After the seminars were complete, we all made for the St. Charles dojo for the dan test. We were all eagerly anticipating this, as Sensei Hartman and Sensei Brewer were up for their next rank. Sensei Brewer had to instruct, which he did at the last instructor training seminar. He also had to provide a thesis, which was reviewed by Sensei Hassell seperately before the exam so his only active job during the test was judging the lesser dan ranks.
There were many people taking the dan exam, mostly for 4th or 5th degree. There were only a few confounding presentations given this time around. I’m not going to go much into detail, however it was apparent to me that Sensei Yabe thought that one of the papers regarding muscle tension to provide “arches” for energy to flow through was an obvious observation, moreso than a breakthrough. Personally, I also take a bit of exception at the examinees that take higher dan thesis topics aimed toward teaching children specifically. I feel that teaching children is a distilled subset of basic technique, and not some revelation that constitutes high mastery of Karate. Regardless, all of these papers were peripheral to the main event: Sensei Hartman’s exam.
To be perfectly honest, I think he knocked it out of the park. I could tell he was nervous because his explanation of his paper topic lasted quite awhile. It was very informative, I was worried for a few minutes that he was giving too much detail compared to what Sensei Hassell usually likes to sit through.
With that being said, I thought that his presentation was EXTREMELY cool, calm, and collected. None of the questions that were asked seemed to rattle him, which cannot be said for any of the other examinees. I think that this level of composure was a testiment to how prepared and committed he was to his topic, which I’m sure spoke volumes to the testing panel.
I knew he was in good shape when I noticed that Sensei Yabe, Sensei Hassell, and Sensei Taylor were all nodding in agreement several times during his explanations. The fact that Sensei Taylor said that he was “very enlightened” by his paper was a nice surprise.
In the end, both Sensei Hartman and Sensei Brewer were promoted to their next ranks. Everyone else that was examining also passed, which was something that hardly ever happens. We are extremely lucky to have them at the helm of our clubs and I was very pleased to be able to watch them both stand head and shoulders above the rest, as always.
Afterward, we went to have dinner at a Winery in historical St. Charles. We convinced Sensei and Mrs. Brewer to join us and it was a GREAT evening. There was much reminiscing about old times, karateka past, and general socializing that usually doesn’t happen for some reason.
As an aside, the food there was very good. I had the Mixed Grill and it filled me up, which was good because I had decided to have two beers and some saki and was starting to feel it about the time the food arrived. Their pumpkin beer that they had there was good and had a cinnamony aftertaste, however I am smelling like rotten pumpkin now. The saki that Erbe-san brought for Sensei Hartman was VERY good… had I decided to be unwise I would’ve had more of that. It does give you a boot to the head, that’s for sure.
We left the Winery about 10 pm, which put us back home at 1:30 am. We barely had enough energy to shower and drag our carcasses to bed. I slept like I was in a coma and woke up at about 10 am. I am still sore to the touch in a few spots, mostly along my oblique stomach muscles and my lats. This tells me that the way I was tensing was proper for the first time in awhile.
In closing, congratulations to my Senseis. It is an honor to continue to train with such world-class people as you.
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