Tonight it was back to the Arvada dojo for some more karate!  We started off with some interesting combinations, one of which was side snap kick and backfist strike, after the kick was finished you step back and do a roundhouse kick, then as you land you shift your stance so you are facing the opposite direction from the roundkick, then finish with a back kick and land with a reverse punch.

After a few more combinations it was kata time!  We did Heian Nidan, Heian Godan, and Jion several times.  At the end of the workout, we broke into groups for kata… Paul and I got to work on Jion a bit more.  After class was finished, we did one more for good measure and that was it!

We got our ISKF membership cards today and I’ll be getting my red book so I get to start accumulating points towards my eventual Sandan test.

Today marked the end of Kangeiko training.  Things started off a bit differently today, after warmups we headed right into kata training.  Sensei Yaguchi had us come out in groups to do a kata of his choosing backwards.  Yes, backwards.  In the case of the nidans, he selected Heian Yondan which was fairly complicated to try to do backwards.  We did it two times, once medium speed and once full speed and with as many people as there were in there traffic jams were frequent.  After he was satisfied with those, he had us come out and do our own personal kata.  In my case, as always, it was Sochin (pronounced SO-chin!) and it went fairly well.  We had to do the kata again full speed, which was more difficult because most of the group was doing different katas.

After that it was on to sparring, where we did fairly basic kumite, starting with three time sparring using three punchs (one to the face, one to the body, then one to the face) with the other side defending as they desired.  Eventually, things ramped up as we switched groups and eventually Sensei Yaguchi told us nidans it was time for semi-free one time sparring against the 5th to 7th dan instructors.  At this point I was across from Sensei Yaguchi’s most senior student (I believe) and my thought process was this: “Oh crap.  Semi-free sparring with a 7th dan, I guess its GO TIME.” and began my attacks.  About halfway through the combinations, it was time to do side thrust kick.  Well, my first one nailed him and he loudly exclaimed “We don’t follow with attacks in jyu-ippon kumite!  You attack where I was at the beginning of the attack!!  It’s important to KNOW THE RULES!”

I bowed and said “Osu!” but was fairly embarrassed about it since I was directly in front of the rest of the group waiting to spar and I know everyone saw this.  After class, I offered him my apologies and he told me that there was no reason to be concerned.  He explained that he always corrects in that fashion when there is a chance for someone to get hurt and then he praised me on my strong spirit and respect.

But I did not let that encounter dampen my spirits too much!  Kangeiko is finished and Paul and I DID IT!  I’m all energized for more karate this year and I’m excited about getting to the Denver dojo to train with Sensei Yaguchi more often.  I really think that the Pekin dojo should consider getting a Kangeiko together, I was surprised how much value I got out of the extra training and the intentional focus on spirit.

Now, its time for some more ibuprofen and a shower!

I think tonight’s workout was harder than any morning workout so far this week.  We started out with a really painful combination: rear leg front kick at the same time front arm jab, stepping back with a reverse punch, then jab and reverse punch.  We did this combination 30 times on each leg with no breaks.  After this, we moved on to some basic combinations around that same theme, specifically making hte final jab and reverse punch sliding forward across the floor.

Then it was kata time.  We started out with Tekki Shodan, Nidan, and Sandan.  Then Bassai Dai, Jion, Kanku Dai, and Empi.  Then we moved on to the rest of the katas by the count.  And by rest of the katas, I mean all the ones we could come up with: Hangetsu, Jitte, Gankaku, Kanku Sho, Bassai Sho, Chinte, Sochin, Unsu, Meikyo, Gojushiho Sho, Gojushiho Dai, Ji’in, and Wankan.  It had been years since I have done several (most) of these kata, but I wasn’t alone in that.  We muddled through and it was good fun.  During these katas we took turns picking a kata and counting it out, I had the honors on Hangetsu, Nijushiho, and Unsu.

We finished off the night with the Heian katas, between each kata we did some strengthening of our choice.  I did some pushups, crunches, and planks.  So in all, we did every kata Shotokan has to offer.  Now I am tired.

One more practice to go and Kangeiko is complete!

Today’s workout was a fun one.  My body is getting somewhat used to being up ultra-early, which meant I wasn’t quite as sluggish as the class began.  Today’s combination was shifting back in front stance with rising block, without moving perform inward block with the same hand, and then downward block with the same hand.  Follow that with a reverse punch, then a rear leg front kick, landing with a jab and reverse punch.

After a few iterations of that, we moved on to kumite.  The attacker would do lunge punch to the face, followed by two reverse punches to the body (basically, sanbon tsuki).  The defender would do the combination above, stopping after the first reverse punch.  We eventually did this with both legs before the standard kumite time was up.

Today’s kata was Hangetsu.  Sensei Yaguchi had us do the kata in groups, the first time slow to medium speed.  I made it through pretty well, Sensei Yaguchi corrected me regarding my rear hip sticking out in hangetsu-dachi (a problem I know I have).  The second time through the kata, we were told to perform in “in 30 seconds”.  The more advanced black belts had to attempt it in 15 seconds.  I got about halfway through, brainfarted and skipped to the last combination with the crescent kick too soon.  Embarassing, but as he said yesterday “mistakes make you interesting.”

That about wrapped it up for the class, however in between katas one of my friends in the dojo gave me some valuable and hilarious information.  Once during her training, she was doing Sochin and her instructor laughed at her.  Later, she found out why: it seems when pronouncing the kata, emphasis should be placed on the first syllable (SO-chin).  Said this way, it means “tranquil force” or “to keep the peace”.  Emphasizing the other syllable (so-CHIN) has a very different meaning: “low grade penis.”  Clearly, this is not something I’m ever going to ask Sensei Yaguchi about… I wonder if Sensei Quinn could confirm if this is the case.  If so, I know I’ve probably mispronounced it and will be fairly embarrassed.

Either way it’s good information to have so I’m careful with my pronunciation.

Today marked the crossing of the halfway point for Kangeiko, which meant that today Paul B. took over the driving privileges.  We arrived a bit early to the dojo since the snow wasn’t as bad as expected, and before long it was time to start Day Four.

Today’s combination was slide back into back stance and do a knifehand block, shift forward into inline front stance and throw a rear leg roundhouse kick, and then step forward with a lunge punch after landing.  For whatever reason I was having difficulty with the transition between roundhouse kick and lunge punch, but I worked it out fairly well by the end of the basics segment.

The sparring section was a bit more interesting today.  The attacker came in with a stomach level lunge punch.  The blocker stepped back with the left leg and performed a downward sweeping block with the left hand (making it the opposite hand blocking).  After that the defender would step back at a 45 degree angle, twisting the hand from sweeping position into downward block position while maintaining proper distance.  The defense was finished with a rear leg front kick to the stomach.  For whatever reason, I couldn’t find the groove between switching from the sweeping block to the downward block and this was all complicated by the crowded room and the angular shifting.  But that’s ok, I’m happy to have something to work on.

Paul B. and I had to adjourn after the sparring section, leaving 15 minutes early to ensure we made it to a mandatory division meeting at 8 am.  That means I’d best stop blogging and find the shower so I’m not late.  Tomorrow will be a big day: it’s our dojo training day and I get to attend not one but two classes, one in the morning and one in the evening.

More soon!

This morning was the same pattern as the previous two workouts, so I’ll boil it down to the key points:

• Basic Combination of the Day: reverse punch, stepping forward reverse punch, upward elbow strike, then stepping forward lunge punch.
• Sparring: Attacker does lunge punch, defender steps back into front stance and does a rising block followed by a switch back finishing with a rising elbow strike to the chin.
• Kata: Jion, twice.

That’s about all there is to say about today!  It was good training, still jam-packed, and it has been awhile since I’ve done Jion so it was really fun!  We’re expecting some snow in the Denver area tomorrow so we’re going to start out a bit earlier so we arrive on time.  We’re over halfway done now!

Today’s training followed a similar pattern to yesterday.  We started with warmups and a basic combination, this time inward block, jab to the face, lunge punch to the body.  After doing that quite a bit, we switched to one-time attack partner training.  The combination we worked on today was withdrawing in back stance.  The attacking side did a lunge punch to the face, at what time the defender would shift back into back stance and do a rising block.  Then we did an intentional shift forward into front stance, followed by a reverse punch.  Sensei Yaguchi explained it was to “create a chance” for an attack, meaning that the back stance got you away from the attack so you could defend with a punch of your own.

Our partners for this drill was the group of 5th-7th dan black belts, which was pretty cool.

After this was done, it was kata time in similar fashion to yesterday.  Today’s kata was Kanku Dai and I did just fine with the exception of a traffic jam midway through the kata which caused me to bobble the first kick heading into the knifehand blocks.  During the second time through the kata I did just fine.

More tomorrow!

Today marked the beginning of this year’s Kangeiko.  Kangeiko literally means (so I’m told) “dead of winter training” and is treated like equal parts Karate Homecoming and Spirit Training for this organization.  I left the house around 4:30 am to pick up Paul B. before heading down to Denver for the training.

Just like last year, I was met with a packed dojo full of mostly black belts.  We started off with warmups and basic combinations, but with such cramped quarters it was difficult to really do full techniques.  One of the combinations we did was chudan reverse punch, jodan reverse punch, and then rear leg front kick.  We moved on to doing one time sparring where the combination was stripped down to just the jodan reverse punch sliding in.  The defending side could block and counter however they wanted.

At one point I ended up across from someone in the group of 5th to 7th dan during this drill, and she instructed me to not block and attack at the same time but instead to block and focus on the pull back and then counterattack.  She characterized the way I was going at it as “not good”, indicating that counterattacking without a full draw was ineffective.  I found this rather perplexing… as I understand it sen-no-sen is a widely accepted means of counterattack.  All the same, I said “Osu!” and did it her way but I can’t help but wonder if either I was doing it wrong or if she just didn’t pick up on what I was trying to do.

Tomorrow I’m getting up to do it all over again!

This afternoon Paul B. and I got together for a little cross-training.  The best way we could come up with to cross-train and satisfy the kumite itch was to spar.  A lot.  We opted for medium-speed free sparring, which naturally gravitated toward faster speeds and a bit more power.  In order to keep things under control and to prevent us from dying, we set an alarm clock for five minute “rounds” so we could get some water and take a breather.

By the end of an hour, we were both sweaty and largely uninjured.  I found a few bumps and scratches after the workout, but it was totally worth it.  His Wado background provides him a slightly unexpected sparring style and it was neat to test my own technique against his.  During the one minute breaks between rounds, we talked about stylistic differences and laughed about some really good exchanges.  I think this is going to be a frequently repeated occurrence this year.

Tomorrow morning begins Kangeiko, so I will be waking at 5 am to travel to Denver each day next week for spirit training before work.  Paul B is going to join in, it should be a long and tiring week!

Paul and I opted for a basics and kata workout today, focusing on Heian Shodan and basics. We spent a lot of time on knifehand block and back stance as well.

I channeled a little bit of Sensei Hartman and we wrapped up the workout with some battle kata, and much fun was had by all.