Timing is everything.....

From the Minutes of a Shibucho meeting in Okinawa 2013:

"Taira Sensei wishes to avoid too short a gap between trips, for example less than a week. He needs time to refine his techniques and prepare for the next seminar; if he has too little time between seminars his technique will not evolve and every seminar will cover the same ground."

So Taira sensei has made it clear that to keep teaching us great things, he needs time for his own training. That applies both to the seminar schedule and to people visiting him in Okinawa.

When I was talking to him in Italy he said (approximately) "when I go home, I need to rest and train for me, to practice my Kobudo. But visitors come, and they are on holiday, they want to  train and party. I have no time to study".

His schedule is getting tighter, more shibu dojos, more sites, more people that want to train. That's OK, he can sustain maybe 15 overseas seminars a year. But if he does that, he doesn't have much home time.   If we then pile on a plane to visit okinawa to enjoy his training, where's his rest time? If we all go individually - and that's nearly 50 shibu dojos wanting to send people, as well as non-Kenkyukai members seeking introductions, then he has no time to spare.

I've suggested to a few that they time their visits to Okinawa to match up with other visitors, to share. Some have said "but then I'll miss out on my individual experience, I don't  want to go with others"!  There's something wrong there. And I agree with them too, I love it. 

I've pretty much decided I won't go to Okinawa as an individual again, I have to go when others are there. And frankly - I hate it, I don't like being there with a crowd. I'm much better off to go to a seminar and do what I can to catch up with Sensei in the seminars, at the after-training, and to work with other Kenkyukai members.

So before you plan your next trip to Okinawa, think about your Sensei, and see if you can fit in with others, try really hard to give him the chance to  do the research we followed him for. And while you're at it you can share your Okinawan experience with other Goju Ryu Kenkyukai members.