iwama no taki

A visit to Iwama wouldn't be the same without a quick trip to the Iwama waterfall. Carlos and I made our way out here one afternoon -- I also needed to collect some rocks for one of my and Alicia's projects. Carlos is a student of Aviv Goldsmith Sensei's in Virginia. It was great to have a fellow American around -- especially one who could communicate in, like, 5 languages.
aikido

poly

Heading to Concord for a pre-employment polygraph interview (for Napa Sheriff's Department) -- wish me luck!

UPDATE: I finished my polygraph and passed with flying colors. It's nice to officially know that I'm not a liar! :) Now I only need to pass the physical and the psychological exams.

aikido

reno seminar, and a test.

Hitohiro Sensei came to the States this week, just after I got back from my Iwama trip. He taught his bi-annual seminar at Vince Salvatore's dojo (Aikido of Reno). Added to this year's schedule was an impromptu testing for nidan -- my test.

I had tested for nidan earlier in the week in Iwama, and had done... not too badly, with a couple things to work on for "next time" I'd take my test. When I was heading up to Reno, I called Charlie, a long-time uchideshi at Salvatore's, and previously an uchideshi in Iwama, and he told me about my test (scheduled for the next morning at 8am).

I hadn't trained much in the preceding few days, thanks to jet lag and a little cold I caught on the flight (I'm a magnet for such things), so my stress level sky rocketed. Reno is at elevation (about 1200 meters?), another fun addition. Between all these factors (which I'll refer to as "excuses" or maybe "lame excuses"), I was not too well off on Saturday morning. Oh, and 3 minutes before the test started, Sensei added in a couple extra categories to the test: two person morote dori (3 variations) and jo nage (3 variations). After informing me of these variations, Sensei patted me on the shoulder and said "Relax!" Yasuhiro (Sensei's eldest son), just raised his eyebrows and said "Ganbatte kudasai!" (good luck, or "fight hard please!")

Once the test started, I think it took about 4-5 minutes to receive my first correction from Sensei (I did a bit of an omote-ura bit with sankyo -- oops!), but then it just started going a bit downhill. I feel I held it together pretty well until buki-dori. Tachi-dori, no problem. Jo-dori, a slight hiccup (one of those "I can't remember any techniques" moments that can really ruin a nice morning). Tanto-dori -- not bad until rokkyo. My entry was bad -- it was acceptable for tae jutsu, but with the tanto in there, my priority should have been to control the position of the knife. Therefore, when I received the tsuki, I should have grabbed the knife hand right away, instead of doing the "hamburger" method I usually relied on. Again, easy to correct after the fact, but a pain in the ass with Sensei staring (not to mention the other 200 people). Somehow, at some point, I forgot to kiai. Now, anyone who trains with me will say I kiai a lot, and maybe too much or too forcefully. Not sure what happened with that.

I finished up with some jiyu-waza -- not bad, though I was definitely sucking wind at that point (difficult to breathe for some reason or another). I found myself doing a lot of the same technique -- kokyu nage (some more direct than others). My concentration was on crowd control -- keeping at least one uke between me and the others. Worked out well with more than one attacker tripping over a fallen comrade. It sounds better than it actually was -- I could have been a lot more in control of things, had my confidence level been up and all that.

If anything, the test inspired me to keep training, and to one day earn the nidan certificate that Saito Hitohiro Sensei wrote up for me the next day. Sensei also gave me a paper maybe even better than the certificate -- his personal notes on my different techniques, things to work on and to think about when practicing. I have the literal translation and will definitely refer to it when in doubt. I don't plan on framing it, as more than a few people at the seminar suggested I do. I don't think Sensei would approve of such a thing.

I'll write a bit more regarding the seminar itself -- you'll forgive me if this particular posting is a bit egocentric. :)

aikido

short trip, back again

It was a short but fairly eventful trip back to Iwama. Every uchideshi experience is different, with its own stresses and rewards. This time, there were only a few other uchideshi, though certainly more than my last uchideshi stint. Two young students from Denmark had been at the dojo for a couple months, while an older frenchman and an American from Aviv Goldsmith Sensei's dojo had both been there for just a few days when I arrived.

There was a definite divide between the age groups -- the younger group was more apt to let certain things slide and to cut corners while the older generation (I fit into this category somehow!) was a bit on the "If you're going to do it, do it right" side of things. Made for interesting drama off the mat, but on the mat, everything was great.

Hitohiro Sensei had a bit of a cold when I first arrived, and didn't teach the first two classes. That was almost a good thing, since I was able to get a bit of a re-introduction to the Iwama way of life without worrying about Sensei too much. By the third class, Sensei was back and in good spirits. You can always tell how a seminar went, by how he acts after returning. By all indications, the German seminar was a huge success.

I was interested in seeing what the politics were in town, after having read Gaku Homma Sensei's article on the subject (re: taisai festival of 2006). I was pleased to find that the political atmosphere had not taken a severe turn for the worst, as Homma had suggested. In fact, there was more regular contact with the uchideshi next door than I remembered happening in the past. An American (who had been living in Japan for years) and a Japanese student were the only uchideshi I saw, but those two were quite friendly and did not express any animosity, nor did they hint at having been instructed to avoid Hitohiro's students. I was very glad to see that things weren't very negative back on the farm. I was surprised, however, to find that an American english teacher who I had introduced to aikido at Hitohiro's dojo, had moved over to the old dojo. He cited an atmosphere more to his liking as the reason for his move. I can understand how Hitohiro's might be a difficult spot to start out with aikido.

I'll wrap this up and write more later. In the next installment, I'll rant about my nidan test (A nidan I am not!) and the continuing stress related to it!


aikido

uchideshi life

Just a quick note. Things are good, training is good. I'm very tired, which is also good I suppose. Quick trip to Mito this afternoon for email and McDonald's (I know, Im a horrible person, eating a big mac on a trip to Japan!).

Looking forward to the Reno seminar. Sensei is in good spirits, though he failed two students who took their shodan tests last night. Eeek! Technique wasnt bad, weapons werent too bad -- want to know why Sensei didnt pass them? "No spirit!"

aikido

shuren

When Saito Hitohiro Sensei broke his affiliation with the Aikikai, he chose the name Shinshin Aiki Shuren Kai. Shuren (sometimes spelled syuren in romaji) has to do with the concept of training with intensity, training with your full being at all times. That means attacking with your entire being, and performing techniques with your full being. NEVER HALF ASS IT.

I'm lazy sometimes. Everybody's lazy sometimes. Tonight wasn't one of those times. I trained hard, and I feel so much better for it. I've been a bit listless on the aikido front since moving back to the States. Having Tatoian Sensei here was awesome, and my original aikido teacher (a student of Tatoian's) is lots of fun to train with. It's just that the level of intensity is a bit lower than I'd like. People attack and then ease up -- or they don't really attack at all (they act).

People who are difficult to throw or who are sometimes thought of as a pain in the ass are often the people I like to train with most. You know that they're not just letting you get away with a technique. There are only a few people here in this area who, when I throw them, I feel like I really learned something -- I gained something by working out how to throw them.

In Iwama, at Hitohiro's dojo, people train with intent -- shuren.

aikido

iwama bound again?

Looks like a last minute trip to Iwama is in the works. More later when plans get firmed up. Looking at flights from Oct 11 to Oct 23, SFO to NRT.

aikido