There are many reasons why we shall remember the eleventh edition of the “Way of the Shugenja”. On the difficulty scale, we can say that after the legendary march Skopje-Hombu and Hombu-Kokino-Hombu, this one is third on the list when difficulty and happenstance on the road are in question.
The instructor Igor Dovezenski decided to share his own feelings about this epic seminar.
“In 07.45 we left the yard of the Hombu Dojo and started towards the furthest point of the march – the village of Kokoshinje. The way to Murgash, and then to the peak of Lipac we passed in a routine manner, with no fatigue showing. We climbed the next two hills of Mangovica and we dropped down to the village of Pezovo where we had a magnificent encounter with a doe, which flew out like an arrow from the low oak forest. After this, with a fast pace we went through the village of Ksanje, from where we started for Kokoshinje.
We already were in unknown terrain and movement was done only according to our sense of orientation. The road between these two villages was through vast plowed fields, with no shade in sight, during the time of day when the sun shines the brightest and the temperature is the highest. In some of my student strength began to falter, and our water reserves started to dwindle because of gratuitous sweating caused by the environment and the exertions. And exactly when we reached Kokoshinje and where we had to refill our reserves, we found out that the village fountain was almost dry because of the drought and the indifference of the small number of villagers that were still living in this inhospitable place.
The clock struck 14.00, and we had the longest and toughest part of our route in front of us. We needed to travel 20 kilometers to the village of Konjuh, through uninhabited mountain terrain, criss-crossed with many rocky areas, covered in oak forest and low prickly hedges that slowed us down immensely. After ten kilometer had passed, I started to notice that with the slowed down tempo, because of the terrain, it will be hard for us to reach the road to the village of Konjuh before darkness overcame us. I told Sashe Gacev that the roadside stop in the village of Tatomir we will have to skip, because that village is high above sea level, and that after we climb we will have to backtrack, and that will cost us a lot of time. In those moments I thought that, maybe if we continued on, we might still have a chance to reach it before the night came upon us in the wild. We dropped down to a gully through which sometimes ran a small stream, which from time to time was lost below the sandy surface. We moved fast, but some of my student started to lag behind. As much as I tried to “drag them” with my fast pace, still the difference between me and them became ever so larger. Here I finally knew that there was slim chance that we will manage to reach the road to the village of Konjuh, and that soon it will be dark. Still, I decided that I will give it my best and try to get my people to the target on time.
18.30 hours. By my estimation to the end of the gully there were around 4 kilometers. With the tempo that we were moving through the river stones, we would have passed at most three when the sun set. That meant that we had to make a camp in a place that had water and where wild animals would come during the night to quench their thirst. And already in my head began to resonate the wolf howls that we heard from the bush while we were traveling between the villages of Kokoshinje and Tatomir.
I decided that we should climb the right side of the gully, the side towards Shopsko Rudare and following the top of the mountain we should try to find some kind of dirt road that we could follow during the night. We started up the steep hills and through the thick forest. In front of us there appeared some goat paths that were made by the animals that move through the mountain. All around me there were droppings from wild animals, skeletons of herbivores, marks left by wild boars. I watched and I kept quiet, so not to disturb my students.
Suddenly one of the paths in front of us started to widen, and the terrain to clear up. And just as the sun was beginning to set. I grasped at this straw of hope and though that if we were lucky, maybe this little path will lead to a bigger one. I began to run forward and gave the order for all to follow me. The fatigue was gone in a flash, and the pain in the legs subsided. As I ran I loudly encouraged the people behind me to follow. I told sempai Taki and sempai Blagica to be the “liaisons” between me and all the rest and to move with a distance of 20 meters between us. But despite all that, the distance between me and the rest grew on. All were tired, thirsty, spent. I was left with only one last tactic to make them follow me faster. To anger them. To hurt their ego. To cause them to be stubborn. I turned and I yelled:
-Why aren’t you listening to my orders, you monkeys, how do you expect me to get You out if this wilderness?
Then one of my trusted students lost control and started to shout and complain uncontrollably. Sempai Blagica retorted sharply that he should watch his conduct, but for me that meant that the battle against time was lost and that we would have to sleep in this unknown, harsh and uninviting wilderness. I couldn’t allow myself to spoil my relationship with my students which I consider my family.
Then came the hardest part. To convince them that we should spend the night here, and that according to the rules of survival, as soon as darkens falls, we have to make camp.
I cautiously looked over the terrain and I found a narrow gully, well hidden, and most importantly full of dry branches at an arms length. I quickly made a fire, and in that time the students gathered the dry branches in a pile. The place was ideally chosen, and most important of all was that it was safe and we couldn’t cause a fire in the forest, because of the long drought the grass was as dry as gunpowder. The guard was set and we all huddled around the fire. I didn’t sleep at all. I listened to the guard so I can judge their moral. I talked to them when their eyes would drop, I woke them when they would fall asleep. I made sure that the fire stayed lit. I used my body to warm up those that were cold. Morning came. I repeated to them what I had said the previous night:
- This seminar became a true survival. We did what we trained for all these years. We survived. With no almost no equipment. With no weapons to protect ourselves. We survived with what little we had.
The sun started to climb in the sky, and so did we through the dense oak forest. After a while in the distance the first houses of Shopsko Rudare appeared…
I will say that in this seminar took part seven Warrior of Bujinkan Macedonia. During the first day we traveled around 52 kilometers in 12 hours. In two of the participants there were some health concerns followed by hallucinations caused by thirst. Our friendships, meaning our tight knit relationship passed the test again.
In a short while the pain in the muscles will subside, the feeling of miserable thirst will fade, the chill in our bones will be gone and so will the memories of our fight with the big dogs (sharplaninci).
The memory of our friendship and the self-sacrifice that we have for each-other will remain forever.
Pain is temporary. Glory is eternal. Just as is our respect for Mother Nature. Her strength always reminds us how powerful she really is and how small we truly are”.