During the weekend of the 2nd to 3rd of November, the Karlstad Shibu organised a gasshuku (training camp) in Karlstad. There was training on Saturday and Sunday and there were participants from most of the Swedish Shorinji Kemp branches, as well as two participants from Finland..

The instructors for the weekend was Karlstad Shibu’s Shibu-chō, Anders Pettersson Daikenshi 6 Dan, and Karlstads Studenter’s Shibu-chō, Åke Olsson Seikenshi 5 Dan.

The Gasshuku started on Saturday morning with a focus on kihon. Anders-sensei first went through several tan’en hōkei (single forms) and their sōtai (pair) versions. Then Åke-sensei followed up with practice of applications based on these, with the use of dō (torso protectors) and mits.

After lunch on Saturday, it was time for hōkei training. First part was Anders-sensei teaching and he went through some basic hōkei and sorted out the different variations of ura and omote for various hōkei, etc. Then it was divided up into kyūkenshi and yūdansha (black belts) where Anders-sensei and Åke-sensei taught half the time in each group until the day ended.

That evening we had dinner together and socialised. It’s always nice to talk to friends from various Shorinji Kempo branches.

The Sunday had a focus on embu and un’yōhō (randori).

Anders-sensei showed a number of exercises for how to throw and ukemi (break falls) when thrown. Then the focus was on practice a couple of kōsei (embu sequences) that all kenshi practised and then all had to do demonstrate.

After lunch the training was on understanding how to apply different hōkei, to get an understanding of whether one can use a hōkei from zenkutsu dachi (weight forward) or from kōkutsu dachi (the weight back), etc. Better understanding that makes it easier to establish a strategy (senjutsu sōsei) when doing randori.

Then the day finished with a Q&A session where all participating kenshi could ask questions about techniques and then try out these techniques. There was a spread of techniques from basic kyū level up to the techniques for 6 dan.

All participants seem to have appreciated the gasshuku.