Promotion Exam in Yokohama

A report from Shihandai William (^^)

Last night Kenshinjuku Yokohama Dojo had its annual belt examination. A total of 21 children and 8 adults took the exam. We started off practice with the usual routine. Meditation or “Mokusou” helps us prepare mentally before any practice to attain a calm state of mind, as well as it allows us to focus on our breathing. We then warm up and do stretch exercises. I count up to four in Japanese and the kids and adults follow with “five, six, seven and eight”. The children’s Kihon curriculum consists of tsuki (punches) in Heiko stance, Shiko stance, uke (blocks) in Heiko stance, and ashi waza (kicks). The first four moves are done slowly followed by 20 full speed reps, each with kiai.
After a short break and a 10 minute kata practice session, I administered the kata examination. White belts are required to do the basic Kihon Kata. As children go up in rank, they are required to perform different kata from the Heian (Pinyan) series. Upper classmen and black belts usually have mastered these kata so they learn the various Goju-Ryu kata such as Gekisai, Saifa, Seiunchin, Sanchin and so forth. The importance of kata is knowing applications to each movement and its practicality.　Otherwise the movements will have no meaning and it becomes just a dance. I teach the kids that when posture, timing, kiai, and eye contact all come together at the right moment, we have “Kime”. The energy flowing up from the ground through our thighs, next through the center of our body, and then to our finger tips, whether it be a punch or block, will be transferred to our opponent. Any unnecessary tenseness in our muscles or lack of Shime (tightening) will obstruct the flow of this energy and the kata becomes dead.

The last part of the belt examination was kumite (sparring). Each child had to spar for one minute: 30 seconds attacking, 30 seconds blocking. The number of opponents depends on their rank. During the adult belt examination, brown belt Kobayashi-kun had to fight eight opponents and Iwasaki-san fought 10 people. Both of them were limping at the end from all the Gedan kicks to the thighs and their chests were bright red from all the punches! My hat’s off to them both!

We will try to get pictures up on the blog for everyone to enjoy. In the meantime, practice hard and play hard!
Osu!　
Yokohama Dojo Shihandai William  Fox

My comments.
(^^) I look forward to testing William and the Black Belts in March of next year!
21 kids! Gaaaaah. I have enough on my hands with my 15 Pokemons in Makiki!
Looking forward to the pics!
Mahalo for the report William!