Neuchatel Branch, Switzerland / Jan 2003 Contributor: Branch Master Raymond Smith

Neuchatel, which means a new castle, is in the northwest part of Switzerland in the French-speaking region. Nestled between the Jura Mountains to the North and lake Neuchatel to the south and surrounded by vineyards. Neuchatel white wine is normally put in cheese fondue and drunk with it. Neuchatel is also the town where Philippe Suchard founded his first chocolate factory. He also built one of the first mosques in Europe for his immigrant workers from the East. The canton of Neuchatel is also the origin of Swiss watches, a tradition it still continues today.

I started teaching Shorinji Kempo in Neuchatel in 1990, one year after moving to Switzerland from London, where I had been training with Mizuno sensei who has been my sensei for over 25 years. When I was a professional musician touring in Europe - drums and electronics - I visited Neuchatel several times. I thought it was a beautiful place and maybe one day I might stay a little longer than a couple of days.

When I came to Neuchatel, there was no Shorinji Kempo club. But I wanted to continue training but who with? After 8 months, I went to visit the Karate clubs and Full Contact clubs, but they were no very polite to me. They did not give me any help. It was tough. However, while training at the boxing club, I met Nuredine, who became the European middleweight Full Contact champion. He was the only one who had any time for me and gave me a few ideas about how to find a dojo. For some reason, he had a lot of respect for Shorinji Kempo.

There were the usual problems: not so many places available, if there was a place it was too expensive, or they were too big or too small, etc. However, the main problem was the one we seem to face again and again in Europe - not many people know "Shorinji Kempo". It's usually the same scenario. "I do Shorinji Kempo". Reply: "You do Sh.... what!?" Also I didn't know any people and I didn't speak French at that time. It was to say the least, very frustrating. But I believed in Shorinji Kempo and knew in my heart that it would be possible. I sat down and tried to organise a plan of attack! Then I realised what I had to do.

I approached a committee of a small community centre, who I thought would be interested in Shorinji Kempo because it is not purely physical activity. I was sure they would be interested in the philosophical side of it. I was right. I started teaching there on Saturday mornings, and this was quite successful for one year. They told me later that if I had been practising Karate, Full Contact, etc., they would not have invited me to start a club. It was the philosophical side that made them interested in Shorinji Kempo. While teaching there, one of my students had the opportunity from a friend to offer me a better Dojo in a sports centre. So I started teaching there on Mondays and Thursdays, and have been for the last 8 years with reasonable success.

Of course at first it was really difficult because I did not speak any French. General communications was very difficult, but the beauty of Shorinji Kempo being in Japanese world-wide meant we could communicate in Japanese through the names of the techniques. Seeing is believing. They saw the techniques, they did the techniques. As I was teaching on my own, I had no one to ask questions to about techniques.

In the last few months I have started a children's and adults' club on Saturday mornings, where we have a lot of children and it's going very well at the moment. This club will be a future branch.
I would like to tell you how this club come about because it was really in the true spirit of Shorinji Kempo - 'HALF FOR YOURSELF AND HALF FOR OTHERS'.

For the last eleven years I have been an English teacher at schools and colleges. About four years ago Sanada Sensei visited Neuchatel with three of his kenshi and the director - George Joubert - of one of my schools came to see the training. Sanada Sensei gave an incredible philosophy speech. When I arrived at school the next day the director said "The things that Japanese instructor spoke about were true! Young people need a discipline to help them find their direction. And when he started talking about .......". Well, he went on and on. He was very impressed to say the least. Unfortunately about a year after this his wife was found to have an incurable disease. He was obviously under a great deal of stress and asked me if I would agree to teach him Shorinji Kempo on Saturday mornings, to take his mind off the problems he had. I agreed. So, there was me, my assistant Cedric, Valere and George. It was very difficult because we didn't have a dojo so we practised in the small reception area of the school. We had to move tables and chairs to give ourselves enough space to train. It was tiny. Mae-Ukemi and Daisharin were definitely out. But we had great fun just training together and George said that he felt better now he was practising Shorinji Kempo. Sadly George's wife passed away about one year ago and we felt very sad and our feelings went out to him. He discovered Shorinji Kempo and it changed his life. At 63 years old he is no young man but trains three times a week and is a solid member of the branch.
So, from four kenshi training on a Saturday mornings for pleasure, we now have a nice dojo with sixteen children and adults which will be a future branch.

The 'Taikai' in Paris was a big event for my kenshi. A chance to meet kenshi from all over the world, but especially to see and practise with Japanese kenshi for the first time, was a marvellous experience and a great honour. And they were very friendly as well as there, being a wonderful atmosphere. They were also completely shocked to be training with great 'Masters'. 'Masters' in the plural sense is very important - how many were there? I don't know exactly how many but there were at least thirty plus. They could not believe their eyes and learnt such a lot that they still talk about it today. I think some kenshi forget how lucky they are. In Karate, etc., at a seminar they are lucky to have two 'Masters'. We are really very, very fortunate in Shorinji Kempo to be able to train with so many great 'Masters'.

We have always tried to do demonstrations if we have had the possibility, as this is a good way to promote Shorinji Kempo and shows we are alive and kicking. I think that one of the positive things about demonstrations is that it gives the kenshi a lot of confidence. I like having all grades performing at demonstrations - not just 1st dans and above - as this shows the public that everyone starts at the bottom. They see different levels of techniques and also, more importantly, that we all work together in one group. We recently did a demonstration in Geneva and I was quite surprised to see that there were two categories of martial arts: modern and traditional. Shorinji Kempo was placed in the traditional section. This brings me to my next point: training.

In England, there is a type of training which they know call "cross-training". This is basically a mixture of all different martial art elements which work, or are practical. There, they started down this path twenty years ago, maybe for practical reasons: self-defence. These kinds of martial arts are taught by very experienced and good teachers. They are not just cowboys, as we say in English, they are very professional. These martial arts are in the modern group. Shorinji Kempo should not be in the traditional group, because as far as I know Doshin So created a hybrid martial art which was without a doubt the first "cross-training" martial art. However, I don't think enough clubs practise Shorinji Kempo in its true form. Doshin So was a fighter. No one could start something like Shorinji Kempo without being a true leader and warrior. He said he wants leaders and not followers. So, we all have a responsibility to keep on improving and changing within Shorinji Kempo, especially the training techniques. Fortunately, I trained with a lot of different senseis and I have been influenced by them as well as boxing - which Doshin So was influenced by too.

I like to tell you how I train in my branch. After warm up, the first half of training is based on cardiovascular "cross-training" mixture, which includes bag work, focus pad work, basic techniques, skipping, different types of randori and self-defence techniques. After this, we do the Dokun, Zazen meditation. Following this, I give a philosophy talk which includes either Shorinji Kempo philosophy or something in the News. The last part of the training is focused on techniques for individual grades. We have always been told to keep a balance within the training. This has always been understood to mean a balance between Goho, Juho and philosophy. I think we should rather have a balance between traditional and modern side, which means keeping a balance between: basic techniques, several types of randori, applying techniques to self-defence situations, philosophy (not just the Fukudoku-hon, but also in real life) and fitness. In my opinion, Shorinji Kempo should go in this direction and get back to the "modern group" which Doshin So created.

I have had several visits to Neuchatel by Japanese senseis and their kenshi. Sanada sensei has been twice with some of his kenshi. We always had a great time and it is a great experience for my kenshi. I always arranged home-stay for the kenshi as this is a good way to know each other and to see another way of life, which is an important part in Doshin So's philosophy (breaking down walls and not building them, and mutual understanding). The kenshi always enjoyed the home-stay as it gives them a total new experience and a new outlook on life - at least, that's what they tell me! Last year, Sanada sensei contacted me and ask me to arrange a stay for one of his kenshi from Tokyo University, which I did with great pleasure and we all had a good time together. Also Jun san, Yamazaki sensei's assistant was here for a week. Any branches or kenshi reading this, are always welcome to organise a trip to Neuchatel Branch.

As for future events, I would like to organise a charity night with all different martial arts and raise money for cancer research, as I have lost a few friends because of cancer and know many people who have lost friends too.

Thank you for reading this article and if you have any thoughts about it, please e-mail me.

 

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