Kengokan Karate Dojo Sydney » Training Notes

First Night at Henley

desparoz — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 12:14:09 +0000

Tonight was our first training session at our interim location at the Henley Community Centre.

Sensei Jo, Julie, Steven and Scott joined me for a sweaty session focusing on the kata Nijushiho.

Nijushiho is new to all three orange belts, and they’ve tackled it enthusiastically. They’ve worked their way through the entire kata (both “sides”), and are bedding it down into their memories. Of course, having learned a variety of self-defences taken straight from this kata, they’re well on their way!

The Henley Community Centre is a nice interim location, and we’re looking forward to the fresh perspective a change of venue will give us.

Kagami Biraki 2012

desparoz — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:10:53 +0000

Tonight marked the first official training session of 2012 for the Kengokan Dojo.

Following the Japanese traditions, this session was our Kagami Biraki session. As discussed in the New Years Greetings post, Kagami Biraki means opening the mirror, and symbolises the introspection associated with the New Years period in most cultures, and also the end of the New Years festivities, and the “getting-on-with-it” of training.

For our session, we each completed a full training session, which included:

108 star jumps
108 blocks
108 punches
108 kicks

Additionally, all participants (mudansha and yudansha, including instructors) made a demonstration. We saw the following kata: Naihanchin Sho, Happiken, Nijushiho, Kusanku Sho and Kusanku Dai.

Well done to all participants. It was a good start to our training year.

At the end of the session, a special presentation of an Achievement Award for 2011 was made to Sensei Joanna. Having been promoted to 1st Dan in 2011, Sensei Jo’s achievements over the past few years have been outstanding. Congratulations to Sensei Joanna.

Beach Training at Camp Cove

desparoz — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:41:18 +0000

This morning Chrissy, Julie, Scott and I met for an informal beach training session at Camp Cove on Sydney Harbour. Its a beautiful spot that marks the first overnight camp of the First Fleet when they arrived in what was shortly to become the Colony of New South Wales. From 6.30am we had the beach almost to ourselves – there was one fisherman and a couple of people swimming, but that was it! A beautiful day to start the day with some training.

Photo by DAVID ILIFF. License: CC-BY-SA 3.0 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Watsons_Bay_-_Camp_Cove_Beach,_Sydney_2_-_Nov_2008.jpg

Before the others got there, I started off with a light run up and down the beach, did a light stretch, then ran through a kata or two. Once the others arrived, we all did a run up and down the beach, then moved into kata (Nijushiho and Sanchin) and yakusoku kumite (Sanchin Waza). When the others had to leave for work, I stayed and had a swim, and practiced my own kata – in and out of the water.

One good thing about early morning training is that no matter what else happens today, you’ve done that one thing for yourself! If you get stuck in a long, boring meeting, you can relax knowing you’ve had a great start!

During the training, we talked about the three timings (Go no Sen, Tai no Sen and Sen no Sen) and how these are applied in Sanchin Waza, and also the concepts of kiai (気合) and aiki (合気), and how these are expressed in kata Nijishiho. While karate is often equated with force that is external and strong (kiai), using the opponent’s force against them (aiki) is equally important. Sometimes you give, sometimes you cede.

Thanks to Chrissy, Julie and Scott for getting up and enjoying the morning session.

First Training for 2012 – Hatsu Geiko

desparoz — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 10:48:45 +0000

Photo courtesy of Damon Spooner

This afternoon Sensei Joanna, Chrissy, Julie, Scott and I met by the riverside at Rozelle for our hatsu geiko (first training) for 2012.

Hatsu geiko is an important time in the calendar, because it is a time to dust the cobwebs off that have been building up over Christmas. As in many Japanese dojo, our hatsu geiko was relatively informal, and was a good chance to practice jo and bo, as well as learn some new stuff – we all took a look at the renzoku kansetsu waza drill (ABCs of Joint Locks), whilst Sensei Jo and Chrissy started on Sanchin Waza and Julie and Scott kicked off with Nijushiho kata.

After a couple of hours, we enjoyed a nice Japanese dinner at Sushi Samurai in Pyrmont. Sensei Jo couldn’t make it, as she need to power on with Dragon Boat training!

Thanks all for a great hatsu geiko!

The Three Types of Timing

desparoz — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 23:59:52 +0000

A couple of weeks ago we discussed at a session the three types of timing. Its worth bearing these in mind as you practice kata and kumite. The three types of timing are:

Go no Sen: Countering after the attack. This is the “typical” scenario found in early karate training where an attack is delivered by tori and uke executes a block and counter technique.
Tai no Sen: This is where uke delivers a countering technique simultaneously with tori‘s attack. This timing is seen in the first techniques of yakusoku kumite like Nijushiho Waza and Sankakutobi Shodan Ichi.
Sen no Sen: This is a strike that is timed to land before tori‘s attack can reach the mark. Sen no Sen is based on the scenario that tori commits to an attack, but uke manages to get in faster.

There is a fourth type of timing, called Sen Sen no Sen (or sometimes simply Sen), which is more of a preemptive strike. Sen Sen no Sen is a timing used when there is no question that violence is imminent, and a karateka chooses to strike first to bring the situation to a quick close.