Inspiring course with Yamaguchi Sensei in Leeds

Two weeks after the visit of Kagawa Sensei JKS England were extremely lucky to have Takashi Yamaguchi 7th Dan in England. The special evening course was held on Tuesday 25th March at the Leeds Karate Academy Hombu Dojo. The course which included two sessions, one for all grades and one reserved for dan grades, was completely sold out and eagerly anticipated by attendees.

The first session of the evening, started with unorthodox kihon drills designed to help everyone get fluidity and snap into their karate. This progressed on to a similar focus in kihon ippon kumite before finally applying the principles into kata where Heian Yondan was focussed on heavily. The first session ended with kata enpi.

After a short break and the customary group photograph, the second session of the day begun. At this stage Yamaguchi Sensei really started to show how inspirational his movement was, introducing specific exercises and drills to help develop very fast movements to cover distance and the ability to continue attacks immediately after an initial attack. These were implemented into kumite with a series of three combinations practised with partners. The course finished with the kata Kankusho.

We would like to thank Yamaguchi Sensei for visiting England again and look forward to his next visit.