For a while now Nijushiho kata has been my main focus in my kata training, not my tokui-gata as such, but dreamed to be so: due to my history in karate-do.
To be honest, this kata really intimidates me, as I find it so difficult to perform "effectively". The movements are easy, but VERY-VERY DIFFICULT...
Many people do Nijushiho, but few can do it masterfully. In the past, as everyone knows, I always relied on Unsu and Gojushiho Dai as tokui-gata, however, for my JKA (Japan Karate Association) grading last year, I used Nijushiho for the first time. While I passed my grading, and initially learned Nijushiho "properly" in the early 1990s, I feel that my relationship with Nijushiho has only just begun. My point, yet again, is that karate-do is lifetime budo. In August I have trained for 33 years, and several of these have been intensive daily training here in Japan; nevertheless, I am still a total beginner. This mind-set I will always keep, and hope that, by chasing my target of Nijushiho, my aspirations will be achieved. Irrespective of that, like all things in life, not trying is a serious failure to oneself. Osu, André. 
© André Bertel. Aso-shi, Kumamoto. Japan (2014).
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