The training began at 5.10am, so I set my alarm for 4.30am. I bought it in Ueno, it's one of those ones with the little hammer and two bells. At the time I thought "great this is nice and loud - no chance of sleeping through this". Subsequently I stuck little bits of tape onto the bells because I am afraid of it giving me a heart attack - especially at 4.30am.
So as usual about five minutes before Sensei arrived I stood outside and waited. Have to say that it was pretty cold. Yesterday Christopher-san told me that it had been -6C the morning before. Didn't feel that cold but still pretty nippy.
Training consisted of the first three kumitachi. The main difference between Nemoto Sensei and what I am used to is that some of the parries are not done along the center line but off to the side - (eg 2nd kumitachi ni and go). Not too difficult to adjust.
For the last 30mins Nemoto sensei had me doing sit-ups, press ups, squats, and various other exercises. Clearly quite out of shape and will need to work a lot harder on my cardio and core strength when I get back to Perth. Think this will be my new-years resolution. To be able to do 250 press ups, rather than the measly 50 I was able to this morning.
Food - yum yum
I made a large batch of leek and potato soup as I thought it would be a nice warmer for the cold weather. Took some to the Shibu uchideshi too as I thought they would appreciate it. The leeks here are quite long and quite thin, also the cucumbers are small and somewhat knobbly. The local supermarket does 50% off, almost every evening so a large 10 piece sushi pack costs only 250yen or $2.80 AUD, this is clearly a bargain.
Motanai is the saying used to say don't waste. It it quite rude to leave excessive amounts of food on your plate. You should eat down to last grain of rice, this will naturally require some skillful use of your hashi (chopsticks). As non waste-fullness is such an integral aspect to Japanese society I wonder about all that fish going to waste on the supermarket shelves, especially given the ever depleting stocks of fish in the worlds oceans.
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.
