JKA Scotland Gasshuku 2018
JKA Scotland members turned out in force for our annual Gasshuku and they weren’t disappointed.
Imura Sensei 8th Dan JKA vice-technical director at JKA HQ, Ohta Sensei 7th Dan JKA chief Instructor of JKA England and Kurihara Sensei 5th Dan JKA, the current World JKA Kata Champion and current all Japan Champion made for a very impressive line up.
Training started sharp at 4.30pm on the Friday evening. Those who thought we may be eased gently into our weekend were quickly corrected. Imura sensei, started putting all of us through our paces immediately with loads of emphasis on basic Kihon, direction and power with hip rotation. Classes split into 3 groups black, brown and coloured belts with each of the instructors focussing on specific kata. Gojushiho Dai, Enpi and Heian katas were dissected and put back together again giving all the students a much better understanding of where we are going wrong and more importantly, how to make it so much better.
Saturday morning was an even busier day, aches and pains forgotten and enthusiasm by the bucket full took us all through another three hours of detailed information, kicking, partner work and katas with no one appearing to want or need a break as we wanted to learn as much as possible in the relatively short time we had with our Gasshuku instructors.
Suddenly it was Sunday and we were on our last day of training. Again we were split into our three groups . Each group had their own focus of attention, whether it be kime, balance, direction, power, attitude. The sensei answered many questions for us and hopefully we all took much home after the weekend that we are hoping to put into our own karate and keep improving year on year.
Many thanks to JKA HQ for allowing us to learn from such exceptional talent over the weekend and for allowing us to show them our beautiful country and our committed members of JKA Scotland.
Congratulations to those who passed Dan Grading examinations.
Pass First Dan JKA (Sho Dan)
Srishti Panthri — Carnegie
Pass Third Dan JKA (San Dan)
Scott Morrice — Alloa
JKA Scotland Kata Course 2018
On the 1st September 2018, Dunfermline High school played host again to a very keen gathering of brown and black belts from JKA Scotland. We were waiting to start a 3 hour kata course with an exceptional instructor, Ohta Sensei, 7th Dan JKA.
Brown and Black belts worked together in the first hour studying the 65 moves of Kanku Dai, a kata we thought we knew but which left us with so many answers which we hadn’t even realised we had questions for. Sensei spent time showing us how energy can be lost with over exaggerated movements and how to increase power where necessary.
Sensei Alan Simpson from JKA Scotland Technical Committee then took the brown belts through the intricasies of kata Jion, followed by Empi with Sensei Bert Stewart of JKA Technical Committee. The brown belts expressed their enthusiasm with the instruction which also included hanging around at the end of the course and practising independantly.
While the brown belts were training elsewhere, the black belts had the undivided attention of Sensei Ohta and the pleasure of his instruction of Gojushiho Sho. This was another huge kata with many turns and directions. Sensei spent a lot of time explaining hip rotation on the turns and again where the power/energy comes from. Our final kata of the day was Bassai Sho. We were shown the applications and explanations of working with the Bo and how to change defensive to offensive movements. All of a sudden 3 hours had disappeared and we knew we had gained so much knowledge in those hours and the only challenge now is to retain it!!
JKA Scotland would like to thank Sensei Ohta for a fantastic weekend of training delivered, as usual, with such a depth of knowledge and in his own unique way which had us all enthralled.
We would also like to thank all the JKA Scotland members who supported this course, we hope you enjoyed it and will take the information away and share among karateka at your own dojo.
The next event on the JKA Scotland calendar is our much anticipated Autumn course 19th – 21st October. Applications are now available from your club instructor.
JKA Scotland Special May Course 2018
JKA Scotland brown and black belt members were treated to 3 hours of instruction from Ohta Sensei 7th Dan JKA on Saturday 13th May 2018.
We started with some basic warm up moves and without realising the transition we were being put through our paces with back stance, but more specifically the catching of power and the transferring of that power onto the next stance. Hips, body position, feet and weight were all corrected and all of a sudden we went from feeling like beginners again to actually having a greater understanding of what we were supposed to be doing.
After a quick, much needed break, we were all back on the floor, eager to find out what was next. We weren’t disappointed. Staying with back stance we partnered up and were put through our paces using back stance for avoidance techniques and attacking techniques in Kumite. We used different stances to cover different distances but holding onto power in those transitions.
Following a second break, Sensei Alan Simpson 6th Dan JKA counted everyone through the Dan grading Kihon syllabus where we attempted to put what we had learned into practise with Ohta Sensei watching and highlighting specific points for attention where required . The final part of the course was when we were all split up with Ohta Sensei, JKA Scotland Technical Committee and senior grade Instructors were given a kata each to instruct on with the students picking their own favourite. The choice was Bassai Dai, Jion, Jitte and Chinte.
After a very quick 3 hours our training session with Sensei Ohta was complete.
JKA Scotland Dan Grading
| Pass first Dan JKA (Shodan) | |
| Alistair Barton | Broughty Ferry |
| Conor Beggs | Dalgety Bay |
| Calum Bruce | Dalgety Bay |
| Charlie Dykes | Dalgety Bay |
| Raj Negi | Carnegie |
| Sarah-Louise Philips | Carnegie |
| Camden Tiamo-Schreiner | Carnegie |
| Ruby Wallace | Carnegie |
Many congratulations to the above students and a huge thank you to Ohta Sensei for his excellent tuition and guidance. Also many thanks to all the JKA Scotland students who supported the event, these fantastic course could not run without you.
The next event in the JKA Scotland calendar will be the Regional kyu gradings in June.
JKA Scotland Kata Course
13th January 2018
JKA Scotland members shook off the festive season cobwebs and made their way to Dunfermline High School on Saturday 13th January 2018, where they were treated to our first national course of the year, the brown and black belt Kata course with Sensei Ohta.
The first hour of the course was a joint brown and black belt instruction with Sensei Ohta. We were treated to Bassai Dai. Sensei gave us all an insight to the complexities of the kata and made us very aware of the slight changes we can make, with our stances and expansion/contraction of our movement to reach a far more superior and effective outcome. An extremely enlightening education for everyone in the dojo.
In the second hour the class was split and the brown belts were given an indepth understanding of kata Jion by Sensei Alan Simpson from our JKA Scotland Technical Committee. The black belts were treated to kata Gankaku with sensei Ohta. This was a great class on the rotation and power needed with our hip movements to execute an effective move. Application of the kata was demonstrated and tested by the students
Our third hour was again split and the brown belts were instructed on the intricacies of kata Empi with Sensei Bert Stewart of JKA Scotland Technical Committee. The black belts were treated to kata Chinte with Sensei Ohta who brought many aspects to the kata which we sometimes fail to recognise but which we will now hopefully be able to demonstrate in the future, movement from one stance to the next, maintaining power and focus but still being fluid in movement and understanding exactly how complex JKA kata are and how much we need to train to become accomplished, if we ever can!
JKA Scotland would like to thank Sensei Ohta for a hugely enjoyable course, delivered as usual with such an understanding of JKA Karate and ability to transfer that knowledge to us all.
We would like to also thank all the JKA Scotland members who have started 2018 off by attending the course and making it the success it always is.