Gasshuku 2007 the first europeans ever at the summercap in Japan

After 11 hours we reached Tokyo Narita

on the next day touristic path - here at Asakusa temple

then the meji shrine

sake for the gods

to clean the soul and the mind

Knoll-san starts

followed by Van Linthoudt-san

and then we saw that lovely creature

Entrance to the Meji shrine

everywhere you find the sign of the emperor (do you see the similarity to the sign of the Takeda school?)

After the shrine we had been lucky to see Kyudo training at the famous school in the park of the meji shrine

this is quite unusual to be that alone in an underground

enough space for doing some exercises

yeah but only for a few minutes

OK this guy was special outside 36 Celsius inside about 25, guess this was to cold for him

visiting a ZEN temple in the Ueno park what a fantastic painting out of such a few strokes

the young samurai under the old famous one

Knoll-san and a ZEN monch guess he was a little bit confused :-)

you know, when you are in Japan and it is that hot you must wear this shoes (Zoris)

Back home we had a party at Toyoshima senseis dojo

and there he showed us to make our own sushi - maki. So take some rice and nori

choose the fish you want

put it in

wrap it

Itatakimas - Buon appetito

So the next day we traveled to the Gasshuku and Knoll-san had to fight BIIIG opponents

Van Linthoudt-san too

Knoll-san at work

Nakamura sensei likes what he sees

of course ZEN must be (with about 40 Celsius not so easy)

Iaijutsu training with the son of Soke Nakamura

Hmmm..what is he doing?

afterwards lunch on the ground and japanese size

Toyoshima sensei teaching details, what a luck

and then to the advanced training of the teachers

but you know BIG brother was always watching you

Shihan Suzuki, Okuden Shihan Nakamura, Okuden Shihan Toyoshima, Shihan Harary, Kowarick san, Schwenk sensei

Shihan Suzuki and Sensei Schwenk

Kawamitsu and Schwenk sensei fighting brothers

So then we moved to a so called mountain for getting a nice view

Participants of the Gasshuku 2007

Vienna meets Japan - Van Linthoudt-san, Nakamura Shihan, Toyoshima Shihan, Schwenk Sensei and Knoll-san

some could not stop to ask

Nakamura Shihan and Sensei Schwenk listened

Toyoshima sensei explained

look at the movement

details for teachers

after the Gasshuku we met Harary sensei at the restaurant he owned in the 80ies, he lived in Tokyo for more then ten years.

and we had some fun

But the next day we had to travel home. It was a nice, hot and intensive experience.

Sensei Schwenk was the first European ever who brought some students to the famous summer camp in Japan. No european before went to that event. It was a very interessting experience and the students enjoyed is also very much.