Category: aikido

Aikido was good the other night. Got to work with the tanto (wooden knife). It’s always interesting to work with these techniques. Bare-handed there is room for mistakes, but when dealing with a weapon you must control the weapon or get stabbed (in real life, not at pratice). After practice I watched some clips of Tomiki Aikido tournemnts where they use a padded tanto and try to do techniques at full speed. Much harder. Of course, I think the missing element is atemi. During the contest, the guy with the knife can slash and stab, but the other guy doesn’t get to really use atemi. Things might look different if Nage slid in, avoiding the strike, and punched the attacher in the ribs real hard before doing the technique.

But I guess the point is this — in the street things are different.

Been cycling as much as possible. Have a nice 17-mile evening route that I do.

That is all.

Last night’s Aikido practice was really good, and a lot of fun too. Sensei had us work on some techniques with an emphasis on flowing through the technique rather than taking a step-by-step approach. He is also trying to teach us not to try to force techniques with strength, but rather take what the attacker gives us, redirect it, and use it.

Looking forward to tomorrow night’s practice.

After 5 months of rehabilitating my hurt knee, and a month back at Aikido practice, I’m happy to report to my millions of readers that this weekend I passed my 5th kyu test. That is the first test you take in aikido. It doesn’t mean I’m good, but it means I demonstrated a basic knowledge of the required techniques. I’m assuming that since Sensei passed me, I’m not too much of a spazmo. Really, I have no idea if my technique looks halfway good or not. But the important thing is making this mile stone — something I’ve wanted to accomplish for many years. 

I can say this. When I started Aikido, it was so alien. Now it is starting to make more sense to me. I can see why it takes years to get good, and lifetime to really start to understand. When I do good it really clicks — it is amazing. When working with Sensei or the advanced students, it is startling how much power and flow they can apply all the while seeming to exert little or no effort. Something to aim for.