This week my good friend Morgan Dilks Sensei and his family came to visit, and practice karate-do, here in Aso-shi (after training with his teacher, Fukamizu Kennichi Shihan in Takanabe, Miyazaki). Morgan is currently living in Singapore, for his work, but will be moving back to Palmerston North (New Zealand) later this year. |
| The conclusion of movement 44 in Unsu kata. |
We had an absolutely wonderful time catching up and had an excellent three hours of advanced karate-do practice on Sunday morning. Morgan taught the first part of the session focusing on turns; namely, 270 degrees (from zenkutsu-dachi into zenkutsu-dachi (shomen/zenmi and hanmi), kokutsu-dachi and kiba-dachi. He also went through oi-zuki/jun-zuki and chudan shuto-uke (zenshin)—primarily focusing on timing. Excellent practice and a great sign of things to come: especially for karateka back in `Palmy’. I then took over and went through the full oyo-jutsu (applications) of Gojushiho-Sho kata, then covered Unsu in depth, again also, with its respective oyo. We wrapped up with individual renditions of Unsu working on timing for effective technique/practical application.
Here are some of the previous links, on this site, with Morgan Sensei:
2012 Palmerston North Seminar: http://andrebertel.blogspot.jp/2012/12/seminar-report-palmerston-north-2012.html
2010 Palmerston North Seminar: http://andrebertel.blogspot.jp/2010/12/palmerston-north-seminars-part-i.html
Another post on the 2010 seminar: http://andrebertel.blogspot.jp/2010/12/palmerston-north-seminars-part-ii.html
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| After training...Morgan Sensei outside Aso-shi Budojo, Kumamoto, Japan. |
2008 - Morgan Sensei visits Nakatsu-shi, Oita: http://andrebertel.blogspot.jp/2008/11/palmerston-north-karate-instructor.html
Via Morgan Sensei, I trained with his instructor -- Fukamizu Shihan -- in 2010: http://andrebertel.blogspot.jp/2010/02/karate-practice-in-miyazaki.html
Away from karate-do, and as always, Mizuho and I had a really fantastic time hanging out with Morgan, Yuko and the girls. The only question is “where in the world will we catch up next time?” I'd like to wrap up by saying that I am deeply honoured to be a friend of Morgan, Yuko and their children. Thank you all for coming to visit us in Aso-shi. Osu, André.
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| Morgan Sensei will `fly back' to Palmerston North later this year. |