Coffee with Sensei

Gashuku - Essential

"A productive life will have the one that finds the essential and a wasted life one that ignores the essential"
Sensei



"What is essential? This Sensei taunt has led me to review my whole life strategy. For me, this was the hardest Gashuku I have ever participated in. Not because of the rain and cold, not to mention the wind, that they didn`t give a break to us or the practice. But it was harder to think about what is really essential at this point in my life as I approach 55 years of age.
 
Like the great masters, Sensei puts the challenge in the air and gives tools for a possible answer. At NITEN hard work and happiness walk together. Train and train and then train some more until the thoughts are completely erased and there is only that “strike without thinking”, without any calculation or reasoning, that comes out automatically, within the best NITEN technique, as a result of training hard. This precise strike is essential.
 
If katas, kihons, keikos, that is, overcoming the limits of the body are part of the way. Wisdom, too, is the soul`s necessary food to reach the essentials. So at Diamond Moments, Sensei talked about Musashi Sensei and how we at NITEN are lucky to be guided by this great man, who could have been one of Japan`s great Shoguns. We were lucky enough to meet him on our way to light our steps. Miyamoto Musashi Sensei shows us by practice what is essential. He has excelled in all areas and is hailed to this day as the swordmaster and artist of life.
 
At the end of the night, as I lay down for my well-deserved rest by Pazinato, my son, I felt tremendous gratitude for everything we did on the day: gratitude for the training, gratitude for the teachings, the Senpais and instructors I met, including Senpai. Joel Correia, Senpai Tadeu, Senpai Wenzel, whom I had never talked to before. I was also very grateful to Senpai Shindi, our Curitiba Corrdenador, and Senpai Adriano, an example of Samurai, both at Gashuku.
 
As Sensei says "the essential is to find the essential." To do so, one must work hard, enjoy the happiness that the journey has brought to us, and thank NITEN for the opportunity on the way. The August Gashuko certainly brought me closer to the essentials.

Domo Arigatou Sensei Jorge Kishikawa. 
Arigatou Gozaimashitá!" 

Amintas -  Dojo Curitiba