3-5 of May Kyoto Taikai and Yuubukan. Getting back to Tokyo to return Italy.

After Yoshino visit, I went back to Kyoto to watch the Kyoto Taikai and to participate on the 4th of May to asageiko and to the World Kendo Network keiko kai organized by Maruyama sensei and Castelli sensei, the same day later in the afternoon. It was amazing to see at the asageiko so many 8th dan sensei. Because you need to be fast to do as much jigeiko as possible in an hour, I had prepared my men as japanese students do, it was already bound and I could ware it as a motorbike helmet. With this approach I did 4 jigeiko in the available time and the first jigeiko was with Tani sensei.

After asageiko, with my friends I watched the 7 dan shiai and I made a video of my sensei:


 In the afternoon at 14:00 we had the World Kendo Network keikokai and I had the possibility to practice with Castelli and Zago sensei and I asked them some advices for my incoming 5 dan exam.
Briefly, my seme seems to be reasonable, but I had to push with the back foot more effectively to have the right propulsion to strike men.  An important point is that I need to focus more on my kote and after striking I have to close distance, instead of waste it trying a slow two times kote-men.
The other point is that I have to go strait, not trying to go on a side of opponent before I finished my technique.

At the end of the day I was destroied and after a brief dinner I went to sleep.
The next day, Sunday the 5th, I went for the second time to Yuubukan with Alessia Caporaso, Luca Cerfeda and Lucilla Amerini. The two and half hours of keiko were particularly dense. After taiso with children we started various rounds of kirkaeshi followed by some basic attach and counter attach techniques. Then, we had nearly 40 minutes of jigeiko followed by few brief shai. I did with Alessia that won, then Luca did with two local Japanese and he striked a great yakudo. After the shai with Alessia, I had a shai with a local Japanese and I did the shai in jodan, I tried a couple of kote that arrived at the site, but not with the correct angle, the shiai finished without nothing done by both of us. Lucilla instead did with a Japanese first and then with Alessia.
It was a nice end of my staying in Kyoto. At 14:00 I was on the train to Tokyo, where I spent my last night and on the 6th I catch the flight to Torino.

Visiting Kawakami village

After the endo of the ISEV meeting I moved to Kawakami-Mura to visit my friend Chisato. I went to Kawakami-Mura with his brother Hiro. With Chisato and Hiro we have a long friendness that last more than 30 years.
In Kawakami-Mura I met Matsumoto sensei and I had to 30 minutes keiko with him for two days. Great experience.



I stayed in Kawakami-Mura village in the  Suginoyu hotel. All personnel is extremely kind and the onsen is very great. Japanese style breakfast and dinner are absolutely gorgeous.
I had a talk nearly every day with the chief of the hotel, which speak English quite well and he was so kind to give me various information about the Yoshino area.
With Chisato and Hiro I visited the country side. The Yoshino area is very green and it is a country area mainly devoted to the wood business. The majority of the forest is created by man and the wood is sold all over Japan for its high quality for furniture and houses.

5th day in Kyoto

On day 5th I went with Donatella Castelli and Alessia Caporaso to Osaka to see the competition of all the Japanese prefectures. Teams of 7 people from high school student to kyoshi. The tournament was held in the same place where some years ago I have seen a Sumo tournament. We met there Lorenzo Zago (7 Dan) and we spent the all day watching the competitions.

 It was interesting to note that there was a jodan players in at least one out of two teams. Below you can see the video of one of the semifinal in which a jodan player was involved (Ibaraky white, Osaka red).
After the end of the  tournament we came back to Kyoto

and we finished the evening with udon!