ANDRE BERTEL - KAPITI COAST, NEW ZEALAND - 2024 SEMINAR

On February 17th and 18th I taught a Seminar on the Kapiti Coast, in the North Island of New Zealand. The event was organized and hosted by Allan Youl Sensei (3rd Dan) and his organization, KKA Karate Academy. Here is a link to their official website:

www.kka.co.nz


On a personal note…The last time I was in that region of the country, I was competing there, which was all the way back in 1993, which was also the year when I first went to went to Japan to train. Thus, my beginnings with Asai Tetsuhiko Sensei. So it was a full circle, so to speak.

This seminar also marked the 10th Anniversary of the KKA Karate Academy, so I’d like to once again offer my congratulations to Allan Sensei and all of his members. おめでとうございます！！！

In regards to the seminar content, as I have not been in New Zealand for several years many of the kihon, drills and fundamentals points overlapped with the South Island/Christchurch course (a week earlier); that being said, several other aspects were worked on, as it was my first time to teach there.

As promised, the kata was different. As it was my first-time teaching in Kapiti (and many of the karateka were unfamiliar with Asai Sensei’s advanced extension JKA-style Shotokan) I used 鶴翼初段 (Kakuyoku Shodan) to connect the dots between kihon and jissen-kumite —via this kata—and its respective 応用 (Oyo).

To reiterate, a key point was Nakayama Masatoshi Sensei’s differentiation between 分解 (Bunkai) and 応用 (Oyo). This aspect is critical in physical training for Shotokan to be the highly effective self-defense art that it is (as opposed to merely being a form of ‘fist kendo’). The karateka attending clearly embraced this point, especially pertaining to the practical use of our art.

Overall, it was great to share classical applications of Shotokan, from the pre-WW2 /pre-competition era; in sum, a return to the ‘self-defense focused’ karate of Funakoshi Gichin Sensei. It is my hope that “…while we strongly hang on to the advancements of karate in the more recent decades, that we work together to preserve the bujutsu knowledge of the past”.

I really enjoyed working with all of participants in the seminar and, in addition to budo/bujutsu karate practice, there was plenty of great camaraderie; furthermore, no politics!

Unambiguously, this was again reflective of Allan Sensei and his team, and also all the other clubs/organizations who attended.

As a fellow student of Karate-Do, I want to offer each and every one of you a big 押忍 (Osu) from Japan. - ABよろしくお願いします！
André Bertel


To watch the YouTube video click on the following link. Any comments, especially from the seminar participants, would be appreciated.


© André Bertel. Oita City, Japan (2024).