The seasons march on and the cherry blossom has appeared

 

Happy days - the cherry blossom has started to come out here in the garden below the dojo. Okinawa, being the mildest region in Japan, always sees the blossom earliest and this year its right on cue, if not a little early. Its lovely and when the seven cherry trees in the garden are in full bloom it will be a wonderful sight and we are going to have a steady stream of friends and family popping round to enjoy it. But I'm also reminded of the famously fleeting nature of cherry blossom, it really doesn't last very long at all, and time is marching on. I have had a couple of quotes in since my last post, one for timber frame, the other for steel frame, and frankly they are both way above my budget. So its time to rethink the design a little bit and ask myself what I really need and want to achieve, as well as get creative and look for ways to either find cheaper alternative partners or drive the prices down. I think I can negotiate down the quotes I have received somewhat but its hard to know the margins and levers in this local market so I'm reaching out to new friends and contacts here for help and advice.

The good news is that I have 20 straw tatami mats arriving next week. This adds to the 10 or so I already have put aside from the house renovation. One of the guys at the karate club is a tatami maker and he has very kindly offered to help by bringing around old tatami mats collected from clients when they refurbish their homes. My plan is to try out a double layer dojo floor with old thick straw tatami mats as the base secured in a frame with 20mm EVA jigsaw mats on top. Usually on a concrete floor you would want 40mm EVA mats to have a good protective cushion for breakfalling but the prices out here are astronomical so going for 20mm will save me a lot of money. I'll test out the combination at some point next week so lets hope it does the job!

Back to thoughts on slimmed down redesign of the dojo. What do I need? Ideally all I really need to do is make the space rain and typhoon proof. If I can't achieve that then all the mats will need to come up every time it rains which is going to be at the very least a pain in the neck (but would be a good workout!). So what if I go for a design that requires a sturdy frame and permanent roof and some side panels but leave more open spaces that can be covered by waterproofed heavy bamboo roll blinds? This will bring down the material costs quite a bit. I can also cut costs by doing as much of the work myself as possible - so the north porch and bridge for instance - I hope Eugene is good with DIY!

Its a new year - time to get cracking!

Things have been on hold on the dojo construction over New Year as we settled into our new home and enjoyed a steady stream of friends and family visitors. But that has also worked out well as I've made a friend who is in the building trade here and very keen to help out with getting the dojo up and running, and another friend who is a carpenter by trade although he works as an english teacher here. And I've had some fun tracking down bits and pieces of training kit including some alternative stuff such as tractor tyres, sledge hammers, ropes, sledges and sand bags as well as some good old fashioned weights and barbell.
My new builder friend is very kindly taking me to a steel frame fabrication company this week to get some quotes so if the price is right this might be the way we go. There are some advantages over a timber frame in terms of strength and quick assembly time (they prefabricate it offsite) but I still prefer a wood frame from an aesthetic perspective so the final decision is yet to come but I can't hang on much longer. At the very least I hope to get the hanging brackets made up for the heavy bags by these guys we will see on Thursday. Fingers crossed!