Welcome to shugyo.me.uk, the personal little allotment in cyberland belonging to Kemi, and I'd like to share some fun and serious ideas with you here. Pull up a chair, have a brew and a biccie...
In a nutshell, it's living life with purpose, involving hard training, reflection, openness and refinement as a method of self improvement. There are many arts and paths that one can follow to move towards this, and I have chosen several. The arts I have chosen to do this include karate, judo, iaido, jodo and music.
My understanding of shugyo is ultimately realising a harmonious way of living. Being a realist though, every day brings jubilations and tribulations of its own; some "created" by me and others "happening" to me, some that will be positively worked out, others unfortunately negatively. Hard study, practice and training makes it easier to deal with both types of experience, and the reflection and refinement aspects of shugyo allow the responses to these experiences to be more subtle and equinamous appropriately. I believe this to be a good thing!
Here's some good definitions from the web on shugyo...
As you can see from the above, my choices of shugyo practice involve a few of the great Japanese martial arts. I've had a fascination with Japan for a long time, and have finally decided to take a sabbatical from work to train out there and get to know the country firsthand. Inspiration from my Lonely Planet also led me to finding out about the 88 Temples pilgrimage, the circumnavigation of the island of Shikoku, which I've also decided to do, as a true shugyo experience. I'm putting my preparation and journey notes as they occur in my blog, Japanese Journey.
Musokan is my Iaido and Jodo club, in which I am currently a shodan in both arts.
My Training journal, techniques and tips for my budo practice
The site's not all about grafting though! Enjoying life is also important, so here's some stuff that I like for fun! Hope you'll find them interesting...
Jim'll Fixit Top 10 Wishes
If I had a hammer... and some nails and some free time and a garden
Current design inspirations: