We’ve returned to the beginning of the cycle, now working on the kata Heian Shodan (平安初段) in the Beginner Kata class on Saturday mornings. This is the first kata in our regular syllabus, the one we all begin learning at the start of our training (kids start off with simpler versions to lead up to this one). […]
On Saturday, October 24th we’re looking forward to concluding several weeks of Unsu. This puts us at the end of our cycle of usual syllabus kata. Before we start again with the beginning kata for two weeks we’ll take the opportunity to practice some kata we don’t usually get to spend a lot of time on. […]
We are moving onto our next kata, Hangetsu (半月). The kata name means “Half Moon,” which refers to the way we step in the kata’s signature stance, hangetsu-dachi. In contrast to fudo-dachi we used in Sochin, with Hangetsu we practice gripping the floor and connecting with an inward squeeze in hangetsu-dachi and neko-ashi-dachi. You can see good examples of Hangetsu performed by Osaka […]
Scott Langley Sensei will be visiting our dojo to teach seminars on June 3rd and 4th (Wednesday, Thursday). This will be his first visit to our dojo*, and we are very much looking forward to it. Those of you who experienced Langley Sensei’s instruction at the WTKO summer camp in Cupertino last year know this is not one to […]
The Palo Alto Buddhist Temple’s annual Obon Festival is coming up the weekend of August 2-3. It’s a great Japanese cultural event, and we encourage everyone to check it out. Sunday, August 3rd at 2:00 pm our group will do a karate demonstration. Please contact Sensei if you can help out with the demonstration.
