Zlín Gassuku
April, 10th and 11th 2010
During the first half of April we organized another weekend seminar of Jodo practice with Fred Quant from Holland which is a national seminar held annually, usually in spring. More than thirty Jodokas of different levels of skill from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, and Bulgaria took part in this event.
The practice started as usual with a warm greeting from our well known and well-liked teacher. Immediately after that each of us took up a place in dojo and for half an hour we practised the most important techniques of Kihon Tandoku on the spot as well as several basic movements shomen, kesa giri or jodan giri as Nishioka Sensei teaches us.
After that we continued as usually a little bit of uchikomi geiko, kihon sotai, a little practice with ken, and kata omote, chudan, ran-ai. The beginners learned new things while the others were revising what they had already known with different partners and with a spirit a little bit different from the usual practice at ´home´ dojo. I would say that we worked rather independently.
Fred Quant always showed us the whole set of techniques and let the others practise in pairs. During the whole weekend training he was walking around, watching us and correcting our mistakes, he was adding instructions and answering questions. It has to be mentioned that questions appeared rather seldom, and as Fred said later ´either the people are ashamed or they already know everything´. During this seminar the practice was really very individual. Fred always lets the people decide for themselves how much they would practise and how much they would observe. The only thing we can do is to follow his example. The truth is that in dojo there usually aren’t many people just standing and watching, but there always is somebody. It is only their choice.
On Saturday, late in the afternoon the exams for the kyu levels took place. The candidates for the 5th to 1st kyu were successful and our teacher warmly appreciated their efforts and skill for their level. I myself was not surprised by the quality of kata performed because everyone did them exactly the way they always do, nothing went wrong. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the way everyone did the kihon, either individually or with a partner. In my opinion the kihon was exemplary.
Personally, I could not do without a little exam as well. We agreed with Fred to show samidare and gohon no midare although these advanced kata were not practised during the weekend training. Even though we have never done such an Embu before we managed quite well. But I was not satisfied. Afterwards we agreed that it is necessary to work on yoyú. It isn’t easy to explain the meaning of this word, personally I prefer composure. In other words, to organize the things in one’s head in such a way that the partner’s movements are slowed down and one has more time to do his movements.
Whereas the most advanced students did not have opportunity to learn a new waza, everybody up to the ran-ai level practised a new technique. A new kata (or two) is always a bonus, not a rule, a on a training of this kind. It happens more often that there is not enough time and space to introduce a new technique. Then it is necessary to devote one’s efforts to previous waza and to discover new ideas, principles and hidden details in them.
The national weekend seminars with Fred Quant are a reward for our all year’s work. However, I as well as other Czech jodokas are trying to meet not only Fred Quant but also other teachers several times in a year at different study seminars all over Europe. The Jodo teachers who lead us and work with us are different. Their technique is distinctive, their explanation and the way students are lead are different. Fred simply shows a technique that is dynamic, fierce, and exact, and he explains in short what the most important thing is. He does not drag on his explanation and he does not try to change more than mistakes we make in our movements, kamae, and waza. The things he says and explains he also performs with preciseness and that is what we enjoy our practice with him.
Thanks to everybody for their participation and hard work and see you soon at next seminar.
Patrik Orth, FEJ Czech Republic english translation Katka Rozsypalova, photos Vladimir Burian
Fédération Européenne de Jodo / European Jodo Federation