This news letter was first published in the summer of 2002. The contents was written by the students and therefore, the views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Kushido organization unless specifically stated.

SUMMER 2002

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WINTER 1999

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Swiss gashuku 2001

For those of you, that have never been on a week long gashuku, may not realise quite how much you learn and experience. If you take the amount you learn in one normal lesson, times that by about 4 or 5 lessons a day. Then keep that going for 7 days, plus meeting new friends from all around the world, and having a talk given each night about something related in some way to martial art. You soon learn a lot, in fact you take in way more than your brain can process in one week. It takes time for everything to make sense, even now over half a year later I still look back to the gashuku, then I'm reminded of the 2 British gashuku's, and I remember why I keep coming back for more. For those of you that have been on any gashuku, will know that everybody has a different gashuku. No 2 days are the same, even the same routine on every gashuku of a 6:30 walk then basic warm up training before breakfast is always different.

I am going to write about the Switzerland 15^th anniversary gashuku last year from 22^nd to 29^th July, Sunday to Sunday, one extra day than normal. Because it has been a wile, some of the details may not perfect.

Luton airport, Thursday, it's grey and not very warm for the time of year. I'm early, and waiting for Dave, Dave and Emma to turn up. Which they eventually do, we check in and go into the terminal and soon find a bar to have a drink. Not long later we are on a plane, and on our way to Switzerland. Once there we got our luggage then headed off for the train station, under the airport. The journey took us to Luzern were we tried to get a boat the rest of the way but the last one had just left. This was about the only glitch in the journey, but it did not matter, because we just got onto another train, and a few minutes later we were in Stansstad. The small town is very different from Luzern large hills, dominate the view as the sun was getting low over the lakes. The reflection on the water welcomes you to your home for the next week. We set off to find the dojo; we used the directions given by sensei Chris. When we got to the building on the map we were a little concerned because we could not find the dojo. No one told us, or anybody else that had not been there before the entrance is on the right hand side of the building, this caused a lot of confusion with many people visiting. That night we had a good look around the dojo it was strange, none of us had been there before, and yet to me at least it felt almost like a second home. After phoning Shihan Juanita to let her know we had arrived we went out to get a drink. While having our drinks it became cloudy, and we decided to head back before the rain started. We failed. The rain falls a lot heavier there than it does here!

Next morning I was the first to wake from the floor, this would not happen again. After wondering around the dojo and outside Dave and Dave woke up. This would be our first full day in Switzerland. Not long later Shihan Paul, Juanita, Hanshi Denis and Sensei Mike Carr turned up to do some t'ai chi. This woke up Emma who had the sense to sleep on the sofa. I had already met Paul, Juanita and Mike before but at the time I did not know who Hanshi Denis was. Although it became obvious to me straight away he knew what he was talking about. We planed on going to Luzern today, so we did. Just as we were leaving some of the Australians tuned up. We would meet the rest that evening. Up to this point it had been just us 4 but this was about to change, which seems strange for about a second then we realised this was a good thing. That afternoon when we returned the once quiet dojo was now buzzing with life, some of the south Africans had joined us. This group of people from 3 different countries who before we did not know soon we called each other friend, or by there names. It was this evening that we had our first lesson. Sensei Ruedi came to teach. It was fast and hard; we were all worn out after. He later said that he took it easy with us, and his students in Zug normally work twice as fast and hard.

Saturday, one day to go. Dave, Dave, Emma and I went on a trip up the mountain, to Engelberg then up mount Titlis. We had left a note in the dojo for Philip and Narangin to let them know we would see them later Today the weather changed for the better, it was a warm sunny day. At the top there is snow all year, and the high attitude makes everything hard work, but we tried to a little Kushido up there anyway. Then decided that just looking at the view was a better idea. We spent a lot of time up there and were the last down. Once back in Engelberg we spent a wile overlooking the village just relaxing. That evening back in the dojo there were a lot of people the place was quite loud. We met up with Philip and Narangin Then quite late Craig tuned up after having gone for a walk around.

Sunday the Gashuku would start later that day. In the morning Philip had a crazy idea that we should go for a swim in the lake before we checked in. Keep in mind this is water straight from the frozen mountains. So a large crowd of us went to the lake, about a minute walk from where we would be staying for the week to have a little fun and swim. This is about a 10 minute walk from the dojo, which we would not see until after the gashuku. That afternoon, we checked in, and we went to find a room. Everyone that had stayed in the dojo moved into the same room, and a few extra people joined us. That evening there was a barbecue by the lake to welcome to the start of the gashuku. This was a good time to say hello to new people and to say hi to people that came to Britain the year before.

Monday, the walk was not too long, but apart from that I remember little of this day. Tuesday, I felt like I had been there for ages. I think it was this day there was confusion on the morning walk. The front group went only a little way up the mountain, then back down, but the back group just kept going, I was in this group. We only went half way, but I got very warn out. Shihan Paul who was doing the morning warm up when we finally got back was wondering where we had all got to, and why we were so late coming back. My memory is a little hazy so anyone that was there may notice the story jumps back and forth a bit. The lessons were the same pattern each day. I think we had basics in the morning, then kata, self-defence, and randori last lesson. After dinner, we all gathered for a talk. One evening Shihan Jonathan from Australia gave an interesting talk on the history of modern martial arts and how many of the katas that we learn were first formed and why.

Each night a large group of us would go for a minute walk down the road to the 'hotel Winkelried,' and normally stay well after closing. We used the tables outside and talked about anything and everything it was a very nice feeling of friendship. One night quite late, heading back for the building we were staying in Philip and I were unable to stop laughing, for absolutely no reason, I think this was quite far into the week and we just overdosed on the energies of the gashuku. Back in the training although mentally able to do anything by this point, movement was a different story altogether, almost every part of my body hurt. Punches were slow, kicks where low and I could not train as well as before.

Early in the week all the British were told by sensei Chris that we have to do a demo at the end of the week. We decided to do Heian in a circle, and two bo demos. So in the breaks leading up to the competition we all got together to practice, and make it look perfect. This was fun because we were able to work at our own pace and have a laugh.

The midnight training, apart from being some kind of joke, I fail to see the point of this. I am fully aware that it is a good idea to train when not feeling that good, because you get a lot of benefit, but this is just silly. However I did learn that if you share a room with black belts who stay up all night making a lot noise don't bother trying to sleep, because then the midnight training won't be so bad, I just wish I knew that before.

The lessons from Hanshi were great! Although he did not do teach the lower grades that much, he did go through heian and saifa with us. He showed us different moves and different applications with ease. He didn't show us high kicking fast punches, or any fancy moves, because there simply was no need. I think it was the Friday he gave a talk about t'ai chi, and we had a demo from Rajk and Thomas Buechi. Which I thought was amazing, then after Hanshi said that in another 10 years Rajk might get quite good at it. The next day, we had a big walk. Well that’s what it was called on the timetable, but it just kept going, and going, and going, and going. Somehow we managed to stay walking up and up and up the mountain. After a long time the paths became quite thin and I got caught in a slow group, all worn out and not really saying much. Eventually I managed to pass and found the slow pace had been draining me, because once free I managed to get some energy and was soon alone. The front group was already at the top, having drinks. I soon joined them as it was time to head back down the other side. But I had loads of energy at this point and apart from my shoes beginning to chafe a bit I ran down as much as I could. A short distant down we all stopped to practice some t'ai chi. After quite a long session doing single and partner work we got busses the rest of the way back.

The last lesson was a lot of fun. We all did circle dancing with shihan Juanita. It must have been at least an hour and a half but it didn't seem nearly long enough. By the end everyone was laughing and had big smiles on their faces. This made the gashuku complete for me, as I have done this on every gashuku I have been to.

At the competition, the pressure really got to me and as a result, I did the worst saifa your ever likely to see. Although some people said that I recovered well. My randori was poor as well. With this result I practised the kata a lot after in the upper hall on my own. Now all these months I am a lot more relaxed in life and could probably do that competition now. Each country did its demo, we did ours third or second I forget. Philip came second in the brown belt competition, but he didn't want a big thing made about it. That evening there was a barbecue to say goodbye to everyone. The fun went on long into the night, with dancing on the grass by the lake. Some people just preferred to sit or lie down and just chill on the grass, or the steps by the lake.

The last day of the gashuku was spent mainly cleaning up. Then later in the day I got a lift from sensei Charley back to the dojo where we had been a week earlier. It felt really strange to be back, I was like a different person the last time I was there. Not many of us stayed there that night. I was talking to Rajk, and mentioned that I had trouble remembering the bo kata, so we practised for two hours until I got it right. The next day I was leaving I said my goodbyes and left the dojo. After getting a lift from Kaja, with Danny and Brett back to the station we met up with Shihan Jonathan and Shihan Juanita. We said goodbye to Juanita, hugged and got on the train. Once at the airport I was on my own. The holiday was over. But there will always be another Gashuku. The next big one, South Africa 2003, it should be good.

TERRY LEESE
To see photos of this gashuku click here

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