Jodo Gasshuku Zlin Czech Republic

18-19th of November 2006

Last November, we already had the 9th edition of the EJF Jodo Gasshuku in the Czech Republic. This time it took place in Zlin, home base of Patrik Orth.

In 2002, Patrik Orth, responsible for Jo by the EJF in his country, took the initiative to organize two times a year an EJF Jodo Gasshuku in the Czech Republic. It seems to be successful, each time the number of participants increases. This time there were 35! And not only by number but also their level is rising.

Beside the Czech "Die-hards", many Czech participated already many times before, participants from different countries were there, like Josi and Shanji with their students from Hungary, Adam and his group from Poland, Andrey and Alexander from Ukraine and Erik and Karol from Slovakia.

This time there was no overall view of each kata and technique, but we were more dedicated to individual kata, with the accent on the concept "Kime". The group was split into three, according to their level. Patrik and Renata helped me with the first (Kihon) group.

Saturday afternoon Patrik and I performed an Embu, up to Ran-ai, including Tanjo and Kenjutsu. Followed by exams for Renata (2nd Kyu), Zdenek, Karel, Petr and Stanislav (all 4th Kyu), Libor and Jana (5th Kyu). They all succeeded.

In the evening we had diner in a very nice restaurant.

On Sunday, we continued the training. In the afternoon there was an intensive individual training with Patrik, Josi and Shanji. Unfortunately there was not enough time to work with other "seniors", like I planned before.

The Gasshuku finished at 3 p.m. with a speech about progression, quantity and quality. I would like to thank all the participants for their good work during this Gasshuku. Although I was quite busy teaching among the different groups, there was no talking or looking around. Everybody was dedicated to his work. My compliments!

Also my thanks to Patrik who initiated the start of this EJF event and who is doing a wonderful job in promoting Jodo in the Czech Republic.

The set of pictures with this report were taken by photographer Zdenek Nemec from the local newspaper.

Fred Quantt

Zlin 2006