Last night Jake, Joey, and Jim attended class. I received my new hakama too late to wear but its debut will be Wednesday class. I changed up the class a bit and after doing a quick warm-up and ukemi practice, I tried to demostarte some Aikido aspect from each instructor who taught on Saturday's Aikido Summit. We started off with doing Ikeda Sensei's ikkyo technique, focusing on both uke's and nage's balance. Next, I used both Iwaza Sensei and Itoh Sensei styles as inspiration by doing a shomenuchi kokyunage that at the end you can either throw uke and have uki do a break fall. The third technique we worked on was an introduction to the unbendedable arm. I talked Chandler Sensei's 3 methods of visualization of the unbendedable arm and had everyone practiced this exercise. My Tanaka Sensei inspired technique was more grab and throw using more of a judo movement. We did this technique in a line. I used Jake to just demo the Treadwell Sensei's choke and arm-bar technique because I did not want to teach this dangerous technique without first modifing it to be more "Aikido" like. Finally, following Cyndy Hayashi method, we did a slow randori practice with nage just doing tenkan and irimi but at the end I think everyone reverted to more aggressive techniques. I had to continuelly reminded everyone to slow down as the randori can easily escalate into more aggressive attacks and responses.
At the end of class, we did kokyu-ho and a back stretch. By writing about my experiences in this blog and reinforcing these techniques when teaching a class and further writing about it my blog, I am reinforcing what I have learned.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Saturday, March 28, 2009
2009 Aikido Summit
I drove to Denver yesterday afternoon, stayed overnight in a hotel, and then drove the Denver Buddhist Temple for today's Aikido Summit.
The first class was taught by Susan Chandler Sensei of Denver Ki-Aikido. She spent most her class going through ki exercises while we warmed up. We did the unbeadable arm where she had us use three types of visionalizations to keep your arm straight even with uke trying to bend your arm. Picturing your arm as a firehouse shooting ki out the of your gi, the second was to point with your hand, and the final way was to think of your arm as totally connected. This was my first Ki Aikido class and the differences were subtle from my previous practice with other styles. I am too much of a skeptic to believe everything she said but while practicing with other students during the day, I was interested in hearing that Ki Aikido rarely does atemi (strikes).
The second class was taught Kei Izawa Sensei of Aikikai Tanshinjuku in Lafayette. He was a student of Kanai Shinhan, who Izawa Sensei mentioned died four years ago today. At the end of his class, we sat for a minute of silence in memory of Kanai Sensei. Izawa Sensei started with shomen techniques and threw uke with a lot of different break falls. I worked with one of his local students and spent more time flying through the air, most of my brusing from the day's training came from this class and all of the break falls I took. Izawa Sensei's Aikido was more familiar than the Ki Aikido class.
Yasumasa Itoh Sensei of Aikido Tekko Juku in Boston taught the third class. He trained under Kanai Sensei and his Aikido was related to Izawa Sensei and showed that influence with harder break-falls and atemi.
We had lunch on the mat (a bento box that all I really knew was the rice and smoked salmon, the rest was good and not too heavy) during lunch the Mirai Daiko Taiko Drummer group provide traditional Japanese drumming.
After lunch, Seiji Tanaka Sensei of Hyland Hills Tomiki Aikido taught the forth class. Tomiki Aikido is usually thought of the black sheep of Aikido because they hold competitions and also the founder of Tomiki Aikido, Tomiki Sensei, was also a student Kano Sensei, the founder of Judo. Tanaka Sensei told us that this past year he had been teaching Aikido for 40 years and it was also his 70 birthday. He is a direct student of Tomiki Sensei so that was really cool to be on the mat and take his class. Tomiki Aikido has elements of Aikikai Aikido and Judo. Some of the throws Tanaka Sensei demonstrated were more Judo throws and he even ended up one demo doing an arm bar. Tanaka Sensei told two interesting story about Tomiki Sensei who spent years in a Russian prison and developed a series of kata exercises distilling Aikido and Judo movements within a small space. I don't remember much of them, but I do want to learn them. The second story was that Kano Sensei said that the purpose of a martial art is not to defeat your opponents but to improve your balance and your self.
The fifth class was taught by Cyndy Hayashi Sensei of Aikido West. She had us do randori and simulated randori practice while replicating a battlefield where multiple opponents are attacking. During one of the practice sessions, I was working with two students from other marital arts (Takamura Jujitsu and I think Hapkido or Karate student) and a small female Aikido beginner. Hayashi Sensei came by and she pointed out that I was focusing on the two other student by extending and grabbing them while ignoring the potential attack from the back. It was good to be reminded to focus on the lesson of the class and not get caught up in my ego.
Toby Threadgill Sensei of Menkyo Kaiden / Takamura ha Shindo Yoshin ryu jujitsu opened the sixth class with (what I assuemd) was an ancient Japanese prayer before talking a lot about Takamura Jujitsu. He is the head of this traditional jujitsu and demostrated and and us practice a drop throw that you ended doing both a choke and arm bar simulatiously, vicious (and really cool) technique. Threadgill Sensei demostrated and talked about how the samuri walked by pulling their feet with their toes instead of pushing off with back foot. This type of walking forces you to be more balanced. The final element I took away from his class was the about the larger development of budo in modern times. His practice focuses on a traditional Japanese jujitsu and his general comments about Aikido, Judo, and Jujitsu are that these are different expressions of the underlying concepts that came from the development of budo on the feudal Japanese battlefield.
Ikeda Sensei taught the last class of the day and we worked on disrupting the balance of uke. Ikeda Sensei talked about the core of our balance and as part of our spine. Ikeda Sensei talked about how we need to develop as martial artists and move beyond rote training in gym. The martial artist develops balance internally to be able to disrupt the balance of uke or an opponent. Ikeda Sensei had us work on disrupting our partner's balance and during his demonstration of katatedori ikkyo, he showed how to do ikkyo even if you arm is injured through disrupting the core balance of uke. I wish I had more time to explore this concept of alternate ikkyo based your particalarly physical condition at the time of the technique. Injury and physical limitations are part of living but working on our internal balance and being able to disrupt uke balance will allow nage to better adjust to the particular circumstances of the situation. A more direct and practical learning point for myself is that I need to continue to work on my own awareness of my balance and finding how to better disrupting the balance of my partners in practice without resorting to pure physical exertion.
At this Aikido seminar I was exposed to much richer Aikido ecology that exists in Colorado and I am fortunate enough to be able to experience this diversity of practice and movement that reflect different perspectives of the modern budo.
The first class was taught by Susan Chandler Sensei of Denver Ki-Aikido. She spent most her class going through ki exercises while we warmed up. We did the unbeadable arm where she had us use three types of visionalizations to keep your arm straight even with uke trying to bend your arm. Picturing your arm as a firehouse shooting ki out the of your gi, the second was to point with your hand, and the final way was to think of your arm as totally connected. This was my first Ki Aikido class and the differences were subtle from my previous practice with other styles. I am too much of a skeptic to believe everything she said but while practicing with other students during the day, I was interested in hearing that Ki Aikido rarely does atemi (strikes).
The second class was taught Kei Izawa Sensei of Aikikai Tanshinjuku in Lafayette. He was a student of Kanai Shinhan, who Izawa Sensei mentioned died four years ago today. At the end of his class, we sat for a minute of silence in memory of Kanai Sensei. Izawa Sensei started with shomen techniques and threw uke with a lot of different break falls. I worked with one of his local students and spent more time flying through the air, most of my brusing from the day's training came from this class and all of the break falls I took. Izawa Sensei's Aikido was more familiar than the Ki Aikido class.
Yasumasa Itoh Sensei of Aikido Tekko Juku in Boston taught the third class. He trained under Kanai Sensei and his Aikido was related to Izawa Sensei and showed that influence with harder break-falls and atemi.
We had lunch on the mat (a bento box that all I really knew was the rice and smoked salmon, the rest was good and not too heavy) during lunch the Mirai Daiko Taiko Drummer group provide traditional Japanese drumming.
After lunch, Seiji Tanaka Sensei of Hyland Hills Tomiki Aikido taught the forth class. Tomiki Aikido is usually thought of the black sheep of Aikido because they hold competitions and also the founder of Tomiki Aikido, Tomiki Sensei, was also a student Kano Sensei, the founder of Judo. Tanaka Sensei told us that this past year he had been teaching Aikido for 40 years and it was also his 70 birthday. He is a direct student of Tomiki Sensei so that was really cool to be on the mat and take his class. Tomiki Aikido has elements of Aikikai Aikido and Judo. Some of the throws Tanaka Sensei demonstrated were more Judo throws and he even ended up one demo doing an arm bar. Tanaka Sensei told two interesting story about Tomiki Sensei who spent years in a Russian prison and developed a series of kata exercises distilling Aikido and Judo movements within a small space. I don't remember much of them, but I do want to learn them. The second story was that Kano Sensei said that the purpose of a martial art is not to defeat your opponents but to improve your balance and your self.
The fifth class was taught by Cyndy Hayashi Sensei of Aikido West. She had us do randori and simulated randori practice while replicating a battlefield where multiple opponents are attacking. During one of the practice sessions, I was working with two students from other marital arts (Takamura Jujitsu and I think Hapkido or Karate student) and a small female Aikido beginner. Hayashi Sensei came by and she pointed out that I was focusing on the two other student by extending and grabbing them while ignoring the potential attack from the back. It was good to be reminded to focus on the lesson of the class and not get caught up in my ego.
Toby Threadgill Sensei of Menkyo Kaiden / Takamura ha Shindo Yoshin ryu jujitsu opened the sixth class with (what I assuemd) was an ancient Japanese prayer before talking a lot about Takamura Jujitsu. He is the head of this traditional jujitsu and demostrated and and us practice a drop throw that you ended doing both a choke and arm bar simulatiously, vicious (and really cool) technique. Threadgill Sensei demostrated and talked about how the samuri walked by pulling their feet with their toes instead of pushing off with back foot. This type of walking forces you to be more balanced. The final element I took away from his class was the about the larger development of budo in modern times. His practice focuses on a traditional Japanese jujitsu and his general comments about Aikido, Judo, and Jujitsu are that these are different expressions of the underlying concepts that came from the development of budo on the feudal Japanese battlefield.
Ikeda Sensei taught the last class of the day and we worked on disrupting the balance of uke. Ikeda Sensei talked about the core of our balance and as part of our spine. Ikeda Sensei talked about how we need to develop as martial artists and move beyond rote training in gym. The martial artist develops balance internally to be able to disrupt the balance of uke or an opponent. Ikeda Sensei had us work on disrupting our partner's balance and during his demonstration of katatedori ikkyo, he showed how to do ikkyo even if you arm is injured through disrupting the core balance of uke. I wish I had more time to explore this concept of alternate ikkyo based your particalarly physical condition at the time of the technique. Injury and physical limitations are part of living but working on our internal balance and being able to disrupt uke balance will allow nage to better adjust to the particular circumstances of the situation. A more direct and practical learning point for myself is that I need to continue to work on my own awareness of my balance and finding how to better disrupting the balance of my partners in practice without resorting to pure physical exertion.
At this Aikido seminar I was exposed to much richer Aikido ecology that exists in Colorado and I am fortunate enough to be able to experience this diversity of practice and movement that reflect different perspectives of the modern budo.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Aikido for 03/25/2009
Last night, Jake, Chris, Melissa, Chris, and Jim all showed-up. After warming-up, we practiced tenkan, irimi, and rowing exercises before working on forward and backward ukemi. I then introduced the empty hand shomen strike and had everyone line up and practiced both the strike and doing a tenkan to get out of the way. The final technique we worked on was Shomenuchi ikkyo omote. We broke the technique down into different steps and and the end, we switched doing the full technique in a line due to the limited mat space. It was good to see everyone practice and although there won't be a Saturday class, I am headed to Denver tomorrow afternoon for Saturday's Colorado Aikido Summit seminar.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Serials management presentation
Last Friday I gave a presentation on a serials management web application I built using Google's App Engine. Here is the slideshow:
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Aikido for 03/23/2009
Last night we had four new beginners, Chris, Melissa, Chris, and Jim. Jake and Joey showed up so it was the most crowed the Monday class has ever been. We started off with warming up and then spent a good amount of time introducing forward and backward ukemi. All of the students progressed well, and Jake's backward ukemi lesson was good as always. After ukemi practice, we paired up and practice tenkan and irimi exercises. The only technique we practiced was katate dori sumotoshi. We then ended class with kokyu-ho exercise. On Friday I am driving to Denver for Saturday's Aikido Friendship Seminar. I am looking foward to all of the different classes that day.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Aikido for 03/18/2009
Jake and I continued working through the ASU kyu test requirements. Here are the techniques we worked through last night:
- Yokomenuchi shihonage (omote and ura)
- Shomenuchi nikyo (omote and ura)
- kata dori ikkyo (omote and ura)
- kata dori nikyo (omote and ura)
- Munetsuki kaitennage (omote and ura)
- Shomenuchi sankyo (omote and ura)
- Shomenuchi yonkyo (omote and ura)
- Yokomenuchi ikkyo (omote and ura)
- Yokomenuchi kotegaeshi
- Yokomenuchi iriminage
- Katate dori ryote mochi kokyu tenkan ho (omote and ura)
- Ushiro ryokata dori ikkyo (omote and ura)
- Ushiro ryote dori shihonage (omote and ura)
- Ushiro kubi shime kotegaeshi
- Ushiro waza kokyunage
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Aikido for 3/16/2009
Last night Jake, Joey, and I attended practice. I printed out a copy of the ASU handbook and we started going through the 6th kyu test. Here are the techniques we practiced last night:
- Shomenuchi Ikkyo (omote and ura)
- Shomenuchi Iriminage
- Munestsuki kotegaeshi (I wasn't sure if a sitting nikkyo pin or a standing pin was required on the test. Jake said that he did a standing pin for his test, so that is what we practiced. For my kyu tests, I always did a formal sitting nikkyo pin for kotegaeshi)
- Katate dori shihonage (omote and ura)
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Aikido Update
This week due to Spring Break the Escalante Fitness Center is closed so we won't have classes on Monday and Wednesday. I did show up for Saturday's class but I didn't expect anyone to show and nobody did. I'll go to this Saturday's class in case anyone shows up. Regular Monday and Wednesday classes will start back up next week.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Aikido for 3/4/2009
Last night Jake, Jesse, and I practiced the following techniques after warming up:
- Katatori iriminage
- Shomenuchi kokyunage
- Shomenuchi kokyu-ho
Monday, March 2, 2009
Aikido for 3/2/2009
Tonight Jesse (she attended Santos Sensei's class) came to class along with Jake. After warm-up, we practiced the following techniques:
- ryotatori tenchi-nage (omote and ura)
- ryotetori shiho-nage (omote)]e
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Aikido for 2/28/2009
I showed up at the Gunnison Community Center and was told that a large birthday party was occurring in the multiple-purpose room. After Jake arrived, we decided to go over and practice in at Escalante Fitness Center. After warming-up, we decided to do a 1000 bokken cut class starting with the basic shomen cut for the first 200 cuts, the second 200 cuts were done with a ten-kan shomen cut, the third 200 cuts were a yokomen-uchi cut (these 200 cuts hurt me the most), the forth 200 cuts were tsuki cuts, and the final 200 cuts were again basic shomen cut. We rested for about 10-15 seconds between each 100 cuts and after 500, took a water break but completing the last 200 cuts without stopping. The entire 1000 cuts took about 35 minutes. This is actually the first time I have done such a work-out and I am not as sore as I thought I would be. After the 1000 cuts, Jake and I worked on 1-3 paired bokken katas before bowing out at the end of class. We talked about the next time we have 1000 bokken cut class and we will not stop as many times.
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