Two days of training in Kumamoto City

I traveled to Kumamoto to train under Nakamura Masamitsu Shihan.

I was again honored by Shihan to teach the youth brown and black belt classes—Kanku Dai (kihon, kata and applications). After that I taught the advanced senior class—Bassai Dai (and again 'kata based' kihon, kata and street defense applications).

It was especially great to catch up with Nakamura Shihan, Akiyoshi Sensei and the Nakamura family; Katayama Senpai; Ogasawara Senpai and, to my surprise,  Tyler  Higo (and family) whom, by chance, were back  in Japan from Canada!!

Away from these classes, Shihan kindly allowed me to use the dojo the next day for another three + hours. This was an opportunity to train myself and give Tyler some personal training. What made this all the more special was that Akiyoshi Sensei attended the entire time; and Nakamura Shihan also joined us in the second half of the training. Tyler did really well, so I am looking forward to seeing his karate next time he is here in Japan.

The training focused on reliable BUDO KARATE. Weight transfer 'timing' with the correct coordination of the johanshin (upper body) and kahanshin (lower body) was the main technical aim. I wont detail the training except to say that a lot was practised via this theme. Kata included Jion and Unsu; furthermore, a koten-gata was also trained. Effective kumite training, for the real world was also covered in depth: so, the speicifics for gohon, kihon-ippon, jiyu-ippon, oyo and jiyu-kumite were vividly highlighted.

In sum, I would again like to thank Nakamura Shihan, Akiyoshi Sensei and the Nakamura family for their kindness, training and support of my Karate-Do.

© André Bertel. Oita City, Japan (2018).