We've had a few amazing clinicians visit us at the dojo, but Kashiwazaki Sensei was one of the pinnacles. To have him in the dojo was a dream come true. He was humble and based all of his judo on simplicity. He kept repeating, "It's simple!". But simple isn't easy. It takes years of practice to make something look easy and to be a part of your game. I've learned from many great teachers over the years, and each one is known for a technique -- Neil Adams has his taiotoshi, Hamada Sensei has his foot sweeps, Koga had his seoi nage, Gunji has his uchimata and Kashiwazaki has his tomoe nage. Everyone of them made it look easy -- but because they focussed on it relentlessly for years. And here they are, showing it to you.... saying it's simple. But it's not. So rather than focussing on mimicking others techniques, maybe it's time to find what you can make simple.
