Chapel Hill Dojo has hosted the East Coast exchange practice “Spring in the South” almost every spring since 1980. Mr. Ohshima led the first Spring in the South and nine other times until 2009. Many other SKA senior instructors have led the event as well.
This year, sixty-six year old godan Mark Kohagura led two practices Saturday and one on Sunday. Carl Johnson, David Altman and I totally enjoyed the weekend (but I had to fly back to KC early Sunday morning, so I missed the Sunday kata practice.
Senior black belts (sandans, yodans, godans) enjoyed drinks and dinner together at the upscale Hawthorne & Wood restaurant in Chapel Hill. Couldn’t have been nicer.
Carl, David, half a dozen others and I stayed at the beautiful home of Nora (nidan) and Oleg (sandan) Favarov and enjoyed late night caviar and vodka, torite practice, and lots of great stories and conversation – THANK YOU to the Favarovs for being such wonderful hosts to us and organizers of the weekend.
Saturday’s practices at Duke School gymnasium were kihon and kumite with time in between for a delicious box lunch of sandwich and salad and individual practice and instruction. Then an open bar and banquet at La Residence.
