Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Meaning of Black Belt

I was recently translating some waza lists. It's a slow process, but quite revealing. Some of the kanji are not too common in modern Japanese. Sensei always says that black belt is only the start of a much longer process. He noted that many people quit after making black belt and miss out on learning true aikido.

www.aikiweb.com

This site has a bunch of good articles covering a lot of different aspects. One that really caught my eye was about the meaning of the shodan rank. In his final paragraph, the author hits the nail on the head when he writes that shodan is just the beginning. If you would like to read the entire article:
www.aikiweb.com/spiritual/goldfield2.html
I am slowly getting to the point here. I found the kanji for shodan and, sure enough, sensei was right. 初 signifies beginner or first and is used in words like beginners' class (初級) and starting salary (初任給). The literal translation of shodan (初段)would be "beginning grade".
As for myself, I am staying in Japan for awhile. I have been here almost four years now and I still have so much to learn and experience. There so many things I want to do and accomplish here. Aikido and otherwise. Like being able to read a newspaper. Yup, this is just the beginning.

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Friday March 23, 2007

Went to the dojo this morning. Short one hour practice. For the past month or so, sensei has been focusing on tenkan with multiple opponents trying to stabus. It can be quite bewildering at first, but it forces us to perform the movements fluidly without thinking.
This morning's practice consisted of three variations of iriminage. First we practiced the usual grab-by-the-neck form. Then we tried a couple new forms. I forget the name, but my favorite involved flipping the aite backwards, legs flying up and forward. As the aite tries to stab us, we would do iriminage and slide our arm up the partner's arm/torso. If you move your arm too quickly towards their face, they snap and react. When the time is right, we slide our arm up under their neck as we place our other hand in the small of their back. Took me a few tries,but the end result is the opponent being flipped/swept and slammed down to the mat.
Here's a weakness of mine. I am learning to do some wazas properly,but I don't have much control. This morning, when practicing with a fairly new gaijin, my timing was a bit too good. My partner is still working on his ukemi (falls); I could have caused him to bonk his head pretty good. Must admit, it was quite a bit of fun. He was chuckling too.
Great session today. We all had sore, red necks leaving the dojo. A few of us went to nurse our wounds over coffee and donuts.
Oh yeah, sensei gave me some dvds of our practices. I will try to review some of the key points in future posts.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Saturday March 17th


Last Saturday's practice was great. Everyone is getting excited about the upcoming Enbukkai, so we have been rather gung-ho lately. Sensei taught us a number of variations of morotedori techniques-including a shoulder throw that I'm not very good at. Oh at the beginning, Sensei was kind enough to focus on my tobiukemi. I'm still making mistakes on this basic foundational move. I am trying to coordinate all these little details into one fluid motion. Sensei had me do tobiukemi several times in rapid succession.
I was practicing a cool waza with our newest shodan. It's a nagewaza in which we sweep our partner's feet backwards, knocking them forwards. Kind of a reverse of most throws. It took me a few tries to get the rhythm, but it was quite a bit of fun flipping my partner. Head over heels as it were.
Towards the end of the evening, we got to try an original creation. A sensei special. The name is something like tennchi nage no kaeshi. We start doing the standard tennchi nage, but as our partner falls they throw us. It is a rather acrobatic waza, but when done properly looks pretty cool. Most wazas involve tori dropping/throwing the uke, but this one allows for a sudden change mid-waza. 誰が投げられるかわからなかったけどすごい楽しかった!

Monday, March 19, 2007

初めての投稿☆

管理者のtradersteveさんと一緒に、
私もこのブログに投稿していくことにしました~。

彼に触発されて、私も同じ道場に通い、
みんなと一緒に汗を流して
楽しいんでいます。

これから管理者のtradersteveさんと一緒に
日々、思ったこと、感じたことを
書き綴ってみたいと思います。

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Let's get started!

送信者 タイトル未定のアルバム


Here's a pic from the yearly exhibition in Tokyo last May. That was great fun, really looking forward to this year's exhibition.
So let's introduce ourselves. My girlfriend and I are members of the Obata Aikido Kai in the Mie prefecture. This blog will serve as a journal to document our experiences. We look forward to sharing with you and hope you enjoy, too.