11th-14th August 2016 in St. Petersburg was held a seminar of naginata. This is the third seminar under the direction of Sumi Kaoru sensei (Hanshi naginata) in our city. Of course every our meeting with Sumi sensei is a special event. But on this year it was super special. Through our participation in the program of youth exchange between Russia and Japan, Sumi sensei came with her assistant Tanaka Rie (4th Dan) and her students from NakamuraGakuen girls high school: Taniguchi Kanako (3th Dan, Nakamura Gakuen OG), Tsujita Rina (1st Dan), Yokoyama Minori (1st Dan), Kume Anna (1st Dan) and Nakamichi Minami (1st kyu). Also this seminar was joined by our friends from Germany, Finland, Belgium and the United States. Russian participants were from St. Petersburg and Norilsk.
This seminar exceeded our expectations. The first time we studied the kata of Tendo-ryu naginata. This was not easy for us but we all really enjoyed it. The seminar program included lessons without bogu (shikake-ooji and kihon) and practice with bogu (kihon and keiko). We tried to use the possibility of joint training with Japanese students to the maximum, because girls have very high level skills. But this is not surprising, because their teacher is Sumi sensei.
On Sunday 14th Aug., the already traditional Engi tournament. Each pair consisted of one Japanese student and one Russian participant. Also in the tournament participated our friend from Germany Stefan Pawlitke (2 Dan). The winner pair was is Igor Sharov – Rina Tsujita. Second place went to a pair of Daria Litunenko – Anna Kume. Our bronze medalists: Stefan Pawlitke – Minami Nagamichi, Inga Mamedova – Minori Yokoyama.
On Saturday lunchtime, we all together cooked sushi. It was very funny. Sushi-cake looked especially interesting. On Sunday it was held the tea ceremony. So we had the opportunity to study not only a martial art, but learn other cultural traditions of Japan.I would want to note the fact that our guests of Japan a special gift from Nakamura Gakuen high school: five shiai-yo naginata and five naginata for kata. I believe that this gift will allow us to attract even more people who are interested in studying Naginata.
By Daria Liko