The 42nd annual Spring in the South was led by godan Tom Muzila Saturday and Sunday May 4-5 in Durham, NC, at the Duke School, not far from the Duke University campus. Below is a report written by a participant.
The 42nd annual (and my second) Spring in the South was inspiring and well attended, with 52 karateka (29 black, 13 brown and 10 white belts) joining the weekend practices led by Tom Muzila, a longtime student of Mr. Ohshima’s. We were also honored to have shihan John Teramoto join the event, as well as several godans from across the United States: in addition to the Chapel Hill Shotokan dojo’s (and Spring in the South’s) founder LH Lazarus and the dojo’s current leader Rob Clark, godans Jeff Ross (Boulder, Colorado), David Altman (Lincoln, Nebraska), Mike Lyon (Kansas City, Missouri), and Mike Duray (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) traveled to join the practices and generously work with juniors during breaks.
We had attendees from all over the US and as far away as Curaçao. All were happy to add to their T-shirt collection with new T-shirt art from LH Lazarus. This year’s design featured a rendering of the 13th-century statue of Agyo, one of the Kongo Rikishi temple guardians familiar from the cover of Karate-do Kyohan.
I am told by people who have practiced directly under Mr. Ohshima that the weekend’s practices were very much in keeping with Sensei’s teachings. Saturday morning, Tom led us through basics, with a focus on alignment. To improve our stances, we were instructed to bring our knees forward to the point where we could not see our toes when looking down. On reviewing the angle of blocks, he noted how even one inch of change in positioning can result in a more effective technique. He gave feedback on back foot positioning and emphasized turning on the heel, noting “hips move feet, feet do not move hips.” He also emphasized that the fist is connected to tanden and that they should move together. Another tip was anchoring the shoulder by having a strong hikite with wrist fully rotated and executing uraken from right in front of the knot of our belt so as not to telegraph it.
Saturday afternoon kumite practice included sanbon kumite blocking all three attacks with the same hand and drills for jiyu ippon kumite, with demonstration of 5 different ways of defending before delivering a gyaku-zuki counterattack. One of them he simply called “Number 5,” perhaps the most daunting due to the proximity of face to fist while going in! Tom would adjust the ma for some pairs, bringing them further apart than their initial distance, and it was interesting to see some contrast between subjective and objective perspectives of appropriate distance. The session concluded with Tom selecting pairs to demonstrate attacks and counters and then having the attacker, defender and himself evaluate the counterattacks, offering their own assessments of whether a counter would warrant a full point, half point, or no point. Tom gave valuable observations on how focused each counter was on a vital point, whether hips were sufficiently in, and whether it would result in “stunning” or “knockout” if it was full contact.
The gym at Duke School is an ideal practice venue, and we were well fed with lunch on Saturday and a wonderful dinner on Saturday night at the Blue Corn Café, which did not disappoint with a delicious multi-course dinner and warm ambiance that both the camaraderie and décor contributed to. The rainy weather did not dampen our spirits in the least.
Sunday morning we focused on kata, with emphasis on feeling first, then looking then moving. The whole group did the Heian katas together, initially with counting and in regular format, then with eyes leading as a separate move. Tom had each rank present group kata, culminating in godans doing Heian Shodan—a deceptively “simple” kata—with a focus on removing power from the arms after oi-zuki. Tom also demonstrated working with an iron ball to aid fluidity and grounding of movements while advancing an attack.
Tom’s stories were impressive and memorable, especially his focus on the mental aspects of training and the value of believing in your abilities to perform feats that may seem impossible, such as walking over hot coals. He noted that he did this often years ago, usually without burning his feet, although he recalled one time when his mental preparation was flagging prior to one attempt and he got immediate feedback via a blister on his foot, which had not occurred prior times when his focus was more intense. He talked about how we have thousands of thoughts that can interfere with being “open to possibilities” while doing kumite, and that controlling your mind and striving for a calm yet active mind is ideal. As Tom quoted the Chinese proverb, “Beliefs become thoughts, thoughts become words, words become actions, actions become habits, habits become values, and values become destiny.”
I’m always impressed how generous our seniors are with their time and invaluable constructive criticism, which inspires us to keep pushing our limits in our practice. I left Spring in the South feeling grateful for the feedback I received (including after demonstrating Bassai individually to seniors from other dojos, which is a rare and humbling opportunity) and happy to catch up with many friends I’ve been seeing at special trainings over the years.
Thanks to Nora Favorov for her organizational skills, as well as the Chapel Hill dojo members and all the attendees for their presence and camaraderie!
Lynne Chevoya, Ikkyu, Boston dojo