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.