GALLERY — LATVIA, JULY 2007
July 27 & 28 — Highlights:
Afternoon at Club Neguss
July 27 — Another afternoon at Club Neguss:
Some snapshots after class...
Outdoor Machiwara
July 28 — Onaga Kaichō started the morning teaching at Dr. Artis Pabriks' outdoor Dōjō. The project of the day was to build an outdoor Machiwara, also known as Tachi Machiwara. This is one of the most ancient Karate training tools in Okinawa. Nowadays, most people who train with machiwara only built them indoors, bolted to the floor. However, an outdoor machiwara built into the ground, offers a unique feel and recoil on every hand strike.
The first step was to dig a hole into the ground. And we all took turns digging…
This machiwara board that we used was made of a very strong and flexible Siberian Pine. Later that day, Artis picked up the custom cut machiwara board and we continued our task.
Every machiwara board has to be customized to the user's height (In this case, Artis). Also, the edges of the machiwara have to be trimmed to avoid injuries. Finally, Onaga Michiko Kanchō inscribed the following Japanese words in the base of the machiwara:
神人武館 ∙ ラトビア道場 ∙ 二OO七年七月二十八日
SHINJINBUKAN ∙ LATVIA DŌJŌ ∙ JULY 28, 2007
Machiwara Bithday Party
Afterwards, Dr. Artis Pabriks invited us into his home to celebrate the "Machiwara Bithday Party". We had some amazing Latvian Black Bread and tea made from herbs, fresh the garden...
Sagi Machiwara
Later that evening, we continued training with Sagi Machiwara (Hanging Machiwara) and Iri Kumi (Inside fighting).
Since this was the last session at Club Neguss, Onaga Michiko Kanchō autographed some of the kid's obi (belts) and Ti Machiwara (Hand Machiwara).
