by Joe Hafner
A month ago, my temporary life in Japan began. At the beginning of April, I left the peaceful canton of Schaffhausen and moved to Fukuoka. After a brief period of settling in, I had the opportunity to join a Naginata seminar on May 3rd and 4th here in Japan. Guided by Nakamura-Sensei and the students of Fukuoka University, it was a great opportunity for me to train alongside high schoolers, junior high schoolers, and university students.
To my surprise both days were mainly Bogu-focused. In addition to practicing individual strikes, we also devoted a lot of time to Jigeiko and Shiai. Our main focus was on executing our strikes efficiently. Simply keeping up with the exercises was quite challenging for me. Unfortunately, this seminar was my first real Naginata training in months, so it took me some time to get back into it. On top of that, the language barrier added to the difficulty. Listening to, understanding, and following instructions and advice in Japanese took up a lot of energy. That’s why I was especially glad that my Senpai from Fukuoka University took so much time and showed great patience with me. I’m truly grateful to her for that.
My first training weekend is now behind me and I’m more excited than ever. Being able to train with Japanese people of varying skill levels really inspired me. I realized that I still need to practice a lot and work hard in order to keep up with the pace in Japan.