PDA

View Full Version : WSKO Canada Region Study Session 2000



John McCulloch
11th August 2000, 19:17
Gassho,

From August 5-7, Shorinji Kempo members from Canada, the USAand Japan gathered in Vancouver BC for this year's WSKO Canada Region Study Session.

Canadian Branches in attendance included Vancouver, UBC, Alberta and Toronto. Also, from the USA were San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Mt. Diablo, Caltech, South Bay, Seattle, Spokane, Portland and South Oregon.

The event was co-ordinated by Hashimoto-sensei and the kenshi of Vancouver region. Training took place in a fabulous new facility dedicated to Japanese culture. The organization and hospitality were first rate. Gassho!

The instructors sent from Japan were Yamasaki-sensei (8 dan, Hombu), Yajima-sensei (7 dan) and Nakagawa-sensei (5 dan, Hombu).

Within the world of Shorinji Kempo Yamasaki-sensei is something of a legend. He is the longest serving member of Hombu staff and is well-known both for his highly refined technique and warm character. I was with Yamasaki-sensei's group the whole time and will comment on his teachings only.

In terms of technical training, Yamasaki-sensei used a variety of waza (e.g. gyaku sode dori, morote kiri kaeshi nage, etc.) to illustrate key principles. Some major themes he emphasized were the importance of relaxation and breathing. He then went on to show a variety of waza executed effortlessly against much larger attackers. At no time did he allow the attackers energy to "stick." Quite simply amazing!

As for philosophy, Yamasaki-sensei's lecture topics included Kenzen Ichinyo, Dharma and Innen. He made those topics come alive both with his personal anecdotes and research findings.

By the conclusion of the Study Session we had made many new friendships and strengthened old ones. We left with a sense of determination to practice harder to study these teachings back at our dojos.

If anyone from Yajima-sensei's or Nakagawa-sensei's groups could post here their comments on the WSKO Canada Study Session that would be great.

With best wishes,

Kesshu,

John McCulloch
15th August 2000, 22:08
And here is a link to some photos of the event on the WSKO of BC website.

http://207.102.62.65/wsko_bc/seminar2.html

Gassho,