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MORE than 100 keen karate enthusiasts from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia will be attending a special camp this month to learn more about the techniques of the martial art from one of the world’s leading instructors.
Sensei Koichiro Okuma, pictured above, a 6 Dan specialist from the Japan Karate Association’s (JKA) headquarters in Tokyo is flying in especially to lead a three-day Gasshuku Training Camp at the Bahrain Rugby Football Club.
The seminar and camp from March 22 – 24 will be staged for students and instructors. Ehab Eshehawi, JKA Bahrain’s chairman and chief instructor, said: “The Japanese instructors will be teaching new techniques, as well as testing students for black belt higher levels.”
JKA Bahrain classes started on the island back in 2006. Its main dogo, The Japan Martial Arts Centre, is based in Habitat Garden, near Jannusan roundabout.
Karate is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Islands in what is now Okinawa, Japan. Called ‘empty hand’ in Okinawan it came under the influence of Chinese martial arts.
Late karate master Shoshin Nagamine said: “Karate may be considered as the conflict within oneself or as a life-long marathon which can be won only through self-discipline, hard training and one’s own creative efforts.”
Gasshuku is a special kind of training event that typically lasts for a few days, from the Japanese tradition meaning ‘lodging together’, immersing keen students in a lifestyle of living together and training for several hours each day.
