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[Photo:two kenshi, wearing protective equipment, sparring.] [Photo:black and white picture of the founder of Shorinji Kempo, Doshin So, stood outside one of his first dojo.] [Photo:two kenshi, dressed in hoi, perform gassho rei to each other.] [Photo:Mizuno sensei, head of the British Shorinji Kempo Federation, throwing someone while simultaneously blocking a kick from another kenshi.]
Calligraphy, which reads "half for your own happiness, half for the happiness of others"

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Japan Trip (October 12 - 16, 2005)

Written by Sam Majed sensei.

International Study Session (October 12 - 14, 2005)

The International Study Session followed the World Taikai, which was held in Fukui and attended by kenshi from 18 countries. The session was open for examinees from the morning of the 12th, and official training started in the afternoon.

About 500 people of all ages and from 18 countries enjoyed Shorinji Kempo training under senior instructors. Where no words are needed for communication; the three days provided great opportunities to interact with people from different cultures, get to know them as individuals, and enjoy training with each other.

[Photo: A group of kenshi, dressed in dogi, sat on the floor clapping and laughing as they watch a teacher who is demonstrating out of shot.]

The classes were split into three groups: Kyu kenshi, Sho Dan and Ni Dan kenshi, San Dan and above kenshi. The technical training was beneficial, not only due to the fact that it was taught by senior instructors, but also due to the fact that it allowed the opportunity to practice with people of greatly varying physiques, each with his or her own special touch on the techniques.

Each training day started with Chinkon-Gyo, followed by training according to grade. There was the facility of having one's techniques recorded on DVD for personal studying, something that most kenshi made use of during the lunch hour. Lunch was followed by a short lecture; in my group we had lectures on Shorinji Kempo and human relations, and on maintaining appropriate balance within one's life. Naturally, more technical training followed the lectures.

At the end of the day, all kenshi participated in Samu and a series of short meetings to plan the evening's entertainment.

[3 Photos: Italian kenshi on stage singing; British kenshi on stage performing a short play ; Two Spanish kenshi performing flamenco dancing.]

A dinner party arranged by Hombu was held on the evening of the second day (Oct 13), where many countries provided shows representing their culture. Entertainment included flamenco dance, great British humor and concluded with Japanese style festival.

The training session was finally concluded on the third day by presenting the successful graders with their certificates, and a memorial photo for each country with the organization's senior staff.

[Photo: Memorial picture. Sam Majed sensei together with the Shorinji Kempo senior staff in front of a statue of Doshin So.

Home stay program (October 14 - 16)

Students who applied for this program were assigned to stay with families of Shorinji Kempo practitioners. I was allocated to stay at Shodoshima, an island that is about two and a half hours away from Hombu. I was accommodated by Nagamatsu sensei, Shorinji Kempo 6 Dan, and Branch Master of the local Dojo. On October 15, I was honored to visit Sugiyama sensei, a Shorinji Kempo veteran and senior instructor. He had trained directly under Kaiso So Do Shin and taught Shorinji Kempo for a while at Shodoshima. Sugiyama sensei is now unfortunately sick and finds it difficult to talk, he did however make extreme effort to answer any questions I had about Shorinji Kemp as a whole and Kaiso's teachings in particular.

No visit to Japan is complete without visiting an onsen, which is where Nagamatsu sensei and I spent the rest of the day.

Free Training (October 16)

After three days of hard training, a day and a couple of evenings of complete relaxation, many kenshi made full use of being so close to Hombu and decided to go for extra training. The Hombu staff had facilitated the use of the Dojos there and had planned structured classes according to grades.

Again, the experience here was no better or worse than the previous; just a complete reminder of how much fun it is to practice under senior instruction with kenshi from all around the globe.

On the whole, I can comfortably say that I made friends with fellow kenshi from Japan, Sweden, UK, US, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Chile, Qatar, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, Russia, Ukraine and Canada without really having to use as many languages. I look forward to meeting all these people and many more sometime in the near future.

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