5th Jodo Gasshuku in Ukraine
Poltava from November 10 to 12, 2006
The small Jodo group created in Ukraine since 2004 continues to grow and to attract newcomers and this thanks to the enthusiasm and efforts made by its leader, Vadim Puzanov, who travels a lot in the country, preaching restlessly the "good kihon". Without him, the seed I sowed in 2004 would not have grown up.
The 5th Gasshuku took place in Poltava (Eastern part of the country) with about fifty passionate people (not all of them are on the picture). Vadim and I took care of a group to practise kihon tandoku and sotai as well as Omote. At the same time, I tried to communicate our passion to the newcomers who were present by practising Jo basics (honte, gyakute, hiki otoshi in tandoku and uchi komi) as well as the Ken (happo giri in tandoku and sotai). The Gasshuku was finished by practising altogether “suigetsu” and by carrying out exams (5th Kyu) for two of Vadim's students who passed brilliantly.
On Monday, before taking the plane, I introduced the Chudan series to Vadim (uchi komi, ichi riki, oshi zume and midare dome). Some of you might object that this is quite a lot, but Vadim absorbs everything very easily.
We have now fixed our next Gasshuku in October 2007.
Daniel Leclerc
Fédération Européenne de Jodo / European Jodo Federation