4th SMR Jōdō seminar with Sergio Dieci in Padova (Italy)

12-13/11/2011

See also pdf for full report with pictures: PDF


The shomen calligraphed by Sergio for the fourth Jodo seminar in Padova was “Kei Soku wa Chikara nari” (“power arises from continuity”), a theme that can have many applications, not only in specific Budo techniques, but also in the attitude that anyone should have with respect to the practice and the dojo.

Thirty people attended the seminar, which persisted to be “international” thanks to the participation of Patrik Orth from Czech Republic. The group was distributed as follows: 20% of beginners, about 35% of people in Omote, about 15% in Chudan and the rest in the upper series. Lorenzo Trainelli from Seiryukan Monza helped Sergio throughout the seminar.

The first morning started with the kihon tandoku and was then dedicated entirely to uchikomi (the famous four ones), taking care of the armpits (to keep them close during the movement), the direction (angle and depth) and the height of the cut (down to the knee level of the opponent), the role of the back hand in the cutting phase, and checking the kikentai (in particular for makiotoshi). The session finished with the study of hundreds of repetitions of hikiotoshiuchi, trying to implement continuity in the movement (and trying to discover power arising from it rather than from many other things..). This was resumed in the afternoon, as a warming up exercise, performed with back and front consecutive cuts, while standing between two uchidachi in a line. The “neutral” role of uchidachi was then trained with the three “kuri” movements, performed in a random order by shidachi. This segment of practice was useful to point out some common mistakes on the shidachi side.. Increasing darkness (due to electrical blackout in the training hall) accompanied the practice until the end of the afternoon, which was focused on work of the various series of kata, including juttejutsu for the most advanced people.

On the second day, the morning started with the kenjutsu suburi of Aisuri (sa/yu) led by Sergio and the senpai, followed by the study of kesagiri using both hohanmi and gyakuhanmi in both cutting and receiving.

After a series of kihon tandoku a first session of examination for 5th kyu was proposed: Alessio, Davide, Giulia and Nazmie were successful and therefore welcomed in the Ryu. The rest of the morning was used for training in specific series, from kihon to chudan-ranai, with the support of the senpai, while giving room to the most advanced people for their upper series. The work went on in the afternoon under the guide of Lorenzo for the preparation of the 3rd and 2nd kyu examination, which was successful for the three candidates (Marzio and Silvia; and Luca, respectively). The final segment concluded with Sergio supporting the rehearse of all series, including Kage, Gohonnomidare and Okuden.

Intense work, conviviality and friendship characterized this event, as usual. Looking forward to seeing you again soon,

Maria Rosa


More pictures are available at http://www.tsukikage.it/photos/20111112/album.php



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