September 9th, 2007 Sensei Stuart Wright
I went to the IFK European Knockdown Tournament in Samara, Russia, in May 2007. Samara is about 600 miles east of Moscow. The journey from London via Moscow took nearly 15 hours.
Surrounding Grounds of Hotel
Some of Sensei’s New Russian Friends (The Bear Failed to make the weight!)
The Tournament was fantastic; there were entries from all over Europe with, of course, a very strong Russian team. All the British fighters fought with true spirit and determination and lost on some very close decisions.
Entrance to the tournament & the Fighting Area
Sensei Darren Stringer in Action Against His 2 Russian Opponents
The Russian team won all of the titles on the day …. full credit is due to them for their fighting skills and stamina.
The Trophy Winners & Referees
As the delegation from the BKK; we were very well looked after by our Russian hosts in Samara, their hospitality was limitless.
The Sayonara party will go down as one of the best I’ve experienced.
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September 6th, 2007 Sensei Stuart Wright
Gokokuji Temple is where Masutatsu Oyama’s ashes are enshrined.
The Entrance Leading to the Temple and the Garden
Standing where Masutatsu Oyama’s ashes are enshrined
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August 31st, 2007 Sensei Stuart Wright
To any Kyokushin student the words Kyokushin Honbu needs no explanation or introduction. For me to go to Japan without seeing it would be unthinkable. I have many karate friends that have made the long trip to see the Honbu only to be disappointed that they could not get inside because it is closed to the public. I knew this, when I set out from my visit to Gichin Funakoshi’s shrine, but headed back north east of central Tokyo to the district of Ikebukuro to, at least, stand outside the Honbu.
Arriving at Ikebukuro train station was straightforward … I then flagged down a taxi believing that ALL taxi drivers must know where this famous building is! Not this one!! Every time I spoke he just started laughing uncontrollably at everything I said. Surely the Chelmsford accent is not that bad? Eventually, I managed to make myself clear as to where I wanted to go and after stopping off at two rice dealers to ask directions (apparently it is quite normal for Japanese taxi drivers not to know where they are going and rice dealers know everything!!!) we finally arrived at the Honbu building. He only charged me the minimum fare, as it took so long for him to get there, either that, or I made his day as this strange westerner who got in his taxi and made him laugh hysterically for all of the journey.
There it was ….. just as all the pictures I had seen; a small three storey, brick built, very plain building. You could easily walk past it not knowing what it was. As I viewed the building I could see the main door was open and three uniformed Japanese men standing outside. I walked up to them and gave the traditional Kyokushin OSU! which was returned with vigour. I asked if I could enter the building and was met with a very polite but emphatic ‘NO!’ as it is not open to the public. They pointed out a large sign on the door clearly stating that fact. I decided to try ‘Plan B’ and took out my IKO membership card, signed by Mas Oyama, that I finally received from the Honbu in 1979, and presented it to them. Would this prove to be my ‘golden ticket to gain access? One of the Japanese guys studied it then studied me and said it was OK to go in for 10minutes.
Thinking that I would only be allowed in the foyer; I was bowled over when the other two guys told me to take off my shoes and follow them to look at the dojo upstairs. I could not believe it and followed them up the stairs and there it was ….. all the pictures on the wall, the punch bags, makawara, everything that I had seen in photos. I walked across the dojo floor thinking of all the thousands of Kyokushin students that had trained there over the years. I wanted to soak up some of the Kyokushin Spirit that this training room had seeped into its floorboards. I asked if I could take photos and they said no problem. Still thinking I had only 10 minutes I clicked away at everything thinking ‘this is too good to be true’. Pushing my luck a little, but knowing this was probably my only visit to the Honbu in this lifetime; I asked if I could put on my gi and if they could take some photos of ME in the Honbu.
I’d taken my gi with me with a hope and a prayer that such a scenario would arise. I wondered if I’d pushed their hospitality too far when one of the escorts ran down the stairs to ask the guy in charge what to do. After what seemed an eternity he came running back, looked me directly in the eyes and said I had permission to put on my gi. Having set what must be the world record of putting on a gi; I then had some photos taken in the dojo.
All too quickly I was saying my goodbyes to the three Japanese guys and once again standing outside taking more pictures with my camera and video recorder. I still did not quite believe the experience I’d just had, I was very lucky indeed, maybe someone was looking down on me that day or it was just meant to be.
Not once was I asked what organisation I was from, what grade I was (clearly this was noticed when I put on my gi and belt, which was acknowledged by a bow and OSU! from my ‘minders’). It was simply clear that I was a Kyokushin student that had travelled to Japan to see the Honbu. I was treated with wonderful manners and respect from all three Japanese guys ‘on guard’. They could have not have done any more for me.
I never met Kancho, though, I did see him in London in the mid seventy’s, that was as close as I got to him. For me to stand in the Honbu in my gi, where Kancho had instructed for many years, taking in the atmosphere of the dojo was as good as it was going to get. Writing this now the memories all come back it was such a great feeling and one I will always treasure.
Sensei Stuart @ Kyokushin Honbu
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August 28th, 2007 Sensei Stuart Wright
Gichin Funakoshi, as we know, was the founder of modern karate and the teacher of Masutatsu Oyama in the early part of his training. I have read several books on Gichin Funakoshi and was interested to find out if a shrine or memorial to him existed in Japan. I knew he grew up and studied on the island of Okinawa, which is south of Japan, and that he moved to Honshu when the American forces moved in to Okinawa at the end of the Second World War. After this time his story becomes vague and it is unclear where he went.
By doing some research, I found out there was a shrine in Kamakura which is a one and a half hour train ride south of Tokyo. I was up 6.00am for my search to find the shrine. Tokyo’s Shinjuku railway station is huge and positively bustling with tens of thousands of Japanese going about their daily business. Luckily, there are duel signs in Japanese and English to help foreigners negotiate the enormous labyrinth. I manged to get the right train that took me all the way to Kamakura which was a great start.
On arrival at Kamakura I started to look for a cemetery or graveyard. All street signs and directions were, as I expected, in Japanese. Communicating became a series of pointing and gesturing to local Japanese people where I wanted to go. The Japanese are so helpful and I soon found myself in the cemetery. The grounds were beautiful, filled with huge temples and shrines, many of them hundreds of years old. With flowers and trees in blossom everywhere and well off the beaten track of ‘tourist’ Japan, it was so quiet and peaceful and completely the opposite of Shinjuku station. I spent some time in total solitude looking for Funakoshi’s shrine. Unlike Oyama’s shrine; I had no clue what I was looking for. I must have looked a puzzled, western tourist as a Japanese man with near perfect English asked me what I was looking for. He knew exactly where the shrine was and started doing karate moves on our way to the shrine (!?). What a stroke of luck that this man had approached me. My new friend was great, he knew Funakoshi’s history and when we arrived at the shrine he translated all the Japanese writing for me.
The shrine was very plain and was put there in 1968 by Shotokan karate students to celebrate what would have been his hundredth birthday. It said he was a Bishop of Karate and instructed this art until he died. There may be other shrines to him around, I am sure his ashes are not at the shrine in Kamakura but have been unable to find out where he is buried (possibly on Okinawa).
My trip had been worthwhile; I had succeeded in finding the shrine. I am sure many karate practitioners have done this …. all with their own thoughts and reasons for doing so. History is one of my great passions; I wanted to go as far back as I could and this was probably it. I did enjoy the search it was quite an adventure!
Kamakura Cemetery & Sensi @ Gichin Funakoshi’s Shrine
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August 27th, 2007 Sensei Stuart Wright
Having turned 50 years young this year I celebrated this mammoth landmark by going to Japan with sanpai Helen. Japan is a country that we had wanted to visit for many years. We toured the main island of Honshu travelling around 1400 miles mainly by Bullet train but using all forms of public transport. I took my gi on the off chance that I may get some time to train.
We travelled to Mount Mitsumune which is four hours north of Tokyo by a combination of Bullet train, local train, bus and lots of walking! Mount Mitsumine is in a national park; along with beautiful scenery, there is an area of shrines to various people, including warriors, philosophers, poets, politicians that, over the years, Japanese governments felt should be honoured for their contribution to Japanese society.
Masutasu Oyama has a shrine there, hence our journey to Mount Mitsumine. The shrine was constructed shortly after Oyama died. I had only ever seen a couple of pictures of the shrine and knew very little more about it. If you can picture the scene after four hours travelling we came to the bottom of a mountain, and were the only two people there, it was raining heavily and we were armed with a map in Japanese showing us where the shrines were located. Not speaking or reading Japanese we started to climb up the small track leading to what we hoped would be Masutatsu Oyama’s shrine. There were hundreds of shrines on the way. I knew there was a photo of Masutatsu Oyama on his shrine so we would recognise it when we saw it! The rain turned to heavy snow, it was getting dusk, we had a four hour journey to get back to the hotel and we did feel at one stage we were not going to have enough time to find it. Having read that all Japanese speak English we were delighted to find a small party of Japanese tourists on the mountain. However these Japanese did not speak English … they all recognised Oyama’s name and knew of him but not where his shrine was.
We kept walking and climbing and looking in the hope that we would find it. Just as we were thinking this was not going to be our day…. there it was! The shrine is very tasteful; not that large; quite plain in fact, this did delight us as we did not want to see a razzmatazz all dancing one. We were at the shrine for some time taking photos and appreciating the moment in the spiritual eerie, stillness of the mountain. I put on my gi and sat in mokosu in front of the shrine. The snow was still coming down and the light had nearly gone …. I performed Tensho kata both as a personal meditation and a tribute to Kancho. Having performed the kata at the World Tournament with all my contempories and Hanshi Steve Arneil in memory of Kancho and knowing that it was Kancho’s favourite kata …. it was a great feeling to be at his shrine doing the same …. one I shall remember always.
Sensei Stuart and Sanpai Helen @ Masutatsu Oyama’s Shrine
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June 24th, 2007 Admin
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