Mountain Kusa said:
What is the youngest children you see training in this art?
The youngest I've seen was 10 or 11 years old. The youngest I've heard of was a Japanese man (who is still training) who began under Hatsumi sensei when he was about 9 years old.
Mountain Kusa said:
And would you mind telling us what kinds of things they do if there are children?
There are two classes I've seen on a regular basis here; one Don has already mentioned, although I believe the training there has "evolved" since Don last saw it.
In the other class, it's mostly neighborhood kids from age 10 or 11 to about 13 or so. Class begins with a bow in, then
junan taiso, various forms of
ukemi, then
gogyo no kata, ichimonji no kamae no kata, jumonji no kamae no kata, hicho no kata. Following that, punching and kicking at pads or
makiwara, throwing
shuriken made of leather, heavy cardboard or foam rubber at targets or each other. Sometimes I would see them working on
kata from the first 2/3 of the
Tenchijin, the
shoden level of Takagi Yoshin ryu or Koto ryu, or basic striking with a
hanbo or cutting with a
bokken. The
kata practice didn't seem like something that from my perspective, could be done with children in the United States. Often, a kid would pop another kid, there'd be some crying and screaming, both kids would get a little talking to, then they'd get back to training. After a few months of this, the crying seemed to stop...outside of Japan, lawsuits from disgruntled parents (who probably should have sent their kids to ballet in the first place) would get the dojo shutdown. In any event, I was told that because the kids lived in the neighborhood, there was also sometimes afterschool stuff outdoors.
