MJER seminar in U.K.

[chidokan]

Iwata Norikazu sensei will be visiting England with some of his 8th dan students between August 16th and 19th to teach an International Roshukai group. Anyone interested in attending, beginners to seniors, please feel free to contact me. The venue will be the John Smeaton sports centre in Leeds.
Iwata sensei is regarded as one of the leading instructors in Japan for Muso Jikiden Eishin Ryu, and this will probably be the last opportunity to see him outside Japan, as he is now in his 90th year ( and still training hard!).
The main requirement for students who wish to attend is to have plenty of questions ready for him!
As usual the local students will help out visitors with travel arrangements, transport to the dojo, places to stay etc.

Chidokan

[chidokan]

I have had several requests for further information so:
The seminar will run from Friday to Monday inclusive from approximately10a.m. ( it may extend to the Thursday before and the Tuesday after depending on how long our Japanese visitors have booked their air tickets for.(These days are covered by a nominal fee of £5) The hall is fairly easy to get to from the M1,just follow the road from J46 for Leeds centre and turn off at Barwick road at the A64 roundabout.
B&B in Leeds can either be arranged for you or we can send a brochure to pick your own. If you have no transport or are travelling from outside the U.K. as usual we will provide a lift to and from the dojo and airport.
The fees are £90 for the four days, or £25 per day, which helps cover the air tickets and the hall costs. Drinks and biscuits are provided at breaktimes, but not meals. If you are an overseas visitor, the fees are halved to help with travel expenses.
There is always a meal out organised if you wish to attend and have a few beers with the rest of the club, bear in mind though if you wish to talk to Iwata sensei during this time you are only allowed to discuss MJER, as he is not interested in anything else (his rule not ours!)
Equipment required depends on skill level, but a bokken would be a basic requirement, an iaito if you have one and feel comfortable with it, and your training gi. If you are attending more than one day, I would suggest some spare jackets as Iwata s. likes to work his students hard. Hakama and obi if you have them. The club has a limited stock of kit/equipment and those of us going to Japan next month will be bringing more back to supplement this.
The seminar will be broken into three skill level groups, beginners, intermediate and seniors,each with one or more Japanese teachers with English instructors in support. We also bring a translator over who Iwata s. feels comfortable with as she knows iaido 'terms' he uses.
We usually cater for around 75 students, obviously the bigger turnouts tend to be on the weekend and places go fast. We currently have about 50 people booked in.
Iwata s. has published several books on MJER, some of which have been translated on Colin Hyakutake's website which you may find interesting reading.(http://www.bunbun.ne.jp/~sword/). Also the club runs its own website that also contain articles by him. ( http://www.eikoku-roshukai.com/ ).


Chidokan

[chidokan]

Final arrangements are now made, with six teachers (all over 7th dan) and a translator coming! This will be Iwata sensei's last seminar as he is now retired, and already intends not to do any more in Japan this year.
So, this is the last chance to see one of the top teachers in Japan, get yourself along even if it's just for one day!

Tim