25th IOGKF European Gasshuku in Bournemouth, England 2007
The Littledown Centre in Bournemouth was the venue for the Annual IOGKF European Gasshuku. The event held over seven days, began on Saturday with Sensei Kazuo Terauchi, 8th Dan. He is very popular with the children and he has a wonderful character and sense of humour.
Sunday morning training started at 8.am for 5th Dan and above with Master Higaonna. Sanchin Kata would dominate most of the lessons for senior grades during the week with an in depth explanation on the fine details. Tensho Kata also received the same approach with repetitions and breaking down the movements. An added bonus during these senior grade sessions was the Kata Suparinpei.
Each day from 9.00am for 4 hours, 400 people would gather and receive classical Goju Ryu training, starting with the traditional warming up (Junbi Undo) which was conducted by the most senior instructors of the IOGKF. Then Master Higaonna would take everyone through the basics (kihon)
After the warm up and kihon people would be spilt into groups to maximise the knowledge that was available. Each instructor had their own theme, there are no rewards for guessing what I did. The feedback suggested that people found it very informative and stimulating.
One morning after I greeted Master Higaonna, a voice behind me said “Good morning Sensei George” to my surprise it was Eric Higaonna the son of Sensei. I was very happy to see him, and the many other familiar faces that attend these events annually. The only thing that marred this Gasshuku was the weather, it rained almost every day.
One day we arranged a B.B.Q, the Lord must have been looking down upon us because it did not rain. Everyone enjoyed themselves particularly the Canadian contingent. Howie Hamilton made sure there was lots of photographs, he had taken nearly 2000 photos during the Gasshuku so if you would like to obtain all the photographs you will need to email Howie personally (contact me for his email address)
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Master and all the staff for making this a great Gasshuku. I look forward to seeing you all in Okinawa July 2008.