SEIWAKAI EUROPE SEMINAR: PART 1 During the weekend, 17th,18th ,19th and 20th October Seiwakai Europe held its annual seminar in England. A TOTAL OF 16 HOURS was allocated to training and a further 5 HOURS FOR TESTING. Saturday night we held Seiwakai dan gradings and Sunday evening we tested students for JKF GOJUKAI. On Saturday night we had a dinner at the Five Bells Pub with 120 people attending. Fujiwara Shihan, Seiwakai President and Chief Instructor, had come to London together with Takahashi Satoru Shihan to teach us once again. Takahashi Satoru Shihan was recently successful in his JKF GOJUKAI 8th Dan examination in Sendai. During the 4 days training, Fujiwara shihan was very attentive to correction of students of all levels, including the most senior. This correction was especially in basic practice and how to perform the two Kata Sanchin and Tensho. Friday training, after the warming up, began with Sanchin. Everyone trained together and Fujiwara shihan taught the method of “GYAKU FUKUSHIKI” breathing. This appeared to be new to many. It is a very interesting method and it was obvious that most students did not understand. It takes time to actually practise this comfortably. A big part of the evening’s training was on Sanchin and Tensho with Fujiwara shihan emphasising the difference in breathing method and different use of tension between the 2 kata. At the start of the Saturday morning training Fujiwara shihan took time and taught basic stances. This was done at my request because I had noticed many students making errors in simple basics. He taught as if we were learning this for the first time. He made clear how sanchin, zenkutsu dachi, shikodachi and nekoashi dachi were to be done. He also explained how to perform Jun Tsuki correctly (by this I refer to the timing of the step with the punch) as well as gyakutsuki. Moving in nekoashi both in straight lines or using the concept of tenshin was also taught. People may ask why was this necessary. One could say, “OF COURSE ALL STUDENTS, especially the SENIORS, should understand and know how to perform the basics.” From the outset it was very clear that MANY AT THE SEMINAR DID NOT REALISE they were making mistakes. Fujiwara shihan’s teaching was reminiscent of the times Tasaki Sensei used to stress the importance of KIHON (basic) training. Anyone can learn Yakusoku kumite, perform kata, make movements and so on, but if the fundamentals (basics) are not right this will result in repetition of mistakes without optimum performance. Fujiwara shihan made the observation to the group that many were kicking (maekeri)incorrectly. He then showed how it should be done. What was interesting was to see that many students would revert to doing what they always did without any change or attempt to change. It was change that Fujiwara shihan was looking for. He commented that often people perform many hundreds of repetitions—IN THE WRONG WAY—because they either don’t understand or were taught incorrectly. Such people seem to think that a large number of repetitions, irrespective of the methods used—is good training. IT IS NOT. Repetition is essential—with CORRECT methodology . After some kihon on Saturday and Sunday morning the group was split into two. Fujiwara shihan taking the senior group and Takahashi Shihan teaching the more junior students in a different hall ably assisted by Rasto Mraz and Paul Coleman. During the Saturday and Sunday, besides practising all the kata up to Seisan, Fujiwara shihan also introduced a number of new kumite techniques as well as covered various kata bunkai. There was a lot of pair work with the students giving all their effort to learn and do it right. What was very noticeable was that Fujiwara shihan would demonstrate what he wanted everyone to do but that very few observed exactly what he did and how he moved. As a result Fujiwara Shihan and I had to make many corrections, explaining what they should be doing. We told them they must watch every aspect of his demonstration and teaching otherwise the technique could not be learned correctly. In the majority of cases students reverted to doing movements as they has always done—not following precisely what was being taught. For example, he was teaching very simple blocking with changing body position and intercepting an attack. This was in order to develop timing with the blocking and needed to be accurately copied. The techniques were very simple. Of course, once the method was mastered, which would take a lot of practise in the future, then would be the time to change and make it your own technique and do it in your own way. First--the process of learning should be observe and copy. As I mentioned earlier, Yakusoku kumite was interspersed with the various kata and we managed with the 15 hours training time to cover all the Kata up to and including Seisan. Various Bunkai were shown and explained. Fujiwara shihan as a teacher has terrific energy and pays great attention to detail. He helps build students from the ground up. He is very watchful of what we all do and even though he is not English speaking, he very quickly picks up on the attitudes of people, especially looking at their general manner and manners. In the past he has not permitted certain people to take grading tests—the reason being that they did not understand what was being taught and also showed they didn’t particularly want to learn or change. Seiwakai is extremely lucky to have such a role model and leader.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 12:01:20 +0000
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