Our annual international gasshuku was held on 29th & 30th January 2007, one day before New Year's eve.
Unlike last year's 43 degrees, weather was perfect for training but it didn't help our one year older bodies. Yass sensei must have sensed it as he lead us with a slower pace without smashing us too much but he still kept the sharpness throughout.
The highlight of this gasshuku was seeing six people receive dan grades including three new black belts. Matthew Robertson, Rina Wong and Edwin Waters received 1st dan, Lou Ingram and Paul Reid 2nd dan, Nigel Carruthers-Taylor a long overdue 3rd dan.
Congratulations to you all.Don't leave his glass alone
Having Yass sensei over in Sydney is a great joy. Because he loves Sydney and his Australian aikido friends and we have lots of things to learn from him, well, this time particularly...
It has been 3-4 years hosting Yass sensei every time he comes to Sydney for gasshuku. Our quiet humble Japanese aikido teacher never requests anything so we have to keep guessing what his requirements are as it is the traditional Japanese way of treating a guest.
This time, by chance, by one in a million chances, I happened to find out one thing Yass sensei has been missing in Australia. He has been feeling uncomfortable not having his glass of refreshment poured by us.
"Oshaku" - pouring drinks into ones glass. I lived in Japan 33 years and this Japanese custom has completely disappeared from my mind since I moved to Australia. This is the Zen of a party in Japan; you never serve yourself. Zen spirit is disappearing in Japan due to western cultures and western activities taking over Japanese traditional activities but these customs like "oshaku" still remains habitually and heavily in their daily lives.
This time I was quite surprised by the fact that I didn't know our guest was not totally happy about our hospitality. It was great opportunity to learn that caring for my important guest can be just a self indulging act (which Ive been doing for quite long time ) if I treat him my own way instead of meeting his needs. Hmmmm.!!
Ayano Seymour
