"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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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