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:
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.