“Every seminar in our club brings with itself a special story. You can’t go to one and say: Yes, I know how it was, I was last year. No, we don’t know. You never know what awaits you and which doors you need to open and which filters you need to pass, which stairway upwards awaits you, will you slip or step determined… you don’t know with what kind of external cruelty you will face or which worm will star eating you from the inside out. Improvement happens only when you walk the Way, and not while standing still.  I had great luck in being able to participate this year, to practice and to hang out with my martial family. The training was enjoyable to the last second, the beans I tasted for the first time, although I have it served to me for four years – top mastery, the nature around us spared us from the heat, but made it up to us with a good soaking to the bone at the top of the mountain. The adventure of climbing down was something that will be remembered forever, as our leader said, Sensei Dovezenski – this is the way a unbreakable spirit is built, this is the road with no quitting, fortitude, facing yourself and facing the unpredictable nature. We went through a new chapter in which Sensei, only and unyielding leader, lead us through the thick thorny untrodden ways through the mystical mountain LIpac. At the same time he was creating, shaping and refining the leader in each and every one of us.” – Sanja Simonova

“The seminar this was. They don’t talk it up for nothing. This was my first participation in “Kenjutsu under the stars of Lipac” and the experience was unforgettable. The road to the monastery was an adventure of its own, with beautiful nature on all sides. Ono ha Itto ryu is a powerful samurai skill, but that is all I can write about it for now. What I understood is that I have a long way to go. The rain on LIpac was short, but strong and it made us ‘dripping wet’. Sensei decided that we must make a tactical withdrawal. We fought our way step by step through the thick forest, actually sensei smashed the way forward, and we followed and tried not to die” – Damjan Serafimovski

“Since I was accepted in the arms of the family ‘Taiyou e no Michi’, my life simply changed because I did so many things for the first time. I was changed by the motivation, support and love which were given to me by them and they made me a better human being. In these two days thanks to all of you I learned an important lesson. If you try, if you beat fear and if you open your heart – you will succeed. Up to this moment I heard about this seminar from the other comrades and impatiently waited to feel it on my own skin that which others have felt before me and finally it happened. Honestly, my body and spirit suffered a lot of ups and downs this weekend, but because of the beauty of this seminar – I kept myself alive. If I try to describe the beauty of LIpac and the art of Ono ha Itto ryu and even if I write the prettiest most describing words – I will still fail. You must simply take the boken in hand and feel the spirit.

The pots of beans on the quiet fire, under the eye of Shidoshi ho Zoki, were boiling away at the end of the first day. I can still feel the taste in my 
mouth, it was something amazing. And like a good night story, the jokes from the veterans. On the second day we got our backpacks and straight to the top we went, towards the Sun. And there to greet us and to officially open the training first little grey clouds, and soon after icy drops that came as a nice refreshment. Everybody piled up, everybody drenched, but what is important everybody smiling and ready to continue the training. But it continued in a different direction, this time through bushes and forests. It was something incredible. It truly cannot be described. All I can say is a big thank you to Sensei and to everybody who were part of this seminar. I truly love you all, although we all are different characters, nonetheless one thing joins us all together. TAIYOU E NO MICHI! Love!” –  Tamara Gjorgievska

“I was thinking what to write and if I should write at all about something that cannot be described. How can I describe the road from the Hombu to the monastery, and afterwards the training under the harsh sun. How can I describe all those jokes and that whole friendship when before the supper we asked sensei questions, to which he had answers. How can I describe the struggle and slaps to stay awake while I was on guard duty. How can I describe the cleaning of the monastery and its surroundings and all that organization in accomplishing that task. How can I describe the return to the Hombu and all those natural beauty that cannot be described by pictures and video, let alone words. How can I describe the rain on the top of Lipac in the middle of training. All I can say is that if someone really wants to see all of that and to capture the power of this seminar, he should come next year.” – Filip Trajanovski

“When life slowly, but surely, fills up with commitments and your free time slowly gets shorter, then you must decide what are your priorities in life. How can you rise further, where to learn, to create, to upgrade yourself as a person, which people are worth the short time you have. I decided a good part of my time to be spent with you and I have no regrets yet about that decision of mine and I don’t want to lose you ever! On the way back to Hombu, we had a conversation with Riki about how many days of this past year we will remember for the rest of our lives. This weekend is something that will definitely be remembered, every second, every drop of sweat, every hard step to the top, every raised sword and pain in the arms, every bite of beans, every joke and every smile of all of us that were there. Also remembered will be all that impassible nature and every drop of summer rain, all the faces from the photographs put up on Facebook, because according to the new ways that’s where we put our memories. I will remember also every second spent on guard duty, as well as the hardship of trying to keep the beans ‘inside me’. The seminar is over, but the fire will always be lit and I will never put it out. And I don’t want to and I must not, and I can’t.” – Vladimir Antonovski