Somebody's Blood

A little over a week ago, I injured my left shoulder somehow. I guess it wasn't too serious since I don't recall how it happened. It could have been from shomen-uchi ikkyo; that seems reasonable. So, I decided to take a week off in hopes that my shoulder would improve a bit. It still causes me a little discomfort, but I went to class this morning nevertheless. It didn't seem to get aggravated this morning, though.

There was a bilingual (Japanese/English) notice on the bulletin board about repairs on the 4th floor dojo in March. For three weeks, the Sunday beginner's class will be held on the 2nd floor. I got a bit excited: Maybe they are going to enlarge it! That would certainly be nice, considering there were close to 40 students today. But we will see...

We did a lot of sitting techniques (suwari-waza) today; it seems that Irie Sensei likes to focus on them in his classes. That's fine because we don't seem to do those a lot in the weekday classes that I attend. We did suwari-waza ikkyo, nikyo, irimi-nage, and kote-gaeshi. My uke (partner) for nikyo was much shorter than I, so I had trouble applying the pin because his arm was too short for me to get a good grasp. But it's good to practice with people of all shapes and sizes; I can adapt the technique as I go.

We also did standing techniques: irimi-nage and kote-gaeshi. Due to the large number of students, Irie Sensei sometimes tells one half of the class to practice while the other half sits in seiza and watches. This is good because we don't have to worry too much about restricted space. However, it's bad because we have to sit out. My uke for irimi-nage was a yudansha (black belt). He was quite good. I got frustrated because as he entered, he would totally stop and force my torso sideways. A few times he didn't even enter and break my posture; he just downed me. I thought about this later, and I finally realized that maybe he was trying to show me how to do proper ukemi: I think I needed to go in more sideways instead of facing him with the entire front of my body. I'm not sure if this was the reason. I'll check next time.

While I was changing in the locker room after practice, I noticed somebody's blood on various parts of the topcoat of my gi (uniform). I knew the blood wasn't mine after quickly scanning myself. What's good about the heavy judo-gi that everyone wears is that blood usually washes out completely after laundering. A few people wear thin karate-gi, and I'm not sure if stains come out of them as easily. If one looks closely at the mats in the dojo, one will see all the faint bloodstains. It's not as bad as it sounds: Usually people bleed because they scrape their feet or fingers on the semi-hard "tatami"-style mats repetitively. That's usually what happens to me. At the end of each class, the students sweep, clean, and vacuum the dojo. When there is fresh blood on the mat, that means a few people have the privilege of scrubbing/blotting until most of it comes out. Not an easy task.

Sidewalks of Ice

The streets and sidewalks this morning were icy and treacherous due to the snowfall yesterday. I walked from Wakamatsu-Kawada Station (on the Oedo subway line) to the dojo at a snail's pace. Irie Sensei passed me on the side street that leads to the dojo, walking his bike at a normal pace! I was so surprised at his nonchalance. As he passed me, we greeted each other with "Ohayo gozaimasu (good morning)" and then he said something like, "It's safer at the dojo!" And then I was left to fend for myself on the ice. I actually made it without being late, though.

It was so cold during class this morning that my feet remained frozen although the rest of my body was drenched in sweat from the workout. My mind soon forgot about my feet as we finished our customary warmup of katate-dori tenkan and moved on to groundwork like katate-dori ikkyo. I was glad when we eventually did kote-gaeshi because it had been awhile since we practiced this in the Sunday morning beginner's class. I guess that was because of the small size of the 4th-floor dojo and that particular move requires a lot of mat room. But we still had to do it at about half the regular speed, which was okay; I needed the chance to work on my technique.

The last thing we usually practice is kokyu-ho sitting (za-ho). Sensei helped me with my technique; I wasn't moving my hands and forearms in an upward motion before attempting to move uke's arms. It helped a lot. I usually start executing the move as soon as uke grabs my wrists, but this morning I wanted to try it with uke holding my wrists down and using more force. I've seen some Hombu instructors easily throw their uke (sometimes around 100 kg) while uke is pressing down with all his might. I can see firsthand that breath power (kokyu-ho) is real and effective.

At the end of class we always finish with a back stretch (haishin undo). Two people stand back-to-back and one is lifted onto the other's back. Well, today my partner misjudged my weight and I rolled off his back right onto the floor. To make matters worse, we were the last pair doing this, so the whole class had already lined up in seiza at the end of the dojo and were watching us. It was pretty embarrassing.

After class, Toshi gave me an omamori (lucky amulet) from Kishibojin Shrine in Tokyo. The amulet is to ensure the birth of a safe, healthy baby (my wife and I are expecting a little one in early March). It was so nice of him to be thinking of us. He couldn't stay and chat because he had to go and meet a student of his shortly after aikido class. By the way, Toshi teaches shamisen, a traditional Japanese musical instrument. His website is listed in the links section of this weblog.

Yuki Tsubaki

Tsubaki (camellia) flowers on a rare snowy day in Tokyo

Lungs of Ice

Tonight I went to the 5:30pm beginner's class. I prefer it to the 7:00pm weekday class because there are fewer students and we can do the full moves, swinging and throwing our uke around without worrying too much about hitting the pair next to us. There is no way we can even think of doing that in the Sunday morning beginner's class!

The class tonight was taught by Kuribayashi Sensei. I remember the first time I attended his class last year. Here is why I remember it so well: At the beginning of class, he demonstrated a move and then we proceeded to practice it with partners. I was tori and Kobayashi Sensei walked over and said to me in English, "What are you doing?" With the stern look on his face, I knew something was wrong. I answered with the name of the particular move that I was doing (it happened to be the omote version). He said, in quite good English, "I said to do only ura. Why didn't you listen?" I felt pretty pathetic, so I apologized. As he walked away, he said, "Wake up!" It was the first time I was scolded for making a mistake. Needless to say, I learned to pay more careful attention after that.

Tonight we did some new variations with ai-hanmi that I hadn't practiced before. We started with katate-dori shiho-nage, but it was ai-hanmi stance, as opposed to the usual gyaku-hanmi stance. It's really interesting to see the different variations; it reminds me of just how practical aikido can be. We also did katate-dori ikkyo and irimi-nage, both ai-hanmi. My partner for ai-hanmi ikkyo was a fairly big Western guy. It's unusual for me to have an uke who nearly matches me in size (I am 192 cm [6'5"] and about 100 kg [220 lbs]), so I had to get my technique corrected by sensei in order for it to be effective.

After my first class last year, I began to see sensei's sense of humor and his passion for aikido. His explanations are very thorough, all the way down to the smallest details such as proper shomen-uchi movement of uke. Also, Kuribayashi Sensei is the first instructor at Hombu who sometimes gives full correction to me in decent English. I have yet to experience any private instruction or correction from any of the other shihan in English. Interesting. But I haven't attended every day of the week, either.

As a side note, Hombu Dojo doesn't have any heat in the dojo in winter or air conditioning in the summer, so we really learn how to adapt to the different seasons. No one takes showers in the winter because there is no hot water. So tonight the cold air was like ice in my lungs as I was gasping for breath towards the end of class. It was rather exhilarating!

Sakura

Cherry blossoms on the grounds of the Imperial Palace in Tokyo

Kagami-biraki

Kagami-biraki demonstration at Hombu Dojo, January 2005. Kagami-biraki is an event held at the end of the Oshogatsu (New Year) holiday period.

New Year

This morning was my first practice of the new year. I have been sick since Christmas, so this is the first time that I've been to the dojo since mid-December. I hate being out of commission like that, but oh well. It's better to fully recover first and then resume training.

Every Sunday, the beginner's class is in the fourth floor dojo, which is very small and cramped. There are usually about 25 to 30 students on average. This makes for shoulder-to-shoulder practices. But it's something that everyone, including me, seems to deal with. Most of the time, we have to slow down the moves to avoid hitting others around us.

Every Sunday we are taught by Irie Sensei in the beginner's class. Today, Irie Sensei came over and helped me with shomenuchi yonkyo. I was using the wrong hand to apply pressure on the artery inside of my partner's wrist. My partner ("uke") for this move was a black belt ("yudansha"). Yudansha always seem to be impeccable with applying the technique on me; I usually dread having yudansha as my uke when we practice yonkyo (pin #4). But they are good at helping me.

A friend of mine, Toshi, was present today. I haven't seen him in a few months. He lives very close to the dojo, and he usually comes during the week to train. It was good to see him today. He told me that he passed his nikyu (2nd kyu) test last month! I was happy for him.

One of my uke this morning helped me with katatedori shihonage. When he grabbed my wrist and I started the move, I wasn't twisting his wrist and moving in close enough to him. It's always great to get little tips like that from my uke. Everyone is pretty good at helping each other out.

Irie Sensei has invited me a few times to come to his aikido class at a university in Tokyo, which happens to be one of the universities where I work. I finally summoned the courage to approach him after class to get more information. He referred me to a student in the class who is also a member of the particular university aikido class. We exchanged e-mail addresses and I told him I'll come when school resumes in April (the school year is ending now and regular university classes have finished). Since I am officially on winter/spring break until April, hopefully I can spend more time with aikido.

June 2003: The Beginning

Above: Test results posted at Hombu Dojo showing my current rank of 4th kyu

Since I'm just now starting this weblog, I would like to briefly write about the very first time that I practiced aikido. I remember arriving at the dojo with no uniform or anything; I had planned on buying my uniform and belt at the front desk. After figuring my size, I bought the full uniform and paid 5,250 yen for a Sunday membership. (The Sunday membership means one can attend classes only on Sundays, which is about four classes a month. One can always pay a small fee to practice at other times during the week, however. At the beginning of each month, membership dues are paid.)

Hombu Dojo has technically five floors. The front desk is located on the first; the beginner's dojo and women's locker room are on the second; the main dojo and men's locker room are on the third; a small dojo (where the Sunday beginner's classes are held) is on the fourth; and the fifth floor is just a small area where people can store their uniforms.

In each class, the instructor demonstrates a move on his partner ("uke") while the students observe. Afterwards, students practice the move with partners. I remember watching the instructor, but my mind was elsewhere. I was thinking, "Wow! I'm actually in an aikido class in Japan!" When it was time for everyone to practice what they had seen, I just stood there looking at my partner while he was waiting for me to execute the move. I had to tell him in Japanese, "I'm sorry. This is my first day." He understood and helped me.

I also remember on my second day of practice, my partner, a middle-aged man, suddenly hurt his back and fell directly on top of me, unable to move. He had to be carried out of the dojo, and we never saw him again. After class, as I was leaving the building, Irie Sensei saw me and said in English, "Next week, please come back." He was afraid I would get scared and quit after what I experienced that day! It was sort of funny. I bet he was glad that I returned the following week.

Introduction

I have decided to start a weblog detailing my experiences as a student at Aikikai Hombu Dojo (Aikikai Foundation, Aikido World Headquarters) in Tokyo, Japan. I began practicing aikido on June 15, 2003 at Hombu Dojo and have been practicing there ever since; I have never trained at any other aikido dojo.

I have been living and working in Japan since May 2000. Before moving to Japan, I had little interest in devoting my time to martial arts training. Thanks to my brother-in-law and a few acquaintances in Japan, I decided to pursue something that I never dreamed of doing: practicing martial arts regularly in Japan, the birthplace of aikido.

After moving to Japan for my career, it took me a few years to develop an interest in martial arts; to find the right one for me; and to summon the courage and ambition to carry through with it. I settled on aikido because it has a very spiritual basis and is non-aggressive. Aikido has no competitions or tournaments; rather, it teaches how to effectively "receive" attacks. Aikido, loosely translated as "the way of harmony," relies on natural, circular movements to enter and use the opponent's energy to gain control of the situation, usually with a throw or joint lock.

I regret not having started this weblog when I first began practicing aikido; but since I'll be training for hopefully years to come, now is as good a time as ever to start, I suppose.