By Martin E. Hansen, Member until 2018
Many of you may have looked at the activity calendar and seen the following "Special training - chief instructor M. Hansen of Kaicho and Shihan-dai", but what does it cover? Is it secret and mysterious disciplines such as flying, Santa training, throwing flour (an old ninja trick) and other absolutely necessary techniques? NO – but almost !!. This of course covers regular training, as we have it at T-camps etc., but also personal mental training. The last is extremely interesting and will be the subject of this article, where I will describe a day of special training under the heavy wings of Kimu Sensei!
It is 1.30pm on Tuesday 7 January, the snow is heavy over the Danish countryside, but I have to leave for special training with Kimu Sensei at 15.00 and therefore runs in good time. The trip to Egebjerg in Ballerup went very smoothly, I almost skated away on wide rims and low profile (haven't had time to change to winter rollers). 14.58 I ring the doorbell at Kimu Sensei's. It's always nice to be on time, I probably haven't heard that there are Jokokan prizes for being late to special training, but you never know!! The special training starts with an absolutely necessary discipline in Jokokan – drinking coffee and cake. We must have the time until 16.45 beaten to death, usually Kimu Sensei chooses to focus on my personal problems and thoughts - you can't hide anything either !!!! But eventually my problems are not so big anymore (it has also taken time and cost blood, sweat, tears, frustrations) so the conversation quickly turned to my future in Jokokan and Yakami. In order not to make the expectations of myself too high, we started by talking about my future as a 5th dan and the transition to Menkyo, it's nice to have something to stand against. We also talked quite a bit about what is going on in Jokokan in general and in the individual schools as well as the positions of trust I now hold and their function, but more on this in future articles. Suddenly time flew by and we leave Kimu Sensei's home and skate down to Egebjerg School, where we also have to meet Jens Shihan at 16.45. It was the idea that we should train at the school, but when we arrive it turns out that the school was closed probably because of term exams. We could have practiced various techniques on the school's equipment in order to gain access to the training facilities, but we chose to put cold water into our blood. The next problem turned out to be Jens Shihan's unique abilities as a tracker !!! We hadn't seen anything about him yet and resorted to the mobile phone, where we learned that he had gotten lost inside the school grounds (it was probably also dark and he hasn't lived in Ballerup that long). It ended up that the training was canceled and Kimu Sensei decided that we took some more theory at his address instead. On the way back (approx. 800 m.) we ran into a traffic chaos, with a huge queue of cars, we thought there had been a serious accident or similar, but guess who in a big silver gray Audi blocked an entire road, while he was talking on the mobile phone? Was it a German? – no, was it an old man smoking a cigar? - no, was it Jens Shihan? - YES !!!!. Something confused, and after Jens Shihanhad found a parking space for his car in the neighborhood, we had better drink some more coffee.
The next few hours turned into a very in-depth conversation about how to develop within Yakami, personally I couldn't contribute much, but I could learn from what two very experienced martial artists had to say. It was quite nice that two people could contribute their experience, and it touched me deeply when it dawned on me that it was only for my sake and so that I wouldn't make the same "mistake" as they had done. It shows what should reflect everything and everyone in the organization – we are there for each other and we help each other. Great respect and a special thank you to Kimu Sensei and Jens Shihan who have so far meant a lot in my development both within Yakami and on a personal mental level, but it's the same thing!!!! An eventful day ended at 18.30, where I could mentally turn my nose towards Slagelse and Korsør and breathe in the new "morning air" that will take me further into the uncertain future and towards new goals that must be met.
I hope the above has piqued the interest of all readers and increased the enthusiasm for training in the various schools. Tell others about the article so we can make better use of the website. In the coming time, I will present you with a series of 3 articles covering my personal development and training on mod 1st dan Yakami Taijutsu. You can start to rejoice, the articles will change everyone's perception of what Jokokan and Yakami can be.
