It began with some prayer recitals at the Jinja, followed by a lunch/party in the Dojo itself. Many of the guests gave short speeches prior to lunch, including the Doshu. Then lunch followed with more octopus than you could possibly eat in one sitting, although we tried. We also had sticky rice pudding, made the traditional way, of beating the crap out of it with large wooden hammers in a very large mortar.
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.
Party with Doshu
So today the Doshu and his entourage came to Iwama. There is always a lot of cleaning, fussing, organizing, confusion and normally descends into a little bit of chaos. It all came to together in the end. The Doshu normally comes to Iwama about once a month, not sure what if any the exact occasion of this particular visit was.

It began with some prayer recitals at the Jinja, followed by a lunch/party in the Dojo itself. Many of the guests gave short speeches prior to lunch, including the Doshu. Then lunch followed with more octopus than you could possibly eat in one sitting, although we tried. We also had sticky rice pudding, made the traditional way, of beating the crap out of it with large wooden hammers in a very large mortar.
It began with some prayer recitals at the Jinja, followed by a lunch/party in the Dojo itself. Many of the guests gave short speeches prior to lunch, including the Doshu. Then lunch followed with more octopus than you could possibly eat in one sitting, although we tried. We also had sticky rice pudding, made the traditional way, of beating the crap out of it with large wooden hammers in a very large mortar.