Report on seminar by Sumi Masatake sensei

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Last Saturday, Sumi sensei held a training session at the Kenshikan. Luke and myself were there and it was a great session. Sumi sensei's assistant was Tashiro Junichi sensei (8th-dan). There were also another three 7th dans and three 5th dans in attendance, so the level of instruction was very high.

Sumi sensei is famous as a kendo teacher and he was the head of the committee that designed the nine "Bokuto ni yoru kihon waza keiko ho". Sumi sensei calls them the "Bokuto kihon" for short. These are the kata where the is a kakarite and a motodachi, and the kakarite calls out "kihon ichi!" or "kihon ni!" before performing the movements. Most NSK members are familiar with these 'kata'. (Those at training last week will have them fresh in their minds!)

So Sumi sensei showed us how to perform these basics with full bogu and shinai, which was very interesting. We will definitely try this at Nanseikan. He also has devised his own patterns for kirikaeshi and a particular was of starting jigeiko. I took many notes so that we can use some of these drills at our dojo. I will also post those notes on Shugo Nanseikan.

Below are some photos of the training.



















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