Hombu-Style Ukemi Sep 02, 2010

At first I had no idea what Ryuji Sensei was talking about that Friday – he said my ukemi is ‘Hombu style’. So was his, he showed me. Here are some stills of various uke taking ukemi for Hombu shihans. I hardly paid attention to this before. How often does anyone do zempo kaiten ukemi [...]

小鳥を掴もうとした Sep 02, 2010

Went to a pet store to try and hold a little bird in my open palm. There were like 20 little birds in a glass pen with an open top. They were pretty terrified of a big arm coming down from the sky like a monolith. They would run from the shadow too.
I put esa [...]

Kotegaeshi With Nagare (Back tap) Sep 01, 2010

I could not remember for the life of me who did kotegaeshi nagare this way, but by pure chance I found this video of Kanazawa Sensei doing this at a demonstration. He was one of my teachers at Hombu on the beginner’s floor. Picking up their habits I am.
The reason for this tap is to [...]

Tamura Shihan as Uke Sep 01, 2010

Tamura Shihan was great and had a large following of students. However, he started off as a student himself. We all start as students. When I see a shihan as a student, it reminds me that we are only as great as the effort we put into something.
According to the poster:
“This film was produced by [...]

Fundamental Kengeiko Maai Question Aug 31, 2010

I’m going to present a series of kenawase and kumitachi match-ups from different shihans then ask a question afterward.
Here is some kenjustsu.1
My question is: what is the optimal maai for kengeiko? Should we really be so fussy about making sure the ken cross each other by ‘3 centimeters’ so there is a pronounced X shape? [...]

Kobayashi Sensei Aug 30, 2010

On the last day of the seminar, Kobayashi Sensei proved to me that teachers do not have to keep their distance from practicing with students. Some teachers like to only watch a class, but Kobayashi Sensei actually does ukemi with the class, and takes ukemi for students too! He even took koshinage for some white-belt [...]

Techniques I Only Know Of Aug 29, 2010

Thinking more about mundadori, I wonder what other techniques I have not practiced (much, or ever), but exist in Aikikai organizations. Here are some that come to mind.

mundadori (CAF)
ushiro ryotedori kubishime (CAF)
jodan tsuki (not the same as chudan tsuki for many techniques)
mae ryohijidori (AAA)
ushiro ryohijidori (us)
ushiro eridori (us)

Just something to think about. If they are [...]

Munadori Shihonage Aug 29, 2010

I am encountering techniques from students in another organization not covered by my home organization, probably because they are not on any kyu test (not on mine, anyway). Munadori techniques are one such category. In fact, after 1.5 years of writing in this journal, yesterday was the first time I wrote about any munadori technique. [...]

日本語と合気道：ミニマリズム Aug 24, 2010

My Japanese is still pretty terrible, but I have noticed that sometimes when I try to translate an English idea into Japanese, too many words come out of it. Real Japanese can figure it out, but like to shorten it or use cool Japanese words that express the same idea in fewer words, or even [...]

Reevaluating Techniques With Discovered Principles Aug 23, 2010

K, another K and I got together on Sunday for hours of open practice. It was the most fun all week – Sunday is the day we look forward to the most. We have been working closely with my review notes from the seminar barely a week over now so we don’t forget, but rather [...]