Lambert Gasshuku 2012

Course Report from Martin and Louise Stockley, Cambridge

The 2012 Lambert Gasshuku started on Friday 28th September in Kirkcaldy, the birth place of the social philosopher and economist Adam Smith (1723-1790). The dojo for the evening was an upstairs room of the theatre named in his honour. The instructor that we had driven 400 miles to see was the newly appointed world chief instructor Nakamura Sensei. After personally greeting all of the participants, Sensei began the gasshuku briefly informing us of the new organisational structure of the IOGKF and that we would also be taught be the newly appointed vice chief instructors Sensei Ernie Molyneux and Sensei Henrik Larsen. The class that evening covered Junbi Undo, Ten Tsuki and Sanchin kata.

Training on Saturday and Sunday was over 4 hours each day. With three senior IOGKF instructors on hand, we spent much of the time in smaller groups, allowing for greater relevance of training depending on grade. The gasshuku finished with many repetitions of ten tsuki. Mo ichi do!

As is traditional for a gasshuku, many of the participants joined the instructors for a meal on the Saturday night at a local hotel. We had not been to Scotland for many years, so Louise and I instead took the opportunity to explore the local area and took a drive along the coast road to St Andrews.

We would like to thank the SGKA for organising a great weekend of training and the instructors for sharing their knowledge and experience with us. We look forward to returning to Scotland in 2014 for the European Gasshuku, if not before!