Kangeiko Day 3: Nikkajo

In today's kangeiko class, the focus was on nikkajo. We did some standard techniques, like katate-mochi nikkajo osae 1 and aya-mochi nikkajo osae 2, but mixed in were some difficult nage techniques whose names I can't begin to figure out.

My goal today was to relax the upper body and focus on proper technique when applying the nikkajo lock instead of using muscle. For the most part it worked, with my greatest success coming when my uke, a guy at least eight inches taller than me, decided to resist. In response, I just made my circle bigger and used speed to apply the technique instead of muscle. His gasp of pain and collapse to the mat caused great satisfaction. Of course my satisfaction wasn't from causing pain, but due to being able to apply the lock on a physically stronger uke by using proper technique.

Kangeiko has begun

腿が弱くなった!

After the first day of kangeiko, I'm faced with the obvious fact that I've missed a lot of training over the past few months. My balance is poor, my lines are off, and my muscles tire much too quickly. I'm hoping the next two weeks will help take care of that.

Kangeiko is a 2 week period during winter where class is held every morning, Monday to Friday and students are highly encouraged to attend all 10 days. It's a great way to get back into the rhythm of attending class every day after the New Year break, but even more that that, it's a test of your dedication to training.

Today, being the first day, was shihonage. While I really enjoy working on shihonage, at the same time it's incredibly frustrating. I find it very difficult to find the correct line to bring the uke's balance into my center. I was making an effort to move along a larger circle, and that did seem to help but I'm still nowhere near satisfied with my execution of this technique.

Perhaps if I repeat it a few thousand times...

I'm not dead, I swear

Ah yes, a new year bring new goals and promises to yourself to be a better person. After taking almost all of December off from training, I have it in my mind to be more diligent this year. I have my 1st kyu test to prepare for, and then it's the long march to shodan. But more important than testing or rank is making Aikido part of my daily life again.

It's important to realize that Aikido isn't about spending x number of hours in the dojo to achieve a certain level of proficiency. Instead, to me, Aikido is more about making training a natural part of who you are, where going to the dojo and training seem as natural as a morning cup of coffee or brushing your teeth before you go to bed. Unfortunately, Aikido hasn't been coming naturally to me for the past few months.

I'd like to get back to the point where Aikido is just something I do naturally and not feel that it's a struggle to get to the dojo. Here's to making a New Year's goal a reality.

what a hiatus

It's certainly been a long time since my last post, but I thought I might mention that I have received my brown belt with a rank of 2-kyu. Having a little color around your waist feels good, and while ostensibly it shouldn't affect my Aikido, I do find that I've gained a bit of confidence on the mat.

Since the test a few weeks ago, we've been preparing for our dojo's enbu (exhibition). We have less students participating than last year, but it should still be a good presentation. With that being said, I'm looking forward to returning to regular training without a test or anything looming ahead on the calendar.

Osu!

Random thoughts

We've done a lot of sankajo (third control) this week. It's always been one of my favorites, but at the same time it can be quite frustrating if you're not getting it right. However, I noticed a minor detail in Sensei's technique, reversing the way I hold uke's elbow, and incorporated it into my technique. At that point, the take down became much easier. I suppose that's the natural progression for improvement, but it's nice to see such immediate results.

*********

Lately we've been doing more complicated techniques in class. I pretty sure it's because Sensei's testing for 5th-dan this weekend. It's quite nice for the students looking to work on the harder techniques, but I'm sure it's tough for a beginner. Without the foundation from simpler techniques, it's easy to get lost when things get a little more complicated.

Yoshinkan jiyuwaza video

I found great example of Yoshinkan Aikido. This was filmed at Honbu Dojo and has some of the senior instructors in it. The jiyuwaza section starts at the 2:30 mark.

Enjoy

Fourth Kyu Shinsa

The official results don't come out until tomorrow, but I'm fairly certain I passed my fourth kyu test. This is great news. It's the last white belt test, and six months from now I'll be able to test for brown belt. Righteous!

I felt this was my best test to date. I didn't train at all the day before the test, and generally just tried to not think about it. I felt confident I had trained enough and my body knew all the techniques. My only goal was to be relaxed and calm for the test and trust my training.

This seemed to serve me well. I got a little tired during kihon dosa, but that's to be expected. When we came to the techniques, I may have done them a little to fast, without enough pause between the steps, but other than that I felt great. Saori was my uke and she's really easy to work with, so that also helped a lot.

In addition, I was Allen's uke for his seventh kyu test. He worked hard to prepare for the test and did well. Truth be told, I felt all seven people testing did quite well and took their test training seriously, which was apparent in the tests themselves.

Congrats everyone,

Osu!

Hard work makes it easy

We spent a lot of time yesterday and today on kihon dosa and my muscles can really feel it. The good thing is that I'm mostly feeling it in my hips and lower back, meaning these are the areas I'm using the most. While working on hiriki no yosei ichi and ni this morning, Sensei's instructions really started to click and I figured out a subtle change in the position of my hips to make my hiriki no yosei stance better.

For me, kihon dosa training is really frustrating, but the understanding you gain pays dividends when doing the techniques. The correct movements become more natural and instead of wondering why the uke isn't moving, you're left wondering why the uke went down so easily.

4th-kyu Test Training

Test training has started in earnest. This time around I'll be going for 4th kyu, the last white belt ranking. This'll put me six months away from my brown belt test. That will be a nice day.

One thing I'd like to work on during training and be evident on my test is greater balance and sense of uke's balance. I often lose my balance after a throw or when bringing uke down for a pin. This is obviously a lack of balance, and needs to be rectified sooner rather than later.

Painless Hiji-ate

In this week's early morning class, we've been working on hiji-ate, a throw using pressure on the uke's elbow and shoulder to propel them forward. Before this week, I didn't like this technique as I felt it was using pain to induce the uke to move. However, it turns out there is a "painless" way to do this throw.

Before the throw, apply a little pressure into the shoulder with the hand holding the wrist, with the uke's elbow in the crook of shite's elbow. Then move the knee and hips forward to get the uke to start moving. When the uke starts moving, follow with the legs, either stepping or shuffling. Finally, near the end of the movement, snap your arm so the elbow accelerates the uke forward and down. When rotating the arm, be sure to rotate the elbow into your center, resulting in the uke being thrown not parallel to your movement, but instead across your center.

Doing this correctly results in not so much pressure on the uke's elbow, but a greater movement of the uke's balance into your center. Now to turn this theory into practice.

Osu!

Well timed break

I know missing a day of training is a frowned upon in budo, and to miss a day of the 10-day Aikido-a-thon that is Shochugeiko is even more of a faux pas, but I must say that skipping class yesterday was really good for me.

I've been getting battered from a couple different angles, monotonous work, daily training in the summer heat, and finally my bike getting stolen, so I took yesterday off from both training and played hooky from work to complete unwind and chill at home. I took the opportunity to do some light house work, watch a few shows I've downloaded, do some reading at a coffee shop, etc.

And getting up this morning, I could really feel a difference, not so much physically, but mentally. My outlook was fresher and more optimistic, and at the dojo, I felt faster, smoother and not so tense. I still found difficulties to work through, but I was ready to apply myself fully.

There's one more Shochugeiko class tomorrow morning, and after a Friday and Saturday evening classes, the dojo's closed for a week. After the vacation, I start test training for 4th-kyu, the last white belt rank. Bring it on!

Osu!

Am I getting worse?

It seems that no matter what your level of Aikido is, maintaining focus is paramount. During training, you can't allow your mind to be elsewhere, otherwise it becomes quite obvious, to the uke, to the Sensei, and most importantly, to yourself.

Today, I was merely making my way through the techniques. Instead of concentrating on my movements, my mind was unfocused, as were my techniques. There is a part of me focusing on the technique and working on doing it right, but I just feel that my Aikido edge is a little blunt right now. I'm not thinking about using my hips, or staying in kamae, or the other hundred details that can and should be concentrated on while training.

I've heard other people talk about Aikido improving in spirals, where there are times they feel their movements are crisp and their techniques are strong; and then there are times when they feel slow and weak. I think I'm at a weak point now. But like a baseball player working through a slump, I just have to keep at it, and eventually I'll hit my stride again.

Shochugeiko, day 4

We're four days into Shochugeiko, with today's technique being sankajo.

In the early morning class, we looked at shomen uchi sankajo osae II in depth, focusing on the strike, pivot and entry into the sankajo lock. Sensei emphasized the importance of the circle that uke's wrist makes, starting with the strike, moving down a little as shite pivots, bring the arm back, and then the wrist moves back up as the sankajo lock is applied. Easy, right?

My goal for Shochugeiko

Today was the second day of Shochugeiko (暑中稽古), or mid-summer training. For 10-days over the two hottest weeks of the year, our dojo challenges the students to train every morning. We did eight ikkajo techniques this morning, spending about 5 min on each one.

Last year I was almost a complete novice during Shochugeiko, and so didn't understand most of the techniques. I just tried to mimic what I saw and did my best to keep up. There's not really any time to focus on any technique in depth. This year, I understand a little more but I'm still missing a lot of detail on the techniques. I'm able to mimic the motions well enough, but the techniques don't actually feel like their working.

We have a fair number of beginners doing Shochugeiko and I'm finding this to be both a blessing and a curse. The blessing is that I can practice the techniques on someone that responds more like some would in a "real" situation, and the curse is that beginners respond without understanding what the shite is doing.

I know that's saying the same thing, but the reason it's good is because an inexperienced uke forces you to be more sure of your balance and movements than an uke who knows what you're going to do next. At the same time, an inexperienced uke has trouble blending with the shite, making the learning process for shite more difficult. The uke will put up more resistance, and personally, I find myself resorting to powering through the technique when I feel uke's resisting too much. Finding the "no-power" line in the technique is tough when you know you can get through the technique by applying a little muscle.

My goal for the rest of the week, "no-power" Aikido. Relax the shoulders, sink my weight into my center, and keep my energy forward.

Osu!

Saturday Night Special

It's been another good week of training, with me being able to attend every class this week. I'm still pretty wiped after two hours of training in the morning 3 days a week, but I can already feel my body getting used to it. But I'll be glad when the heat isn't such an issue.

Tonight Saori ran the class, as both Sensei were unable to attend and it was a great class. The four people who came each chose a technique and we did ikkajo, sankajo, shihonage, and kotegaeshi. We mostly did shomen and yokomen uchi, along with the suwari waza counterpart, but for the sankajo, we did ushiro ryotemochi sankajo osae I & II. I had only practiced this technique maybe once, and it's nice to train on techniques I don't know so well.

A frustrating thing about kotegaeshi, when turning the uke's hand to move into the kotegaeshi, right before the throw, I can conceptualize the correct movement, and at times I feel I have pieces of the movement correct, but I have yet to feel I have the uke locked before the throw. Tonight I tried to connect the movement of my hips with my arm, hand, and into the uke, but I think I need a full class on just that part of kotegaeshi.

So many flaws, and so little time to fix them. See you on the mat. Osu!

Summer has arrived

I started attending the early morning class last week and this combined with the rising temperature and accompanying humidity had me pretty wiped out by the end of the week. However, I did make it to all but the Friday morning class, making a total of 9 hours of training last week. Not bad.

The Friday and Saturday night classes were really enjoyable. In spite of being incredibly hot and humid in the dojo, both classes were fast paced and with more focus on fluidity and speed, obviously an essential element in Aikido. Friday night we worked on yokomen jiyuwaza techniques, shihonage, ikkajo, katatemochi and udegarami. In Saturday's class, we worked on katatemochi techniques, the first being a kokyu-ho, followed by strange, shihonage-based technique.

I really need to work on my flips, if only to use less energy when taking uke repeatedly. I'm so jealous when watching someone talented flipping and getting back to their feet. It looks like it takes no effort at all.

Semi-hajimi with Yonkajo

We worked on yonkajo this morning. This is a technique I've learned to like. I had trouble understanding how it worked at the beginning, but now I find it fun to do, and it effectiveness is gradually increasing. Roland Sensei had us practice shomen uchi yonkajo osae I & II, finishing the class with a short hajime-like training. It wasn't a full-blown hajime, as he had us start slow and gradually picked up the pace.

A new student came to the dojo for his first class and ended up training with me. He's done Tomiki Aikido before, so he understood the idea behind the techniques, but the details were quite different. The class was pretty fast paced, but he walked off the mat with a big smile, so I think he had a good time.

quick note on Saturday night

Last night we worked on shomen tsuki shomen iriminage I and II. We practiced the two techniques and then did them both in hajime (continuous doing the technique quickly over and over) for 10-15 minutes. I hadn't done hajime in a little while and really enjoyed it. We finished the class with a kokyu-ho technique in kagarigeiko.

During class, a few times I found myself using the strength in my shoulders. I need to be sure to focus on starting the movement in my hips and using that power instead.

Chino Sensei at Honbu Dojo

Last night I made the trek out to Honbu Dojo for Chino Sensei's class. There were twenty-five students or so on the mat, a good number for the size of the dojo. Surprisingly, a large portion of the students were brown belts. Usually when I go to Honbu, a most of the students are black belt, with a few browns and whites sprinkled in, but for some reason, most of last night's class were browns belts, with some white belts and just a few blacks. Strange, but in no way was that a detriment to the class.

We did a number of techniques that I either had never seen before or have only done once or twice. Here's a list:

katatemochi ikkajo osae I (suwariwaza & tachiwaza)
I was wondering how to do this one few weeks ago. I'm glad I got a chance to try it out.

katatemochi kotegaeshi I & II
My kotegaeshi experience to date has mostly been with shomen uchi. I found these techniques rather fun, with the interesting direction change in the middle of the technique.

To finish the class, Chino Sensei did another variation on katatemochi kotegaeshi II, but with just one pivot from ai-hanmi and a shuffle forward. I couldn't get the handwork on this one, but I'm not discouraged; I'll get it to work eventually.

Osu!

Thoughts on test day

Test day was last Saturday, and with four different levels of tests, there was a good variety of levels on display. The 10th kyu students were taking their first test and struggled a little with the format, not knowing where to stand, starting the technique before the Sensei's call and things like that. I believe I saw a little frustration flash across the Sensei's face. However, the subsequent tests were much better. The most impressive thing was the level of focus everyone had.

There's a pretty good core of students that has developed over the last 6 months, and while we're mostly still beginners, there's a fair amount of dedication among the group. I hope everyone continues to train as hard as they have been.

My own test, 5th kyu, went pretty well. My kihon dosa (basic movements) felt solid without too many extraneous movements, but afterwards, Sensei did say that I need to be careful about keeping my neck and head in line with my spine and not let it lead when starting the movements. As for the techniques, here's a shakedown of my thoughts:

shomen uchi shomen iriminage I
I learned to keep my striking arm in contact with the uke while entering and move my head past the uke's head after the entry

shomen uchi yonkajo osae II
The initial application of the yonkajo has improved a lot, but I still need to work on getting the uke moving forward on the initial pivot and using that momentum to apply the control.

katatemochi nikajo osae I
After applying the nikajo and bringing the uke down to one knee, rotate the uke's wrist forward and stretch the arm out far enough to give yourself room to step forward and continue the movement. Remember to maintain the lock into the shoulder throughout the technique.

suwariwaza ryotemochi kokyu-ho II
Starting with a strong seiza is really important. When uke applies pressure, move your center underneath the uke's and make them fall forward so that they're leaning on shite for balance.

shomen uchi kotegaeshi osae I & II
For the kotegaeshi ichi, I need work on the footwork for the final step and throw. It seems like I'm running out of space and can't fully step thorough.

But I did pass, so I can relax and just enjoy training for a while. My next test only involves 2 new techniques, but along with those, I'm expected to know all of dai ichi and they'll call out 4 randomly during the test. Sound like fun?

Osu!