Last night, bokuto waza and tori.
We warmed up with the 8-directions cutting kata (happogiri) and I had real trouble with my feet going where I wanted them to, particularly when leading with the left foot. Leading with the left foot is bizarre feeling when I have a sword in my hand(s); I would instinctively start with my right foot, then hesitate, maybe stutter step. For each step or slide, it seemed like I would take one and a half, trying to keep my feet in synch. It was doing this that I jammed my left big toe.
Also interesting was that turns were all to the open side, avoiding 270° turns. This is the second variation in the video linked-to above.
Bokken waza is interesting in that at times, it seems we're expected, as nage, not to use the sword that's in our hand. During the first technique, my blends were suboptimal, such that my partner could easily resist the throw, a kokyunage. When I realized I was meeting resistance and forcing my way through the throw, my instinct was to pivot in a way that brought the sweet spot of the bokuto across uke's neck. It was natural, required little effort on my part, and would effectively end the confrontation, but the outcome was a bad one, not in keeping with the principle of "imposing harmony" while minimizing damage to uke. A better blend, a deeper slide and pivot, ending shoulder-to-shoulder, would have resulted in a cleaner, safer (for uke) kokyunage, instead of decapitation.
This leads me to think about ukemi. We were training, and my partner was revealing a weakness in my technique to me by resisting. Because we were training and learning, this was a benevolent act on uke's part. Resistance, though, made him vulnerable to a more devastating technique, and the principle of shinkenshobu would have me apply the technique. Shinkenshobu seems to suggest that it's in uke's best interest to yield to the original technique to avoid the potentially-lethal follow-up. The other edge of the shinken is that I must strive to perfect technique, so that I'm not required to shift to a more damaging technique during the encounter.
During bokkentori, I noticed that the small turn applied to tsuka, which affected uke's balance, is very similar to the rotation Takeguchi sensei demonstrated during jotori at the Twin Cities Aikido Center Autumn Seminar.
The day began after a pleasant potluck dinner and good night's sleep. I was worried that with the hotel full of sports fans, it might have been too noisy to get any rest, but either it was quieter than I expected or I was so tired any amount of partying wouldn't have kept me from sleeping.
Most of the out-of-towners, me included, were planning on leaving after the morning classes. The organizers decided that, instead of two one-hour classes in the morning followed by another after lunch, to have all three hours of classes in the morning.
Thoughts of the day include:
You can't move uke—well, you can, but it's tough—so don't try. Move yourself in such a way that it affects uke. Short form: Don't move uke; move yourself.
Connect to the earth. This is a shorthand way of talking about the need for a solid foundation of balance, as well as affecting uke's balance (kuzushi) through shifting weight, dropping one's center.
[While whirling a jo around in a way that would earn me a split lip:] The movements of nage's body are similar to those of whirling the jo. Uke is like the jo.
If uke wants the jo, give uke the jo.
A recurring theme among the demonstrated techniques was leading uke's mind. Uke's body mind and body are connected; you can lead one by leading the other. Takeguchi sensei demonstrated that it's possible to affect uke's body (eventually leading to a fall) without physically touching it, by leading uke's mind where you want it to go. The words make sense, but it's clearly a 30-year technique!
It occurs to me that affecting uke's body also affects uke's mind, drawing attention to balance or potential targets in the case atemi, so the connection is bidirectional. Interesting.
The first day of classes is finished, and as you might expect, it was like trying to drink from a firehose.
The morning classes were kind of a blur. The techniques Takeguchi sensei concentrated on were nikkyo and sankyo from yokomenuchi, as well as shihonage and iriminage (and kokyunage) from ushiro tekubitori
There were times during the morning classes where it was coming so fast and furious I was struggling to keep up. I'm still very confused about the application of shihonage from ushiro tekubitori Takeguchi shihan demonstrated.
The afternoon began with weapons. Bokuto were used to demonstrate control of the center (center line). Jo were then broken out and used to illustrate how the back hand and hip are critical to a succesful throw, the jo solidifying the otherwise hypothetical connections between the two hands and the hips and the hands.
The second class of the afternoon was about kuzushi: using small body
movements to control uke's balance. Moving uke's hips out from under
him or her, and the idea of the third leg
were emphasized. The
third leg is the one that makes a stool stable, and that people don't
have. If uke's balance is shifted toward this theoretical third
leg
, uke becomes unstable, making it possible for nage to execute a
technique resulting in a throw or pin.
The core that makes up Aikido of Lincoln have been practicing together for a long time. I started practicing with them in 2000, while they were still a part of the Sho Rei Shobu Kan dojo. The group has recently built and relocated to its own dojo, however, and affiliated itself with the United State Aikido Federation.
Aikido of Lincoln has an enthusiastic and loyal membership, which is unfortunately too small to support the costs of running even a small dojo over time. The answer is to increase the size of the membership! Simply sharing our —
Words fail me here. Sharing our interest in aikido
seems too detached, like its a thing to be considered and studied,
rather than practiced. Sharing our love for aikido
is
being too gushy. Sharing our devotion to aikido
gives it
a cult-ish feel...
Sincerely sharing our dedication to the practice of aikido with others helps to the support the dojo.
The dojo is pretty well situated with regard to the basics, as my old friend, Paul Belle Isle, who has an MBA in marketing and is, coincidentally, the ranking instructor at Japan Karate-Do Ryobu-Kai St. Louis, calls them: we have a yellow pages listing, a website, flyers, business cards (want one?), and signage visible from the street. Unfortunately, Aikido of Lincoln's location is not great for foot traffic.
We also have promotions for new students, as well as student and family pricing.
I've created a Facebook group and a Craigslist ad, hoping to increase the exposure of the website, the dojo, and the art.
The next step, it seems is genuine community outreach, with demonstrations and seminars. We must find a way to get mats to use when providing demos, though. Places we could provide demos include:
Just off the top of my head, there are a few other places we should contact:
Our priority has to be getting mats, or putting together a good presentation for display. Mats would be better though.
I've got some other ideas. I'm working on mug and t-shirt designs through Cafe Press or Zazzle, with the intent that proceeds go to the dojo. Aikido of Lincoln is about to send a delegation to a big seminar in St. Paul, Minnesota; we should probably put out a press release.
Today is a high activity day:
Total miles: 25
Falls taken: many (but not from the bike)