Several of us recently returned from an incredible trip to Japan. Five
of us, Greg, Ernie, Matt, Israel, and Dave (me) from our local dojo went to
Kyushu, Japan to train, sightsee, and compete. Our sensei, Greg Huff, is
a MJER rokudan. He trained in Japan for about twelve years and is fluent in
Japanese. His teacher, Maruyama Sensei, is an 82-year old judan hanshi. He
is a short, wispy character with incredibly crisp and dynamic technique,
plus a generous spirit. He is also the senior person in the Kyushu ZNIR
MJER organization, and one of the most senior in the entire ZNIR MJER. We
trained and slept in his dojo, next to his home, for five days, then competed in the
annual All-Kyushu MJER Taikai.
The dojo is also a registered Shinto shrine, dedicated to Hayashizaki Jinsuke, the
founder of MJER. It is beautiful, very traditional. We would pay our
respects to the kamidana each day before training. Great way to focus.
Training would begin around 8:00 am and last until noon. Then we would break
for lunch and do some sightseeing or something. Often we would train again
in the evening for about two hours. Mostly we worked on the forms for the
Tai Kai, but sensei showed us and talked about many more advanced techniques
and principles, as well as thoroughly covering the basics. Maruyama-sensei
was great. Hopefully some of what he showed us and told us will stick. It
was such a kick to hear his "so, so, so" after he made a correction and we
"got it", if only for the moment. He has few regular students now, and
seemed to enjoy the chance to work intensively with us. His wife seemed to
like us, too, although I am sure we were a lot of extra work. She kept us
stocked with food and would giggle as she snuck beer into the dojo for 'her
boys' in the evening.
In our sightseeing travels, we visited several shrines dedicated to
budo, including the Reigendo. Reigendo is also called Musashi's Cave. It is
the retreat where he lived for two years while writing Go Rin No Sho (The
Book of Five Rings). Most cool. We also visited Kumamoto Castle, one of the
three most beautiful in the country and the scene of a major battle of the
Satsuma rebellion, the 'Samurai's last stand' against the Meiji Restoration.
There was some great budo at the tai kai. The competition went up
through nanadan level, but everyone, even the hanshi, got on the
floor and did demos. From our group, three of us placed. Greg took first
at the Rokudan level, and could technically represent Kyushu at the
Nationals this year. Ernie took first in the mudansha, I took third.
A great trip, very rewarding. This is what budo ought to be. Narrow
focus, intense concentration, incredible level of teaching experience, great
comraderie (even a little karaoke!) Greg did a fantastic job of dragging
us around, pounding culture and budo into us, and keeping us out of trouble.
So guys, when do we go again?
