MCF, Burlington, Canada 30 April – 3 May 2009

Travelling Tuesday 28 April

We travelled out on Tuesday 28 April and I guess I should have realised that this gasshuku would be full of surprises when our British Airways 747 sprung a fuel leak just before take-off and we were then delayed 6 hours. Luckily we were at Heathrow's new Terminal 5 which is a nice place to be delayed and I was able to catch up with my students Andre and Daphne Leister for a cup of tea (well several!).

We were all very tired and it was about 10:30pm (local time) when we reached our Hotel, the Holiday Inn, Burlington, about 30 mins from Toronto, so it was easy to sleep even losing the 5 hours!

Wednesday 29 April

It was great to have the Wednesday as a ‘free' day and Maroulla and I walked off some jet-lag by taking a hike to Lake Ontario in the sunshine. However, I have to say that the map was quite deceiving and a grid was 2km and we walked 4 grids!  When we got back to the hotel after a rest I needed to sweat out a bit more jet-lag so went to the hotel gym for a run, row and a few weights when I caught up with Chris Robins from Sheffield and we made a plan to meet up for some tea.

As always at gasshukus it is great to bump into people and whilst Chris and I were enjoying some tea, Sensei Michael Han, 6th Dan, USA and his wife Holly joined us for some non-stop catch up and karate talk before we went to join Nakamura Sensei and the other USA and Canadian Instructors for dinner.

As we were travelling on the Tuesday, I did not receive the news of An'ichi Miyagi Sensei's passing, so I was very grateful to Chris for letting me know. This was very sad and meant that Higaonna Sensei would be delayed so he could attend the funeral which was held on 30 April, so Nakamura Sensei made a new schedule.

We were to have an opening session together and then split up the grades into 6 groups (there were about 200 people). The teachers would be Nakamura Sensei, Sudo Sensei, 7th Dan Venezuala, Sensei Michael, Sensei Gene, 6th Dan USA, Sensei Herbert, 6th Dan, USA and myself.

Thursday 30 April

As the first session of the gasshuku was Thursday evening, I took the opportunity to do a quick hour's kata and bunkai practice with Andre & Daphne to brush out the cobwebs and help with their grading preparation!

We started with training with a Nidan and above session with Nakamura Sensei first where he shared his experience of sanchin. The first Gasshuku session together was dedicated to celebrate Anichi Miyagi Sensei's life. Therefore, as he was 78 years old when he died, we all performed Gekasai dai ichi 78 times, it took 1 ¼ hours and was a wonderful experience! Then we split into groups and taught two further classes that evening and finished about 21:30.

Friday 1 May

The next day there was another surprise. In the evening session yesterday Sudo Sensei broke his arm whilst demonstrating and was in hospital for treatment so Nakamura Sensei had to re-arrange the schedule again for 5 teachers!  There was wonderful energy in all the classes, all the students were attentive and gave their best, this made training with everyone such a pleasure.

In the afternoon I led a Women's seminar which was attended by some 25 women. I was inspired by their hard work and earnestness in their training and I always learn something too.

Afterwards, Maroulla and I grabbed some dinner before the Gasshuku karaoke at which Senseis Mike, Gene and myself were adjudicating. This was a very entertaining event and the participants were in good spirits, with renditions of heavy rock, a young potential star (about 12), the Venezualan team and their congo where everyone joined and a gentleman who serenaded me, because he saw me pick up a 220lb man in training!!

Saturday 2 May

Training with Hiagaonna Sensei at last – we all welcomed him warmly to the Gasshuku and then enjoyed his inspirational teaching as he took us all through basics and then Sanchin, Tensho and Sesan for the senior students.

As always the lesson finished later than expected, which was great for us but not for Nakamura Sensei who need to ensure that Sensei was rested before the grading that afternoon!

I went along with Andre and Daphne, who were testing for Yondan and they were eager to get to Nakamura Sensei's dojo early – (I have to say that Andre was so focused that he had hardly spoken or smiled in 3 days!)

I was very proud of their performance, even amongst the 29 people grading (which was quite a squeeze) it was obvious that they were trying their best. After 3 ½ hours of basics, kata, bunkai, kumite and spirit training - the test was finished which meant we all had half an hour to get changed for the Sayonara party!

The Sayonara party was a 70 th Birthday Celebration for Higaonna Sensei and 30 years of IOGKF, as well as celebrating the life of Anichi Miyagi Sensei. IOGKF Canada had collated a very informative documentary of IOGKF over the past 30 years and had produced a limited edition book. This was great opening to the dinner for the new and young generation of IOGKF members to see the history. I was honoured to have been invited to make a speech which was well received (please see attached for transcript) along with Sensei Ernie Brennecke, 5th Dan USA who has been training with Higaonna Sensei for 45 years, he had some wonderful stories to share!

Sunday 3 May

The last day always comes along so quickly and another surprise was an impromptu warm up by Donozo Sensei, 7th Dan Shotokan, followed by the Gasshuku photo and then we were treated to different Hoju undo basics and again Okinawa time presided and Nakamura Sensei struggled to get Sensei to stop so had to resort to a very obvious Time Out signal to Sensei else we would still be training now!!

The Gasshuku ended with a selection of demonstrations in quite an informal but intimate fashion. To start things off there was some fabulous drumming by the Canadians - Adrienne, Bruce and their teacher and this was followed by some wonderful demonstrations of self defence, team kata, irikumi, blindfolded kakie and then kata from Sensei Gene, Sensei Michael and myself, with Nakamura Sensei performing a beautiful Sesan with bunkai and then finally Sifu Kho and his student showed the Chinese White Crane sanchin and superempi, finishing with Donozo Sensei demonstrating a Shotokan kata and bunkai.

Finally, the grading results were announced and I was delighted that both Andre and Daphne passed their Yondan in front of Higaonna Sensei– this has been a 20 year journey for them both and all their hard work and commitment to training has been recognised - Well done from all at Tooting Dojo!

The day was still not over as Howie Hamilton, 2nd Dan, Shudokan dojo, very generously invited us all to his house for a party - about 20 people came and we had a fabulous afternoon - there was a constant chatter and buzz of energy as everyone relived their weekend experiences. My sincere thanks to Howie and his wife Faye for their hospitality.

Lastly the English contingent saw out the night at a local sports bar over a bite and a beer- Kampai Andre & Daphne!

Monday 4 May

Well how do you top those few days!!

Most of the gasshuku participants left on Sunday night or on the Monday so Maroulla & I went along to Nakamura Sensei's dojo in the morning as I was eager to get in some more training before the photoshoot that was planned with Higaonna Sensei. Of course as Okinawa is always the way of all dojos, I completed a good 1 ½ hours training and then we both helped organise the dojo to accommodate the photoshoots. We ended up staying there most of the day as we helped Adrienne count the MCF cash and generally help out and hang out with them all! We then went back to the hotel to change as we were going to dinner at Nakamura Sensei's house with Higaonna Sensei, Sudo Sensei, Sensei Michael and his wife Holly, Adrienne, Victor, Howie, Bruce, Eric Higaonna and his girlfriend Laura. Rania had prepared a wonderful meal for us. We had a very relaxing and pleasant evening non-stop chatting (that seems to be a theme of all gasshukus!!) and listening to Higaonna's stories from his trips to China– explanations of Black Tiger, the numbering behind the kata to name but a few.

Our sincere thanks to Rania and Nakamura Sensei for the wonderful meal and hospitality, and to Emily and Spohia for the wonderful time we had with them!!

Tuesday 5 May

Maroulla had already researched a great restaurant by Lake Ontario called ‘Spencers at the Waterfront' and we had a delicious lunch outside in the sunshine on a balcony overlooking the lake. There was quite a cool wind so I didn't notice my neck and face catching the sun and leaving a nice pink t-shirt neckline mark! After a rest at the hotel I made my way to the dojo for evening training with Nakamura Sensei. However, he was going into Toronto to take Higaonna Sensei to dinner, so asked me if I would take the lesson as ” nice gift for his students!”   I had a great evening with the class as I needed to work off some Canadian hospitality!!

Wednesday 6 May

This was a bit of a shopping day –Maroulla and I went to the Burlington Mall and found some sales bargains and presents to take back to family and friends. The plan for our last evening was to meet Higaonna Sensei Nakamura Sensei for dinner. So I went to the dojo around 15:30, to train for about 1 ½ hours and then helped a little with one of the children's classes, before heading back to the Hotel to shower, change and pick up Maroulla. However, I received a phonecall from Nakamura Sensei who informed me that the schedule had changed (which was only to be expected from this gasshuku!). Higaonna sensei was going to take the adults class for an hour of hoju undo-Hurrah!   I quickly changed back into my gi and went back to the dojo. When Maroulla turned up at 20:30 we had really only just got going and there was no way we were finishing soon!  Sure enough it was a 3 hour session!!! So we dropped Higaonna Sensei back to the hotel and arranged to meet up with everyone afterwards for a late dinner!!

For me this was the perfect ending to my gasshuku that had lasted for more than just the weekend and my sincere thanks to Nakamura Sensei and Shudokan dojo for making this a gasshuku to remember!!  

Thursday 7 th May

Thankfully no travel report to write about - everything was on time and we arrived home at 07:00 Friday morning.

As always I have come way from this gasshuku feeling relaxed, informed, inspired and motivated – I am now looking forward to Stockholm and doing this all over again!  

Until next time

Linda Marchant