What’s better than one Shihan class? Well, actually, two of them in a row! As luck would have it, normal class at Kensington was canceled and instead of kicking back on my couch on a fine rainy and cold Thursday evening and grab a brew and stream something, I decided to reach out to the folks at South Windsor, and actually before I did, I got a call from Sempai Kyle inquiring somewhat and cajoling me into attending while Shihan was in town. I just wanted to be respectful of their space since leaving that dojo and no longer an active student there. “Nonsense,” was pretty much the response that as at least three black belts from there had reached out this week to invite me to attend. A quick call to Sensei Chris was in order and he knew exactly what I was calling about so even before I uttered a single word, he started off with “Yes, you may go to South Windsor. Enjoy it.”

And with that, gi and belt in hand and half dressed in uniform from the bottom up I grabbed my water bottles, car keys, a child and headed out the door. I did not regret the outing. Not one bit. Again, need I remind you, this was a Shihan class. It felt like a Shihan class.

It was Thursday, April 29, 2021. The weather was rainy and cold on a typical New England spring day, which makes you want to huddle up with your favorite blanket and book by a warm hearth. Not get on the road with a million other people trudging home during rush hour in wet and soggy climate. Enough about the weather.

As is typical of an impending Shihan class (this was true in East Hartford as well) the air was electric and folks were nearly giddy before his arrival. We were first greeted by hugs by Anne, Shihan’s daughter and her boyfriend who seemed to be interested in checking out the dojo and probably what the family hype was about (I would hope my daughter one day would tell all about my jujitsu to her friends). I also met several students I have never seen before, a woman named Liz and two twin teenagers. The usual cast of characters was there as well – Rachel the blue belt, we call her Turbo, Yellow Belt Matt, we call him that not because he has had his yellow belt for it seems forever, but to differentiate him from Sensei Matt, but both reasons apply. There’s also an Ed there. He’s well, interesting, let’s put it that way, a white belt and a mainstay at South Windsor and I’ve gotten to know him over the last couple of months after I got back to training and visiting regularly here. I think Judah was there too, he’s a college student and son of Sempai Joel, though a white belt he is dedicated. That’s about it for the color belts.

Then there were the black belts – other than Sensei Jak, there was Sensei Tony, and a later arrival, Sensei Todd whom I rarely see these days. You don’t want to mess with Sensei Todd. You don’t want to mess with any of the Sensei’s but least of all him. If you look into his eyes you have already lost. Then there were the Sempai’s – Kyle, Larry, and Mariana the trio.

As we were getting introduced and Shihan went in turn meeting every student and black belt in the dojo, he stopped by for a chat with me and Sempai Mariana. Shihan told us about the sequel to The Contractor that he recently published (among his many talents, he is an author) that Sempai Mariana was a character in his new book! Now I have to read it! He indicated he would try to get me into a future novel. Now how cool would that be?

We bowed in. Sensei Jak introduced Shihan to all the class. And then asked Shihan to say hi and that’s exactly what he did. We chuckled. Not for long. Sempai Larry was told to lead class by Sensei Jak. I’ve been attending class long enough at South Windsor and having been his training partner all these years – can you believe I was senior to Sempai Larry some time back? Too long to remember or worry about now. I knew what we were in for. Good thing I was getting my neck fixed at the Osteopath the next morning so I just went for broke and it was challenging. We ran around the perimeter of the dojo with judo style warmups like shuffling in and out and karaokes and scooping the ground interspersed with rolls, etc. down the mats until finally Shihan took over and then did his warmup, which was very much akin to the one we did in Kensington on Tuesday. I don’t know if it would have been easier if I hadn’t done it or had done it and recovered. But here I was again. I’m a glutton for punishment. Anyway the standard was instituted, 30 jumping jacks, pushups, situps, leg raises, and even pushups. Then onto stretching. It was like a two for one deal at the South Windsor dojo. A typical Sempai Larry warmup followed by a typical Shihan warmup! I just thank my lucky stars that I have a decade of conditioning of just this. I did break a sweat and the pesky mask I wore (disposable surgical mask) was a terrible idea. I couldn’t get enough oxygen in. I highly recommend against using those. But Shihan must have noticed or in his subtle observational ways picked up others’ disillusionment and stated, “this is a training tool, once we take these off in the future we’ll feel like we have so much more energy and gas.” It is true, I realized this a while ago but it’s Shihan that helps remind us of life’s little mysteries revealed.

Now onto the Jujitsu. Shihan had me take Matt and Turbo through the yellow belt jujutsu chart. I had Rachel lead off as she is the one going to be testing in a couple of months for her brown belt. Then I attacked Matt to get him to respond. After a while I noticed Sempai Mariana and she pulled me aside to work on the techniques as her partner. After a few adjustments Shihan made watching us he told me to take advantage of the fact that I had her and him there to work on the brown belt chart. Knowing Sempai Mariana and having trained with her since white belt up to her black belt I trust her implicitly as she is a very excellent technician and around the same size as me so very little risk of injury for both parties. Win! Don’t have to tell me twice. I went straight for the jujutsu. I learned some new techniques and really understood the mechanics with Shihan coming around and correcting, Sensei Jak demonstrating, and even Sensei Todd standing by and adjusting. What a lineup that was. It was truly a unique opportunity.

Afterward we rolled. how they found time to cram all this into one class I don’t know but there I was with Turbo. She is smallish and petite but boy let me tell you she is scrappy. I learned from the past not to go easy on her because she will go for blood. So I kept up my defenses well enough but she still managed to sneak in a choke from guard. I was really not thinking and before I could even fight it the lights started going out and she wasn’t letting go but my brain was so I was forced to tap. You earned that one, Rachel. She is also constantly looking for ankle locks so keep your feet guarded at all times. She’s one feisty blue belt.

Next I went with Yellow Belt Matt. Matt’s an interesting one. He doesn’t always realize his real strength and speed and scrappiness. He basically matches what you give out and can go into burst mode which makes it really hard to defend when you are smaller than him which I am but having learned my lesson from Rachel just prior, I went really hard on him and though he had my arm nearly in an armbar I didn’t let him take it and was able to sneak it past his thighs so I was safe. He still kept at it like a dog with a bone but by then the Sensei’s were yelling at him that he lost it even though he didn’t register it. This battle continued a bit longer with some grip fighting and position swapping but in the end time was called. That’s a win for me. Matt IMHO is way beyond a typical yellow belt especially when it comes to newaza and randori. I’d put him in the league of at least a blue belt from that perspective if not higher save for the technique catalogue he doesn’t have yet.

All the other couples were occupied after that and Shihan brought me over to Sempai Larry to fight. Oh boy. I was hoping I could just stand around and observe and yell at people to do obvious things that are really hard to do in the thick of it but Shihan wasn’t having it. He wanted me to keep on going. He had said to me earlier in class that since I’m leaving I might as well get the most of him and all the other Sempai’s and Sensei’s being here. Like I said before, you can’t put one past Shihan. He will remind you of the important things in life through jujitsu. He told me a long time ago that “jujitsu has a way of revealing what you already know.” I should mention for those that don’t know Shihan, he doesn’t always say these things in a sarcastic way though he is one for that sometimes, but in a steady matter-of-fact way that just makes you go, “yeah of course he’s right” and his timing is impeccable. Well, he was right all along. Sempai Larry is a tough opponent. He was able to submit me a couple of times and okay fine who am I kidding several times. Then Shihan stopped all the fights and asked everyone if we should be on the ground battling away? The answer of course was no and he told us the similar escalation stages from Tuesday that you never want to be on the ground – he asked how does it feel to get your head knocked on the mats – okay but anyone get their heads knocked on the pavement. Fewer nods and he admitted this would not be pleasant so now with that all said, the new exercise was for each person to engage in the newaza to try and disengage while also trying to keep the other person engaged. Huh? I don’t think I’ve ever done this before myself. And I thought I had done just about everything. So we did and it was really eye opening. These white belts have no idea how truly fortunate they were to having Shihan here on this night. And to think there was a brief moment when I almost decided to not go myself. Perish the thought. At one point Sempai Larry had me pretty good and Sensei Tony and Shihan yelled at me to get away and I put all I got and kicked and yanked my way out and Sensei Tony clapped his hands and Shihan walked away smiling. I couldn’t have asked for a better end to a great Shihan class.

He then told us how it feels to get in an altercation. He said win or lose you will feel terrible afterward. Nobody questions him when he imparts this words of wisdom. Any observer from the outside may make the mistake of thinking that’s because he is an authority figure that is not to be disputed. I can honestly tell you that’s not the reason at all. Far from it actually. I have been at other styles and dojos where that was the case with no substance behind the words. With Shihan and all the black belts, there are not enough words yet every movement and utterance is rich with substance and learning. It feels like a lucid dreamscape that which you don’t want to wake up from but know the alarm will ring soon leaving you with a fog and wanting to go back to sleep to go to that place which you may never return.

We lined up afterward. Shihan looked at all of us and said, everyone from the Sempai’s down – “there are two white belts that tied their belts incorrectly. this is your fault. You should be paying attention to all the little details. Because they matter.” Nobody moved. But we all felt the deep shame and embarrassment for him calling us out on that. He’s right of course. There is no excuse for something like that. We bowed out and he did leave us with one final note, “that there is no secret you just have to keep coming and be tenacious.” Once again I felt like he was speaking directly to me but I knew everyone else was feeling the same thing. Applause ensued. There were zero disappointments – even the critique was a learning experience for everyone. This is the reason we call him Shihan, or Master, or translated from Japanese, Teacher of teachers.