Author: RICHARD KAY
THE DAY of departure fOr the most recent Goju-Kensha Australia training tour of Japan finally dawned, after many months of build-up. Fund-raising, meetings, clothes fittings and associated preparations were now a thing of the past.
We all met at the airport at 7.30am on Sunday, October 13th, checked in and then wasted time before finally departing to a chorus of, “Have a good time”, “Be good”, “Don’t you dare do so-andso”; “Don’t catch anything”; and other concerned (or jealous) comments. After a 30minute delay we lifted off, hoping this wasn’t going to set a precedent for the trip.
Approximately 24 hours, two countries and several climate zones later, we arrived at Narita Airport at 8.00am on the Monday morning. To our surprise, we were met by Suzuki Sensei and Momose Sensei. After introductions and re-acquaintances we caught a bus and taxi to Shintomi, in Tokyo, where Ohtsuka Sensei was (patiently) waiting for us at the dojo. We checked into our hotel (about two minutes’ walk from the dojo), had a quick lunch and then went to the dojo to meet Ohtsuka Sensei, who lives upstairs. Once inside (after removing our shoes, a custom we were quickly to become accustomed with), Ohtsuka Sensei greeted us all and sat us down in his lounge room with tea and cakes. Once we were comfortable, he calmly told us that in a few hours he was leaving for Australia – where he was staying for a week for his political duty! (He has been a counsellor for the city of Tokyo for 16 years). Luckily, James Sumarac was sitting down, as this was totally unexpected …
Anyway, we chewed the fat for a while, during which time Larry received a phone call from a friend in Japan who had tracked him down. (Nice one, Larry!) Ohtsuka Sensei arranged for us to have a bath at a local Japanese bath-house, so off we went. Following that, we went to the dojo for our first training session with Momose Sensei (6th Dan). That evening we fairly collapsed in our futons, eager to rest in preparation for the training to come.
The bulk of our training in Japan centred on kata, bunkai and basics. The kata studied were Sepai, for the Brown Belts, and Shisochin for the Black Belts, plus Happo-Ren, a ‘new’ kata Ohtsuka Sensei learnt in China. Basic training revolved around hip usage and different ways of generating power. Additionally, we did some kumite training.
The first week was reasonably hectic; training from 9.30 to 11.30am and 1.00 to 4.00pm, Tuesday to Saturday. Our teachers were the likes of Suzuki Sensei (7th Dan), Morita Sensei (7th Dan), Yajima Sensei (6th Dan), Miyasaka Sensei (6th Dan), Momose Sensei (6th Dan), Seguchi Sensei (3rd Dan) and, of course, Ohtsuka Sensei himself (8th Dan) who took much time off work to teach us and organise things for us. Needless to say, the quality of instruction was awesome.
Training was intense, but the time always went too quickly. One thing about all the Goju-Kensha people we met was that they were friendly and helpful, both in and out of the dojo, and frequently went out of their way to help us. For example, Momose Sensei took time off work (a difficult thing to do in Japan) to help us shift hotels. Several times we were taken out as a group to restaurants – an expensive night in Australia, let alone Japan, which is well known for its high prices. In general, we were welcomed with open arms and treated like part of the ‘family’ right from the start.
Afterthe first week of training we were starting to get a little tired, so we welcomed the rest in the second week when we travelled around Japan. We left on the Monday and caught the ‘Shinkansen’ (bullet train) to Kyoto where we saw the Golden and Silver Pavilions, Heian Shrine, the oldest Budo Hall in Japan, The Imperial Palace, and Kiyomiza Temple, the oldest wooden structure in Japan. Then it was off to Hiroshima where we saw the Peace Park with its memorials and museum. Next was Miyajima Island, home of the famous Otori Gate, ranked as one of the most spectacular sights in Japan, and the Itsukushima Shrine, plus other beautiful parks.
From here we went to Beppu, on Japan’s most southern island, Kyushu. In Beppu we saw several natural hot springs and took a train trip to Mt. Aso, the largest active volcano in the world. From Beppu it was on to Himeji, near Osaka, where we saw Himeji Castle, reputedly the best in Japan. Lastly, we stopped at Shizuoka on the way back to Tokyo, hoping to get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji, but heavy rain ruled out any chance of this, so it was back to Tokyo to rest before the final week of training.
The last week was basically a repeat of the first, with training twice a day, every day. Ohtsuka Sensei was back in Japan and we had many classes with him. This week we concentrated on revising and ‘honing’ what we learnt in the first week. Several times during this week Ohtsuka Sensei would suddenly finish class, pull tables out and sit us down to lunch in the dojo, which gave us a chance to informally talk about various aspects of Karate training and philosophy.
As with the first week, the second was over all too quickly, with the last two days spent at Meiji Shrine for Japanese Cultural Day, and Harajuku for the All Japan Tai-Chi Tournament (where Momose Sensei’s wife, Kyoko, won a gold medal in the women’s combined 42 form division). Next thing we knew, we were at the Airport ready to leave, armed with fond memories and more training information than we knew what to do with.
Next stop was Bali for four days of ‘R & R’. We won’t reveal too much about Bali … except to say that we destroyed our bodies in Japan and our minds in Bali.
On Sunday, November 10th, almost a month after leaving home, we returned to Melbourne to be greeted by family and friends, weary but well satisfied with the previous month’s adventure. The trip was over, but the hard part was still to come – assimilating all the knowledge we had gained, learning it, and passing it on.
Well, how do you sum up an experience like this? As you can guess, this is only a very brief, condensed version of all that happened. I could tell you about people kicking the dojo wall during kata training, beer/ sake vending machines at the hotels, Channel 2, flying Black Belts, Russian vodka and Japanese beer, cutting chopsticks with business cards, stories beginning with, “One day … “; snoring, subway travel, Japanese noodle houses,
private phone calls to the dojo during training, youth hostels that resembled the Adams Family house, taxi fares costing $50 each that went to the wrong address, bartering in Bali, Casablanca and Koala Blue nightclubs, Peter Garrett, tattoos and plaited hair with beads … I could go on for hours.
All these memories are great, but the thing that will last long after the memory of actual events has faded is the lifelong friendships that were made during our time in Japan. To me, this was the highlight of the trip. The training was incredible, the travelling was enjoyable, but the people of Goju-Kensha are exceptional, real practitioners of Karate-do.
So the best way to sum up our trip is to say that if you ever have the chance to go to Japan to train, don’t miss it! It will be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life.
