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Aikido Iwama Uchideshi

This Blog originally tracked a three month period during which time I undertook training in Iwama under the supervision of Nemoto Sensei. We also trained at the Shibu Dojo, O'Sensei's Dojo in Iwama located in the Ibaraki Prefecture of Japan.
I have returned this time for a shorter three week stint in January 2011.

Back to reality

My final days in Iwama, were slowed down by a bout of flu like symptoms. I tried to go to all Nemoto Sensei classes, but did not attend evening classes at shibu dojo, not wanting to spread germs and also give my wrist a chance to heal.

It was quite a sad moment to say my final good byes to Nemoto sensei, I am very grateful for all his generosity, kindness and teaching and all the Dame's too. I have learnt so much over the past 11 weeks, not only about Aikido but also about Japanese culture, the Japanese way of thinking and way of life. I have also learned a lot about myself and the way I think about things. It has changed my perceptions about things and think that it has given me a new perspective that will never leave me. I think on the whole the experience has taught lots of valuable lessons that I will take with me into the future. I am grateful to all of the other uchideshi and sotodeshi alike that only offered me kindness and understanding and patience. I look forward to seeing you all again sometime in the future.

This will not be my final post, once I have had some time to reflect upon my experiences then I will most likely say a little more. I am also intending to go on another trip in the not too distant future and will let you know more soon.

Ciao for now
Keith

Tanabe Trip

Myself Chris and Robin accompanied Nemoto Sensei and his wife on a trip to Tanabe, the main aim was so that Nemoto Sensei could pay his respects and ask O Sensei to oversea a successful future for his new dojo. I think it was also a gesture towards Chris and Robin for obtaining their shodan's, and I was fortunate enough to be able to go along too.

The trip itself is around 750km, so quite a long drive, we drove all night to get the early on Tuesday morning. The first stop was to see the statue of O Sensei by the water front. Also saw a pod of whales too !



We then visited Nemoto Sensei's friend (unfortunately his name has escaped me) we had a look around his dojo. He became our tour guide for the day. We visited O Sensei grave site and all made some small offerings of incense. The graveyard was a fantastic place. The buildings and landscape gardening was like something out of a movie set, and naturally the place was immaculate. We then visited the plot of O'Sensei former family home. Another great opportunity to set foot in the places that O'Sensei himself had walked and played as a child. Obviously feel very privileged and grateful to have the opportunity to do this.





We went out that evening and had dinner and then retired to bed in our rather luxurious hotel. Early the next day we headed back to Iwama with a stop of at the largest(?) Shinto shrine complexes in Japan. We didn't stop for long as we had so much further to go. In total it took 14 hours to get home, including the breaks. Three of us in the back was a little squashed but I wouldn't have cared if there was 6 of us.

Mirror

Aikido means different things to different people, I have reflected quite hard on this since I first heard it said, trying to pin down what it means to me. This is by no means my final thought but it is something.

I now see my aikido training as a kind of mirror that allows me to see the workings of my mind, how my ego reacts to different situations. Enabling me to see more clearly, how I think, how I react to things and people, external conflict and internal conflicts alike. By understanding how my own mind works, thinks and reacts I can see more clearly how other peoples minds are working too. Enabling me to be more perceptive, more compassionate and hopefully overall a more well rounded individual.

I will give one example of how I see this process in action.
Uke does not entirely agree with the way in which nage is doing the technique, he is thinking to himself this is not the best way, if you did it like this instead....blah blah. Uke has been taught a different way, which they hold onto as a superior way. Uke is relaxed, in the way that they are used to for this technique, but nages technique does not take uke balance and it is a struggle to make it work in the way that nage is used to.

Nage thinks uke is being deliberately difficult, not flowing with the technique, perhaps being rigid or deliberately awkward, or blocking the technique. There is both an external and internal conflict going on. This has been derived from where uke and nage perspectives are positioned.

Holding onto the fixed points of view they perceive each others actions from a judgemental frame of mind. It is likely that you will experience both sides of this picture, then by a careful examination of the situations and the interplay between your perceptions as both uke and nage, you come to the realisation that there is no right or wrong person, the perceptions have been built from the individuals previous experience, nothing more nothing less.

By observing my own mind go through these scenarios, I am able to keep my mind more open, less judgemental be more flexible and understanding. On some level Nage and uke must work together. Nage leads uke, and uke should allow themselves to be led. If uke is resistant then the technique simply changes to compensate for the new plain of resistance, and will go in a different direction. Although in practice we are supposed to practice a particular technique and not change to another one. In reality the ability of Nage to be sensitive and react to the subtle changes of uke is what Aikido is all about, ie Takemusu-aiki.

(In practice the end result of this is that if Nage is your sempai, be flexible allow the technique to work, keep your month shut, even if you think its a load of or a little crap. You can decide later to do it another way, but will most likely eventually meet "yourself" but hopefully this time you wont be too awkward or judgmental)

From now on if uke is "awkward" then i wont get frustrated or change the technique, I will just calmly explain that it would be helpful if they could help me out a little and go with the flow. And if Nage wants to show me another way then I think "great - another perspective i can learn something here". (even by seeing how I dont want to do it !!!)


If a blind man lead a blind man, both fall down in the ditch. --Wyclif (Matt. xv. 14.)

Shodan tests

Today was the big day for many my fellow deshi (soshite kino wa san ju sai deshita demo kyo wa san ju ichi sai desu).

In total there were 5 students of Nemoto sensei, four shodan and one yondan. I was the uke for soto deshi Robin Jinx-san. The test comprised of suwariwaza yokomen ikkyo-gokyo, tachiwaza 3 techniques for: shihonage, kyokunage, irimnage, koshinage, ushiro waza, hanmihandachi, jo dori, tachi dori, tanken dori, and 1.5 mins jiyuwaza ni-nin.

The final preparation class took place last night, I resorted to asking Robin to punch me in the guts repeatedly to prove to him that he would not hurt me and to put a bit of grrrr into it. For the test I taped my wrist up real tight and tried my best to be a good uke. The guts punching seemed to work and his test performance had better energy than all the previous attempts. He was understandably a little nervous, and there were a couple of moments of hesitation, but I am very very happy that he kept his nerve and passed !!!! (As did everybody). Congratulations to all.


This video starts with Chris and should lead to Robin and Robin:

Attack

Here is a link to an interesting article which is along the same lines of thinking as to what I was getting at in the last post. (not saying anything about the individual situation)

href="http://martial.com.au/info_pages.php/pages_id/32">

Sore Wrist

Yesterday during Jiyuwaza as uke I was injured. The nage, wont mention names. Threw me with a shihonage which I could not high fall out of, and prob needed to as it ended up with an instantly numb forearm, wrist and sore elbow. Such that I cannot fully straighten my arm or bend my wrist without it hurting. This has prob something to do with the fact that my wrist was boarderline recovered from previous injury. It seems to be feeling a lot better today - so hopefully it wont take three months like it did last time. Although the wrist bone feels real tender, so its prob aggrivated the not quite fully healed injury.

It was not a deliberate attempt to injure me, although I think it was a little bit over zealous. We have been training together for 3 months now so I kinda expected that he would know my limitations. We had a conversation previously, where I had politely pointed out that, his technique was very strong and he should be a little bit careful that he didnt hurt his ukes. Which he admitted he had done previously.

As far as I am concerned, taking care of your ukes is more important than doing it hard. My future in Aikido would like to see me be able to take the strongest attack and accept it without injury to uke. After all if we wanted to learn how to beat the crap out of each other we would, (or at least i would) do another "art".

There is also the flip side to this - that as uke I should be more flexible, and that did definately have a part to play, as a group we have talked about this and I have been trying my best. Although I would still maintain that it is sempai's responsibilty to take care of kohai, and understand thier limitations.

I am not one to complain and this is not meant in that way, although I understand that it could come across that way. There is always a chance of injury, and a sense that if you dont want to get burned, dont stand to close to the fire, and we are free to decide where we stand. Hopefully I will be able to be uke for Sotodeshi Robin in his shodan test. Although I wont risk further damage, if i dont feel like it is ok. Today I trained in the morning (but skipped evening class) but no nikkyo or sankyo or any wrist twisting on that side at all. As I dont have long left here, it doesnt really matter. Time heals all wounds (unless fatal or leaves you perm immobile !!).

Jiyuwaza

This morning class was attended by myself, Uchideshi Chris and Robin and sotodeshi Kelly from Australia. The first hour focused on ukemi practice, following by 3 minutes of san-nin jiyuwaza. The second hour we covered the 12 Jo-dori.

The ukemi practice went ok, although the mental block i have on my left side is still causing me problems, and obviously now there is some fixation on it. Something that attention probably wont help to fix, I am not going to worry about it, and sure that time will do its work.

As uke for the first three jiyuwaza I felt that my attacks were more coherent than on previous occasions, although I need to be careful that I do not become inflexible and stubborn refusing to let nage throw me easily (ego acting up). Sure that there is a time for such practice although it would probably result in getting a hard smack in the face, a bloody nose or a split lip.

As the kohai of the group I was the last to be nage. I was quite surprised that it went as well as it did. I did not Kiai as I should until the end, although the actual techniques seemed to flow quite well. Obviously being inexperienced I did resort to using the same techniques over and over again, seem to prefer yokomen shihonage, shomenuchi iriminage and tsuki kotegaishi, *attempting* to use kyokunage for ryotedori, ryokata and katatedori. I tried to keep all three opponents in my sight as much as possible, looking to the next person as I was taking care of the one at hand, and making a concerted effort to move forwards and be proactive initating as much as possible. I tried to maintain Metski throughout, I felt that on this point I did quite well, it was the best part of the performance. I did not turn my back on them for long, too many times. It would have been nice to use a few more techniques, Kaiten nage and Tenchi nage in particular. I guess that any attempt for a 5th kyu doing san-nin jiyuwaza is prob not a bad effort.

(Lara for your info, as I know you wont know what Jiyuwaza is - it is where, in this case, for three minutes three people attack you as they please, trying to punch, strike or grab you, and you have to throw them using aikido techniques, or at least evade their attacks without freezing up or resorting to brute strength or nasty tactics, they do not use jab punches or try to kick and generally are fairly compliant going with the flow of any technique you attempt to use, provided that it done in such a way that it will work)

Pre shodan test training

Last week I was training with uchideshi Robin, we went through the entire test for a couple of consectative mornings. It was good as it gave me the chance to practice as uke, and also was able to practice all the techniques too. A great experience, enabling me to see a little more of where I am headed and what techniques I really strugle with. He has spent a lot of time alone with Nemoto Sensei and has a strong technique.

Last night I practiced and again tonight I will practice with sotodeshi Robin, he has improved a fair amount, but there were still a few moments of hessitation, and needed help with a couple of techniques. He wont be able to ask for help in the real test so he had better get it all set in his mind quick sharp. I am being told to be a good uke and go with the techniques and try to make him look good, or not look bad? On this I will endevour to do my best but if he frezzes then obviously I wont be able to help him. As sotodeshi tonight will be his last chance to train, unless he comes to Iwama for morning classes. I dont know if he could get to work in time, after, sure that he could, if he only stayed for the first hour, and left at 6.30am. Will be interesting to see if he does come, I wont be suprised if he doesn't, but then again I wont be too suprised if he fails the test. It depends how badly he wants it, but then again there is always next time around.

Relax Relax Relax

"Keith is relax" became my mantra for a couple of days. Relax not Relaxing - to instigate a state of being not a state of doing. I also spent some time massaging my Jaw. Having read and heard how important this is, and having heard that it can have a rather spontaneous effect on ones body.

The advice to relax was fantastic. When I was first told - I thought and said - I am relaxed (relatively - a side thought). Spending a couple of days - really focusing on letting go of tension has been great. After a couple of days off training when I returned my Sempai said, "You are really relaxed - how did you do it (so quickly)?" He seemed positively surprised about the difference it had made. He seemed happy I was happy. It helped with my high falls too. Although not able to relax completely at full height yet - I am now told that now my next goal is to let go/release the tension in my waist and hips, and that it feels like I am holding back or holding onto something. My instant reaction is that it is fear. They say that people hold their emotions in their hips. I think I am holding onto the fear of landing like a sack of spuds in mine. But I am working on it - and its just a matter of time.

Trip to Nikko

Yesterday we had a day off training and went on a trip to Nikko. Nemoto Sensei and his wife kindly drove us all there in two cars. Cristian from Shibu Dojo also came along for the trip. The first couple of places we visited were some rather large waterfalls - The Ryuzu Falls and the Kegon Falls shown below, it is 97m and very popular with both Japanese and international visitors.

This picture was taken especially for my mum:


We then moved onto the Tōshō-gū, Japan's most lavishly decorated shrine complex and mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tōshō-gū is dedicated to Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa shogunate. Initially built in 1617, during the Edo period, while Ieyasu's son Hidetada was shogun, it was enlarged during the time of the third shogun, Iemitsu. Ieyasu is enshrined here, and his remains are entombed here.

It is a great place - with wonderfully decorated buildings. Lots of Shinto and Buddhist decorations with some obvious chinese influence. It was only a shame that we couldn't know more about what we were looking at. Sensei did a good job at explaining what he could - so we had a sense of what we were looking at athough I think there is deep symbology to even the smaller details - that was definately lost on us. Although the overall impression was still great.

The original five-story pagoda was donated by a daimyo in 1650, but it was burned down during a fire, and was rebuilt in 1818. Each story represents an element - earth, water, fire, wind and heaven - in ascending order.



After lunch we visited a hot spar, and relaxed for a while before heading back to Iwama.

Everything is Keiko

This morning the Keiko started with getting out of bed, after a long day and a couple of hours of insomnia I probably managed to get ~2 hours sleep so getting into a waking, functional state was a challenge. So I dragged my body to the Budokan with my spirit following about 5 to 10 mins behind me.

Training actually went quite well. Yesterday Tuoya, one of the Myanmar uchideshi from shibu dojo who has recently started giving me a little bit of help with my ukemi, told me I needed to relax. (The first 6 weeks involved doing only the first step, on the ground, solo, and I seem to have this part down fairly well). So I considered that this morning training was a good way to take on board his advice to relax - as I didn't have the physical or mental energy to offer any sort of resistance whatsoever.

In the past couple of days we have covered some of techniques needed for the upcoming shodan tests. Kyokunage, Irimanage, Shihonage, Kotegaishi, Koshinage all three ways. We used the same attacks, katate dori, Shomen and Yokomen uchi. It has been confirmed that Robin will be taking his shodan test and that I will be his uke. Last Saturday we went through a mock test, another person being his uke. On this occasion he continually froze, couldn't remember which techniques to perform. He did not have clear in his mind which techniques he was going to use and clearly was not prepared. I am sure a lot of this has to do with his nervousness although if he was better prepared he would have less reason to get the jitters.

George, and Maria, 3 month uchideshi will leave on Friday and the four Russians will leave on Saturday, Nemoto Sensei also goes to Germany on Saturday, so this will leave only myself, Chris and Robin here for a couple of days until Sensei returns. It will be strange to have gone from being completely overcrowded to really quite quiet. The rest of my stay which is only another 5-6 weeks there will be four people. Sanna Shodan from Sweden, Chris and Robin both 1st Kyu, preparing for Shodan on 14th June and myself. This should present itself as a most excellent opportunity. I am starting to feel that I am absorbing what we have been doing and would like to revise what we have covered. Only if I can easily picture myself performing a technique in my minds eye do I consider that I might know it. I have been taking note of a lot of the techniques that we have been covering so will be able to go over them as the time to leave approaches. I find ordering them on paper then visualising them in my mind a helpful way to clarify what I do and do not know.

47th All Japan Aikido Demonstration

So yesterday we all went off to Tokyo to the 47th All Japan Aikido Demonstration, travelling by train the journey was a simple one with only a couple of quick transfers and a short walk to the Nippon Budokan.





The Budonkan itself is a great venue with seating for ~14,000, it was built in 1964 at a cost of 2 Billion Yen. It has an octagonal structure that provides a great atmoshphere and equally good views all round, two minutes walk from Kundanshita Subway. The event started with some speaches and then a group Rei, then followed four hours of demonstrations from various groups and senior instructors. Most of the demos were 1.5 minutes long with some of the instructors demos being a little longer. The final demo was performed by the Doshu. Eight deshi of Nemoto Sensei performed and it was one of the better demonstrations, keeping fairly good awase throughout (I will let you spot the mistakes for yourself).



The Shibu Dojo Group had a group performance, which went well. Three of the instructors also had demonstrations, Inagaki Sensei, Owada Sensei and Watahiki Sensei (not filmed as was on at the same time as Inagaki Sensei). All of their demonstrations went well. The ukes for Inagaki are two uchideshi from Myanmar and Enzo who is from New York - the ichiban uchideshi from Shibu Dojo. You should be able to recognise them from the TV performance shown in an earlier post.



Inagaki Sensei:




Owada Sensei:




This clip is especially for Lara:



Last but not least the Doshu demonstration:



It was a great day, we all really enjoyed ourselves.

Local introduction

On friday night ~30 local foriegn university students came to a special evening class in Tsukuba, where Nemoto sensei teaches on the weekends. Each of the current student took 3-4 newbies through some "simple" techniques. Katate dori Ikkyo Omote, Kosa dori Kotegaishi, and a couple of others. Included in the class was a demostration by Robin, who has been an uchideshi of Nemoto Sensei for the past 11 months and is one of the people going for their shodan in June. The video is shown below, he was only told about it that morning so did a very good job. I say he - but really it takes two, and his uke Chris also provided a good demonstation of coherent attacks and sound ukemi. There is also short section of Bukiwaza with Nemoto Sensei and Robin.

Drink Vodka

The Russians arrived a couple of days ago. There are 4 guys, one being their instructor, who is Yondan, he also happens to be 6'4" and 20 stone. One of them speaks quite good English so communication isn't a problem. There was a lot of talk about how rough they would be and how bad the food that they would cook would be. It turned out to be quite inaccurate, never believe the hype. They are not rough and they can cook, although they do it as a collective as I think only a couple of them know what they are doing. They are a little slow on the uptake when it comes to cleaning and have been told off my the instructors at Shibu Dojo for trying to leave before the cleaning has finished. They are all lovely guys, although come across as being a rather abrupt. To me this is a cultural thing so don't take offence, although being in Japan which is such a polite society, where even the language has deeply inherent layers for politeness, it is quite a stark contrast.

The Italian couple left this morning, starting what will become the trend for the rest of my stay. This takes the number of people down to 11, in what is a small, house with one toilet, one shower and a small kitchen area, no chairs mean that meal times can become quite interesting. This communal leaving is also part of the training and awase (blending) becomes a more natural state of being. Everybody having to weave through the crowd of people in order for the cleaning to take place and early in the morning at breakfast time.

Training is continuing to go well. Yesterday with Nemoto Sensei we covered Ikkyo-Yonkyo from Katate dori, and this morning Ikkyo-Yonkyo from Kosa dori. In the evening class we covered katate dori iriminage from lower-middle-upper break outs, and a variation from ki no nagare. Weapons training it seems that we have now moved onto the Jo, today covering the 20 Jo suburi. Hopefully tomorrow we will move onto the 31 Jo kata. My ukemi training is continuing, my ushiro ukemi seems a lot smoother than when I first arrived and my mai ukemi is smoother too. The high fall training is continuing very slowing, but has shown some improvement. I think learning more slowly on a hard surface is maybe better than haphazardly throwing yourself around on a softer surface, as ultimately a "better" fall will be achieved, although the path is a lot more of an arduous one. The mats don't seem to be half as hard as they were when I first arrived. I guess it will only be on return to Perth will I be able to see any progress, as its difficult to notice when training everyday with different people in a different setting.

Morning TV

Yesterday morning a national TV crew came to Ibaraki Dojo and filmed a live piece about Aikido. It was strange to see it all going on knowing it was just up the road. The first 2 mins are us flicking through the channels as we didn't know which channel it was going to be on.



Last night there was a welcome party for two new arrivals, two more students from Myanmar have arrived. It went on quite late and was a lot of fun. Will post a clip or some photos to give you a taste shortly. Anyway getting to morning keiko became a challenge and there were a few fuzzy heads on the mat. There were in fact 34 people on the mat, which meant that it was very crowded. Compact ukemi training and awareness training. It was an interesting lesson, all techniques from Chudan Tsuki with sensei placing a lot of focus on how the technique can change according to the Maai.

Tonight will be my first training session with Robin training for his Shodan test. I am looking forward to going through all the techniques and should learn a lot.

Shodan Uke

This morning Nemoto Sensei asked that I be the uke for one of the people taking their shodan tests. Although it's probabley due to the fact that there is a shortage of ukes and nothing else, it will still be a good experience. Robin has been living in Japan for 15 years. (Peter-san perhaps he was training when you were here?). He may not quite be ready, so may not happen however practicing with him for the build up will be a positive experence in itself. I will try my best and be as be helpful as I can be.

A day in the life of..

After getting to sleep around 12 o'clock last night I woke up at the usual time of 4am and had a bowl of cereal and a hot drink and prepared for the morning keiko. Leaving the house around 4.45 I cycled down to the budokan and joined in with the pre keiko cleaning, a simple process of sweeping the mats. After warming up a stretching for 10 mins Chris and myself then sat down and chanted kototama infront of the kamisama. Chanting the usual chat that Chris prefers as taught to him by John Stevens (from books). This is shown in the video clip below, the meaning of which can be found in a number of his books. We then went outside and waited for Nemoto Sensei to arrive. We promtly bowed in and started the training with the ususal, Tai no Henko and Morote Dori Kokyu Ho (kokyuho?). (Kelly - san, a Nidan student of Micheal Field who is training as a soto deshi with us once a week). For the first half an hour we practiced Suwariwaza Yokomenuchi Sankyo Omote and Ura and then for the next half an hour we practiced Tachiwaza Yonkyo Omote and Ura, concluding the class with basic suwariwaza kokyu ho. The next 45mins we practiced 6-10 kumijo and the final 15 mins we practiced kumijo 1-10. Bowing out and seeing Nemoto sensei off I then spent 15 mins practicing ukemi and then went back to Aiki house and had breakfast. After tidying up and cleaning the house and grounds for a couple of hours I then took the opportunity to take a nap for an hour. Today was my turn to cook lunch so I went out to the local shop with the 1800 yen to feed 6 people lunch and breakfast for tomorrow. That's 8 AUD for lunch for 6 people. A difficult task, especially when you don't really know what anything is, except western food - which are all expensive. I made tuna-mayonaise and cucumber sandwiches on warm toast with side salad and jacket potato. Everybody seemed happy enough and only went over budget by a little bit.

The afternoon was spent learning some Japanese with a couple of the other uchideshi, with a break going through the 5 Kumitachi, 5th and 7th awase with Sana-san a Shodan from Sweden. We then prepared for evening keiko, and I went down to the Aiki-Jinja and practiced kototama on my own for 15mins before being joined by Chris for a further 10 mins. A man came over to me whilst I was there, who had driven up to Saito-uchideshi house to presumably take a look at what I was doing. The kotodama myself and Chris are doing has caused a little bit of attention and intrigue from some of the instructors and passers by. It would be great if more people joined us. Training in the evening was taken by Kobota Sensei who is ~73 years old and quite a character. We did Katate dori ikkyo, shihonage, iriminage and kotegaishi. We was quite humid and a little sticky, after cleaning the dojo we went home and had dinner and the tidied up and now I will go to bed (~11am).

I wont be writing this kind of daily post as its tedious to write although I thought perhaps it might be nice for those that are interested in knowing what the daily routine is like (at the moment).

Keith's phrase of the day:
Reizoko no naka ni nani ga arimasu ka.
Fridge inside what is(inanimate)
Biru?

Hard mats

We had a few days break last week for Golden Week a national holiday. This gave everybody a little chance to get away or just give the joints a few days rest. I finally feel that my wrist is healed enough that I can start offering some genuine resistance to Nikkyo, which is a nice feeling. It took a little longer than I had hoped to heal, but then again I never stopped training for more than a day or two. It's still a little sore when it takes my full weight but sure that in time it will heal completely.

I am now entering week 5. The time is just flying by. My body seems to be coping well, not too many aches or pains, just some tightness in the quadriceps, due mainly due to all the standing up - falling down - standing up - falling down - standing up and surwariwaza, my actual knees don't seem to be too bad. I haven't resorted to knee pads - yet (never say never). I am having a lot of fun with all aspects of the training. One of the main reasons I cam to Nemoto sensei was that he taught lots of Bukiwaza (FYI Lara, that's weapons training, or perhaps better said as training with weapons). We have not yet made a complete cycle of the entire syllabus but what we have been doing I feel is really starting to sink in, well the form of the movements at least, Nemoto Sensei is very kind and points out plenty of Dame's to me. I am trying my hardest not to keep making the same ones, and hopefully in that regard I am having some success.

In a couple of weeks there is the All Japan Aikido Federation Demonstration in Tokyo and 6 of Nemoto Sensei students are performing, a couple of years ago his group won best in show for there section. This will be a great opportunity to go and watch and should be an amazing experience, I am lucky that I decided to come this time of year. It is held at the Tokyo Budokan, If you have watched you tube then sure that you will have seen the clips and know what I am talking about.

As I have mentioned before one of the other major things that is happening during the time that I am here is that four of Nemoto Sensei's students, two uchideshi and two soto deshi are taking there shodan tests, and another his Nidan(?) on my birthday. What a treat. I will be the only other uchideshi present as all the others will have left by then. So will be present for the build up, which has already begun, we are doing a fair amount or tanken/jo/tachi dori practice and watching them practice Jiuwaza. I have had a go as both Nage and Uke, its interesting to watch and feel one of the higher aims of Aikido training. As a passive observer it also gifts me the opportunity to watch and learn, well ahead of the time that I am expected to participate. They have all shown significant improvement over the past few attempts with less hesitation, more fluidity and more decisive attitudes to engaging/initiating each technique rather than passively waiting for the attack to come to them. One of the students does struggle quite a lot and it is apparent to everybody that he may not be ready this time around. It also raises the difficult question of what should a shodan grade represent - should the level of attainment that it represents have some flexibility according to the natural ability of the student? Should a student who trains hard for a long time - but never the less struggles due to a lack of "natural ability" never be allowed to attain shodan. If the purpose of aikido is to create better people then holding somebody back from may put them off training completely - and who would that help? The the other hand does it degrade from Aikido to have people who seem to not be "worth" the grade that they are. It's a very difficult question, and will be interesting to see how it pans out for this particular student. it seems that when you wear a hakima people expect a certain standard from you and your peers look up to you so you need to have attained the standard that is appropriate for the level you are at.

Personally I feel that I am trying my best, but I must try harder, without the effort getting in the way. In other words trying, not just trying to try. Guess that sound pretty silly. Letting go and relaxing seems the critical factor, fortunately I am not shy about getting things wrong. So if I do something wrong that it is not actually a bad thing provided I then take that opportunity to improve and don't keep making the same mistakes over and over again. Staying calm, relaxed yet focused and grounded seems to be the key to solid technique. If anything I am perhaps a little jerky and need to work on becoming more fluid in my movements - without losing accuracy. The combination of being calm yet focused, focused yet relaxed, relaxed yet strong, strong yet flexible is the goal, perhaps outwardly they may seem somewhat contradictory although they all clearly go hand in hand and actually, strength without flexibility causes brittleness and is not really strong at all. I guess on some level that is the crux, to forge something that is strong at the same time flexible and not brittle is a difficult task and takes a long time and a lot of effort, I am of course thinking about Japanese sword manufacture and the parallel to our self development through Aikido, the art of the sword without the sword. I could go on (and on) to talk more about this idea and its potential ramifications, but I had better stop as I have probably already got carried away, "he who knows does not speak, and he who speaks does not know" Lao Tsu.

Tai Sai

Tai Sai Festival was a wonderful day. We got there a little bit early to help with the final preparations and saw the Doshu as we walked up the path to the Shibu Dojo. The event itself was a ceramony conducted by Shinto priests, where they took turns to chant different sutras and make offerings to the various shinto deities. And assist the others present on stage to make their offerings. The Doshu his wife and son and other various high ranking Aikido instructors.

Nemoto sensei (and a couple of friends) with his Uchideshi group:


Shinto priests approching the Jinja and making offerings:




The ceramony itself took about an hour (I think), I have the paper with the chants in Hirigana and Kanji which will sets me up with reading homework for the next decade. After the main ceremony the Doshu performed a ~5 minute demonstration, I was quite close to the front (about three people) so I got quite a good view.



We then had lunch, all 1400 people eating together and drinking plenty of sake. Nemoto Sensei sent one of the Uchideshi to secure O Sensei's favorite lunch spot - which was a nice touch. Lots of people came over to say hellp and one of Nemoto Sensei's old Aikido friends joined us and organised a bus to take us all to the karaoke.

The Doshu and his family:


Nemoto Sensei lunch party:


Nemoto sensei does his thing in the Karaoke Bar:


We all had a lovely time and we went home around 10 o'clock, the next days morning training was delayed until 9am rather than the normal 5.30am in consideration of our sake heads.

Inagaki Sensei

This is little clip of Inagaki Sensei, who teaches at the Shibu Dojo, twice a week.

Earthquake

Tomorrow is Tai Sai Festival the 40 year anniversary, so its a special one. Should be an interesting event, we have spent the past few days helping out the Shiba dojo uchideshi making the prepairations. Cleaning and sweeping leaves mostly, today we pitch forked the pile into the truck, it took 5 loads and many hours to complete. Now the place looks very nice and ready for all the people to turn up. I will try and post some photos and will video the Doshu demonstration if I can get close enough. The Omotokyo Shinto ceramony should also be interesting to watch.

Everything else is ticking along nicely, the two long term uchideshi have there shodan tests in June 14th (my birthday) so today we went through a mock test and got to watch them do a mock test. It was interesting to see what sort of standard they are at and what is expected from them, as was the earthquake that happened half way through the test.

The 4 germans and one sweed uchideshi will leave on Thursday, and next week 5 russians will arrive, so there is a bit of break before the place becomes completely full again.

Week three

Training continues, tomorrow I will enter my third week here, time is moving fast, its hard to keep track of my own personal progression although I am sure that something in that regard is happening.

This coming wednesday is the Tai Sai festival so today we spent the day cleaning around the Shibu Dojo grounds and the Aiki Jinga (shrine) itself. Plenty of people turned out to help, one person rode there bycycle from Tokyo, a 5 hour trip. I managed to get a metal rake which was a lot more effective than the wooden ones, which was lucky, and I now have some nice looking blisters on my hands to prove that I wasn't just standing around and that I was putting it to good use.

So wednesday will be a signifcant day with over one thousand people expected to arrive in Iwama for the ceramony, and the Doshu will perform a demostration which should be great to watch.

Cold hard mats

Training is going well. With Nemoto Sensei we have been through the 5 kumitachi and have moved onto the Ken tai Jo, and have covered some interesting variations for ikkyo if the uke is being diificult and offering resistence, some of which seemed more like Aikijutsu rather than Aikido. This morning we covered Nikkyo variations is uke is resisting in various ways.

Other than training we have been clearing the land next to Aiki house ready for Keiko when the next wave of people arrive in about a weeks time. The 4 Germans and one Danish people are leaving and 5 Russians and two Italians are arriving. So in total that will mean there are 13 people here. A couple of people will stay next door in Nemoto Sensei's brothers house. But it will still be pretty busy for meal times.

It has been cold here in the mornings, training on quite hard mats in the cold isn' so easy as I feel that my body isn't warmed up enough. Who would have thought that a nice hot 40C day would seem apealing. I had been feeling quite under the weather for a few days, guessing that my immune system was quite low due to a lack of sleep and extra stress, but I seem to have got through it and now feeling back to normal.
Standing under the waterfall

keiko keiko keiko

Training is going well. In bukiwaza so far we have covered all 5 of the Ken Kumitachi. In Taijutsu we have covered a lot of things as you would expect, too much to mention now. Training with lots of different instructers is great: Mon: Inagaki Sensei, Tues: Watahiki Sensei, Wed Isoyama Sensei and Nagashima Sensei, Thu: Inagaki Sensei, Fri: Kubota Sensei, Sat: Owada Sensei. This is great for getting different perspectives. I will discuss in more detail the training as time goes on. At this stage I am really still just taking it all in. I have now become used to the new bed and the new surroundings so at least the 4-6 hours of sleep a night are sound ones. Loving the food and Iwama itself, it is a very beautiful place which the photos only hint at.

Nemoto Sensei himself is great, very claim and very joyful. I am the lowest graded student apart from two ungraded ushideshi from the Shibu Dojo. About 50% of the deshi are Shodan or higher. and in total there are about 20 deshi - of which normally only 3-4 are Japanese. There is always the chance to get to train with somebody more experienced than myself, which is of course ideal. There are two guys from Myanmar, Thu-Ra San and Nay-Myo-Shin San, they have great energy and strong fluid technique, also the only deshi permitted to clean to Kamidama. I had seen the video on you-tube of the Myamar Ukemi practice drill many months ago and was keen to try it out but hessitant to try and teach myself from a video. So its fortuitous that I am here at the same time as them, infact the video was filmed at the Shibu Dojo by the last wave of Myanmar Uchideshi. They have kindly been taking some of the interested people through it - which is a fantastic opportunity. Not sure how far I will get in three months but that's OK. Solid basics are a must.

The rest of the training is going well, the house is busy - but everybody pitches in and gets along fairly well. The two Sempai (Chris-san and Robin-san) have been hon here for a long time and both speak good Japanese. Chris-san has an interest in Kotodama and has been practicing twice a day on his own, for a couple of months, teaching himself from John Stevens books and his video. I am happy that I have been able to not only have somebody to practice with but that we can learn from one another. He had not been practicing with a full voice - prior to practicing with me and had only ever practiced alone. It is a different kettle of fish when it is done with a full voice and two people for twice the vibration. We have been going down to the Aiki-Jinja before training in the evening at Shibu Dojo and practicing for 20 mins, with a short period of Zazen before and after. For me it is a fabulous place (serious understatement) to practice and you can feel the change in energy in oneself, and I am sure that the people at the Dojo you train with can sense it too. Isoyama Sensei asked Chris if he (we) were at the Jinja when we were getting changed - he must have heard us as he walked past (now its a full voice, well two) - I am not doing it to try and get noticed. but I would be very happy if more people came to join us.

Lastly the pain. My body has been adjusting to the training quite well, generally feeling pretty good. The first few days were hard as you might expect - but I came quite well prepared and knew what to expect. The seiza and lack of chairs seems to be what most people cant handle, so Shikko on the hard mats round and round the Dojo last night was hard for a lot of people. I think I must be a bit of a gluten for punishment or enjoy the pain or something - trying to keep the circle as wide as possible when everybody else was doing the opposite (thanks Peter-san for the preparation). And stories from my dad of Chiba Sensei making his students duck walk forward around the edge of a cricket oval and then duck walk backwards round it the other way - makes me think that actually I have it pretty easy - so no complaints from me. Well at least not yet. Trying to pace myself and took a bike on the morning run today - save my knees and used took the chance to take some lovely pictures of the area.












Hope everybody at home is well.
Ja - mata.

First training

The first couple of days training has gone really well - Nemoto Sensei is great. The Ibaraki Dojo training is a little different from what I am used to - and the mats are really quite, well, hard. Or you could say well hard. Accomodation is quite cramped but everybody pitches in and gets along well. My body is a bit sore - but sure that will pass after a week or two.

Arrive in Iwama

I arrived in Iwama yesterday and was met at the train station by a couple my fellow uchideshi. Went back to the Aiki-house and was slowly introduced to everybody. In total there are 11 of us. 2 girls and 8 boys, all of whom seem really nice and very friendly.

Last night we went to the Aikikai Dojo and trained, Inagaki Sensei took the class as Isoyama sensei has recently had a operation (not sure what for). I all there were around 20 people on the mat. We practiced various Kokyu-Nage the entire class. Some of which I had done before and some that I had not.

Tada Sensei Seminar

I took it easy yesterday, being my first day in Japan, I just went down to Aikikai Hombu Dojo and signed up, got my bearings and took a look around the local area. Tried to ask a few people on the street the time in Japanese (Ima nan-ji desu ka?) - asking was easy - understanding the answer was little bit more tricky, especially when the answer is something unexpected - like "I dont have a watch", or "Time to get a watch". Although I did manage to read my first sign (well the hiragana part at least) - not much of an achievement I admit - but it is something.

But today I went to a 3 hr Tada - Sensei (9th Dan) seminar at the Hombu Dojo, it over ran a little, from 3 hours to 4.5 hrs. After a quick count I'd guess that there were around 100 people on the mat (when bowing in this took 3/4 of the mat space). There was a translator for the non Japanese speakers which was good - although as he stated afterwards, it's difficult to translate spiritual and technical terminology.

We went through some breathing and Kototama exercises, which was really enjoyable. Then we practiced some basic footwork patterns. The next thing was internal visualisation practice of techniques. Where we got together in threes. Two people placed their hands on the third persons back and tried to guide them around the room by sending thoughts through their hands, with one person deciding which way to go. Seemed a case of sensitivity and feeling the gentle pressure to turn, or lack of pressure to stop. A little bizzare to see 100+ people being guided around the Dojo in such a strange manner. We then covered some techniques for multiple attackers, various Shihonage techniques against two attackers, I practiced with some local young Dan grades, it was enjoyable. All in all lots of fun with lots of seiza practice !

After the training I got chatting to the translator who told me that they are very rigorous in Iwama (actually he said rough (and smiled)) and when he was sent there after four years of training, he got hit in the head with shomenuchi, and that they apply strong Nikkyo. He also said they may take it easier with visitors (smiling and laughing). Ran my legs under hot and cold water when I got to the hotel to help get the blood pumping.

So I head off to Iwama tomorrow, where I guess the real journey will begin.

Leave tomorrow

Well today is thursday, and I leave tomorrow, I have my bags ready to be packed and I am set to go. Thanks again to everyone in Perth and hope the club continues to grow. Stay in touch, send me an email and let me know how things are going and I will do the same.

7 days to go

I have only seven days until I leave, making the final preparations and starting to get a little bit excited.