FIRST TRAINING OF THE YEAR CEREMONY, JAPAN, 1978

 

 

The first training of the year is one of the most important yearly dojo cere­monies, and in keeping with general Ja­panese custom.

The ceremony of Kagami Biraki is performed in most homes, factories and companies throughout Japan on the 11th of January every year. It is the ceremony in which the Kagami Mochi, a particular rice cake made on December 28th as an offering to Buddha, is cut and eaten with Oshiruko – sweet red beans. With the completion of this cere­mony, work and training begins in earn­est for the new year.

In the dojo, a short training is fol­lowed by the presentation of prizes to Tokyo Honbu dojo’s top students and then the Kagami Biraki ceremony.

Every year, the ceremony begins at 5:30 am. Those students able to at­tend arrive around 5:00 am when it is still very dark and cold. However, be­cause of the size of Tokyo, and that the local trains do not start running until 5:00 am, most of Tokyo Honbu dojo’s students are unable to attend. Even so, the dojo was packed with over 100 stu­dents when the drum call began at 5:30 am.

During the training those members of the staff who do not train Karate begin the cooking of the mochi, rice cake, and other foods; the sweet beans hav­ing been prepared the day before. As the large number of people make it im­possible for everyone to have a piece of the original Kagami Mochi, ordinary mochi is substituted and hundreds of pieces are prepared.

Originally the ceremony of the of­fering and then eating of the Kagami Mochi was observed only by ladies on the 20th of January. The cake is there­fore round in the shape of a mirror – the representation of a lady – and called Kagami; mirror. However, during the Samurai era of Japan, this ceremony was taken over by the Samurai who changed the day to the 11th – the char­acter 11 being easily condensed to the character for Bu, as in Bushi (Samurai). The cake was offered in temples and Shrines before being eaten for the promotion of Budo, for prosperity, and to receive the blessing of the Gods. At this time, red beans were added as the Samurai particularly hated them due to their connotations with blood and death, and it thus enabled them to med­itate on and come to terms with their ultimate destiny; death by the sword. Today red beans are kept because they are reckoned to be the most deli­cious combination with Omochi.

The dojo training, taken by Kancho Oyama, follows that of a normal train­ing. It finishes one hour later, just as the day breaks and light begins to stream in through the windows.

The dojo is then cleaned by the stu­dents and prepared for the ceremony. After everything is ready, Kancho Oyama gives a short speech and the prizes are presented. Each winner is pre­sented with a certificate and either a trophy or a shield. Three prizes for Ef­fort are awarded to both the men’s and Ladies’ groups. Two prizes to the Senior Men and one prize for junior boys. Prizes are also awarded for Fighting Spirit, Special Technique and for a good contribution to the Kyokushinkaikan. This year’s Fighting Spirit Prize was awarded to a student who had attended 326 days of training in 1977, and the Contribution Prize went to the Barber who has kindly cut the Uchi-Deshi’s hair, unpaid, for over 6 years. The Spe­cial Kyokushin Prize for an outstanding contribution to the Kyokushinkaikan was not awarded this year.

On the completion of the presenta­tion mochi and Oshiruko to each person as quickly as possible, and soon the dojo becomes a busy hum of people enjoy­ing a rather special breakfast.

Throughout the eating, various stu­dents come forward to sing, and this year the congregation was lucky to be entertained by a student with some talent on the guitar. Unfortunately, time closes the ceremony at around 8:00 am as students must attend school and workers must make it to their com­panies. When the 11th falls on a Sun­day, the ceremony continues late into the morning, by which time all students present will have sung a song, drunk plenty of warm Sake, and eaten them­selves full of mochi and oshiruko.

1978 JAPANESE WINTER TRAINING SCHOOL

 

160 brave students assembled in front of Tokyo Honbu at 7:00 am on the morning of January 4th. They stood outside in the cold and tasted Winter in their toes before even leaving for the Mountain Site of Mitsumine Shrine in Saitama Prefecture. Tokyo had experi­enced an unusually heavy fall of snow on the 3rd and it had turned to ice on the 4th, bringing down the temperatures to a shivery low and causing all to doubt the sanity of training in the mountains. Four of Tokyo Honbu’s foreign students were present, and one student of Shihan Lowe’s, Thrina Cabal, who so enjoyed her previous three weeks stay, that she had flown in from balmy Ha­waii to brave the Japanese Winter. The other students hailed from Venezuela, Pakistan, England and Singapore, and two of them saw and felt snow for the first time in their lives that morning.

The four bus loads of students left at 8:00 am and travelled through the snow dotted countryside towards the mountains where a beautiful view of the snow covered Mt. Fuji could be seen from the bus window.

The group arrived at the top of the 1,300 meter mountain a weary four hours later, and alighted to carry their bags a short way up to the Shrine ac­commodation. Following those who had been through it all before, the students were hustled along into their rooms where they headed straight for the heat­ers and warm tea awaiting them.

 

Training Begins.

 

The first training began at 2:00 pm. Donning clamy cold Karate-gi, and struggling to pull training shoes over their already numbed feet, the students hurried out to the assembly point. After, being assigned to groups and given a short pep talk, the training began. Train­ing entailed a short run to a flat area on the mountain which served as the train­ing site. There, exposed to the cold, stu­dents split into their groups and proce­eded through a regular training session under the direction of their Sempai.

Although there was no deep snow on the mountain this year, and the weather was sui*singly somewhat warmer than usual, little patches of snow were to be found and it was enough to freeze solid the feet of those lead to train in it. Each group followed all, or parts, of a regular training session, and a long and frozen two hours later, the groups jogged the short distance back to the warmth of the shrine.

The evening meal followed a few hours later. The atmosphere was warm and noisy except for the beginning and ending ceremony when the Sempai and Kancho enter and leave. The food was quite delicious, although in rather typi­cal Japanese style, it was a little cold be­fore one could tuck in. The food at Winter Camp is always more delicious and substantial than that of Summer Camp, much to the relief of the stu­dents.

After the meal, there followed a period of free time before being gather­ed together to hear Kancho’s address. The address started at 9:00 pm and would have continued for sometime had not a large number of the students al­ready doozed off, simply too tired and weary to concentrate anymore. The meeting was closed, the futons were spread out in the usual mattress to mat­tress, economy style, and everyone glad­ly hit the sack.

 

Meditation

 

Next morning came all too soon, even though the rising hour was later than in previous years. Apparently the Shrine Priests complained of the usual early rising, so this year’s students rose at a still chilly 6:00 am, and had 30 minutes to complete their preparations and assemble in the courtyard. The stu­dents, most moving in a mixture of sleepy bewilderness and stiff, excited anticipation, shivered their ways to the assembly point and at 6:30 am were ushered into the Shrine. In a short space of time, only rows upon rows of train­ing shoes on the steps of the shrine were all to show of the noisy before.

Lining up in rows according to rank, with Kancho in the center, every?

– one sat SEIZA and the ceremony began with the beating of the Kyokushin drum roll one beat for each syllable it roll­ed…..ha ji ma ri (we .begin) three times, tsu yo ku na re yo (we will be strong) twice, and finished with one long drum roll. The Head Priest immediately began the blessing by chanting uninterruptedly except for what seemed like a hap hazard, although I’m sure really well integrated, bang on the drum.

Trying to fulfill one’s duty to re­main serene and dignified, each wriggled in their SEIZA position trying to bring some life back to their numbed, deaden­ed feet, while the ceremony droned on. Then Kancho rose and moved forward to offer a leaf sprig. The Priest waved his stick of leaves and paper in big cir­cular movements over Kancho’s head, and when Kancho returned to his posi­tion, all bowed and the ceremony ended with the Kyokushin drum roll 0 wa ri (we finish) 3 times, Ha ya ku ka e re yo (hurry up and return home) twice and the final roll.

Staggering, dragging to their feet, the students slowly, painfully filed out of the unheated Shrine into the cold morning to each receive a sip of warm, blessed, sake from the Priests.

Almost immediately. the training began by running again to the training site by the statue of Yamato Takeru no Mikoto, an old Japanese God who was commanded to settle various wars around Japan, and to whom many romantic stories are attached. Here fol­lowed a normal training session, before the run back to the accommodation and breakfast.

Everyone was ravishingly hungry and a steady line a 2nd helpers for,rice and soup formed. After breakfast and bathing, it was free time until lunch. Students took this time to patch up in­juries and sore legs, so the smell of men­thol penetrated the air and filled the eyes and noses of the suffering students.

A few of the more adventurous stu­dents ventured out to explore the loca­tion and view the splendid Mountain surroundings, however, most preferred to stay indoors in the warmth and com­fort.

However it was not all rest for some, as 9:00 am was the scheduled time for the correspondence students’ promotion test. Officiating were the head Sempai, Mr. Nandi and Mr. Hiro­shige. 7 students were put through Kihon, kata, exercises and Kumite, and all performed rather well.

 

Mountain Marathon

 

After lunch, the students prepared for the 20 kilometer run; 10 kilos down

the winding mountain road, and 10 back up again. Students were informed to “do their best”, and at 2:00 pm they set off. The more serious students set out in grim determination, but a few merely loafed along, aided with bottles of drink and junk food. Before very long, this small group of slackers had dropped out, unaware that the only ones they had cheated were themselves, a fact they may one day realize.

Winter training runs on stamina and spirit, and thus develops stamina, spirit and confidence in oneself. The point of Winter training is to come to know oneself, one’s own limitation, and if one cannot keep up with the training then one has to faint in the effort!

Regardless of the galant efforts, only a few made it completely down and back up again. The 20 kilometer run seemed much longer and harder by the steepness of the mountain, and the cold conditions. When it became dark, a car was sent to collect the brave strug­glers, and so the sore, battered group retired to the accommodation to patch up their aching legs, skinned toes and sore ankles. It was a weary and hobbly lot that turned up for the evening meal and later presented themselves at the­ Sayonara Party. Following the tradi­tional form, each student performed a number and so contributed to the entertainment. However, even though it was enjoyable, most were happy to be released to fall into their futons and sleep.

 

Final Effort

 

Rising again at 6:00 am, struggling with tired reluctance and stiff bodies, the group again assembled in the Shrine courtyard and so began the last day of camp. After the Shrine ceremony, the students were left to the mercy of the photographers who had them running back and forth, standing in the cold in awkward poses and repeating the proce­dure numerous times to get it right, and because the cap was still on the camera lens. After this tiresome training, the group filed back to the accommodation and breakfast.

When breakfast was over, a short period of free time followed and then cleaning and preparations to leave. At about 11:00 am the group assembled in front of the Shrine where Kancho thanked the Priests. Bowing deeply, the group, carrying their . bags, followed Kancho down the back side of the mountain to the waterfall, the last and perhaps most exotic requirement of each Winter Camp.

The steep narrow dirt track down

the mountain necessitated a single file and a sure foot, so by the time the waterfall was reached all were warm from the brisk exercise.

Hiding behind trees, bushes and rocks, the students changed into their gi and congregated around the bonfire that had been lit. There they ate their rice balls, and prepared to face the cold water. After a rest, the group stood, clapped their hands and bowed to the little wooden shrine on the hill side, and lined up for training. Dotting the rocks and bridge, the students did the basic punches and kicks, and then headed for the water. The men stripped to the waist and all, including the ladies group, had bare feet. They climbed up the slippery, icy rocks and stood in turn under the water. There each kiai-ed and punched to a minimum of 10 punches. Back at the Bonfire, those of Brown belt and above were treated to a cup of warm sake (Wine) before changing.

When each had had a turn and changed, the group proceeded the rest of the way down the mountain to the restaurant at the bottom, and the wait­ing buses. At the restaurant everyone was free to eat, drink and buy souvenirs, except the black belt students who changed into Karate-gi and were led down to the passing river where they posed, knee deep in freezing mountain water, for the cameras.

Eventually, the students climbed into their waiting buSes and headed home, reaching Tokyo at 6:00 pm that same night.

The foreign students commented mostly that “it was cold!”. However, each seemed pleased that they had made it in the marathon run and had survived the 3 days of rough and rigour in a strange surrounding, amongst people they could only just barely communi­cate with Thrina, from Hawaii, who suffered deep bruising in the first day’s kumite and later from very sore legs, could only sigh, “I made it, I did it, I didn’t cheat in anyway!”. Thrina was so popular with the others, who admir­ed her for her galant efforts, strong Kiai and spirit, that they presented her with a placard signed beach student urging her to keep up her spint always.

And how about next year’s camp???…Well,..”Let’s wait and see!