2nd Kyu Test

June 30, 2012 I had my second kyu test. There were two of us testing that day, along with some sixth and fourth kyu tests. Not bad for our little dojo. We are an Aikikai dojo in the U.S. affiliated with the USAF (United States Aikido Federation).

This is one of the koshi nage (hip throw) techniques that was required.

Here is the second photo in the koshi nage:

A little hanmi handachi irimi nage here:

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The final three are from my two-person randori:

Below, I've just thrown one uke to the side, and will meet my other attacker (on the right) soon.

The rest of the photos are okay, but don't capture the best of the test. I had really good zanshin - and I was told so, too - but none of the photos capture that. Too many show me mid-move.

In our dojo we wear colored belts, so now I am a brown belt. I feel pretty good about this.

Second Kyu

My second Kyu test went spectacularly well. I'm wearing by brown belt right now. Dumb, I know, but I have my reasons. The belt is brand new - Yamato Sakura, California S & P, Inc., so it's stiff and slick, and it won't hold a knot.  I heard from someone in my dojo that to make the knot stay tight, wet the belt down, put it on, and tighten it really tight, and then wear it until it's completely dry. I'm giving it a try. My old blue belt was always coming loose during class, and was a constant source of frustration. I really hope this works. This belt is also wider than my old one, but I really like that. It's also more of a light brown, rather than the typical dark. Our Dojo Cho, and regular instructor, said he liked it, because it looked already faded. When the yudansha saw it, they threatened to darken in up by making me sweat it up and stain it.

So, to the test. We tested sixth, fourth, and second kyu this past Saturday (6/30/12). The other tests went by really quickly, then it was time for the second kyu test. I was a little nervous, but not as much as I'd been earlier in the morning. First it was techniques. I made it through all of the 2nd kyu requirements of the U.S.A.F., plus additional techniques required of the Midwest Aikido Center in Chicago, where our chief instructor is primarily based. This is his dojo, but he is still on the MAC board of directors, and teaches classes there two days a week. Next I moved on to jiu waza. I worked with a Nidan and a Shodan. Our instructor, a Godan, called attacks, and I came up with as many techniques as I could think of and work in. There were a few I wanted to do, but couldn't figure out how to make them work, but that's okay. Finally, it was time for randori. I worked with regular dojo members, who are third and fourth kyu. Both do ukemi well, so it was a ton of fun for me. I just kept throwing one into the other, then I'd run around the pile to go after the first to get up, and it would start all over again.

I spoke with our instructor immediately after the tests, as did the other students. He told me I did a great job, and as a second kyu, I had more responsibility, and I would be looked up to more as a senior student. In our dojo, 2nd kyu is pretty senior. Other than our two instructors, we have a shodan, three 2nd kyu as of now, then several third kyu, fourth kyu, and so on, all the way down to "below ranks."

I'll post photos when I get them, but I already saw most of them. The best is of me throwing uke in a koshi-nage. I'm standing up throwing uke, while the photo catches uke parallel to the ground about as high as my waist. It's a very good photo. There may be video as well, but I won't take the time to share that.

I'm thrilled to have achieved and earned this rank. I can't wait to go to class tomorrow wearing my new brown belt. And since I have never been one to blow my own horn, that is not like me at all.

A recent wind storm broke a branch off a tree in the neighbor's yard. The branch ended up in our yard.

Test

On Saturday I will take my 2nd kyu test. In the United States Aikido Federation it means I will be testing for my brown belt, albeit low brown. I am excited. We did a practice test last Saturday, and overall, I think I did well. I had some issues with shomenuchi shihonage. I wasn't getting my leading hand up to block the way I should have, and I wasn't getting off line the way the technique is supposed to go. My first try at randori was terrific - I think, anyway. I had a ball. I kept throwing one uke into the other oncoming uke. I remember once specifically throwing one uke into the other so well that uke 2 had to literally jump out of the way of uke one. When I threw uke 1 into uke 2, I saw the look of surprise on uke 2's face. I don't think he expected to see uke 1 coming at him that way. That gave me one or two extra seconds to move around and move into uke 2 as much as he was moving into me. One of the non-participating students said that I looked "fierce" while doing randori.

I am also practicing my jiu waza (sorry about the "jiu" - don't know how that's spelled phonetically). I'm going over katatedori, morotedori, ryotedori, ai hanmi katatedori, and whatever else I can think of including all the "ushiro" attacks. It's not "technically" on our test, but Sensei called it Saturday, so I'm trying to think through it as much as I can. It has been his practice to call requirements from higher rank test just to see how the test person does. How many different techniques can I come up with for any single attack? I have to have more than a few. On Saturday he called ryotedori, and I missed some really basic kokyunage techniques, and went for several of the more complicated techniques. I think it's better if I at least start with the basics. I even missed tenshinage. I can't make those types of mistakes when I test.

I am excited, and very much looking forward to wearing a brown belt.

I am there. I have achieved the needed hours to test for 2nd kyu. I am looking forward to the test, although I am not ready yet. I want to earn my brown belt, and move to the next level, but I have not been in any hurry. I've put my needs on hold in order to prepare our dojo's first shodan. He tested at the Midwest Aikido Center in Chicago a couple weeks ago at a seminar. Yamada Sensei was there, so it was a big deal, as seminars go.

I've spent about a week getting ready, so that means taking 15 minutes or so after class running through the list of 2nd kyu techniques. So far, so good, but I haven't gone through all the "additional" techniques that I'll also be tested on. I have gone through all the USAF techniques, which look pretty good.

I've heard that the plan is to test me at 2nd kyu, and a few others ranging from 6th to 3rd kyu. I think our sensei wants to have all of us be the first group to test in our new dojo, but the dojo won't be ready for another few months. I'll be ready to test very soon.

We have a first kyu at our dojo who will be testing for shodan next Saturday at the Midwest Aikido Center in Chicago. He has worked incredibly hard to get ready for this test. He began at our dojo about eight years ago, although I don't know what his rank was at the time. He also has a solid background in Iwama style Aikido. As a dojo, we have worked hard to get him ready for his test. For at least the last two months every Saturday after our regular class, we take time to run a practice test. Those of us at the dojo do our best to help him out. Aside from our chief instructor and our dojo cho, he is the highest ranking member. We have two new members who are female brown belts - probably second kyu - then I come next. We have a three or four third kyus, a few fourth kyus, then a few fifth, sixth, and newbies.

One brown belt was at class today, but she didn't stay for test practice. That left me and three others to work with our first kyu. We took turns as uke, until we practiced randori, when we all attacked him at the same time. As highest ranking student I was the first to go, we started in suwari-waza. Our dojo cho instructed him to go through Ikkyo, Nikkyo, Sankyo, Yonkyo, and Gokyo, omote and ura. I attacked shomen-uchi again, and again. The moment he let go of his pin, I got up as quickly as I could and attacked again. Twenty attacks, twenty pins. I also did ukemi for bo-waza and bo-tori, and, as I wrote before, randori. By the time I got to randori, I was pretty fried.

When it was all over, and we were changing, the Aikidoka who ranks directly below me gave me a terrific compliment. He told me that he thought my ukemi was excellent. Especially the first bit I did. What struck me as funny, was that when he first started talking, he actually asked me if it would be okay if he told me something about my ukemi. I really thought he was going to give me some constructive criticism by the way he asked. He said something like, "I'm really not one to say anything," again, as though he was going to criticize. It was almost a shock that he turned that into such a compliment. Maybe it's because he's so in tune to Japanese culture, especially as it relates to life in the dojo. Maybe lower ranks aren't supposed to compliment higher ranks, but I can't be sure. What makes me feel even better, is that his ukemi is really terrific, and he's also at lest 20 years younger than me. Maybe 25 years younger.

Regular class went from 10:00 until about 11:15. We did our shodan practice test from 11:20 or so, until noon. After, I picked up my older daughter from an Earth Day puppet show/presentation at the local technical college. My daughter helped little kids make sock puppets. She's terrific with a glue gun. My younger daughter came to practice with me, like she does almost every Saturday. I know she'll want to be the first to sign up for kids classes when we start those at our new dojo.

So now I'm exhausted. I'm walking around the house like someone my age.

As Time Goes By

Since I've last written, we've lost a member of our dojo. He died of a heart attack at the age of 43. The heart attack was made worse through complications due to his type 2 diabetes. He was a shodan (1st degree black belt) from ASU (Aikido Schools of Ueshiba). Unlike one of our more "gentle" (I use the word in context of the fact that pretty much everything hurts in Aikido) Aikikai techniques, his shiho-nage about twisted my head off my shoulders. I heard from another who was uke to his Ikkyo, that he was able to knock the breath out of him by pushing his arm back into his body. He was amazing, rank not withstanding. He was also a wonderful person, and a great teacher. His weapons work was equally impressive. We will miss him.

Now another of our ranks has been hospitalized due to a weak heart valve. Sadly, due to several unfortunate turns in his life, he has no insurance coverage. This is going to be tough for him. I also wonder if he will return to us. I never said anything, but the last few time I saw him I thought he looked terrible. He has always seemed to struggle with his weight as well. I wish him the best.

Work continues on the new dojo, although I have been unable to take part in most of the construction work. My wife is taking a class that meets on Saturday, and the time conflicts with the work sessions. Due to the dangers at the work site, I need to keep my children home to watch them. I've been over there for some of the bigger projects, such as stripping off the old roof, which save the dojo $2000. I also did a lot of demolition work. Sensei say he understands, and I can only hope he does. When I talk with his girlfriend, she assures me he does.

We are using our new mats at the old space. They are apparently very popular with dojos around the world. They are vinyl on top and spongy underneath. The green top mimics tatami. They come in long rolls about four feet wide. Compared to our old canvas mats, they are absolutely wonderful. I have not received a mat burn since we began using them.

I am under 30 hours to my 2nd kyu (low brown belt) test. I'll probably test in June - just when school lets out. I am looking forward to it. I've been a blue belt for a very long time - three years, I think. That's how long I've been fourth, then third kyu. I remember getting my third kyu belt, and looking at the 200 hour training requirement, and thinking that 200 hours seemed like so much practice, and that it would take a very long time to get there. Sensei said that it would go by faster than I realized. He was right. I feel good. I am strong, and have pretty good endurance despite my lack of any other endurance training. I don't run, and I've gotten tired of being hit by cars, so I don't ride my bike, either. In all, my endurance is still good enough to test.

Technique-wise, I also feel good. About a month ago I was practicing my koshi-nage, and was able to pick up my uke and balance him easily on my hip. What makes this so different, is that this particular uke is 6-foot-five, and outweighs me by about 100 pounds. When I work with everyone else, it's not a problem. I'm about 165 pounds. There is one other student who is a bit lighter than me. Most of the others are in the 170 pound range. We have a six-foot 1st kyu who is probably closer to 190. I can pick all of them up and throw them without a problem. Being able to pick up and throwing someone who weighs 250 pounds or more has been good for my confidence.

My test preparation has not started yet. That 1st kyu mentioned above is going to test for shodan at the upcoming udansha seminar in Chicago this April. We have all been working to prepare him, which is fine with me. I probably won't test until June, which is right around the corner.

Professionally, our school had Parent/Teacher confrontations the last two evenings. I enjoy talking with the parents. Some parents are always shocked when I tell them how wonderful their child is. It seems to come as such a surprise, because, the parents tell me, their child is so naughty at home. It's the same with our daughters. They can be terrible at home, but always the angels at school.

"I'll give you your brown belt right now," Sensei said after I'd sent him sliding across the mat. We were working on a bokken kata that involved an uke and a nage. The last move had nage slashing his bokken across uke chest, but behind the bokken was a shoulder bump that drove the blade of the bokken into uke's chest. This was a very satisfying kill. I realized after class that I've only got another 33 hours before my brown belt (2nd kyu) test.

I've feeling generally good about it. We've been working on the techniques for my test during regular class, which is typical for us; we work techniques for whomever's test is getting close.

On a sad note, one of our dojo members died tragically recently. He had a heart attack, made worse by his Type 2 diabetes. He was wonderfully nice, and a terrific teacher. I remember working with him both as his student, and one-on-one during classes taught by others. Our whole dojo mourns.

Training Films

My school district bought all the teachers iPads. I'm not exactly sure why. There really isn't anything that it does for my job that I can't also do on my school computer - a MacBook running OS X 10.5.8. It works  just fine for me.

However, it does do one thing that my MacBook doesn't: it takes digital videos. This has become helpful, though, in the past few weeks, because my younger daughter has developed an interest in taking videos. We go to Aikido together on Saturdays, and she takes videos while I practice. These little videos have become really good training aids for me. I am finally seeing myself while I train.

I see myself and know that I sometimes move like an old man. Today was a good day according to the videos I've seen today. I moved well. I noticed in the last videos that I sometimes hesitate mid-technique. The last video showed that on a morote dori kokyu-nage, for example, I would move to get uke's balance,  hesitate just for a moment, then complete the throw. Today I made a point of continuing to move all through each teachnique; I never stopped moving. No matter how slowly I moved, I kept moving. It seemed to make a difference, at least a small one to me. Moving constantly kept uke off balance, which made my throws as nage easier, and more effective.

I spent most of class today working with our dojo cho. He is a nidan, in his early 60s. He is very good. Today we were practicing a variety of kokyu nages from ryote dori. All began with a tenshin step that turned uke around 180 degrees. Once we had uke turned, we could slide forward and throw uke who was holding that leading arm, we could move into kaiten nage, or slid under uke's arms, drop to our knees, and send uke rolling over our shoulder. We could also do the last technique in ura form by doing a full tenshin step first. I worked with him for about 80 percent of class. We were both exhausted by the end of class.

I am reviewing the 15 minutes of video that my daughter took today to see where I can improve.

Holiday Party

Had a wonderful class last night. I base that on how sore and bruised I am the following day. Today I have purple bruises on my biceps and legs. I have deep red, superficial bruises on my wrists. We did nikkyo, which explains the bruises in my wrists, and some throwing techniques that required grabbing uke's upper arms, which explains the bruises on my biceps. The bruises on my legs are not so easy to explain.

When I was uke on a throwing technique, my partner said my calf hit his elbow. Now it feels like I have a big knot in my right calf. It will go away soon, I know. I also have a good-size lump on the outside of my left knee (about three inches across and one half inch high). I have no idea where that came from. So based on all my bruises and lumps, I would say it was a terrific class.

We went to a local restaurant after class - the same one we usually hit after testing. I guess there were about 12 to 15 people there. It was nice, but I didn't stay too long. I had a bowl of soup, and took my cue for a drink from our dojo cho. He had a brandy manhattan - which I'd never heard of before last night. I'd always had my manhattans with whiskey and vermouth, never brandy and vermouth. I have to say I really, really liked it.

The only part that made me shrug my shoulders is how the waitress brought out our orders. Instead of looking at us as a group and thinking we all wanted to eat at the same time, those of us who ordered soup or salads, got our orders first. Everyone else sat there watching us eat. It wasn't until we were finished that she brought out the rest of the food. I don't get the thinking behind that. Why would I want my bowl of soup before the people sitting on either side of me got their hamburgers. It makes no sense. I guess that's why I never took a job as a waiter.

So back to the dinner. One of the members, who went to Japan recently and is aware of all the proper dojo etiquette collected some money from the rest of us, and bought gifts for our chief instructor - two really nice bottle of sake and a gift certificate to a local sushi place - and a bottle of wine for our dojo cho. I'm really glad about the second one. I heard last night that some students got gifts for the dojo cho on their own. I've thought about that in the past, but never had a clue about what to get, or even if that was the proper thing to do. This is my third year at the dojo, so I've only let two years go by wondering what to do. Anyway, I'm glad we got him something.

Then it was Sensei's turn to give us something. Two years ago we got a towel of sorts that he got from Hombu Dojo. It's a thin cotton cloth to be accurate, with kanji on it. I was told it said something about Aikido, and Hombu, and 2010. As a sweat towel, it's worthless, but I still want to frame it and put it up - maybe in my classroom. For that, it's completely cool. This year's towel is blue and it's a real towel. On one end it says AIKIDO in English. On the other end it says Aikido in kanji. It's also terry cloth, so it works at a towel. I'm going to put this one in my dojo bag and use it. Sensei mentioned that he saw Yakota Sensei from Hombu Dojo with the exact same towel when he was at the Midwest Aikido Center seminar a couple months ago. I was at the seminar on Friday night, but I didn't see a towel. It was nice to get something though. I left early (about 10:45), but it was a nice night and I'm glad I went.