Goju-Shorei Weapons System’s Big Bash
Joyce and I attended our martial art’s 30th anniversary party in Nashville last weekend, and we had a great time. Before we get to that, some things about Goju-Shorei:
Goju means hard (Go) and soft (Ju) and refers to our techniques.
Shorei means Clear Spirit, our attitude when training.
Goju-Shorei is always hyphenated to remind ourselves that they are tied together.
The art’s motto is “People who teach and train together become family.”
As the name suggests, this is a art with a concentration in weapons, but we do learn empty hand techniques along with footwork and kicks. A cane is the primary weapon until you earn your first black belt.
Goju-Shorei Weapons System is part of the Goju-Shorei System, founded by Dave McNeill, which includes Karate and JuJitsu. Katherine Wieczerza is the director of the Weapons System.
I think that’s the minimum of what you need to know. On to the trip:
We arrived at the dojo (school) in the early evening to sign in and to do some training. The motto notwithstanding, Joyce and I were surprised by the welcome we received. We’ve only been training for ten months or so, and with only a yellow belt, we are very unskilled. But everyone welcomed us, and Alex Mann an instructor from Colorado, took me under his wing and worked with me on a sequence of moves that will be part of our next belt test. Somebody else grabbed Joyce and worked with her.
Saturday was all-day training with up to 48 people on the mats at the same time. We spent some time on curriculum training in the morning, but most of the time was spent on non-curricular activities led by the masters of the art. This included techniques common to all martial arts that Joyce and I have yet to work on and ways to combine techniques. For me, the most interesting part of the afternoon was watching demonstrations of essentially identical defenses with weapons, Karate techniques, or JuJitsu tools. Trying to perform those defenses made clear both the potential of the art and how much Joyce and I have yet to learn.
The masters move smoothly with control and grace, flow. The early part of the defense might be a block, a parry, maybe just a step aside. They usually end with a sudden application of impeccably timed force.
We had a banquet Saturday night. By the end of the night, people we had just met Friday night or Saturday morning seemed like old friends.
Sunday was testing day. It must have been more stressful than most tests. The judges were the masters of the art, including the founder. Joyce and I watched the first test session before we took the long drive home. It was good to see that we aren’t the only people with less-than-perfect tests.
