Your Most Memorable Moment

[MJS]

I've done similar threads in other areas of the board, but I thought it would be interesting to ask here as well.

What are some of your most memorable moments during your time training? This can range from testing for a certain rank, having the chance to train with a specific senior instructor in your art, or your first trip to Japan.

This is open for anyone to answer, not just a specific group.

Mike

 

[Kreth]

Two for me:
Training at the Honbu Dojo for the first time. I was so excited to be training there, combined with jetlag, that it took me 3 or 4 tries to tie my obi properly.
Sitting for the godan test. It was a surreal experience.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

There have been quite a few so I will go with one of the first ones.

1. Training at the old Barn of Otto Cardew up in the loft on a wooden floor with Bart Uggucioni and going through the Kihon Happo and just having a blast.

(that was awesome and we were younger then

)

I can also agree with Kreth that being in the Hombu dojo for the first time was pretty wild.

Meeting Hatsumi the first time in America was a treat as well!

Lots and lots of other experiences but those stand out right now.

 

[MJS]

Two for me:
Training at the Honbu Dojo for the first time. I was so excited to be training there, combined with jetlag, that it took me 3 or 4 tries to tie my obi properly.

I can imagine thats one long trip! If you could name one thing (feel free to name more if you'd like ) what stood out the most on the first trip?

Sitting for the godan test. It was a surreal experience.

Cool!

 

[MJS]

There have been quite a few so I will go with one of the first ones.

1. Training at the old Barn of Otto Cardew up in the loft on a wooden floor with Bart Uggucioni and going through the Kihon Happo and just having a blast.

(that was awesome and we were younger then

)

I can also agree with Kreth that being in the Hombu dojo for the first time was pretty wild.

Meeting Hatsumi the first time in America was a treat as well!

Lots and lots of other experiences but those stand out right now.

Sounds good!! Like I just asked Kreth, what was one thing that stood out the most during the Hombu trip?

Mike

 

[Kreth]

I can imagine thats one long trip! If you could name one thing (feel free to name more if you'd like ) what stood out the most on the first trip?

Well, the level of training at Honbu was amazing. The techniques are changed so fast that you might have a chance to do something twice. After a while I gave up trying to analyze everything and just trained.
Also, I trained with the majority of the Japanese shihan on that trip. It was interesting to see the different approaches in their classes.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

The speed of transitions between technique at the Hombu dojo when Sensei is teaching is something that has to be witnessed and observed.
This is a little disconcerting at first and then you just let go and go with the flow. Really it is beautiful training if you are prepared. However having said that I think everyone gets a little lost at the Hombu when Sensei is teaching.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Sounds good!! Like I just asked Kreth, what was one thing that stood out the most during the Hombu trip?

Mike

Mike definately good times both in training and with my friends!

Simply awesome!

 

[Mike Hamer]

Well let's see I've been to two classes so I guess I would have to say......my first class! Oh, and also it's cool that I'm the only student right now, because that means lots of one on one guidance.

 

[Bujingodai]

My 1st trip to Japan and experiencing the culture just walking the side streets and such was really cool.

Training at the Honbu, I really enjoyed Nagato Shihans class and had a very small private class about 4 hrs long with Shiraishi as well which was great. If I could move more than 4 inches in either direction I would have enjoyed Sokes class more, but it was still a thrill to see him in action.

I would also say on an indie side of the 7 tai kai there some of them have been amazing, last years especially. Good times.

My 1st exciting experience was years ago with my 1st teacher Frank Hill Shidoshi, doing a Canada Day demo at the lake with 1000's of people watching. We did it with Trembley Senseis dojo as well, it was pretty nerve wracking having all those eyes on us.

 

[saru1968]

Strangely enough my moment was not in the packed Honbu spinning Bo staff over one's head, nor time spent at the Nikko Shrine but a simple walk down the streets of Noda browsing through the shops looking for oddities to take home as gifts.

I needed to post a couple of things at the post office and was waiting to cross the road. I looked left, clear, i looked right, it was clear. Then another look to the left just as i was stepping across the road and there was Hatsumi Sensei standing there smiling, looking strainght at me.

I walked over with a complete loss for words, a first for me. I was asked a few questions as to where i was from and how long i was over for but it was so cool to meet Hatsumi Sensei in person just walking down the street.

Thats was my last but one day before i returned home and made my trip for me.

Does not sound alot but means alot to me.

 

[Grey Eyed Bandit]

In no particular order...

1. http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showpost.php?p=683231&postcount=3

2. Seeing Hatsumi walk onto the mat at Ayase just a few feet away from me. Didn't take more to convince me that he isn't going to lay off what he's doing for a long, long time.

3. "Nakadai sparring" with a guy I didn't get along too well with four years earlier (at which time I used to get smacked around quite a bit). Apparently, having kept training during that time paid off.

4. Guy being obnoxious to people around him gets grabbed by his hair and belt, jerked off his feet, and thrown head first into a wall.

5. First training with Noguchi in Honbu.

6. Being told loads of campfire stories about Bujinkan people past and present circa autumn of 2003, way too revealing to be posted online.

7. Two sanshou stylists shows up at a dojo to show off in front of their girlfriends, upon which the girlfriend of the shidoshi in question pushes both guys so far over the edge with endurance training that they both puke on the mat (ok, so I wasn't there at that particular time, but still).

8. Dojo bully performs right side zenpo keri against a beginner holding a focus shield whilst having his left supportive leg pointed outwards at a 90 degree angle. The beginner moves a bit too early and the guy dislocates his knee, lies on the floor screaming for about 40 minutes before the ambulance shows up.

9. Sparring with a female training partner having a bo staff whilst armed with a sword myself. The moment I realized the difference between self defense and mutually agreed upon fighting.

10. Shidoshi with bouncing experience demonstrates how to throw people out of a nightclub while dealing with onlookers ("do you have any idea what this guy did in there? He punched a girl in the face!").

11. First day after having ended my three year long training hiatus. I never would have guessed you could get so fatigued that it hurts to blink your eyes.

12. Shiraishi gets smacked with a shinai in the head by Hatsumi.

13. Cracked rib courtesy of Tim Bathurst.

14. A couch is turned over on the mat and two guys hide behind it with rubber shuriken, while the rest of the people participating are spread out on the training area. The shuriken guys are then supposed to jump out and attack the people pointing soft air guns at them while avoiding the "civilians".

15. 15th dan given special recognition for his sword skills gets smacked in the head by "the man with the golden spine".

16. 13th dan doesn't succeed in making the technique he demonstrated work on a white belt, while I do.

17. VERY thoroughly coordinated hanbo training in late 2003.

18. Training in complete darkness.

Etc etc etc...

 

[lalom]

I looked left, clear, i looked right, it was clear. Then another look to the left just as i was stepping across the road and there was Hatsumi Sensei standing there smiling, looking strainght at me.

He just appeared out of thin air like that? All ninja-like?

 

[MJS]

Well let's see I've been to two classes so I guess I would have to say......my first class! Oh, and also it's cool that I'm the only student right now, because that means lots of one on one guidance.

Cool! Best of luck to you in your new journey! Was there anything in particular that caught your eye in the first class?

 

[saru1968]

He just appeared out of thin air like that? All ninja-like?

I thought that for a second, how apt.

 

[Kage-Ronin]

For me:

1. Stepping onto the mat for my first lesson having done three years of Shotokan and Judo. I thought I really knew something. After ukemi for warm-up the instructor wanted to go over defense against a bear hug from behind. He was 5'8 or 5'9, I don't remember; I am 6'3 220 at the time and remember thinking " this'll be easy" as he asked me to come up and grab him from behind.

The results were predictable.

2. Being Uke/Tori for a young man for his shodan test - then sparring him later on that night, around 3 hours later to be precise. Watching him push through the exhaustion, the physical, and mental strain showing on his face and then the pride and happiness as we strapped on his black belt at the end of it.

Did I mention this young man was someone I had known since he started his training? I was one of the first people to shake his hand and welcome him to class and was there to shake his hand again and congratulate him.

There are more, but this is just a couple.

 

[Shicomm]

It has to be my first trip to Japan...
I was sooooo nervous allready weeks before i went there...
Just expecting a non-stop adrenalin rush , but it still was nerves... it drove me crazy...

It was a very weird reality check ; i finally got into the training that i only heard of by others... now it was something of a dailly basis... that close...
After 2 weeks the nerves finally died and i was happy with everything that went on , i got addicted to that weird country

In just a few weeks i'll be doing the same trip again and i'm allready very curious if it will be as good as it was the first time