Well, November has finally started back up and it’s time to get back to the dojo regularly. I have a partner-in-crime in my coworker Paul B., and we both agreed today that we’re going to do our best to hit every workout in November.
Tonight’s class was very basics-heavy. We did fairly mundane jab/kick combinations before starting in on some more advanced combinations that involved downward blocks with the opposite side hand and downward sweeping blocks. We then moved on to use these blocks with a partner, and I had pretty good luck with it. It was clear that most of the club hasn’t really done that type of block before, but thanks to Sensei Hartman I was having a pretty easy go of it.
After the partner training, it was kata time. I started out with Sochin, then did Nijushiho, Empi, and then a few more Sochin for good measure. That about wrapped up class, but I did have a pretty interesting conversation with Sensei Tarrant after class. As part of my effort to get refocused on training hard, I asked him what the Sandan syllabus was. He told me that essentially, Sensei Yaguchi has been generating the test requirements somewhat randomly over recent years and that the things that were consistent were that I could expect to select my own favorite kata, and he could pick from one of the basic 15 katas. He also said that lately, the Sandan test has taken more of a focus to basic combinations in addition to some kumite.
Sensei Tarrant characterized the combinations as “crazy stuff, almost designed to trip you up” and explained they often change directions, go with opposite hands or use obscure techniques. He said that he has even seen a continued focus on basics and kata at the Yondan and Godan level, and the “thesis or paper-writing ranks” were reserved for 6th dan or higher. He said that this was a change from the past when he was coming up through the ranks, in fact he described a set of dan rank tests that match the ASKA almost exactly. I guess times change!
I explained to him that I wanted to focus my training on some goals, so my goal for the moment was to get familiar with their Sandan syllabus. He said he’d help out however he could, so off we go!
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