HOITSUGAN SEMINARS 2005 REVISITED
by M. Berger

The sun was setting and a bonfire blazed as we walked up the stairs to the dojo that overlooked the gently crashing waves of the historic harbor in San Pedro, California. Originally named the Cabrillo Beach Bath House, the facility was built in 1930, and was utilized for the 1932 Olympics. Now it was home of my dojo, the Ken Zen Ichi Kan, and  site for the first of more than twenty hours of instruction at the 2^nd Annual Hoitsugan Seminars. 

The Hoitsugan Dojo originated in 1972, as Nakayama Sensei’s own private dojo, at the building where he lived near Ebisu station in Tokyo. It attracted karate practitioners from across the world, who were able to come there and live in small dormitory style rooms that enabled them to live and train in Japan. In 2004, one the longtime residents there, Jon Keeling, envisioned a reunion of sorts that would allow all of us to get together and teach a series of seminars so that we might preserve what we had all learned together, and explore new ideas that we had come upon in our own courses of training. In 2004, the first Hoitsugan Seminars were held in San Francisco. Now, Glen Michel, James Yabe and I were the hosts, in beautiful Southern California…

I walked upstairs and bowed into the dojo, the breeze blowing the sound of the waves and smell of the sea inside.  I was greeted immediately by Sensei Malcolm Fisher, whom I had first met in 1984 at the Katsuura Gasshuku outside of Tokyo. Sensei Fisher, who was one of few foreigners ever to complete the JKA Instructor Training program, would be one of the talented group that would include many of the top Shotokan teachers in the world – a group that would include myself, Sensei Kensuke Seto, James Field, Steve Ubl, Richard Amos and others . I had not seen Malcolm in over 20 years.

The room began to fill with participants, and I would be teaching the first class. At the request of Jon Keeling, the new host for the year’s event was to kickoff the training.

It was so exciting to see so many participants, with our dojo nearly full to capacity. It was like a dream come true to me; I had had always dreamed of our dojo being so full of students and spirit. My class consisted of some fundamental kihon , or basic training, and was a good warm-up for the class that followed by Seto Sensei .

Seto Sensei is the technical director of the Japan Karate Association for Tokyo, and a member of the JKA Shihan-kai . I had met him two or three years ago while I was in Tokyo training, and was asked to assist as a judge at the JKA All – Tokyo Karate Championships.

Seto Sensei’s class was understandably even more crowded than mine, with nearly fifty people in attendance. His class covered aspects of timing, intention, and distance, and was an excellent finale to the first night. He shared thoughts from Miyamoto Mushashi and executed drills to demonstrate his points perfectly.

At the conclusion of our very successful first night, Glen Michel, Victor Young ( who was hosting Seto Sensei in Camarillo and so kindly agreed to share his time with us ) , and Seto Sensei invited me to the San Pedro Brewing Company for refreshments. I had a wonderful time visiting with them all.

The next morning we moved to our facility at Peck Park, where I arrived at about 8:30 am . Our volunteers were getting set up, with banners, water, juice, t-shirts, books, videos, etc. It was great to see Bob and Sandy Smith, Lisa Michaels, Michio and Sean Michel, Kathy Cavendar, and all of the others I know that I am forgetting that came to help. We certainly could not have done it without you.

I got dressed and moved into the training area where I prepared to videotape Bob Ehling’s class on age-barai . Bob did a great job of articulating the nuances of an unusual blocking sequence that he had learned from Asai Sensei. We all have our unique personalities, and Bob is no exception. He was well prepared and his delivery to a relatively small group that morning was both informative and humorous.

I followed Bob teaching at 10 am, and a few more people began to trickle in . We even had people from as far away as Florida attend. My class consisted of uke-waza , blocking techniques, and I introduced a lot of soft blocking techniques that are not typically seen much in the Shotokan curriculum.

We all took a break for lunch from .and then returned for more training ! ! !  Sensei Malcolm Fisher and Sensei Fed Borda began with dual sessions at two o’clock, the more advanced people and beginning people having their respective opportunities to learn with two knowledgeable teachers. Malcolm covered foot movements to attack or to absorb attack, while Fred focused on basics for the lower ranks.

At 3 pm we were honored to have Sensei James Field, one of the most senior ranking non-Japanese karate teachers in the world. We were so privileged. I had not seen Sensei in more than ten years, and Steve Ubl had not seen him for about thirty years. It was special to be a part of that reunion.

Jon Keeling taught at the same time that Field Sensei did. Jon is remarkable with his knowledge of the body mechanics and biophysics of karate. He is a great teacher, and obviously the catalyst that made this whole event happen. His passion for karate is unbelievable, and he is a tireless worker. It was great seeing him teach on several occasions; I learned a lot.

The next teacher of the day was Yabe Sensei , one of our co-hosts, from here in Southern California. His visit to train in Japan pre-date the Hoitsugan Dojo opening , but Yabe Sensei was a top student of the JKA and Nishiyama Sensei for many many years. His knowledge and teaching style was superb.

At the same time Yabe Sensei was teaching, Sensei Aaron Hoopes taught a wonderfully unique class in Qigong Breathing and Moving Meditation. Aaron has incorporated his understanding of the breath and yoga into his training regime. He is both strong and supple, and able to apply soft techniques efficiently. He is an accomplished author as well, and offered his books at the seminars. Everyone found his seminars to be useful and a nice change from all of the hard training.

Steve Ubl was the final teacher on Friday. Steve is really unique and has really made karate his own. He was the first resident ( and the only resident at that time ) at the Hoitsugan Dojo, and a personal student of Nakayama Sensei. During his relatively short stay in Japan, Nakayama Sensei taught him alone, and shared some unique aspects of karate with Steve. Steve is exceptionally strong and knowledgeable about kata bunkai, real budo. More importantly, he is such a humble guy and a great friend.

That evening we all met for dinner at the San Pedro Brewing Company in the old part of historic San Pedro. It was a great time visiting with everyone while enjoying some great food and drink .

 Saturday just got better and better. Sensei Jon Keeling began teaching the first seminar, which focused on the mechanics of alignment. Jon has a great understanding of body mechanics and beautiful kihon, and used the bo to demonstrate proper alignment of the stance with the punch. I found his seminar to be very informative and his presentation to be unique and enjoyable.

Malcolm and Steve split the next sessions. It was a tough for some of the students to choose between these two great instructors. Malcolm taught “The Riddle of Heian Shodan,”enlightening us with some unique perspectives on Heian Shodan, the kata that Nakayama Sensei often said must be mastered deeply to truly understand Shotokan, while Steve presented “Fundamentals” in his unique way, often demonstrating the powerful nature of application of the techniques. Both were outstanding. 

The day continued with Yabe Sensei’s “Advanced Kumite,” Sensei Glen Michel and “Dynamic Hip Rotation,” “Ippon Kumite,” by Sensei Eric Passoja , and more technical weight shifting exercises by Jon Keeling. In addition, Field Sensei returned with more kumite combinations, Steve continued with more advanced kata application, and I introduced a variety of soft blocking techniques and “Sasoi-waza,” inviting an opponent to attack and seizing the initiative.

We had reservations that evening at a great Mexican restaurant right on the harbor, where we sat outside and watched the passing ships as we indulged ourselves after two and half days now of hard training…it was another opportunity for all of us to catch up, to discuss the future of karate, and to debate technical points of techniques.

The sun came up early Sunday morning, and I accompanied Bob and Sandy to Peck Park early to make sure we were all set up there. We had a store set up where people could purchase our t-shirts, videotapes, books, and cold drinks.

Sunday morning Sensei Richard Amos arrived, and I was finally introduced to him in the lobby before the seminars. We had anticipated our meeting for many years, since the time we were in Japan together. It was wonderful to meet Richard and to see that he was such a kind and humble guy, truly an example of karate-do. We trained together in Sunday mornings “Zen Kumite” class , taught by Sensei Aaron Hoopes, and had a great time with Aaron’s great exercises. At 10 am Richard taught kihon and kata, and introduced us to a new kata developed by Asai Sensei, Suishu. The kata emphasized many soft movements not seen in shotokan, and fighting applications which we practiced in groups of three so as to understand all of the applications. It was outstanding, and Sensei’s teaching style was both encouraging and well developed.

The day continued with the likes of Malcolm Fisher, James Yabe, Steve Ubl. In addition, Sensei Fred Borda taught a well organized class on kihon. I taught a smaller group the principles of shifting, distance,timing and footwork, and Richard followed my class, coincidentally nearly duplicating some of the content and picking up perfectly where I had left off with a great series of kumite exercises. It was a perfect segway, and seemed to really work well for those who had participated in both classes.

The day concluded with a demanding class taught once again by Sensei James Field. We were all pretty tired and finished on spirit alone. It was a great feeling, but the ending was bittersweet….

In ending, I felt like the Hoitsugan Seminar II was a great success, and one of the best karate events I have ever attended in over 25 years of training. It was an honor to be one of the co-hosts. The team that made this happen, headed up by Sensei Glen Michel, deserves all the credit…. There are too many names to mention here, but you all know who you are….

The rewards of being the host are heartfelt, and the feeling is impossible to describe. I would really encourage anyone considering hosting next year’s event to go for it ! 

We are working on the production of a DVD of the event, and still have t-shirts !    Please don’t hesitate to keep in touch….    OSS !    m.berger