Hole in my Keiko-gi

Above: A plaque on the first floor of Hombu Dojo in honor of Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido (photographed with permission)


Above: The quiet side street where Hombu Dojo is located. It is the light-colored building on the left with all the cars. Doshu's residence is next door on the left.

I wanted to take some pictures of the side street where the dojo is located because it's such a quiet area -- totally different from busy Shinjuku station which is only two subway stops from Wakamatsu-Kawada station (the nearest station to Hombu Dojo). By the way, Doshu's residence is next door to the dojo. That sure is a benefit since he teaches class at 6:30am every weekday!

After stretching, we started with katate-dori tenkan. I had the same partner as last week, so I mentioned it to him and we both laughed. There is a Japanese woman who has just started aikido (I believe she started late last year), and we were paired together for shomen-uchi ikkyo. I think she is the same person who ran away screaming when I asked her in class last year to be my partner. I guess the fact that she was new plus having a huge foreigner approach her about being an uke was too much for her to handle. Anyway, she seemed nervous but did just fine.

It had been awhile since we practiced hanmi-hantachi katate-dori shiho-nage. My partner was the same person who did ukemi for me during my 4th-kyu exam. Since I was nervous, I think I did the techniques a bit harder than usual. I remember apologizing to him after the exam. Well, today I kept repeating to myself that he wasn't seeking revenge; he was bringing me down extra hard. I had to do a backwards roll each time just to keep from injuring my wrists.

We did a lot of suwari-waza as usual. For kote-gaeshi, Irie Sensei told me to turn (tenkan) faster. It was hard for me to keep my balance on my knees. I have to practice being more fluid in that regard.

For my next exam, 3rd kyu, I will have to demonstrate ikkyo through yonkyo, standing and sitting. It will be the first time for me to perform suwari-waza for an exam. Luckily I still have some time. 50 hours of practice are required after obtaining 4th kyu before one can test for 3rd kyu. However, the head examiner, Endo Sensei, prefers students to have more than the minimum number of hours when they test (which is not unreasonable at all). But the examinations are an entirely different story! I'm sure I will write plenty on that topic in days to come.

After class, I asked my friend Toshi some questions about the 3rd kyu exam. For example, I didn't know the term "tsuki" in tsuki irimi-nage. He told me it just means the uke delivers a straight punch. That is something I have never seen practiced in the beginner's class; all the more reason to attend the regular class, I suppose. He also taught me the phrase "hanmi-hantachi" (tori is sitting and uke is standing). Luckily there will only be one move on the 3rd kyu test that is hanmi-hantachi.

I also noticed that a hole is forming in the left knee of my uniform pants. I always envied students with holes in their knees because I thought it showed how hard (and often) they trained. It seems as if I will be one of them soon! It's a good feeling.