The first Slovak Shinto Muso Ryu Jodo Gasshuku, Košice
13th - 14th October 2012
The first official seminar of Shinto Muso Ryu Jo in Slovakia was held on October 13-14, 2012 in Košice. The seminar was supported by European Jodo Federation and lead by Fred Quant (Menkyo kaiden) from the Netherlands. There were 24 participants from Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic and Germany. In addition to kihon, we practiced some katas from omote and chudan. The more advanced people practiced further wazas according to their level, subject to time restrictions. Fred gave demonstrations of kata series up to ran-ai as well as Shinto Ryu Kenjutsu.
At the moment, only a few individuals practice the koryu form of traditional Jodo in Slovakia, in cooperation with the Czech group affiliated with European Jodo Federation. The first unofficial contact dates back to Liptovský Mikuláš in 2004. Since then, Czech jodoka occasionally went to help the Slovak ones (especially to Poprad in Central Slovakia) and from time to time, the Slovak jodokas attend seminars or trainings in Czech Republic. At the Kacov summer school in 2007, Pascal Sensei suggested that the Czech and Slovak jodokas should work as a part of a single group for the moment. After last year's training that we held near Vysoké Tatry (High Tatras mountains), we started to think about organizing a formal seminar with one of the teachers of EJF, in order to motivate more the Slovak jodoka.
Of course, we first contacted Fred Quant, who has been helping develop Jodo in Czech Republic and Hungary for many years. After half a year of deliberation, we agreed on a seminar in Kosice in the Eastern Slovakia, which is easier to reach from Amsterdam (or Prague) so that we impose ourselves as little as possible on Fred's free time. We are grateful for his willingness to help us, as well as to the Slovak organizers who made the seminar possible. We would also like to thank Hungarian jodokas who attended the seminar in a large number, as well as to the organizers of the Dresden seminar who kindly adjusted its date so that it did not collide with the Slovak one.
On Saturday, we started by a brief introduction of the participants from abroad (Hungary, Czech Republic and even Germany) and from various parts of Slovakia (Turčianské Teplice in the west, Poprad in the center and Košice in the east). Next, we practiced kihon tandoku. Since all the participants were familiar with this exercise at least from ZenKen Jodo, we practiced individually first, then once more after corrections from Fred and the most advanced participants. We needed to harmonize the training and fix the mistakes caused for example by the absence of a regular training with an experienced teacher. On Saturday morning, we also managed to practice the first half of kihon in pairs in the sotai form. The end of the morning session was devoted to Kenjutsu, we practiced kiri awase, kiri otoshi and the aisuri kata. Fred then demonstrated the entire Shinto Ryu Kenjutsu set.
After a short uchikomi practice, we worked on jo katas in the afternoon, especially the first four katas of omote (tachi otoshi, tsuba wari, tsuki zue and hissage). In the second half of the afternoon, the participants were divided to the beginners continuing with omote, and the more advanced ones who practiced further katas (chudan, ran-ai, kage) according to their level - most of the Slovak participants belonged to the beginner group, but some time of course had to be given to the guests who came from abroad. At the end, we demonstrated chudan waza and ran-ai to give the beginners an idea of the depth and variety of the traditional Jodo curriculum.
As usual, it felt like the Saturday trainings were over too soon. In the evening we enjoyed a dinner in a restaurant and learned more about the other participants. We also discussed the possibilities for further cooperation between our groups. I hope that the cooperation between Czechs, Slovaks and Hungarians will continue and that we will meet on future seminars in even greater numbers.
On Sunday, we started early in the morning with the second half of kihon, and continued again in groups according to the level. The beginners finished the rest of kihon sotai, while the more advanced people practiced uchikomi for chudan as well as some of the chudan katas. The last half an hour was given to the most advanced participants practicing okuden and jutte, while the others were lead by sempais from Czech Republic and Hungary in omote (sakan, kasumi) and chudan practice.
In order to give Fred time to return home, we ended the seminar before lunch. We are very grateful that he was willing to help us with our training and to travel to the eastern Slovakia. We also thank the local organizers (Karol Istok and Peter Bona) as well as all the guests who practiced with us, and we invite them to further seminars.
P.S. By the way - half of my blood is Slovakian.
Patrik Orth (English translation Zdeněk Dvořák)
Fédération Européenne de Jodo / European Jodo Federation