I did it. I enrolled into a Karate Club here in Bayreuth. Oh joy, but boy am I sorry right now. Not because of the club but because I am aching all over – aaaaaallllll oooooveeer.

I was a bit nervous about going to a new club the whole day before. Firstly, because I knew I would have to communicate in German. Secondly, because I didn´t know if the sensei of the club would accept another black belt into the club.

But I said, what have I got to loose but a little dignity. Actually I thought I would loose more dignity by not going, so I went. I packed my kimono and drove to the address the Google Maps showed me. There I followed two women that had »karategi« written on their sport bags up to a dojo that was on the third floor of some secluded building. There I asked one of the women in she knew where sensei has his quarters.

Sensei is a big fellow in his mid-fifties (I am just guessing, because he is very fit and energetic), who greeted me with a smile. After a few of my initial words in broken German, I apologised for my lack of knowledge in spoken German and he just said: »No, you are doing alright! «. I liked him from the start.

After I explained to him who I was and what I am doing here, he invited me to join them for a practice. Why oh why didn´t I just say that I forgot my kimono!?!? Maybe because it wouldn´t be fitting for a black belt to refuse this kind of invitation.

The hour and three quarters practice was exhausting to say the least and a bit embarrassing because I was the only one in the dojo screaming: »I can´t do it anymore!« (I am not joking – and I screamed in German). But all in all I think I did OK when accepting the fact that I wasn´t physically active for a couple of months. What intrigued me most was the code of karate the sensei stressed the whole course. »Herz und Gheist ist Karate!« – hearth and spirit is Karate, he kept screaming, when some of us tried to think too much during a sparring. I couldn´t agree more. I am at my best in karate when I loose myself in the motion and the adrenalin. That is why my favourite quote from the motion picture »The Last Samurai« is: »Too many mind… No mind. « in this scene:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdETAHImGW8 (sorry I couldn´t find any better quality). What can I do, I am a karate enthusiast. But it is so true when it comes to kumite and believe me for I had plenty of experience in my better days.

At the end of practice they all chanted in one voice something like a prayer or a vow (don´t get me wrong, it was nothing religious). Of what I could understand from my limited German it had something to do with what karate is and what they should be like as a karateki.

I was kind of humbled by this experience. After almost 25 years in karate, this was one of the best practises I ever had. I just hope that I regenerate quickly enough for the next one and survive it…

Kako sem skoraj umrl od utrujenosti po slovensko:

 Pa sem izpolnil zadano. Vpisal sem se v Karate klub tukaj v Bayreuthu. Se bi veselil, če mi ne bi bilo malo žal. Pa ne zaradi izbire kluba ampak, ker me čiiiiisto vseeee boli.  

Preden sem se odpravil v novi klub, sem bil cel dan živčen. Najbolj zato, ker sem vedel, da bom moral govoriti nemško. Pa tudi zato, ker nisem vedel ali bo trener sprejel nov črni pas iz drugega kluba v svoj dojo.  Pa sem si rekel, kaj pa imam za izgubiti razen malce ponosa. V bistvu se mi je zdelo, da bo moj ponos bolj trpel, če ne bi šel. Tako sem spakiral kimono in se odpravil na naslov, ki mi ga je pokazal Google Zemljevidi. Tam sem opazil dve ženski s torbama na katerih je pisalo »karategi« in jima sledil. Ko smo prišli do vrha trinadstropne stavbe, ki se je skrivala v ozadju hiš, sem ju vprašal kje bi lahko dobil sensei-a.  

Sensei je velik možakar, sredi petdesetih (v bistvu samo ugibam leta, ker zgleda zelo fit in ima veliko energije), ki me je pozdravil z nasmeškom. Po nekaj mojih začetnih nerodnih besedah v polomljeni nemščini, sem se mu opravičil za slabo nemščino. Na to mi je rekel: »Sploh ne, odlično ti gre.« (v nemščini seveda). Nekako mi je bil všeč že od začetka.  

Ko sem mu končno obrazložil kdo sem in kaj delam tam, me je povabil naj se jim pridružim na treningu. Le zakaj nisem rekel, da sem pozabil kimono doma?!?!?! Mogoče zato, ker se to ne bi spodobilo od mojstra 1. dan ob takšnem povabilu.  Ura in tri četrt treninga je bila milo rečeno zelo naporna. Poleg tega sem se po moje malce osmešil, ko sem edini v dvorani kričal: » Ne morem več!« (se ne hecam, pa še v nemščini sem kričal) Če pogledam nazaj, mislim, da mi niti ni šlo tako slabo, sploh glede na to, da pretekle tri mesece skoraj nisem bil fizično aktiven. Pri samem treningu me je najbolj pritegnilo predvsem to, da je sensei neprestano poudarjal, da sta srce in duh bistvo karateja (»Herz und Gheist is Karate«), ko je videl, da smo nekateri preveč razmišljali pri sparingu. S tem se popolnoma strinjam. Meni gre najbolje, ko pri treningu ali borbi odklopim mentalne ovire in se prepustim gibanju in adrenalinu. Zato je moj najljubši citat iz filma »Zadnji samuraj« v prevodu naslednji: »Preveč misli… Nobenih misli!« (posnetek iz filma je na zgornji povezavi v zelo slabi kakovosti).  

Na koncu treninga so vsi prisotni nekaj deklamirali (ni bila molitev ali kakšna religiozna zadeva). Kar sem lahko razumel s svojo omejeno nemščino, se mi zdi, da so govorili kaj pomeni karate in kakšni karateisti morajo biti.  

Se še počutim malce ponižnega ob tej izkušnji. Po skoraj več kot 25 letih karateja je bil to eden boljših treningov, kar sem jih imel. Sedaj pa samo upam, da sem pripravljen na današnji drugi trening in, da ga preživim brez, da bi se spet osmešil s kriki premaganca…