Ladies and Gentlemen, We Present...The Enbukkai! May 24th, 2008

Finally, after all that practice and all my mumblings, we went to Tokyo. After waiting about 3 hours for our turn, we ran out to the red mat right in front of the judges and did our routines for 90 seconds. Sensei seemed really pleased at our performance. IMHO, I think we did rather well. Here you go:



I had planned to do iriminage before my final nikkyo, but I noticed the other couples were finishing and so I adlibbed a bit and edited my routine. I think I was a bit slow somewhere in the middle of the performance. My partner reacted well and was quite flexible (mentally speaking) and didn't panic or get flustered when I deviated from our plan. Good guy he was, owe him a drink.

Oh yeah, many other people performed there as well. Some of them were pretty good, too. I took a few shots of the Hombu Dojo crowd (literally, there were many of them).




Here's a dojo from a girls' school. They were quite young, but they moved really well and showed a lot of grace.




These last two are of Mr. Ueshiba the Dosshu of the Hombu Dojo. He always does the grand finale and gives a great demonstration of aikido in action.






The rest of Saturday was a blur of trains, taxis and food. I dimly recall coming back to the hotel and trying to get some sleep for the next day. Which I tell you all about next post.

Lights, Camera Action! May 20th, 2008

Just tried playing with some new technology today. Upload some video we shot in the dojo.



Here's my partner and I working on our routine for Tokyo. I am trying to keep things smooth, so I am going a bit fast here. Hard to focus on the tiny details of a technique at that speed. A bit like learning a language. Fluency and accuracy are always in conflict with each other.



Sensei jumps in to show us how uke should really look. He moves like a butterfly fluttering past your ear.



A fellow aikidoka said sensei can probably drink a cup of tea while doing tobiukemi. Well, I wouldn't go that far...but I'd like to see that.

At The Last Minute-May 17th&18th, 2008

Saturday and Sunday we continued practicing for Tokyo. We got into our pairs and tried to polish up our routines. After being timed with a stopwatch, I realized that our set was too short. No worries, we just added 3 more techniques. My guinea pig, er, partner was ready for anything. We practiced a few wazas 20-30 times each and then performed the entire routine. Like a dress rehearsal.



Here we are doing tenchinage (天地投げ). I think here I'm doing better. Sensei said I need to bring my "heavenly" hand up more. This brings the aite (相手) closer to me.



Different technique, but same problem. Here's iriminage (入り身投げ). My technique looks really sloppy because I don't pause half a second and bring my arm a bit higher. I need to wait and let my partner's momentum (相手の推進力) bring his head into the crux of my arm.

In this case, I feel like the partner's head is in my way. Impeding my movement, as it were. Senesi didn't say it directly, but I think that problem will vanish if I move properly and with a certain fluidity of motion.




Now this is tenchinage done right. Look at sensei's arm-his hand sword (手刀) is cutting down to the mat. The uke's body is completely bend backwards, like a bow strung.




Sensei worked with a little boy on Sunday. I thought I would include these pics because 1. they're pretty cute and 2. they provide a great model. This kid just effortlessly spins and flips with an amazing ease. His limber, little body reacts so naturally and smooth to sensei's prodding.

Ah, one final note. Sunday, two of my co-workers visited our dojo and had their first practice. I spent some time with the Canadian guy working on tenkan (転換)and irimitenkan (入り身転換). Interesting experience for me. I practice aikido in Japanese, so it was a bit of a challenge to think about certain movements in English. This blog has helped me articulate certain ideas about aikido. And thanks for reading my attempts at articulation.

Next week is Tokyo! I promise to get some shots and bring you the story as I recover from the festivities!

Even More Pictures-May 10th&11th

Went both nights last weekend. Mostly practiced for Tokyo. My partner is really light and his uke is quite good, so he's lots of fun to throw. Take a look.



We are working on kotogaeshi here. His landings are nice and smooth.



Here we are doing shihonage. Sensei said I should keep my hands higher, not lower them so much. This makes it easier for the partner to jump over his own arm as I twist it.



This pic shows tenichinage. The tori has to extend one hand up towards the heaven and the other down towards the ground. The result is the uke being unbalanced and brought into my space. His body should look like a bow being pulled. Then I step forward and he falls backwards.



Here's me being thrown kotogaeshi. I have to train myself to slap my hand on the mat before my body hits. This absorbs much of the shock of being thrown. Mistakes are painful, so you'd think I'd have learned it by now.


These next few photos are me with the sensei as uke. It was only second time to throw him. Quite an honor as well as a great model.



Kotogaeshi




Can't remember the name of this technique, but it look cool and is a lot of fun.



Kotogaeshi again.

When we practice with each other, we can always feel the weight of each other as we twist and throw. When I throw the sensei, I feel nothing. Like I'm holding jump rope handles and swinging a light rope around my head. Sensei often seems like boulder when I try to push him, but here he seems like a butterfly whirring around my head. Can't really understand what is going on there.

More Practice, More Pictures-May 3rd, 2008

Week late posting. My bad. Spent most of the evening working on our routines for Tokyo. Sensei spent a great deal of time giving me feedback on a few techniques.



Here I am doing kotogaeshi with my partner. Sensei said I need to make a bigger circle with my arms. I keep my body small and so my technique looks weak and makes it hard to throw him. It also makes it hard for him to be thrown.



This is the final stage of the waza. I have a bad habit of lowering my hands too much. I mistakenly thought that I was helping my partner land safely, but actually I'm not controlling my technique very well. My partner is a nice guy, so he rolled properly despite my error.



Here's the sensei explaining and modeling the proper form. Bigger circle creates a better form. Not sure where I picked up the bad habit of keeping my movements so small and constricted. Perhaps being 185cm in Japan and banging my head on doorways caused it. In the dojo, I have the freedom to move wide and large but I don't always utilize my size to its advantage. Gomen sensei, I'm still learning.

Gearing Up-April 27th, 2008

Sunday night we got into our pairs and spent the whole night practicing for Tokyo. My partner wasn't there, so I got a chance to practice with my partner from last year. He's been doing aikido for around 20 years, so he's great and great to work with. I will let the pictures speak for themselves.



This is me completing ikkyou. I need to keep my back straight. It gives more control during the technique and looks better.



Here my girlfriend is being thrown in kotagaeshi. This guy is really smooth; his wazas look beautiful. His sense of time and speed are spot on; he knows the right moment to "snap the whip" and give a photo finish to this technique.



Now it is my girlfriend's turn. She's got the rhythm down right and this guy went flying.

I'll throw in one more just for fun. Here's me going down like a crashing plane in ikkyou ura. No, I didn't land face first. I landed on my chest using my free arm to guide along the mat.



That's all I had time to catch on camera that night. Until then, I'm signing off.