Hi,

Well now I have about a million new things to work on in my Karate, but of course a weekend with Richard Amos sensei can have that effect on you. Still somehow I magically left the gashuko with a good feeling. Now that’s good karate teaching.

The entire weekend was just another "aha" moment after another. I think if I could pinpoint one thing that I learnt during the gashuko it would have to be that every movement that we do is always with the entire body.

For example, the hand or any of the limbs never start a movement. It should always be in harmony with your Tanden (“one point”) so if your hand starts to move your body will move with it. This is probably one of the more "radical" things that Amos sensei teaches. Most instructors teach that because the hands are faster then the legs, you should leave the hand at it’s place in hikite until the end of the tecnique so that it finishes at the same time as the leg, that way the body is in harmony. It also gives you that nice catopult finish which is a fantastic feeling.

The problem with this is that we will always (whether it’s on the street or in a competiton) have a moving target. What happens if that moving target changes the distance in the middle of the fight/match and you still have your hand in hikite? Basically we have two types of oi-zuki here. One works and one that feels good (at least that’s the way I see it). It’s kind of like food, isn’t it? The cheeseburger feels good right now, while the salad is more practical for your body.

If you wish to study this theory in more detail I suggest you train with Richard Amos sensei. He truly is one of the best instructors out there.

In the last class of the gashuko (training camp) Amos sensei decided to do Kata unsu. Which really, really, really and just once more, really isn’t my Kata. I´m much more of a Bassai Dai,Jitte and Sochin type of guy. I can hear someone thinking “a good Karateka can do any Kata as long as he has good basics and understanding of movement” you know what I say to them ... "mimimimimimimimimi" (a joke).

When we had gone through the sequnce of the Kata a couple of times, Amos sensei said that those who didn´t know the sequence of the Kata should sit down and those who did should do it full speed, no count. Knowing that I would probably perform the Kata terribly I decided to go for it. As I stood there waiting for Amos sensei to say hajime I noticed that I was standing there next to the biggest shotokan names in Iceland. (Everyone else had pretty much sat down.) This got me half nervous, I thought I’d be making a fool out of myself with atleast two other brown belts. Instead I was all by myself (like the song).

Afterwards this gave me a good feeling. So what?, it wasn’t the best Kata there. It might have even been horrible, but that’s not the point. The point is that I gave it my best and pretended to be a cool guy; which I am. The next time you have the opportunity to do something like this, do it! Be ready to throw your ego off a cliff! ... and If anyone who is sitting down makes a comment  just say "at least I tried" and walk away with your head high

There is one thing more that I would like to mention. When I was about 12 years old I was doing Gohon Kumite with one of the ladies in the club. If I remember correctly I was a green belt at the time and for some reason I was distracted by something. Before I knew it my sensei had counted and I had been punched in the lip. (My lip bled a bit.) This was completely my fault, since I wasn´t awake and aware. The reason why I’m mentioning this is because right before class this lady asked me if I was going to mention this incident somewhere in here ... I said of course. Anyways! Her name is Bylgja (which translates to wave.) So if you are a overweight, 12 year old green belt; with no skill in paying attention you should watch out for this one cause she will hit you. ;-)

Thank you very much, I hope you enjoyed the reading.

ossu

villi