Canada Shotokan Karate conducts special practices known as "Special Trainings" (gasshuku) twice a year, usually in January and June or July. Special Trainings are three or four days long and consist of eight to ten intensive practices. Special Training is the most important thing we do in Shotokan Karate all year, because it allows us to push ourselves past our pre-conceived (and usually wrong) ideas of what are limits are, to find our real limits. Many students feel that Special Trainings are the most demanding, strenuous, mental, and physical experiences of their lives.
The beginning student is allowed to attend Special Training with the consent of the instructor, based on physical condition and knowledge of kata, kihon, and kumite.
At Special Training the student is given the opportunity to train with a large number of members of all ranks from many dojos in Canada and the US. Special Training is usually held in a large facility such as a private boarding school or camp where students live, eat, and train together. Separate sleeping quarters and bathrooms are provided for men and women. Special Training represents an opportunity for the serious karate student to advance him- or her-self both mentally and physically. A common rule of thumb is that one Special Training is equivalent to 6 months of regular practice.
There are only a few rules at Special Training: since our main goal is to focus on practice, no distractions such alcohol, recreational drugs or sexual activity are permitted. No one may leave Special Training until it is officially over, except with the permission of the chief instructor. Any student who breaks this rule automatically loses his or her membership in CSK, and will never again be allowed to practice with any CSK dojo. There is absolutely no exception to this rule.
Special Training has come down to us from martial artists of the past who sought a way to put their mental and physical powers to a test by calling on their innermost strengths--strengths that you will realize you also possess after this intensive training experience. Indeed, to put ourselves into hardship, to push ourselves to our physical limits and thereby to strengthen our mentality, and to see ourselves with clearer eyes, are the ultimate goals of this practice.
The ideals behind Special Training are most clearly articulated by Mr. Sadaharu Honda:
"We know that human beings are very kind to themselves and are living as easily as they can. In this kind of situation we only maintain what we have, and the only way to obtain something new is to push ourselves strongly forward. The purpose of practicing karate is to develop physical and mental strength by putting ourselves into hardship."