My Saturday outing.


This is my third month with my Shotokan club and I am enjoying it more and more, I am glad to say.

Usually the White River branch- that is sort-of like our hombu dojo- has a Saturday morning class for brown and black belts in White River. I have not made that trip yet. Quite frankly- club/ federation/ association activities are not a priority for me and I doubt that it ever will be.

That does not mean that I do not enjoy it, though.

I have just happened to land myself into a long weekend and received notification of our Lowveld Gasshuku.

While part of my long weekend got spent on educating a certain Peter Barakan on why it is wrong to call Babymetal a mere"Idol Band" I reckoned "why not?"

 So- that Friday evening I got the Saturday kit and had my Saturday workout then so that I could show up at Klipkopje Dam with my braai meat and karate gear to take part in a 3 hour gasshuku and the braai afterwards. Non-South Africans who do not know what exactly a braai is- it is sort-of like a barbeque, with just a lot more Afrikaans being spoken. :D 

To my surprise our Sensei's dad, Sensei Piet Venter, gave us a qigong lesson and we took some time practicing "Iron Shirt" and the "One Inch Punch" along with the usual kata, kihon and kumite.

We got taught Gankaku kata, which I admit I have not gotten down yet. Still- I am glad to see that a karate instructor here have gone beyond the mere kihon-kata-kumite schtick that has been the full extent of Shotokan training for so long.

There is hope for us. :)








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