I've been a member of my current dojo since October 2008, although I cannot believe it has been that long. If I'm not mistaken, and at my age I probably am, this is the longest continuous period of time that I've studied Aikido. I studied Tomiki Aikido in high school for about this long, but perhaps not. While in college I studied at a dojo affiliated with the American Aikido Association dojo in Chicago run by Toyodo Sensei prior to his untimely death from an infection. That lasted about as long as this, but again, perhaps not.
Ours is a small dojo. I believe there were three regular members prior to my joining in 2008. The sign in sheet lists many names, but again, only three showed up regularly - and that included the instructor. There were many days when, according to the people who were there, that there were only two people at a practice: The instructor, and one student.
From what I am told, the dojo began to grown about the same time I joined. Around the same time I joined the dojo, a 1st kyu also joined. We are on our second person who has joined the military, mostly as a result of unemployment. The sign in sheet lists everyone who has ever joined the dojo since its inception in 2002. Many people came, they practiced, they disappeared. Right now we have - more or less - 12 regular member who may practice at any one time. It can become a very crowded mat. These 12 are split nearly evenly with six members being those who have returned after absences, and another six, including me, who are new since '08. Most of the "new" six are new members as of this year.
Today was a perfect example of the blend of old and new. Our chief instructor led the class. He is a fourth dan from the Midwest Aikido Center in Chicago. Our three brown belts included one person who was original from '02, another from '08 (around my time), and another who just joined last week. Today's blue belts included me (from '08), and a fourth kyu who is joining us from Cincinnati. There was also a fifth kyu from the dojo's early days, and two more fifth kyu students who joined last year as beginners.
It was a terrific class today. All open hand techniques. Practice was fairly intense, but not so much that I'll feel exhausted all day. Sensei used me as uke for one set of techniques. I really like it when I get the opportunity to work with Sensei during demonstrations. I work as hard as I can to stay relaxed and be a good uke, so that Sensei's demonstration is good. At one point during this particular demonstration that I attacked him "tanto, shomen-uchi." He did a kokyu-nage where he has my knife hand (left for example, in his left hand), with my left side to his right side (we are facing the same direction), while his right hand comes up under my chin and puts me into a back ukemi roll. As I go down, he keeps hold of my hand, still holding the tanto (knife). He turns me over, a la kote gaishi pin and takes the knife away.
Once while he had me pinned, he showed the class how Doshu would do the pin. Doshu would make uke drop the knife, then, as Doshu went down on his knees to finish the pin, one of his feet would kick the knife (tanto) so it would go spinning away from uke. It was so cool, that I had to turn my head - a move that is completely not good form - so that I could look at him and watch him kick the knife away. Sometimes you have to use bad form just to see what's going on. It hurts more, but it is really worth it.
No comments:
Post a Comment