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.
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1 comment:
Well said tradersteve. Just as in kaidan, it can mean (first) step 階段. I remember something to that effect was printed on my first black belt certificate when I was doing Karate, "this is the first step on a thousand mile journey", I think I remember it saying. In many ways I am still on this journey, and yet I am only just beginning.
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