We had another great course with Sensei Tsukada this year. The Friday evening session was based around basic technique to generate more speed and power to punches and mae geri. After training we went to a local curry house. The Saturday session began two themes of the weekend. Firstly sei chu sen or ‘centre line’ in technique and in body position. The second theme was simultaneous blocking and punching or ‘machi no sen’ which is a feature of the kata Pachu that along with bunkai was the main part of the session. The session finished off with close range sparring in pairs then in fours and the everyone in what can only be described as a mass brawl! Saturday night we met in Worcester for a meal and a few drinks. The Sunday session was very interesting comparing Shotokan Bassai-dai and Bassai-sho, Shitoryu Bassai-dai, Bassai-sho along with Tomari Bassai, Matsumura Bassai and Ishimine Bassai. The bulk of the session concentrated on Bassai-dai bunkai and finished with more close range sparring and mass brawling! The numbers training were down this year but thanks to all those who trained hard and supported the course and a very big thank you to Sensei Tsukada and his senior student Philippe who accompanied him this year.
