From Saturday 26th of July jodoka’s from around the world converged on Vesc, a small village in southern France, to take part in the 9th International Jo Gasshuku. This event, held once every 3 years by the International Jodo Federation (IJF), was a success in all the ways. Teaching was lead by Nishioka Sensei, with his two foreign ‘menkyo kaiden’ (full teaching licence) holders – Phil Relnick and Pascal Krieger, and the two very experienced budoka’s and ‘menkyo’ (teaching licence) holders – Nobuko Relnick and Quentin Chambers.
With such a standard of teaching level, it was no surprise that the event was fully booked at least a month in advance. Many participants came from such distant places as Japan, Malaysia, Australia, Hawaii and Brazil. 125 practitioners attended this seminar, surpassing the number of previous seminars and giving an indication of the growing strength of the IJF.
The first day, dedicated to menkyo kaiden, saw the beginning of formal training by Nishioka Sensei with his two menkyo kaiden’s, Phil Relnick and Pascal Krieger (the only two non-Japanese practitioners who possess this certification). The other members of the Shinto Muso Ryu family started to arrive, get accommodated, become familiar with the wondrous surroundings (spacious lodging with large dining hall and a pool, set in the rolling mountains of southern France), and chatted.
The following day, Sunday, was dedicated to the members of the ryu. Members of the ryu, or of the family, possess the traditional certification of entry into the ryu (SMR being a traditional system of koryu in which there are no kyu/dan systems). Training started at 7 in the morning, and was dedicated to kihon. Emphasis was on the polishing of technical differences existing between practitioners from different countries, with the intention of unifying the style. After breakfast, the rest of the day was dedicated to demonstrating the first three series of kata: omote, chudan and ranai. This was done in pairs representing different geographical areas of the IJF: Europe, Brazil, U.S.A., Australia, Malaysia and Japan.
The seminar proper started on Monday. From this day training was split as follows.
We started the day at 6am, to practice kihon (basics), on the football field with a brilliant sun rising over the mountains. All practitioners, of every level, trained together, doing sotai dosa (paired kihon training). We finished at 8am to have breakfast in dining room… hardly finishing before finding ourselves again on the football field…for another 3 hours of training! In this training session, practitioners were divided into different groups according to their progress through the levels of the ryu. At noon we stopped again for lunch and to rest for a while. Giving us a chance to go to the pool… do laundry… or whatever we felt like.
The last part of daily training started theoretically at 3pm. We say theoretically because almost everyday QC was delighting us with a special class of the (in)famous ‘Quentin Chambers Pain Sticks’. By that, we refer to the techniques using tanjo of Kukishin-ryu. These classes were conducted for the hour preceding the afternoon’s jo training.
At 3pm we all met in the training hall to watch demonstrations of all the kata in the system of SMRJ (except the hidden techniques: go muso no jo). Apart from jodo, we also saw demonstrations of the associated arts of SMR: ken jutsu, tanjo jutsu, jutte jutsu and kusarigama jutsu. Of the last two, we only saw a selection of the kata due to the wide range of techniques, and little time available. All the associated arts were demonstrated except hojo jutsu (the art of tying/arresting). These demonstrations, of course, were performed by senior students within the ryu. At 4pm, back again on the now sunny football field, levels were again split for a further 2 hours of kata practice. Under the implacable sun of southern France, practioners were treated by refreshing breezes and plenty of drinks.
After dinner, the practitioners were free to rest after the day’s exertions… but many took the chance to enjoy the gorgeous evenings! After dinner, we were shown the exhilarating French game called ‘la petanc’, had the chance to share stories with Nishioka Sensei, had the opportunity to witness the Japanese calligraphy skills of Pascal Krieger, and of course enjoy French wine and cheese to our hearts content. The nights were made lively thanks to the story telling and singing of Brian, the Irish guy, and the French lady with the violin (we apologise in advance for not remembering your name!), giving practitioners a chance to move their bodies to some fold jigs!
Wednesday was the day of rest, from practice… as there was an organized excursion around the area. The day was spent visiting places of touristic and cultural interest, along with sampling French cuisine and wine. We came back as tired as if we had been training a long day on the field!
Friday was the silent day, or Musei no hi. From the moment of waking, practitioners were not allowed to talk. Nobody was excused, except of course Nishioka Sensei – ‘watashi wa sensei dakara!’… because I’m the sensei!!!). Unfortunately, he wasn’t allowed to have a translator, making our job of keeping up with Sensei’s explanations that much harder! This was a very interesting and fun experience, giving us a chance to update our body language and miming abilities. This had the result of everyone looking like Spanish or Italians, without all the noise that usually comes with them!
The silence led towards the final demonstrations of the gasshuku, lending a fitting atmosphere of serenity and focus. This gave practioners of all levels a chance to demonstrate the skills which they had been polishing during long hours of training. We also witnessed demonstrations with Nishioka Sensei, and members of the ryu took this opportunity to demonstrate the other arts they are practicing (including Katori Shinto Ryu, Kukishin Ryu, iaido and aikido).
Following the demonstration, participants were again allowed to talk and share the day’s experience. Unfortunately, this saw the end of the seminar proper, but was a great excuse for a final night of eating, drinking and merry making. The next morning the participants were slowly saying their goodbyes, and leaving shortly after the early morning keiko. Nishioka Sensei also departed for Paris at midday, from where he departed the next day with Relnick Sensei to participate in another gasshuku for another week in the U.S.A.
We will take the opportunity to thank Nishioka Sensei for again setting the technical standard, and explaining finer points to students in his naturally humble and good humoured manner. Thanks must also go to Pascal Krieger, Phil and Nobuko Relnick, Quentin Chambers, and to the senior European practitioners, who assisted in transmitting Sensei’s words and techniques to all. Special thanks and congratulations must go to Pascal Krieger and his European followers for organizing and implementing such a superb gasshuku.
We would like to finish with a few remarks from Nishioka Sensei:
“I think this is the first time participants from Japan have sent such report of the Gasshuku with the feeling of appreciation. This is the first time this has been done, so I think that it is meaningful and Mr. Pascal Krieger will be pleased with this.
I was very happy about the great success of the Gasshuku, and to express the gratitude from my heart for the great effort put in by the organisers and supporters of this event.”
