All people know how to push things in front of themselves and at some point it piles up to a size that can be difficult to manage.
This is precisely the reason why Shindenkan, for the first time in 10 years, set the first month of 2016 as an opportunity for members who are missing courses to take the missing courses and thus get the opportunity to progress in their graduation process. All the courses in January have been posted to help the members and they had been posted on the website since November 2015. This was as a follow-up to all the national and local information meetings from October, 2015 so that everyone could plan well in advance.
Since the introduction of Shindenkan's new transparent graduation process, the focus has been on bringing everyone up to level according to their degree and the new graduation process. This also means that a course like Ju-Jutsu 2 is a "must have course" for everyone who is going to graduate 7th kyu for the next graduation. It was exciting in the week leading up to the start of the course, when registrations started coming in. There is usually room for 30 participants on a ju-jutsu course. This is due to the space and use of mats, which under normal circumstances is limited to 30 participants. But when the first two chief instructors had forwarded approx. It took 29 registrations to find a solution, because the arrow pointed in the direction that this course would be a registration success.
The last courses in 2015 were Ju-jutsu 1 and KataFit courses which had 35 and 85 participants respectively. So there was something to live up to in terms of the number of participants, and when the last registration had come in, it was also a great joy to be able to announce that 51 had signed up for the ju-jutsu 2 course in 2016 - it was absolutely fantastic and there was a party planned 🙂
The instructor staff was very quickly expanded from one to three more, and the team set about planning the roles based on Kimu Sensei's guidelines and original course content.
A Ju-jutsu 2 course is a course in understanding the sensations, feelings and principles behind being able to throw another person and then be able to make a joint lock. The course builds on Ju-Jutsu 1 and opens the door to Ju-Jutsu 3.
Ju-Jutsu is a very important part of the multi-track training practiced at Shindenkan, and there was seriousness to be seen on the faces of those in attendance this Sunday afternoon when courses were held. The seriousness is perhaps mostly due to nervousness about what would happen, because most people have probably seen various "Youtube" clips and other clips from films that show different throwing techniques. But like everything else in Shindenkan, everything happens step by step – this also applies to a great extent to Ju-Jutsu 2. Safety is paramount even if the comfort zones are challenged in different ways. A few of the participants had also taken part in Saturday's IK1 and IK2 courses and had also tried to be challenged there, so they were a little tender but completely ready for this course.
In order to have room for 51 registrants, it was decided to investigate the possibilities of a larger hall and more mats. This was achieved thanks to the Jokokan Ballerup Karate school, which had the right connections in this situation. A big thank you must go out for quick response and good cooperation across schools.
The Ju-Jutsu 2 course contains both Ryugi and Ryuha - i.e. theory, philosophy and practical training. After approx. 50 minutes Ryugi it was time for training in the dojo. You would think that on a dark Sunday afternoon there would be weariness to be found among the participants, but there was not. They were full of energy, and it was kept up well throughout the process. After warming up and ukemi (fall training), it was time for the first throwing technique. As it had just been Christmas, reference was made to having to lift a large sack of Christmas presents onto one's shoulder. It made sense to most people because after almost an hour of throwing, it became more and more clear to most people how the first throw should be performed. However, there were some who found it difficult to refer to a sack of Christmas presents, so a sack of potatoes was used instead – you must be from an agricultural country 🙂
The first throw is from Jodan height (shoulder), but in the learning process the shoulder is moved down towards the floor, as the person throwing performs the same technique as if he or she performed a forward roll fall. Does it sound simple? If so, come along to the next ju-jutsu 2 course and find out how it all fits together..
The second and third throws also went well. It was a throw from hip height and the last a balance break and leg sweep, i.e. Restore height. Today's last technique is a joint lock. It is always fantastic to see the smiles on the participants when they find out how a technique fits together and works.
There were also a number of people who found out during the course that kataFit is actually also part of Ju-Jutsu 2. It's amazing how everything is connected 🙂
It was a collection of used but happy Ju-Jutsu 2 participants who could drive home with a clear conscience this Sunday. They had done a good job and had found that elite comes from within and is about attitude in all phases of life – even when it is a dark January Sunday afternoon.
