Passai Bunkai and World Champions

This morning we went to the Budokan to train with Mr Ulf. 

We did bunkai for their version of passai. Mr Ulf studies Kishimoto- Di. They only train four kata in their system and it does seem very fluid, yet strong. We did some very interesting (and painful!) bunkai. 

Some viscous stuff going on! Recently with the Naihanchi bunkai and now the new passai bunkai we did- my elbow joints are really feeling it! 

It was fun though, halfway through Sakumoto Sensei and his students (including Ryo Kyuna- current world champ!) showed up and started training. Really hard to keep concentration on our bunkai when they're there snapping away together!

Their kata was impressive, but a million miles away from what we were doing a the other end of the room. Theirs was beautiful, elegant, snappy and sharp. 

Ours was messy and unpredictable but realistic. 

It all comes from the same tree. It's all karate but there's differences between the branches (styles), leaves (bunkai) and flowers (kata). They're all important in making the tree what it is. 

However I feel you need to choose your path and follow it- you can't do it all. As the old saying goes 'jack of all trades, master of none'. However, that's not to say that you can't experience and learn something from every different martial art, as Habu Sensei said 'try everything, steal the good, drop the bad', add it all to your  knowledge and use it to improve your base style. 

Knowledge is power, so surely the more you have, the more chance you have of being effective should you ever need to use your art eh... 

First haircut!

Today was a good day, had to wake up early because peachy and I were going to the hair salon. 

It was easier than I was expecting- she did a good job. Not too short so I can still put it up for karate :) 

Makes dealing with it a bit easier too. 

And we went for pancakes! :) 

I had to spend the afternoon baking pizza and then I had a Japanese lesson, I was supposed to go to karate and I went home to pick up my dogi, sat down for ten minutes and fell asleep by accident. Ended up missing tonight. It's okay though we have lots of other classes this week and the weekend we are going to wakayama. 

Got a little surprise with my new hair today -went to karate this morning that was great but bits of my hair kept coming out of its ponytail! Got home and showered and redid my hair myself. Turns out my baby hair has been turned into a small fringe that only works when I do a side parting. Kinda cool I have the choice. 

Forest Adventure!!

We finally made it to Onna- Son to first adventure. 

This was hours of being scared, excited, elated, amazed, worried and happy. 

There were zip lines, bridges, ladders, nets and ropes. 

So, this was the first zip line, it was great- except because I went with 6 other Japanese people we were given the Japanese instruction person- this was where I needed to learn fast! It could have literally been jumping to my death it I didn't understand. Not quite the pressure I need to expand my Japanese language. It's cool though, I copied the others until I got the hang of it. 

The next challenge was to walk across this tightrope,it's harder than it looks and if you fall off, you won't die because the cables catch you, but you still have to get across to the other side somehow.

Then onto the next zip line. 

Followed by the Chinese bridge. Those planks are further apart than they look and it's wobbly! 

Then we stopped for a drink. 

Back to climbing for the next zip line... 

This one was a really long one- beautiful though!

Before we got to the finish line we had to do the scariest part that we didn't manage to get pictures of because it was hard and we were all freaking out!

We did the Tarzan leap, followed by the adventure course. It was hard, and scary! 

But we all made it to the finish line! 

It was a really great day! Something I wouldn't really have been able to do if I wasn't fitter than I was, lots of climbing! 

Then off to work for the evening. I was Way too tired to be working until 2.30am. 

I did it and then slept for a straight 12 hours.

Feel alive again now. Ready for the next thing on my list.... 

Christmas is coming (Becka style!)

Today I realised its December and it doesn't feel like it! It's not like everything I've known. Christmas for us isn't a religious thing, it's a family thing. There was a few years where we didn't really have money so we decided not to buy each other anything and just have the day with lots of food and chilling together. 

Now I'm on the other side of the world and it's probably the hardest time of the year here, because I'm so far away from family and friends. 

So, I'm attempting to make things a bit more Christmassy myself. I attempted to make  mince pies, no one except James has any idea what I'm talking about and everyone thought i was baking a 'miltos pie'! now the name is confusing everyone that isn't English which is 99% of the people here and so I'm just calling them Christmas pies. 

They turned out good, I don't even like mince pies but it's a traditional English thing that makes me feel closer to home. 

K1- WKF World Taikai

Today I got to see this:

Sports karate at its finest!

This is the Karate 1 premier league- like the F1 for karate. Most of my dojo was helping out with either translating or selling tickets and showing people where to go, I went along for the show because my Japanese isn't good enough to help out, it's cool though- my dojo buddies let me in for free and gave me posters and a programme! Happy days. 

There was a traditional okinawan dance and eisa demonstration before the kata final. 

I watched the ladies and men's kata final 

Very sharp kata. 

Saw the medal presentation...

And then stayed to watch a bit of the kumite to get a idea of the sports karate world as opposed to the traditional karate world which is all I've ever been exposed to. Well apart from videos. It's very different seeing it in person. 

It was a day of learning and new experiences. 

Hard training...

Yesterday we all got a little carried away. Everyone came to practice last night and the energy was way up. We started doing kote kite and naturally I end up being partnered with Miyagi Senpai. They're making me strong, apparently. 

It hurts a lot but hopefully one day I will be hard as a rock like these guys. 

So I wake up today to a really nicely bruised leg and off I go to training again, thinking it would be okay because morning training is usually a little easier because it's a much smaller class. 

How wrong I was today. 

Just so everyone is aware we have come to the conclusion my legs aren't fat they are chunky and muscly and that's a good thing. At least that's what the karate guys tell me! (Think they're just being nice. I don't even care though!)

This picture is for those that think we just do kata and no real contact and training. This is quite regular, however the bruising is special because this is bruise on bruise after evening training followed by morning training. I wonder if the boys have bruises too... 

I'm hoping I will heal by Thursday!!!! 

I've decided I want to be good at karate. 

I've committed to it by coming here. 

Now I need to work hard and hopefully over time, I will achieve my goal. 

Not sure how I'll know when i get there though! 

I do know I'm learning and growing and having fun. 

My Okinawa Family

This here is a group of people I couldn't be more blessed to have been welcomed into.

They are my family when I'm halfway around the world from everything I've ever known.

They teach me more than just incredible karate, they teach me how to love, laugh, solve problems and grow into a person I'm happy to be. 

They've given me some life memories I will treasure forever, this picture I'm sure, will become a part of that. 

Back the beginning... Goju Ryu...

Today was amazing. 

In total I've spent 8 hours of the day training karate, I can't think of anything I'd rather be doing. It made me feel so alive, I've learnt an immense amount and met the most amazing people. In my world I've met my inspirations- my role models. 

'Have a Devils fist and a saints heart' (Nagamine Shoshin Sensei). The Sensei I've met so far are the epitomy of this.

The longer I'm around people like this the less I want my own dojo- living up to the role of Sensei is an immense responsibility. 

I got to train Goju Ryu with Higaonna Sensei and Seneha Sensei today. It was amazing, Higaonna Sensei says training karate is like sharpening a pencil, getting more precise as it gets sharper. 

He said to look, listen and sweat (and then repeat, a lot!) 

He said to have a cats feet and a tigers hands. 

He is just the nicest guy ever, another guy I'm incredibly lucky to have been able to train with and experience today. I could not have asked for a more memorable first time ever doing Goju Ryu. 

To make things a bit more fabulous I got some more signatures in my book. 

Sakumoto Sensei was very cool too. He was the most popular with the young athletes because he trains the world champion, he is the national team coach!

Nakahodo Sensei was lovely too. 

It was amazing how many incredible karateka were in the same place. From the new younger generation to the sports karate athletes to the incredible current generation of masters. 

Teryua Sensei and Seneha Sensei were bonuses, couldn't get a pic with Seneha Sensei but my book is really starting to become special now. 

What a special day I've had. A great way to end November and hopefully start a good December. 

I feel like me again. 

Karate, Castles, Coffee and Cake

Today was a action packed day and it's not even over yet. 

It's cold here. Not as cold as England but by Okinawa standards it's cold! 

Was a early start today because I went with James for his morning karate class. We did three almost hour long classes, I helped a bit, was all a bit nerve racking but by the third class it was going well! The plan was then to go and see Soma Sensei who does famous pottery on the island, but he was busy today so instead I found a new castle ruins I wanted to see ,it wasn't far away so we decided to do that on the way back instead. 

Chibana castle ruins is one of the lesser known ones on the island as far as I can tell. 

In fact after climbing for what felt like forever, we made it to the top of these stairs and there was no castle there! Just a tourist viewpoint where the castle was. This wasn't great news but there had to be more to see. 

We followed the other path to find that this was where uni- ufugusuku's Haka is. 

He has a really interesting and cool story of his life. Check him out on Wikipedia if you have chance! He's a cool dude! 

This was a really impressive Haka- really built into the hillside. 

This was a bit of a jungle explore and there was lots to see! 

We found a cave too- naturally, I let James go first... 

Then we headed back to Naha to meet Chris and Yuki, I was pleased to let Chris know I've got to 30 signatures in my book- just another 26 to go!! Hopefully I'll get a few more over the weekend at the competition and seminar. 

So we went to a really nice hotel for coffee and cake! 

Anyone would think we have nothing better to do! Except it's important for us to have some time to get together and chill, well more me tagging along for the cake and coffee really. 

Then I got to cuddle my chichai tomodachi. 

I adore this babe. 

Then work tonight. Today has been non- stop, but it's good. 

The dark clouds are lifting and I'm feeling like me again. 

Okinawa Times Covers Karate Day

Today at my English class I teach once every 2 weeks or so, one of the students gave me this! 

It's us in the Okinawa times from 27th October. They were covering the karate day activities and turns out the Arakaki Dojo is the picture they chose for the 100 kata section :) 

Pretty cool. 

Itokazu Castle Ruins

I went to the Budokan with James to practice some kumite today. The new move we have is 'spider in the face' -not really something I think anyone would want and considering I don't like spiders at all, every time he did it proper freaked me out. Still- hopefully with a few weeks practice I can start making progress. 

After that I had a few hours free and so decided to go and explore, headed south to Itokazu Castle ruins today. 

As I started heading down this path, it started to feel like a proper little adventure, not a single soul around, it was almost like stepping into another country.

Melvin didn't really like this path so I decided to leave him halfway up it and walk from there. 

There was this name marker for the castle, but from there it just got more and more jungly. There was a few paths I had to retrack because I came to a dead end because of overgrown trees and bushes. 

I had to climb over one of the walls of the castle to get inside and then it was okay from there, except I feel there is a lot more I didn't explore. 

I'd like to go back here because there is also a cave to go inside. The cave was one of the places people hid during the war to try and stay safe. 

I will be going back here. It's not far away but does seem to be hidden away and aparently not many people have heard of this one. 

And well in my world, the less people around the better. 

Karate Stupid...

This new book appeared at the bar. 

And obviously the title caught me, it was a quiet night at the bar so I got to spend ten minutes or so reading it, from there I was into it and wanted to understand this karate journey.  

This turned out to be a really good book to read right after my Sensei left and I started year two here, there was a lot of things in the book I can relate to, and I think that's probably why I fell into it for basically two days. 

I hope one day to write my own book. I realise that my situation is not a very common one and that I am extraordinarily lucky to be able to be here and do what I am doing here. 

Although it is amazing and incredible and mostly everything I dreamed of and imagined it would be, it doesn't make it easy or great all the time. 

While being on Okinawa I've made it though some of the most difficult things I've ever had to do in my life. Some necessary, some optional (ish!) but all unbelievably difficult physically and emotionally, usually both! 

But because of this and the people helping me/ making me or guiding me through these things I am growing and getting stronger, even if I don't feel it most of the time. 

And this book, was Scott making it through his amazing, incredible, roller coaster of a journey that karate inevitably takes you on and along the way changes you forever. 

Baking, Okinawa Style...

Today we baked. 

I made pizza for the bar as usual but while we were waiting for the yeast to do its thing we made touganzuki and cinnamon scones. We made it smell like Christmas! 

This is a apple pie that one of Hisano's friends brought to the bar for us. We gave him some scones in return! 

James decided he wanted all the cream. More cream than scone, but hey, if we can't have the real thing we will get as close as we can!! 

Next on the baking list is mince pies. I don't think they will match proper ones because it's impossible here because half the ingredients don't exist! However I will do my best and hopefully some kind people from England will take pity on us and send us some. 

I don't even really like mince pies. It's just a Christmas thing that you have to do, right? 

It simply isn't Christmas without them.

Rengokai 25th Anniversary Demonstration

Today I got on Melvin and did my biggest explore yet. Except it wasn't exploring, I went to Okinawa city for the Rengokai 25th Anniversary karate demonstration. 

I got a free ticket off of James, so why waste it when I have Melvin that means I can disappear off to these things by myself for the day now. 

I had to ride Melvin all the way to Okinawa city for this one. It took about a hour and I wasn't going stupidly slow either! (But also not going stupidly fast, firstly because it's scary and secondly because Melvin doesn't go very fast!) 

This was the closing speech, again Shimabukuro Sensei wowed with his version of kusanku. I remember the first time I saw him do it in 2012 at the Seibukan karate demonstrations, I was speechless then, as I was yesterday. 

These Sensei are just incredible. 

Saw some fantastic karate demonstrations and got my book signed by 5 more of the masters. This means I'm at 30 signatures now, just 26 more to go! 

I'm really glad I went, and driving Melvin that far helped me feel a bit more comfortable with him.