Finnish Federation / September 2007 - Contributor: Kirsi Maki-Kuutti, Jyvaskyla branch

A kenshi perspective to the WSKO training session,
Hameenlinna 22.-23.9.2007

The long awaited training session started on a greyish Saturday morning in Hameenlinna, Finland. The whole four-pack of us Maki-Kuuttis had arrived already on the previous evening to get a head start on the training session.

A good breakfast, lots of coffee and some kenshi-sightings later we set off to the training hall. Having dealt with some minor problems with locating the place, we finally found the impressive training hall at the school of Jukola.

The Finnish federation had the honour of having Aosaka Sensei and Maehara Sensei teaching all of us 90 participating kenshis. There were 60 Finnish, 30 Swedish and 2 Russian kenshis taking part in the training session, so there was a strong feel of internationality in the air. Three participants (my father included) were to take their 4th dan examination, so you could definitely sense the excitement of the approaching examination. The joy of training and all the excitement was, however, mixed with sadness as we took a moment to honour and remember the life and Shorinji Kempo career of Sensei Vesa Maki-Kuutti, who passed away in July 2007 much before his time.

The training session was meant for instructors so the schedule included a bit more philosophy than usually and also instructions on for example how to act as a randori referee. In one of the philosophy lectures Aosaka Sensei taught us that love and friendship are even more important here up north where the coldness and grey weather can make it hard to cope alone. (At the dinner, and after having some wine, some kenshis also dwelled on the possibilities of our sauna-culture offering some aid against the dreadful coldness...)

The evening festivities started already at 6 pm and even the weather turned fine so that we had an exceptionally lovely autumn evening to accompany our dinner. The party continued so late that you could notice some of the kenshis being slightly tired at the randori training on Sunday morning...

Time practically flew (like it always does on Shorinji Kempo occasions) and too soon it was time for the closing ceremonies and the end of the training session. The results of the examinations were also announced so we were proud to welcome three brand new 4th dans into our international Shorinji Kempo-family and I was especially proud to welcome one to my own family.

- Kirsi Maki-Kuutti, 1st dan, Jyvaskyla branch

 

TOP