Mountain Juggles

As far as I could tell, I had been juggling a lot since I joined the juggling club at the university here. They are pretty intense about getting a lot of hours of practice in, and even the small fraction of that in which I participate is about 4 times as much as I juggled back in the states. However, a week ago my definition of "juggling a lot" was blown to bits after ascending into the mountains of Japan for a 3-day juggling extravaganza.

This mountainous juggling adventure was the juggling club's spring retreat, known more commonly in Japan as a "gashuku" (合宿). Almost every club in Japan has a gashuku at some point or another, and they can range from anything to completely social trips, to training camps. The one which I attended is probably described best as a healthy combination of both, with an extra dash of training camp.

The trip started off at 7am on a Friday morning, with a 6 hour bus ride out of Tokyo and into the mountains. That may sound like some far off venture, but actually in Japan, if you are not on a coast, then there is probably an 80% chance you are in the mountains. We got the got off the bus, dropped stuff off in the hotel rooms, and then immediately proceeded to a nearby gym for a few hours of practice. Each day was similarly structured: Wake up. Eat. Juggle. Eat. Juggle. Eat. Socialize (Juggle). Sleep. Despite the large portion of time each day taken up by juggling practice, the gashuku gave a lot of opportunities to hang out with people in a different context than usual, and to be social with people outside of the usual juggle-centric practices, and despite being absolutely exhausted upon returning at 10pm three nights later, it was a fantastic trip. For a bit more detail into what happened on the retreat, take a look at the pictures below.

Arrival on the mountainside.

One of the several tables in the dining hall in the inn.

One of the three different gyms that we practiced at while we were there. This probably about a third of the group, most people were still getting ready.

Juggling! Wheeeeeeee!

The tallest game of Jenga that I have ever seen.

One evening I learned how to play Go, an ancient Chinese strategy game that looks deceptively simple, but makes Chess look like tic-tac-toe.

Final group shot in front of the inn, just before returning back to Tokyo.