Yesterday, for the first time this year, I held an Eikenkai session at my work dojo. Twenty-one friends gathered together representing something like ten countries (Japan, China, Scotland, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Croatia, America, and New Zealand) for a spirited morning of keiko.
A couple of us arrived at the dojo at 7:30am-ish to practice some kata and set things up for the others, who duly started to roll into the dojo after 9. The session itself was split in two: 40mins of kihon then, after a break, just over an hour of jigeiko. There was also time for some post-keiko keiko for people that still had the energy!
Participants were from a mix of dojo and there was a wide range of experience levels (eight of the participants were 6 or 7th dan, whilst two had less than a year of experience), which made for a rewarding session for all involved.
I was on my feet keiko-ing from start to finish so I only managed to get a few shots to share towards the very end of the jigeiko session. Anyway, check them out:
As Japan has finally opened up and concern over the pandemic is waning (a little) I hope that I will be visited by guests travelling to Japan on Musha-Shugyo soon. I actually had two visitors come already (one from Germany, another from Poland; another, from the U.K. is visiting in December) but neither coincided with todays session unfortunately. Anyway, if you are travelling through Osaka for keiko and wish to get in touch, please do so. Cheers!
