Asia Trip 2012: Iaido in Tokyo - Day 5

SUN 22-JUL: 5th day in a row! Another weekend practice means another early morning... er...Yay!

Although technically not in Shinjuku, our venue is still close enough to count for membership. The Yotsuya #3 Elementary School is located about 5 minutes by foot from the Yotsuya Metro and JR stations. Finding the street wasn't difficult as a 7/11 was parked right at the corner, and the park across the street was an easy point of reference. Getting to the school was another story. The large bicycle lot that we remembered from a previous trip wasn't in sight of the main road, so we had to guess at the entrance. Luckily, something drew me to the first opening we tried, and after a couple of turns everything from our memory was in plain sight. The bicycle lot in the courtyard surrounded by buildings, the separated men and women change rooms, and the gym entrance itself (see picture below).

Also used as a basis for movies about insane asylums.

This morning, although humid, was a pleasant 26C with overcast skies. We showed up at 9am, but the other students, including one who could open the door didn't arrive until a few minutes later. Like the Hiroba, it was a large auditorium/gym, and we had even more space this time as most of the higher ranked students were at some kind of seminar for 4, 5, and 6 Dans.

Everyone just started their own practice as they arrived. In total, about 7 members joined us in the class.  Hatakenaka herself, did not make it until about 10:15am.  It was a good practice, with no chatting, and relatively few instruction from Hatakenaka Sensei.  We all got a good sweat going and finished the practice with group Seitei again.

After practice, the youngin's (current & recent university students) went off as a group while we followed Hatakenaka Sensei to a local Tachi Soba joint. She really seems to love this food, and it was mighty fine indeed.

We spent the next few hours resting at the hotel and watching the 27 hour marathon variety show on TV. That night we went for Kaiten Sushi again and dessert afterwards. Our plan is to eat so much Sushi that we don't feel like it for the first few months after getting back to Toronto. Not sure if we have enough time for that =P