Me like this technique

Stumpy had us do lots of hiyaku ukemi (flying forward flip) today. Megumi was doing them for the first time, and I'm still not very good at them, so we did a little flipping practice before moving on to techniques.

First we did shomen uchi hijiate II, at least I think that's what it's called. Uke first does a shomen strike and shite blocks and pivots 180 degrees to uke's side, with uke's arm extended in front of shite. Shite then moves the arm behind the uke, swinging the uke around, and prepares for the hijiate (elbow throw). A tough techniques, but good for practicing hiyaku ukemi.

Next we did a great kokyu-ho technique. Roland called it katatemochi kokyu-ho hiji-osae II. It's a very simple technique, but seemed powerful. In ai-hanmi kamae, uke takes shite's left wrist and pushes. Shite's hand blends with the push, pivoting a little less than 180 degrees, with uke's arm in front of shite. Shite then uses an open right hand to roll uke's elbow away from the site's body, while dropping to the right knee. This forces uke forward, and hopefully into a flip. After doing it a few times, I felt more confident and threw Megumi quite hard a few times. What a great feeling it. This one's definitely going on my favorite's list. We did a few other techniques, but they were just anti-climatic after that one.

Helping out a senior

Some good practice with Saori this morning. Stumpy told us to practice my test techniques, but as I've mentioned before, I like to practice a larger variety of techniques than the 5 that are on my test. So while we did do the techniques on my test, we also mixed in some other techniques, like the opposite type, ichi (pulling) vs ni (pushing) techniques, as well as suwariwaza. I definitely screwed up most of the suwariwaza, but I figure it was good practice for Saori. She's going for her shodan (the 1st degree black belt) test at Honbu in a few weeks. I don't think she'll have any trouble passing, but honestly, what is my opinion worth, I just started training 6 months ago.

Everyone needs some time off

Well, It's been a little while since I've made an entry. In addition to missing a few classes, I haven't had the inclination to write anything. Mostly been doing a lot of test training on the 5 techniques for my next test, but honestly, only doing those techniques is a little dull. Today was a bit better though. David and I practiced a bunch of techniques I wasn't too familiar with, so I got to learn a few more techniques, filling in a few blanks on the way.

Less is more, more or less

Good energy in the dojo today. Four beginners showed up, three of which passed their 10th kyu test last Friday. I worked on my test techniques with Sao-chan, and Oxford worked with Drew.

My tenchinage felt good today. I just tried to recreate what I saw last week at Honbu, a big explosive movement and really moving the uke's hand out to the side and as low as I can get. I even got a nod of approval from Stumpy. I also made a little progress on my kokyu ho, but my shihonage felt really weak today. It may have been that my uke was really short, but I felt that in the position before the pivot, I didn't have control of the uke.

I was a little jealous of the beginners today. They learned tenchinage for the first time today, and guess I miss that feeling of seeing every technique for the first or second time, the newness of it all. I'll try to practice a greater variety of techniques while training, not just my test techniques.

Crash Test Dummy

It's strange being a teaching prop. As I was laying on the mat today, I noticed my reflection in the dojo mirror with my arm being used by The General to teach osae. However, as the bottom of the mirror is raised 5 or 6 inches off the floor, my arm was the only part of my body I could see. Because of this, I found it quite easy to dissociate myself from my arm. Then it no longer seemed like my arm. It's like my arm became dojo property, to be used for the education of others. Then I thought that the furtherance of another's education is an admirable aspiration for a simple arm.

1st trip to Honbu

I went to Hombu dojo (the head dojo for Yoshinkan Aikido) for the first time last night. As I was walking toward it, I couldn't really distinguish it from any of the surrounding office buildings, but then I heard the welcoming sound of mats being slapped, hard. Ah yes, this must be the place.

I was a bit nervous at first, intimidated by the class size (around 40), as well as the fact that I could only see two other white belts in the crowd of blacks and browns. I ended up partnered with one of the other white belts and while the techniques we did were a bit advanced, we were able to muddle through them. The techniques were ryotemochi nikajo osae II and ryotemochi tenchinage II. We also did suwariwaza for both techniques.

What I really enjoyed was the intensity at which everyone seemed to be training. It started from Ando Sensei and the strength of his techniques, which was reflected by the enthusiasm of his uke during his demonstration of the techniques. This energy served to encourage everyone else and made for a great atmosphere. I think a return trip is definitely in order.