On Thursday afternoon Higaonna Sensei arrived after a long flight from Okinawa at Sheremetyevo International Airport and was met by the IOGKF Russian Federation Kambukai, and I arrived not long before him at Domodedovo International Airport
After reaching the sports complex we were shown to our rooms, which were quite comfortable and after a good nights sleep Sensei Higaonna was ready to give what the people were waiting fo,r his expertise in the art of Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate Do. As he entered the stadium, there was a call to attention and he was greeted by 100 Yudansha from accross Russia and Europe, Sensei Higaonna was raring to go and after the bow he began with a traditional warm up and then straight into basics and stamina training which lasted 120 minutes, as if to say welcome to you all.
Then the next session was everyone together, Sensei Higaonna asked me to take the kyu grades for kata and bunkai. Sensei continued with the black belts in the study of the kata seiyuchin which finished the days training. That evening we were invited to dinner at a traditional Georgian Restaurant, the food was excellent, to our surprise we were chauffeured by a very attractive lady called Albinia who is a shodan in IOGKF Russia and owns a very nice car.
Saturday morning was sanchin training with all the yudansha, the class was then split and Sensei Higaonna took 3rd dan + for suparinpei kata and I took the 1st and 2nd dan students for sepai kata. Sensei then asked me to take all black belts for tensho kata, kakei and bunkai, while Sensei Higaonna took all grades for more basics.
Sunday morning was all grades with Sensei Higaonna and then groups were split Sensei took black belts for sanchin and suparinpei whilst I took kyu grades for basics, kata and bunkai. There was such a wonderful atmosphere with everyone working together and enjoying their training.
Sunday evening we had the sayonara party in a Azerbaijani restaurant and were treated to the wonderful singing voice without music, I hasten to add of a professional Russia singer named Olesya Evstigneeva who sang traditional folk songs in Russian and Ukrainian, Sensei Higaonna was very impressed.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff for their efforts in making Sensei Higaonna happy and content with this trip.
