Mito group

Third day keiko

Two classes held today - evening training at Tsukuba

Morning class
Katate dori kokyu nage

Nemoto sensei's special buki waza

Evening class

Second day keiko

Three classes held today - midday training at Mito and evening training at Tsukuba

Morning class
Sankyo and yonkyo from katate dori.

On sankyo urawaza make sure you are parallel to your partner before performing the spinning part. On imote use three steps to pin, where 1) is stepping around 2) is step back on the other leg 3) is the pin.

Afternoon class
Irimi nage 3 breakouts shomen uchi on the move

Evening class
Ikkyo omote and uruwaza and nikkyo urawaza only from morote dori. Ki musubi no tachi - a blending technique which is separate from the five kumi tachi

First evening keiko

This is a summary of the points we picked up from the class.

Tai no henko

• Offer your hand flat out (facing the floor) as it invites someone to attack whereas your palm facing the wall doesn't.
• On finishing the technique make sure your fingers are spread wide apart with your hands almost parallel to the floor

Morote dori kokyu ho

• Enter deeper by putting your front foot's toes by the side of your partner's middle part of their foot
• Use full hip rotation and extended rotation of your arms (past your hips)

Ikkyo imote waza

• Extend yourself by being directly over your partner's arm keeping it near to your knee
• Get both knees down to your partner's arm at the same time when approaching the floor

Ikkyo uru waza

• Make sure you hold your partner's thumb with your thumb
• Make all movements in all techniques flowing otherwise there is opportunity for your partner to grab your feet

All in all a really good class with lots of dame's which we thought was great because it showed that Sensei perceived that we were trying.

Darn you Google maps . . .

After a decent sleep in the hotel and a light breakfast we made our way to the train station and got to Iwama in an hour or so on the Joban line from Kashiwa. As we arrived we thought we'd walk to Aiki house and trusted Google maps to guide us, but unfortunately we ended up outside Sensei Nemoto's actual house! After a couple of phone calls we got Sensei to meet us at the train station and we made our way to Aiki house which as described by Peter Sensei was 'head to the hills as you get out of the station', not head to the fields, walk along the 'dog's leg bend' and cross the rail tracks with a 100 kilos worth of luggage... Sensei showed us the house and explained some of the house rules. We settled in and made our way to the supermarket to get some lunch, having more fun with Google translate trying to figure out if the homogenised milk was pastuerised as well. Am still not sure what we ended up buying, but it tastes like full cream and makes a decent cup of tea. Since Sensei said evening training would start at 7pm we had to time for walk about. So we went on the other side of the railway track and made our way to the Jinja shrine which is where the festival held on April 29th will be held.

Walking past Saito Sensei's house we noticed some students wearing hakama so we walked over to say hello. We introduced ourselves to Sensei Magnus from Sweden who comes under Sensei Ulf's dojo and he was kind enough to let us in the dojo so we could place the sake which we bought at the shrine.

Feeling accomplished and rather fortunate we headed back to Aiki house to prepare for evening keiko. On his 3rd outing to Iwama, Senpai Gates had the pleasure of Trevor, Justin and Kelvin joining him. The entries made in this blog will be a composite of our experiences and thoughts. Justin

Arrival 3rd Trip

First night in Tokyo Evening meal and a few drinks.