I look back at 2018 and find I didn’t really blog at all in 2018. Why?
Was it because I was lazy? Uninspired? I had nothing to talk about? No. It was a transition year. I think I say that a lot. My karate is always changing, transitioning.
Since 2014, I have been working to incorporate Shinzato Sensei’s latest principles into my karate. It has felt like a 180 and there have definitely been times of frustration. Here I am in 2019 and I don’t really feel I’ve made much progress. Thinking back to my years in Kishaba Juku, it has always been thus. I work to try to figure out a concept, then boom! New concept arrives and I have to try and figure that out. This is the crux of Kishaba and Shinzato Sensei’s methods. You can’t rest on your laurels or think that you have it figured out, because as soon as you do, they change it up!
You might say, this goes against Traditional Karate methods of passing kata down from teacher to student without ever changing it...keeping the lineage pure. This is not the way of Kishaba Juku. Instead, we look to constantly improve and refine.
For me the hardest part right now is to work on a simple relax and extend concept. Relax, relax, relax, then extend. I never thought relaxing could be so hard!
As for the Dojo, we have a very small group at this time. Everyone has their lives that keep them busy, including me. We already only train two nights per week, but lately it seems we have more gaps in between than actual training time.
I hope to blog more this year. I hope to train a lot more this year. I hope to gain a working knowledge of Sensei’s new ideas. Most of all I hope everyone has a great 2019!
