Training with a chief instructor/seishan: experiences

[bushido_man96]

I've had a few seminars and classes with the head of our organization. They are pretty much just classes, but with the head guy. He'll give a chat after testings and such, and I always listen closely. Other than that, just another class.

[honoluludesktop]

My first oppertunity came the when the founder of the ryu I trained in came to Hawaii for a visit in the mid 60's. Back then I was young, brash, and thought, "what could I possibly learn from that old fart".

As I grew up, I never made that mistake again. Hmmm,,,,,hope I am not repeating myself.

[JohnASE]

... The simple weight of it... To go from feeling worthless to feeling, even on a bad day, like I was worth the same as anyone else I encounter in life... To finally be pushed.

At that moment I decided that I would never stop training.

Since then I never have.

Excellent example of the lasting impact an instructor can have on a student! You really bring your posts to life!

[ChristianeHigashi]

Nice to see everyones amazing responses.

I trained with Peter Spanton! for 2 days last month. he came to Wales from London.

I've had the pleasure to get taught by him before but now that i'm older i realize how much of a big deal it is.

Such an amazing experience.

We trained ona thursday night 7-8.30 and over 20 dan grades showed up which was awesome & a fair few kyu grades [inc me]

lots of difficult combinations etc and then saturday was an all day course. Absolutely amazing would never say no to an opportunity to train with him. MACHINE! aha

[ramymensa]

Have trained for few weeks with our organization 'boss', a shihan who's good friends with my sensei. So we've known him for long. He trains only the 'elite', our mates who go to competitions and usually win them

Training with him wasn't a pleasure though, since he tends to be a little aggressive. I'm not interested in competing, so I stuck to training at our main dojo instead.

[Kuma]

I've been fortunate enough to have been training Kyokushin weekly with Kancho John Farrell, an original student of both Shigeru Oyama and Sosai Oyama himself, for about eight months now. Training with a high ranking instructor can be very eye opening, especially one like Kancho who can not only look right at you and see exactly what you are doing incorrectly but also fix you and have you doing it right in just a few minutes. I would venture to say I've seen my skills improve by at least 50% since January, and that is no overestimation.

[NRShukokai]

HI,

When I started training in Canberra about 20yrs ago, was graded a number of times by our Head of Style Sensei Alan Murdoch 7th Dan (Last grading was 4th Kyu, before leaving Canberra) Sensei Alan was very approachable and took the time to help all students.

Recommenced training 9yrs later, and was graded to 2nd Kyu in March 2006 by Sensei Alan again, hadn't changed. Regrettable, Sensei Alan passed away November of same year. Since then have been graded to Nidan by Sensei Ennio 5th Dan.

May 2010 trained with Ishitobi Sensei Shihan 8th Dan in Melbourne. Sensei Ennio told us that if Ishitobi Sensei made corrections to your stance or technique, then he thought you were putting in the effort and worth training. I was fortunately corrected a couple of times during the weekend.

May 2011, second training session with Ishitobi Sensei AND Yamada Sensei Hanshi. Ishitobi Sensei took the time to correct some of my kata as the kata had changed from what I was originally taught, then used me later for bunkai demonstration. Neck hurt for two days from his "Gentle" strikes demonstrating some Matsumura no Rohi bunkai.

Very friendly and always willing to answer any question we had. Yamada Sensei watched from the sidelines, as he doesn't speak very much english, but signed my copy of his Kata manual and also my training record book. Can't wait for thier return next year