The close of my first Aikido year

Well, that's it. I closed out my first year of Aikido with two hours of classes at Honbu Dojo today. I've really enjoyed training at Honbu this week and would like to continue attending class into next year. However, having all the explanations in Japanese is a little tough. I can catch a bit of it, but I really have to concentrate to understand. Instead, I get the gist and try to observe the sensei and copy their movements.

This year, I feel Aikido has become a regular part of my life. I really enjoy teaching my body to react and blend with someone else's energy. And that's really what Aikido had become for me, it's not the techniques or movements, but the awareness of another's energy, and knowing how to get control and direct that energy to where you want it to go.

So here's to another great year of training.

Osu!

The year ain't over yet

Even though my home dojo is closed for the year, there's other options in this Mecca of Aikido that is Tokyo. Last night Megumi and I went to a class at Yoshinkan Honbu Dojo. The class size was much smaller than I expected, 5 black belts, 1 brown, and 4 whites, including Megumi and myself. However, class was presided over by none other than Shioda Kancho himself. What a treat.

This was my second time going to Honbu Dojo, so due to this and the small class size I was able to relax a little and focus on Aikido. We did some rather difficult techniques, all aya mochi (grabbing shite's right hand with uke's right hand, or left with left). The techniques were aya mochi nikkajo osae I, both suwari and tachi waza (sitting and standing techniques). We also did aya mochi sokomen iriminage II and aya mochi yonkajo nage II. I don't feel like I really nailed any of them, but was able to get a general feel for all of them. Besides who ever actually understands a technique after practicing it for just one class?

I'd like to go back to train again before the end of the year, but their last class is on Sunday, so I'll have to be quick about it.

last morning class of the year

My first year of Aikido is winding down, with today being the last morning class of the year, and tomorrow evening's class being the last class of the year.

This morning I was the senior student, a rarity that I kind of enjoy. We did some ukemi (break falls) and then worked on katatemochi nikajo osae II. My partner was pretty green, so we went through the technique slowly. R Sensei pointed out that working with a fresh student gives us a chance to see a natural, untrained reaction to the techniques. If I were to do nikajo, or any other technique, to a random person, they wouldn't react like a trained uke would. It's good to keep that in mind in case Aikido is used in an off-the-mat situation. The important things seems to be to observe the uke, watch and feel how they're moving, and allow their reaction to dictate the direction of your technique.

Test day

As both Senseis mentioned after class, it was great to see some of the different levels during the tests. There were 6 people testing at 4 different levels, 9th kyu, 7th kyu, 4th kyu, and 1st kyu. There was a great vibe in the class and it was easy to see that everyone has been very dedicated to improving their Aikido.

On my test, there were things I felt I did well, and of course a myriad of points I need to improve on. This week, R Sensei said some things about kamae that really sunk in, and as a result, I felt I had a strong kamae throughout the test. I wasn't able to stay in kamae through all the waza (techniques), but at least I was starting from a strong kamae. My ukemi was much better than my last test, especially zenpo kaiten ukemi (forward flip). I've been able to slow down the roll to the point where I'm in control and my back leg is extended throughout the flip. The key for me has been to keep the leg I'm pushing off with on the ground longer, giving my back leg more time to get around.

What really frustrated me during the kihon dosa (basic movements) was that my right thigh muscle got so tired so quickly. By the time I got to the 4th kihon dosa, hiriki no yosei II, I had real trouble keeping my form and concentrating on the movement. In my opinion, the kihon dosa was the weakest part of my test.

The kihon waza (basic techniques) part of the test was fairly comfortable for me. I didn't try to think to much, and just let my body reflect the training I've been doing for the past month. The one hiccup was that my uke was changed at the last moment to someone I've trained with only once or twice since starting Aikido. Through no fault of his, I didn't blend as well as I could have. Other than that, I kept my focus and didn't make any major mistakes.

We have one more week of class before the New Years break. I can't believe it, three whole weeks without Aikido. I hope I don't get too soft...

Last day of test prep

Today's class was mostly test training for everyone. We have 6 people taking tests tomorrow, so R Sensei had us practice out techniques. However, for the first 15 minutes or so we did kihon dosa (basic movements), which was exactly what I wanted to do today. When we did kihon dosa practice yesterday, R Sensei gave me some really good pointers that I wanted to refine before the test. Some of the advice he gave was not starting the movement with the upper body, but with the legs and hips, and also to make sure I'm changing the elevation of my hips from one position to the next.

The uke for my test is a big guy, maybe 6'2" or so, and for some of the techniques this is great, like shihonage, but for sankajo, it's a pain. It's kind of hard to get the right grip on his hands, and today, my grip slipped off him a few times. I hope that doesn't happen during the test.