Mind Your Tongue
I was a little nervous while going to the dojo this morning. It would be my first time to attend the regular class without going with a friend. The locker room was full of yudansha (black belts) as I put on my uniform and tied my white belt.
There were probably around 60 students (maybe more) in the 9:00 am regular class this morning. I was surprised to see Sugawara-sensei enter the dojo to instruct; Kanazawa-sensei usually teaches this class.
I think everyone decided in advance who their partners would be. After our warmup, everyone quickly grabbed a partner. The only student without one in my part of the dojo was a woman who looked as if she was visiting from overseas: she had a big patch on the front of her uniform (patches are not worn on uniforms of Hombu students) and was wearing a brown belt with no hakama (generally only white and black belts are worn). So we did ukemi for each other during the entire class. Depending on the instructor, we either change partners before each move or we keep the same partner during the entire class.
Everything was so fast-paced this morning; I could tell it wasn't a typical Sunday morning for me. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up, but I did fine. It was a great workout. I thought my partner was going to break my wrist during shomen-uchi sankyo, however. I was too embarrassed to tell her to go easier on me.
By the way, I want to give some advice to anyone reading this: when you do ukemi during irimi-nage, make sure your tongue is not between your teeth! When my partner was taking me down, she hit the underside of my jaw and I bit my tongue. Luckily it wasn't too bad. I'll never make that mistake again (at least I hope I won't)!
After class was over, I talked briefly to my partner. She said she was from Washington D.C. and was visiting Japan for just a few days. Today was her only chance to practice at Hombu. I felt bad that she came all the way to Japan for aikido and was stuck with me! I told her she should stick around for 30 minutes and attend Doshu's class. I could tell she didn't seem to keen on that idea! The regular classes are so intense; it would be hard to practice in two back-to-back classes.
In the regular class, we did a brief cool-down after practice that involved jumping in place and stretching. That is something we don't normally do in the beginner's classes. Afterwards, I saw my friend from Sri Lanka in the dojo. I asked him if he had fun, and we both laughed. Last week, Irie-sensei told us both that we should start attending the regular class instead of his beginner's class. My friend jokingly said that we had no choice! Anyway, I'm glad I took Irie-sensei's advice. I'm sure my friend was too.
There were probably around 60 students (maybe more) in the 9:00 am regular class this morning. I was surprised to see Sugawara-sensei enter the dojo to instruct; Kanazawa-sensei usually teaches this class.
I think everyone decided in advance who their partners would be. After our warmup, everyone quickly grabbed a partner. The only student without one in my part of the dojo was a woman who looked as if she was visiting from overseas: she had a big patch on the front of her uniform (patches are not worn on uniforms of Hombu students) and was wearing a brown belt with no hakama (generally only white and black belts are worn). So we did ukemi for each other during the entire class. Depending on the instructor, we either change partners before each move or we keep the same partner during the entire class.
Everything was so fast-paced this morning; I could tell it wasn't a typical Sunday morning for me. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to keep up, but I did fine. It was a great workout. I thought my partner was going to break my wrist during shomen-uchi sankyo, however. I was too embarrassed to tell her to go easier on me.
By the way, I want to give some advice to anyone reading this: when you do ukemi during irimi-nage, make sure your tongue is not between your teeth! When my partner was taking me down, she hit the underside of my jaw and I bit my tongue. Luckily it wasn't too bad. I'll never make that mistake again (at least I hope I won't)!
After class was over, I talked briefly to my partner. She said she was from Washington D.C. and was visiting Japan for just a few days. Today was her only chance to practice at Hombu. I felt bad that she came all the way to Japan for aikido and was stuck with me! I told her she should stick around for 30 minutes and attend Doshu's class. I could tell she didn't seem to keen on that idea! The regular classes are so intense; it would be hard to practice in two back-to-back classes.
In the regular class, we did a brief cool-down after practice that involved jumping in place and stretching. That is something we don't normally do in the beginner's classes. Afterwards, I saw my friend from Sri Lanka in the dojo. I asked him if he had fun, and we both laughed. Last week, Irie-sensei told us both that we should start attending the regular class instead of his beginner's class. My friend jokingly said that we had no choice! Anyway, I'm glad I took Irie-sensei's advice. I'm sure my friend was too.
posted by Chad at 5:34 PM
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