha City Gym. Training started at 10am with a short warm-up period of basic techniques. Then the students were divided by grade into groups. Kinjo Sensei took 5th Dan and above, Taira Sensei took 3 rd and 4 th Dan (my group), Ganaha Sensei took 1 st and 2 nd Dan and Sunagawa Sensei took the juniors. Taira Sensei's training focussed on Saifa and Seiyunchin kata, breaking them down and teaching the “next level” techniques to each section.

After lunch, Yasuda Sensei arrived and gave a very short speech before taking over the training to the 5 th Dan and above group. Taira Sensei's group was divided into 2 smaller groups allowing all the students associated with Taira Sensei's website to get together for the first time. This included dojos from the USA , Canada , New Zealand , Lithuania , the UK and others showing the global appeal of Taira Sensei's bunkai. This group proceeded to practice the bunkai for Gekisai Dai Ichi under the close guidance of Taira Sensei. This was a great opportunity to practice what we had learned since the TairaBunkai website went live back in 2007. I found there were many changes to the basic Bunkai that I had been practising, partly because Taira Sensei has been constantly refining and improving the bunkai. I really enjoyed this training and the end of the day came far too quickly. Unfortunately, this was the only opportunity that we had to practice Taira Sensei's bunkai during our visit.

The day ended with another 50 taxis transporting all the students back to the Jundokan dojo in Asato.

The seminar ended for the day at 3:30pm allowing enough time for training in the Jundokan in the evening. There were no formal classes at the Jundokan during the actual seminar but it was a good opportunity to cement what we had learned during the day.

The third day of the seminar was much the same with the students divided into groups by grade. For my group, this session included the breakdown of Sepai, Kururunfa, Sesan and Suparinpei led by Taira Sensei and Gima Sensei. This was a hard day's training with lots of points to try to remember.

Back at the Jundokan dojo for the evening training session, all the senior senseis were in attendance to assist the students in preparing for the gradings to take place on the following day. There was no formal training, simply an opportunity to practice kata and basic bunkai with the expert guidance of the Jundokan's top teachers.

The Dan gradings took place on the forth day of the seminar. Over 100 students were grading so it was a busy day for the Jundokan. From our dojo, Luke was to take Shodan, and I was to take Yondan. From Sweden , Ali was to take Nidan and Pegvak was to take Sandan. Due to the large number of students grading, the format for the grading consisted of demonstration of kata followed by the associated kihon bunkai. The gradings were assessed by a daunting panel of all the senior Jundokan senseis including Kancho. The gradings were taken in small groups of 5 to 10 students with the Shodan gradings first followed by Nidan, Sandan and Yondan. There was not sufficient time to take the Godan and above gradings so these were postponed until the next day. This was a very nerve-racking experience for all of us but fortunately we all managed to complete our kata and bunkai without any big mistakes.

In the afternoon of the forth day, each shibu dojo performed a demonstration as part of memorial seminar. Our dojo performed Shisochin. There were also interesting demonstrations from other Okinawan dojos.

The fifth day of the seminar consisted of the memorial ceremony conducted at a nearby hotel. The ceremony included kata demonstration from the senior Jundokan Senseis as well as selected students from Shibu dojos. The senior Jundokan officials including Kancho gave speeches about the Jundokan and Sensei Miyazato. Omine Sensei was awarded his Ju (10 th ) Dan and both Omine Sensei and Yasuda Sensei received recognition for their services to the Jundokan dojo. Sensei Gsodam received his 8 th Dan on behalf of all the students who had graded during the seminar. After the ceremony the students were treated to a feast of food and a free bar!

The final days of our visit to Okinawa consisted of training as normal in the Jundokan dojo. Basics and Sanchin kata with Sunagawa Sensei in the afternoon and kata breakdown and conditioning with Taira Sensei in the evenings. Sunagawa Sensei reiterated the importance of basics for all students at all levels saying that it will improve strength, health and kata. Taira Sensei's training was always difficult and challenging with a great deal to learn about each technique in each kata.

On the 15 th November the time in Okinawa was at an end for some of us. Sensei Ken and Sue would stay on for another 2 weeks but me, Bob and Luke had to return home. So we packed our things and caught the monorail for our flight to Nagoya at 18:20 . After a very long a cold night sleeping rough at the airport (our next flight did not leave until the next morning), we boarded our plane and started our 13 hour journey to Paris . Despite the Airfrance pilot's strike, our flight was unaffected and we finally arrived back in Southampton at 17:00 on the 16 th , some 36 hours after we left.

And so we conclude what was a great trip to Okinawa with excellent training and some great experiences. I would like to congratulate Luke for gaining his Shodan, Ali for gaining his Nidan and Pegvak for gaining his Sandan. I was also fortunate enough to achieve my Yondan.

Finally, on behalf of all the students who travelled to Okinawa from our dojo I would like to thank Sensei Ken for providing the opportunity for us to take part in the seminar. I would also like to thank Sue for her efforts in organising the travel and accommodation for us.

Guy.

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