Build update

I just realised how long it has been since I last posted an update on the dojo build. My only excuse is simply that there's been a lot going on over the past couple of months and doesn't time fly! So how is the dojo coming along I hear you ask? Well we have been training regularly in jujitsu and goshinjitsu at the Budokan in Naha for several months now and have a good core group attending regularly. I'm very happy with the effort and progress the guys are making and they obviously enjoy the sessions. There's a lot, lot more I want to do to explore, learn and teach but that's a whole other very long conversation. However turning to the dojo construction project at my house things have slowed down considerably due to lack of time and money. The quotes to get a contractor in to do the build were just too expensive so its back to the self build option. But the process of scouting around for quotes and meeting various people in the local building trade here has given me a few good contacts. I have been asking these guys to keep an eye out for excess or recycled building materials so I can keep costs down to a minimum. So as batches of materials become available I will nab them on the cheap and build bit by bit as it becomes possible. So how long until the dojo is built? It could be a while but in a way I quite like the idea of that, building it bit by bit, by hand. Both English and Japanese languages share the sentiment of the value of 'putting your heart into something' (in Japanese kokoro komette tsukuru) to produce something special. I would like to feel I had done that with my dojo.

Job done!

Victory!! - the offending concrete pillar is no more. And what's more I managed to remove it without sending cracks down into the rest of the house (phew!). So major step 1 in prepping the dojo space is done and just in time as we will move into the house this weekend. Finally we get into our own house and home:).

The open mat space in the dojo is going to be at least 6 x 7 metres which should be plenty of room to practice those 'big' sacrifice throws we all love, not to mention weapons work with the 6ft bo staff. I can't wait to get this built!

Getting back to the saga of the 3 day battle with the concrete pillar for just a moment, I was reminded of another principle of combat when the pillar finally fell. I had attacked the pillar systematically, knowing that just pounding it with the hammer randomly would never get me anywhere (well not for a very very long time anyway). So I worked around the base of it, chipping away its support piece by piece, chopping out the steel bars and then finally it cracked at the base and fell over under its own weight. A perfect example of 'kuzushi' - which in martial arts terms describes the unbalancing of an opponent through the process of putting them in a position where their stability and ability to recover balance is destroyed.  The noun comes from the verb kuzusu meaning to level, pull down or demolish.

Without well executed kuzushi, attempting to throw an opponent ,especially one who is bigger than you or resisting the throw, becomes extremely difficult and usually requires sheer brute strength to pull off. Kuzushi can be achieved a number of different ways (positioning, using the opponents momentum against them, by striking or even feinting or distracting the opponent) and I find an active awareness of 'kuzushi' is equally essential in both karate and jujitsu training. Good 'kuzushi' enables even an opponent who seems to made of concrete to be beaten with ease!

Immovable object vs irresistable force - day 2

After several hours of work I now have what I can best describe as a concrete and steel spider sculpture. Having stripped out the 12 internal bars, removing 4 completely I'm down to the core concrete which is only about 50cms thick so that should be a breeze! (not). While working away at this task I have been thinking about the Japanese term 'nintai' which means endurance or perseverance.

Traditional Japanese martial arts often refer to 'nintai' as a very worthy value and essential to cultivate as a martial artist and improved human being. And the character 'nin' is also a very beautiful, balanced character containing the characters for sword and heart within it. I have decided the character 'nin' will be prominent in my dojo to remind me daily of lifelong 'nintai' as well as the tasks involved in building this place.

Immovable object vs. irresistable force

Step one in the dojo build: Remove the re-enforced concrete pillar from the future mat space. This lump of concrete and steel has been here immovable for over 30 years since the house was first built and is fact the top of one of the major support pillars for the whole building. It hasn't visibly weathered in any way at all (good news for the house) and I suspect will be an absolute bitch to take the top off. My tools - angle grinder, trusty sledge hammer and a relentless inability to accept defeat!

The tricky part is that I absolutely do not want to crack this pillar below the level of this floor for obvious reasons. So getting this wrong could put a rather serious dent in all the very expensive renovation work which has been going on the in the house below. I can't just smash this thing with abandon. This needs somewhat of a surgical approach albeit applied with a sledge hammer!...

...3 hours in and I have confirmed 2 things I suspected. One - this thing is packed with 20mm steel bars, no wonder the house has stood up to 30 years of Okinawan typhoons and tropical rainstorms so robustly. And two - this job is going to take 2 or 3 days and plenty of blisters and plasters!

well at least the weather is fine and I'm not stuck behind a desk;)