The Dai Ichi Challange

My feel for Aikido seems to have been slipping away from me lately, but this week I've tried to improve my diet and even do a bit of stretching at night before I go to sleep. This seems to have been working, because now my body's feeling lighter and I'm able to bring more fluidity to the mat.

This, combined with a great class today, has renewed my enthusiasm for training. Did a bit of test training with Bryce and worked on katate mochi nikajo osae I and shomen uchi yonkajo osae II. The yonkajo is still a bit of a mystery, but we were able to work out the angles for the nikajo.

After this, Roland challenged the six of us by seeing how far we could get through dai ichi (a set of 21 basic techniques) in 10 minutes with both partners doing left and right side. The techniques were a bit sloppy toward the end, but Bryce and I for the most part were able to perform. However, we only got through 3/4ths of the techniques before the 10 minutes were up. Sensei wants us to be able to get through all 21 techniques in 10 minutes. 頑張らないと！

This was followed by a bit of jiyuwaza practice for Sensei. He's doing an Enbu at another dojo on Sunday and intends to take his 5 dan test at the end of June. We each did one-on-one jiyuwaza followed by a chaotic go-nin dori (five attackers) jiyuwaza.

Osu!

Kyoto trip

I neglected to write about the trip some of the people from the dojo and I took to Kyoto a few weeks ago. It was a great trip and I hope I can keep in mind some of the many lessons I learned and at some point internalize them. The five of us visited Payet Sensei's dojo and were welcomed very warmly by the other students.

Among the highlights of the trip was Payet Sensei's incredible ability to absorb uke's balance, the 5 hour izakaya nomihodai (all you can drink), picnicing in the imperial gardens and performing an enbu on hardwood (picture) in the middle of a shrine.

I hope it's not too long before I get down there again.

Osu!

Test technique notes

I was able to work on one of my test techniques for a whole class today, shomen-uchi shomen iriminage I. I found it works best if after the strike, you move the uke's arm with the hand on their elbow instead of your striking hand. This requires much less power. Also, when doing the entry, shift to the side just enough that the uke's about to fall over. The distance you need to move over seems to change depending on the height and balance of the uke.

Osu!