Redding Shotokan Karate

Well, the special practice led yesterday by Jim Sagawa was a raging success.

Twenty students registered to participate, 4 of them from West Side Shotokan (here in Redding, led by Nidan "Bruise Brother" Scott Kingsbury) and 3 from Chico, led by Nidan Ben Chester.

There were four black belts (besides, Jim, of course) and the balance of the students were white belts, some with as little as 1 month of karate experience.

I don't want to go into the details of the practice here, at least until I see the video. Memory is very selective, and mine is probably less trustworthy than most people's. However, Jim had something for everybody.

His warmup routine includes the signature breathing practices as well as very natural joint movements and stretches, followed by a fairly vigorous set of basics.

I think the theme that ran through the practice was that you can teach juniors new stuff and go over old stuff while still practicing more senior stuff. A real point he made is that we, as instructors, need to find ways to help junior students bring out their best. Even though we might be practicing something that has no meaning to a new student, we can only show the new student the best form, best technique and best mentality. We absolutely CANNOT do things to make the student do "stupid things".

Hiroko and I also had the great fortune and honor to practice Friday night with Jim. I expected him to perhaps observe our kata or kumite and offer some suggestions. However, what he did held far greater value - he opened doors...or, perhaps a more appropriate analogy would be that he merely turned on some lights in the room I was already in. In the class on Saturday afternoon, I think I was able to apply some of what I learned on Friday night.

I learned so much yesterday and Friday, but most of what I learned was about what I still need to learn. And as Jim told us, "You can't learn by talking. You have to move your body."

In closing, I have to express my gratitude to Hiroko for caring enough to set the practice up. We are all very fortunate to have her as our dojo leader. I'm also grateful to Ben for the swollen lip. I hope he's grateful for his achy ribs. :^) Scott, of course, showed us "old school" jiyu-kumite - calm, clean, final.

The white belts at the practice made me so happy - they stuck it out through the basic kicking practice and then a concentrated Bassai practice. One even had to leave momentarily to deal with an ... er ... upset stomach, but returned and finished class. My admiration for their strength and dedication is unbounded.

And of course, I'm very grateful to Jim (and his wife) for making the time and going to all the trouble to travel up from the Bay Area to "hang" with us. The practice was easily worth a year of individual practice (for me, more like a decade). I am, once again, inspired.