Last summer one of our senior students, Angela Wünsche, attended a course in Lake Yamanaka, Japan. She has kindly offered to share her account of the course and some photos too.

Every year at the end of May/beginning of June the Summer Aikido Gasshuku organized by Igarashi Sensei takes place at the lake Yamanaka near the Fujisan in Japan. One of my friends practises in the Dojo of Igarashi Sensei in Hachioji (Tokyo) and has invited me to join the Gasshuku for some years. After not quite managing to take part in the seminar the last three times I have travelled to Japan now eventually I organized my trip in 2007 so that I could take part in he Gasshuku for the first time. Hopefully I can manage another time soon.

Everything is very organized in Japan. There was a bus from Tokyo to go, together with other participants, to the lake. However I went together with my friend and another guy from the same Dojo by car. After about three hours we arrived at the accomodation, where we would stay and practise Aikido. The house contained three large and medium sized Dojos and an Ofuro (hot bath). The rooms were Japanese Style rooms of a very comfortable 10 tatami size for four people sharing. We had a very good view of Mount Fuji, but in Summer you can rarely see the Fujisan, because it is hidden by clouds most of the time. The best view I had was during practise, but of course I left my camera in the room  Murphy's Law, I suppose.

Back to organization: Breakfast in the morning is together, we sit together at the table and wait until everybody has got everything and start after saying "Itadakimasu". We finish breakfast together and the youngest students (University students mostly) clear the tables. The party in the evening starts with an official speech and there is loads of sushi, sashimi, tempura, miso soup, pickles,.. not to forget beer and sake. At the party everybody is requested to introduce themelves to the group. Then there is of course Karaoke. After the first official party is ended by the Senseis, there is a second party, where we can continue to eat, drink and talk after paying an extra fee. This party is smaller, because some prefer to have their own party in their rooms. After the second party ends I go with some of the Swedish delegation and some Japanese to their room to continue with a third private party. The good thing is, that we do not have to walk far, as everything takes place where we stay. The hardest part is the proposed early morning run around the lake Yamanaka at 6 a.m. after multiple parties the night before. But not going is not an option if you want to be in the group photo in the morning, but I decided to go for a walk rather than a run.

Of course we did not go all the way to this nice location just for parties and a good time. There was the Aikido part too. We had always training in all three dojos at the same time with Kobayashi Sensei, Igarashi Sensei, Urban Sensei (from Sweden) and Abe Sensei. It was very interesting with a lot attention paid to details like using various muscles. Another big part was Kumi Jo, which I enjoy doing, but usually don't having much opportunity to practise. All together it was a very nice and enjoyable experience.