2005 All Japan Spring Training Camp

by Dave Paulus

On the 5th April 2005, I returned to Tokyo for the 5th time to attend the annual JKA Gasshaku.  I travelled from London Heathrow with Virgin Atlantic and arrived at Narita Airport the following day.

I was staying at the Ryokan Tsutaya, which is only about 20 minutes from the JKA Honbu Dojo and made my way there via the Maranouchi Line from Tokyo. The Gasshaku would not start until the following week so I was able to attend several classes at the Honbu Dojo and train under many of the most respected Sensei's in the world. These included Sensei's OSAKA, KAWAWADA, IMAMURA, OGURA, HANZAKI, NAKA, OKUMA, IIZUKA and NEMOTO.

On Friday night, I was invited by Hanzaki Sensei to join some of the Instructors and other students at one of the local parks where we would sit under the cherry blossom and have a few drinks which I did. It was quite cold out by this time and the fact that I was wearing a T-Shirt and was freezing really amused Hanzaki Sensei.

The Dojo was closed that weekend so I headed off to the Tokyo Budokan as the JKA were holding the Tokyo Area Championships on the Sunday. This was great, the venue was terrific as was the standard of Karate.

I continued to train at the Honbu the following week and then met up with Ohta Sensei on the Thursday and enrolled on the Gasshaku. Training was for four hours per day with a break for lunch and we were taught by SUGIURA Shihan, 9th Dan and Chief Instructor of the JKA. The other Instructors were Sensei's UEKI, TANAKA, OSAKA and YAGUCHI who was the special guest from the USA.

The Dojo was packed and I was fortunate enough to train and learn alongside some of the most senior JKA Instructors in the world. I attended the party, held at the Dojo on the Saturday night but didn't drink as much as I did the year before (some of you know that story)!!! This course was, as always a great experience and opportunity to not only develop my karate knowledge but meet up with some of the good friends that I have met through training at the JKA.

The last two weeks had flown by and it was time to meet Ohta Sensei at Narita Airport for the 12 hour flight back to London... UNTIL NEXT YEAR!

Accommodation

For the last four years, I have stayed at the Ryokan Tsutaya in Tokyo and would recommend this guest house to anyone travelling to Japan.  The JKA England squad also stayed here in 2004 when visitng Japan for the World Championships.

This family run, traditional guest house has absolutely everything that you could want or need during your stay.  The traditional rooms, complete with tatami mats and futon are very comfortable and there is a private wooden bath as well as the standard japanese communal bath area.

Tsutaya is located less than 10 minutes from Hongo Sanchome station and only about 20 minutes walk from the JKA Honbu Dojo.  Please visit http://www.tsutaya-r.com/ for more information!