40th Anniversary Karlstad Branch (Sweden)
On 6, 7 and 8 September some Italian kenshi and teachers participated in the 40th anniversary of Karlstad Branch.
The event saw the participation of practitioners and teachers from various European countries such as Germany, Spain, Finland, England and Holland.
Furthermore, practitioners and teachers from the USA were present.
The days saw the alternation of technical and philosophical practice conducted excellently by the Japanese sensei Morikawa Kazuhito, Seihanshi 7th Dan and Morikawa Hirohito, Seihanshi 7th Dan.
They were assisted by Anders Pettersson, Junhanshi 6th Dan and Åke Olsson, Seikenshi 5th Dan, who in fact are those who, 40 years ago, started the practice of Shorinji Kempo in the city of Karlstad.
They were joined by Yoshi Karahashi Sensei, 6° Dan and Peninsula Branch (USA) branch master, who also translated the explanations and philosophy from Japanese.
The whole event was excellently organised, the hotel and the gym, at short distance from each other, allowed practitioners to go and return on foot thanks also to a blue sky and a pleasant temperature.
The training saw us involved in the classic kihon activities and study of the techniques which, as always, enrich everyone, at any level, on the different ways of interpreting the techniques, expanding our knowledge and improving ourselves.Training sessions were conducted with all practitioners together and also divided into groups, using a teacher rotation system so that everyone saw how the various teachers explained and proposed the principles of the techniques.
Sensei Hirohito Morikawa then conducted a very interesting howa on Kaiso So Doshin's motivation in choosing Buddhism as the basis of Kongo Zen.
The event closed on Sunday afternoon with a dantai embu demonstration.
The fun and interesting thing was that these dantai embu were created by all the participants, divided into groups of 8, who then demonstrated what they had prepared under the watchful eye of the Morikawa Sensei.
This moment allowed/forced everyone present to get involved by creating a dantai embu in just 40 minutes.
It also allowed all kenshi to experience the thrill of being on the front line, overcoming shyness and fear.
The Swedish hospitality was great. The party organized in the hotel restaurant on Saturday evening allowed participants to mingle and have fun while consuming a meal based on various types of meat and side dishes.
There were the ritual speeches, the thanks that the Swedish Federation, through its president, gave to Pettersson Sensei for his effort done over all these years and to the guests who came from Japan who are "at home" in Sweden.
On Sunday evening, for those who hadn't yet left for their homes, there was a BBQ party at Pettersson Sensei's house, who was also celebrating his birthday.
The evening was fun and pleasant seasoned with food cooked on the barbeque and beer, lots of laughter and chatter which further strengthened the bonds created in the past days.
The Italian team participated by cooking probably one of the best-known pasta dishes of Roman and Italian cuisine,his majesty the Amatriciana. Although Pettersson sensei's kitchen was not equipped with the right pans (large pan for sautéing the pasta) and, obviously, did not have pots to cook the pasta for about 30 people, we managed to prepare it admirably, with the confirmation of the diners. This also reminds us that we Italians do not only know how to do Shorinji Kempo....
