Kagami Biraki

[nanook660]

In the New Year our Dojo will be doing Kagami Biraki and all are invited to attend. From what I see online this is very grueling. It's a day long.

I was wondering what is Kagami Biraki?

If one is a Beginner can they participate too or is this for the more experienced?

Fran

[Shotokan-kez]

I have never heard of this, have you tried googling it? Sounds interesting though.

[DWx]

Wikipedia says its rice cakes and sake. I could deal with that

[tallgeese]

Sake.....you're a better person than I. I still have ni ghtmares about the stuff from my bb ceremony.

That being said, I don't know the name of it, but some trad schools observe some kind of old priniciple of taking a signifigant day out of the year and training past their limits as a way to push themselves and see where they've come. It's really not a bad idea at all I t hink.

I don't remember what it's called off the top of my head. Morgan talks about it in his book, Living the Martial Way. Maybe it's that?

[joesteph]

From the Wikipedia source DWx referred to:

Many Japanese martial arts dojo use the Kagami Biraki ceremony to signify their first practice of the New Year.

Maybe it's something to look forward to, nanook660; find out more and it may be a martial arts celebration by your Sensei, not something to dread.

[nanook660]

Today was our New Years Training Day and it was fun. What a workout.

Biraki training literally means, “to open the mirror”. It is also called “Kagami Wari” meaning “break mirror”. The mirror represents the soul or conscience. This heavy and grueling training is seen as a way to clarify your thoughts and strengthen your dedication in the coming year. All Belt Levels do the same thing.

Now I have to wait a whole year to do it again. We did an intense warm up and then we did intense drills. One Drill I have trouble with is Maegeri when Sensei calls out the directions and we change direction. It is different then what I am used to we just do up and down. Pair works is not my favourite due to the fact that I am now at George's Level and he is bigger, stronger and does not seem to have his control down yet. His hits hurt. He does not do light taps. We did a lot of sparring. I love sparring and am getting better at it. I like faking and am getting a handle on that. I am still classified as a Beginner with Sparring and when I Spar with the guys I can attack and they just defend my hits. That is only when I go up against a higher Belt. Today I learned Pinan Yondan. That is Brown Belt Level Kata.

It was a great training Session and I felt good after. I really like Karate. Well gang this Karate Student is tired she had a busy day so I am heading to bed.

OYASUMINASAI

Fran