More pictures from December seminar...

...can be found here.

Movies to see

Link to our home dojo in Wrocław - text is in Polsih, but links are language-agnostic ;-)

WESOŁYCH ŚWIĄT!

Seeing as the year is coming to a close, i would like to extend my gratitude to our senseis for all they have taught us so far. (Special thanks to Piotr Sensei for flying all the way here to practise with us). In the same vein, i say thank you to all aikidokas. It has been great hanging out and practising together. Even as i look forward to even greater experiences next year, i wish you all good health and happy holidays.

Family picture

From Nairobi Aikikai

Postprocessing my pmasz

Aikido Seminar December 16-18, 2011

I must begin by thanking Piotr Masztalerz Sensei and Mateusz Waga Sensei for the seminar that took place last weekend which for me personally was great as I learnt a lot of things that I did not know.Domo arigato gozaimashita Piotr Sensei and Mateusz Sensei.
And before I forget,congratulations are in order for our dear Sensei Mateusz Waga for being promoted to Shodan which is a well deserved promotion....Congratulations once again Sensei!

Secondly,I would like to thank Piotr Sensei and Mateusz Sensei for grading me and awarding me Yonkyu and most important of all for pointing out my weaknesses which I shall strive to correct before the next seminar.

Congratulations to the following for passing the grading exam yesterday:
-Daniel(Nikyu)
-Ben(Nikyu)
-Jason(Sankyu)
-Tony(Sankyu)
It was a great seminar and I can't wait until the next seminar which I hope will be soon as this is one golden opportunity of learning Aikido from one of the top Aikidoka in Europe.

I take this opportunity to wish you all happy holidays and an Aikido full 2012.....Cheers!!!

@Goan Ghymkhana Wed 14 Dec 2011

First I must say a big karibu to Piotr Masztalerz sensei, godan, shidoin who will be taking us through the scheduled seminar and today took us through the first class.

After the normal calisthenics, the class was underway with new kind of opening to most of us in ai hanmi. The techniques covered include:-

• Shiho nage
• Kote gaeshi
• Juji nage/ude garami  

Another unnamed technique  was perfomed, concentrating on the wrist proved to be a tough one for both uke and tori especially after performing kote gaeshi.

The first two hours were dedicated to Aikido techniques punctuated by exercises meant for relaxation, or not.

The weapons hour was dedicated to the practice of Jo, the exercise being Sancho part 1. Small mistakes were corrected, some obvious while some not so obvious.

Class ended an hour later with no injuries.... sorry.... MAJOR injuries to report of. Once again Karibu Mwalimu!!

Seminar Class Schedule

Please find below seminar class schedule:

Friday - Aikido class from 17:00 till 19:00 at Japanese Embassy

Saturday - Aikido class from 09:00 till 12:00 at Aga Khan Sports Club

Saturday - Weapons class from 16:00 till 18:00 at Nick Hughes'es garden

Sunday - Aikido class from 09:00 till 12:00 at Aga Khan Sports Club

Sunday - Weapons class from 16:00 till 18:00 at Nick Hughes'es garden (to be confirmed during the course of the seminar)

Please bear in mind that after last class on Sunday there will be barbecue grill party which is no less important than the seminar itself. OK, perhaps a bit less important. Or... perhaps not ;-)

Extract from Daniel Brunner Sensei's book

The full list of techniques from the Shindo Munen Ryu school is as follows,

1. iwanami
2. ukifune gaeshi
3. noarashi gaeshi
4. utsu semi
5. matsukaze
6. zangetsu hidari
7. zangetsu migi
8. doto gaeshi
9. raito gaeshi
10. yoto
11. into
12. inazuma gaeshi

In the Muso Shinden Ryu school, there are 3 levels of techniques: shoden, chuden and okuden. The list of techniques in the first level (shoden) is as follows;

1. shohatto
2. sato
3. uto
4. atarito
5. inyo shintai
6. ryuto
7. junto
8. seichuto
9. gyakuto
10. koranto
11. gyakute inyo shintai
12. batto

@ Goan Ghymkhana Wed 7 Dec 2011

The first hour saw the practise of techniques.

Attack---> Shomen Uchi Position -----> Tachi waza  

Techniques included 

• Ikkyo ura and Omote
• Yonkyo ura and omote
• Shiho nage
• Kote gaeshi
• Irimi nage
• Soto and Uchi kaiten nage

Second hour, we tried to polish -The verb not the adjective :)  -on our bokken skills. After a few minutes of warm-ups we embarked on practicing Ichi no tachi, which many of us had no problem with, and finally Ni no tachi.

On the final hour, Iaido was practiced. Some difficulty were witnessed in nikitsuke and returning the iaido back to the saya. The first five katas were practised, some easier to grasp than others, well that's life.

Next class Fri 9 Dec 2011 @ Embassy. 

Monday, December 5, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

It has been quite a while since I last posted something here but here I am once again....and before I forget,welcome back Ben!

Ben Sempai took over the first hour and took us through the all familiar warm up exercises before pacing us through Mae and Ushiro Ukemi in both Suwari waza and Tachi waza.

The following were the techniques of the day(in no particular order):

-Ikkyo Omote from both Suwari waza and Tachi waza.
-Morote dori:Ikkyo and Nikyo(both in Omote),Sankyo(Omote & Ura),Yonkyo,Irimi nage.
-Kata dori:Ikkyo,Nikyo,Sankyo,Shiho nage,Rokyo.

It all ended with the good old back stretch-Haishin undo.

I must admit it was one of those days that I just find myself not clicking with any technique but all in all it was a great class......

Aikido moves in movies

Just came across Seagal's moves on you tube and I thought you might enjoy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5YVd6ae4_M&feature=related

@ Embassy Fri 25 Nov 2011

Ukemis were in order at the beginning of class. How comes when you think you have mastered the ukemis, or at least mae ukemi, then you realised you know nothing! Oh well practice and more practice I believe.
Attack was Ryote dori. The techniques included

1. Tenchi nage ura and omote
2. Shiho nage
3. And a variatiobn of the Kokyuho technique.

All these were perfomed in two's and later on one tori several ukes (kakarigaiko??) making an otherwise cold evening very sweaty, Daniel next time polepole ;) Anyway thanks for the class.

@ Goan Gymkhana Wed 23 Nov 2011

With the usual warm-ups and ukemis, the class was underway

Stance was Ai-hanmi and Attack Katate-dori, the following techniques were covered:

1. Yonkyo
2. Juji nage
3. Sumi otoshi
4. Koshi nage      

Straight forward techniques, but must mention something about sumi otoshi and koshi nage. In sumi otoshi, depending on your uke, throwing can be done to the opposite direction of the line of attack or to his weakest spot (remember tenchi nage imaginary triangle's weak spot?)

In Koshi nage, the full technique couldn't be done to completion, otherwise it would have marked a premature end to Aikido practice in Kenya. When done to its brutal completion, tori needs to withdraw his front leg otherwise he will do more damage to himself than to uke.

The second and third session saw the practice of weapons that is Jo and  sword Iaido(?)

The practice of jo saw us through sancho 1 through 3.

Sword session dealt with several techniques including iwanami, zangetsu(?) hidari and migi and.....and....and... uhhhmmm....feel free to remind me.

A great session it was and welcome back Polyne.

Seagal and aikido

, sorry about that. This should be the right video. Enjoy!

Seagal and aikido

Some overdue pictures

Simple kokyu-dosa, like this:

From Nairobi Aikikai

sometimes turns into something violent, like here:

From Nairobi Aikikai

whlie others manage to keep it civilized:

From Nairobi Aikikai

Now, kokyu-ho in tachi-waza...

From Nairobi Aikikai

And still - some have no respect to seniority:

From Nairobi Aikikai

Sorry

Just noticed the clip i uploaded yesterday didn't work. I have just tried to upload it again without success. Anyway, we are missing a lot by not having tatami. We need to think more on how to go around this...

Wroclaw aikikai activities

Somehow after watching this my wish for a formal dojo with tatami just got more intense. We have a huge task ahead of us guys.

Monday, November 14, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

Yup that's right! Albert was back this time with a brand new gi and I was looking forward to 'welcoming' his new gi to the dust of the hardwood surface.

Daniel Sempai took over the first hour as is customary and it all began with warm up exercises followed by Ushiro Ukemi combined with Shikko as one advanced forward.
What followed was:
-Shiho Nage in both Ai Hanmi and Gyaku Hanmi Katatedori stances as well as from the Kata Dori stance.
-Yokomenuchi Shihonage.

I must admit Kata Dori Shiho Nage was quite a task for me especially where it involved proper timing when entering with one's head.

The second hour totally belonged to Sensei and the techniques were as follows:
-Ryote Dori Kokyu Nage(Omote and Ura).
-Gyaku Hanmi Katatedori Kokyu Ho.
-Ryokata Dori Kokyu Nage.
-Ai hanmi Katate dori Irimi Nage(Omote and Ura).
-Kokyu Ho Kokyu Dosa which Sensei used to explain the concept behind Ryote Dori kokyu Nage.

Camera lights were flashing from every corner courtesy of Alison and at one point I felt as if we were in the presence of 'paparazzi'.

Great two hours of Aikido capped up by 'Orenai te' which made me understand why total relaxation when executing Aikido techniques makes a very big difference.....

Friday, November 11, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre hall

It was yet another Friday and I was looking forward to ending a tiring week with two hours of sweating,rolling and joint twisting.

After Mae Ukemi from Suwari Waza to and from the 'dojo' several times,we were all set for the day's techniques.

Sensei had an array of techniques on offer and they were as follows in no particular order:
-Gyaku Hanmi Katatedori Sumi Otoshi.
-Ai Hanmi Katate dori:Kote Gaeshi,Nikyo Ura and Uchi Kaiten Nage.
-Ryote Dori Shiho Nage.
-A variant of Tenchi Nage.

It was a great two hours and once again we had a new entrant and after having his wrists get a feel of Nikyo,I wonder if we will see him again...

Friday, November 4, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre hall

The day's curtain raiser was the usual warm up exercises followed by Mae and Ushiro Ukemi from both Suwari Waza and Tachi Waza and it all went well except for my usual blunders here and there especially executing Mae Ukemi over two persons which I seriously need to practise thoroughly not forgetting the other version of Ushiro Ukemi where one lands on both feet which was really awesome.

The day's techniques were as follows:-
From Suwari Waza:
-Shomen Uchi Ikkyo (Omote and Ura)
-Shomen Uchi Nikyo (Omote and Ura).

From the Yokomen Uchi attack,there was:
-Sankyo (Omote and Ura)
-Nikyo (Omote and Ura).

To add onto the above techniques there was:
-Ai Hanmi Katate dori Shiho Nage Ura.
-Ryote dori Tenchi Nage (Omote and Ura).

Sensei once again stressed the importance of continuity on the part of Tori, i.e. Tori should not add any of his energy into Uke's attack but rather use Uke's energy to execute a technique.

It was a superb two hours and I look forward to the next session on Monday, November 7...

Monday, October 31, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

I would like to begin by welcoming the newest member of Nairobi Aikikai by the name of Albert-I hope you will stay long enough to appreciate the martial art of peace and harmony.

Warm up exercises were courtesy of Reza before Jason took over and took us through the basics of Ai Hanmi Katatedori Ikkyo Omote and Gyaku Hanmi Kakatedori Ikkyo Omote.

The techniques we went through during the two hour session were:
From the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance:
-Sumi otoshi
-Uchi Kaiten Nage(Omote and Ura)
-Kote Gaeshi
-Kokyu Ho
-Shiho Nage

From the Gyaku Hanmi Katatedori stance:
-Soto kaiten Nage
-Reverse Kote Gaeshi
Apparently,Ai Hanmi Katatedori Uchi Kaiten Nage has several versions and Sensei reviewed the one he introduced on last Friday's session in addition to two others.

Finally,I would like to wish Sensei a very happy birthday which we observed with some extra cold bottles of Tusker Malt and Guinness Kubwa plus some 'njugu'...many happy returns Sensei!

Next class:Wednesday,November 2.Weapons class:Jo and Iaido.

Friday, October 28, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre hall

The two hour session kicked off with warm up exercises followed by Ushiro and Mae Ukemi from both Suwari waza and Tachi waza before embarking on the techniques of the day.

The following techniques were executed from the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance:
-Kokyu Nage
-Shiho Nage
-Kote Gaeshi
-Uchi Kaiten and Soto Kaiten nage
-Udekimenage in both Omote and Ura.

From the Gyaku Hanmi Katatedori stance there was:
-Kokyu Ho
-Irimi Nage.
In addition to the above techniques,there was Ryote Dori Kokyu Nage and the session came to a close with the good old Kokyu Ho Koyu Dosa.

I must admit both Ai Hanmi Katatedori Uchi Kaiten and Soto Kaiten Nage were a handful for me but I believe with more and more practise,all shall be well.

Wednesday, October 26, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

Before proceeding any further, I must say it was great seeing Reza back after M.I.A. for quite a while.

The session kicked off with warm up exercises followed by Mae Ukemi from both Suwari Waza and Tachi Waza and I realised thanks to Sensei that I had a bad habit of bending the elbow when executing Mae Ukemi from Suwari Waza.
The techniques we went through in the first hour were as follows:
-Ai Hanmi and Gyaku Hanmi Katate dori Irimi Nage Omote.
-Morote dori Kote Gaeshi(Omote,Ura) and Morote dori Juji Nage.
-Ushiro Ryote dori Kokyu Nage.
-Ryo Kata dori Irimi Nage.
The last two techniques were quite a challenge for me but I gave it my best shot.

The second hour was all Bokken and apart from reviewing Ichi No Tachi, Sensei introduced to us Ni No Tachi which was very interesting only that it was all confusion when it came to switching roles.

Batto-Ho time was here and I had only bits of Iwanami still in my memory but Sensei reviewed it as well as Ukifune Gaeshi and Noarashi Gaeshi before introducing Utsusemi...Awesome session!

Whats your definition of aikido?

http://japanese.about.com/library/blhiraculture1.htm?nl=1

Aikido finds its origin in ancient China, but the concept of "ki" ("ki" refers to the power that is the driving force of life) is connected with Shinto and has a peculiarly Japanese development. Largely a spiritual exercise, it has no offensive techniques. It relies on throws and holding techniques without resorting so much to strength. Also, one's technique becomes more efficient as one one learns the special aikido art of breathing.

Aikido is actually relatively new, and had not been organized and named until the 1920's. Fundamental aikido techniques can be learned without difficulty by old or young, male or female. It is certainly effective for spiritual cultivation.

taught martial arts and strategy by a tengu?

FYI; A tengu is a Japanese mythical mountain goblin. Apparently one of these taught Minamoto Yoshitsune on Mt. Kurama, north of Kyoto. Read on;
http://www.samurai-archives.com/yoshitsune.html

Monday, October 24, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

It had just rained but inside the 'dojo' I was all sweaty as I did some warm up exercises as I waited for the day's two hour session to commence.

Daniel Sempai took over the first hour and since it was only him and I,we got down to business.
It was Kata dori Ikkyo Omote from Suwari waza that set the ball rolling which actually was the first time I practised the technique from Suwari waza having only previously practised it from Tachi waza.What followed was the same technique this time from Tachi waza.

The following techniques covered the first hour(in no particular order):
a)Morote dori Ikkyo(Omote and Ura).
b)Morote dori Nikyo(Omote).
c)Morote dori Yonkyo(Omote and Ura).
d)Morote dori Shiho nage.

Sensei took over the second hour and he took us through the finer details of executing a technique from a Morote dori stance and it was all smooth and continuous when he did it but wait till I tried it out....damn!
Some of the techniques that followed were a refinement of the ones that we had tackled in the first hour:
a)Morote dori Ikkyo(Omote and Ura).
b)Morote dori Kote gaeshi.
c)Morote dori Gokyo.

Sensei explained to us that the opening for Ikkyo,Nikyo,Sankyo,Yonkyo,Gokyo and Rokyo was basically the same and that one had the choice to choose to 'ignore' either hand which meant executing the technique from a Ai Hanmi stance or a Gyaku hanmi stance.I had quite a challenge executing the Gokyo tecxhnique at the end since I ended up fliping Uke's wrist palm down instead of palm up and Sensei stressed that the angle needed to be an acute angle for Uke to feel pain and tap out...I really look forward to practising with Sensei since he makes it real and always keeps one on his toes to simulate a real life attack.

After a sweaty two hours,there's no better way to cool down than gulping two extra cold bottles of Tusker Malt.

Next class:Wednesday,October 26.Weapons class:Bokken and Iaido.

Friday, October 21, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre hall

It was yet another Friday and after resting the previous day having been a national holiday,I was looking forward to a very energetic session.

It all began with the all familiar exercises followed by Ushiro and Mae Ukemi from both Suwari waza and Tachi waza which left me sweating and the gi drenched....
The techniques and attacks of the day are as follows in no particular order:
a)Chudan Tsuki Iriminage.
b)Shomen Uchi Sumi Otoshi and Irimi nage.
c)Morote dori Kokyu Ho.
d)Ai Hanmi katatedori Juji nage.
e)Gyaku Hanmi Yonkyo Ura.

The two hour session ended with Kokyu Ho Koyu dosa which to me seems simple when someone else does it but quite a challenge when I try it out...
The technique that stood out for me was Morote dori Kokyu Ho since at first it was a struggle to effectively execute the technique but with guidance from Daniel Sempai I finally got the picture though the execution still lacks continuity.

Great two hour session!

Wednesday, October 19, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

This was going
to be one special Wednesday since we practised Iai Batto-Ho for a whole one hour! It was awesome!
Before that, in the first hour of techniques,Sensei took us through Irimi Nage and Sumi Otoshi from both Shomen Uchi and Chudan Tsuki attacks respectively.
I must confess Sumi Otoshi sends a chill down my spine since I burst my hip bone two weeks ago but all in all,it was a good one hour session capped by Ai Hanmi Katate dori Kote Gaeshi which Sensei used to explain to us how to properly execute the Sumi Otoshi technique till the end.

The second hour was dedicated to a review of Jo Sansho One and I was glad I managed to start on the second part though I am yet to grasp it well.

The third hour as I had earlier hinted was dedicated to Iai Batto-Ho and Sensei reviewed Iwanami,Ukifune Gaeshi and introduced us to Noarashi Gaeshi...Damn I can't wait to own an Iaito and hear it 'whooshing' as I execute a move.

Monday, October 17, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

Somehow I have a tendency of aiming at Tori's belt knot instead of the solar plexus when executing a Chudan Tsuki attack but I guess bad habits die hard.

The first hour as is now customary during Monday class was conducted by Daniel Sempai and the techniques on offer were:
Sumi Otoshi and Chudan Tsuki Irimi Nage. In Sumi Otoshi,it is imperative not to pull Uke but rather guide him while turning one's hips then stepping in with one's whole body while controlling Uke's arm at the elbow.

The second hour belonged to Sensei and he took us through:
a)Ikkyo(Omote and Ura!)
b)Nikyo (Ura)
c)Sankyo (Omote and Ura)
d)Irimi nage
e)Koshinage
All the above techniques were executed from an Ushiro Ryote dori attack.
Sensei pointed out the importance of locking in both elbows and keeping one's point to bring up Uke's elbows for a smooth execution of an Ushiro Ryote dori technique.

Shomen Uchi Irimi Nage also featured and once again Sensei pointed out the importance of letting Uke's shomen go until the end while controlling his elbow.

Next session:Wednesday, October 19.

Friday, October 14, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre hall

The rainy weather had nothing on me and this was one two hour session that featured an array of techniques listed below.
From the Ai Hanmi Katate dori stance,there was:
a)Ikkyo(Omote and Ura)
b)Nikkyo (Ura)
c)Sankyo (Omote and Ura)
d)Yonkyo (Ura)
e)Gokyo and
f)Rokyo.

Sensei took us through the above techniques once again only this time from a Chudan Tsuki attack.
Shomen Uchi Kata Gatame and Ai Hanmi Katate dori Koshinage summed up the two hour session and it is Koshinage that made my day especially the one Sensei explained whereby after placing Uke on one's shoulder blades,one spins and Uke lands several feet away...I figure that one could teach a would-be mugger quite a lesson in a real life situation.

@ Goan Gymkhana 12 Oct 2011

Just realized this post is looooong overdue, sorry guys, I believe no harm done :)

The main attack in this session was chudan tsuki, stance was aihanmi and the techniques covered were ikkyo, nikkyo, sankyo, and yonkyo all in ura and omote. The thing about chudan tsuki attack is tori has to be very, very fast if it is done dynamically as opposed to statically whereby uke holds tori's hand, and that ladies and gentlemen all of us failed miserably, well practice and more practice is required. The finishing of all techniques above remain the same.

Another technique sampled was shomeni uchi irimi nage ura and omote.... not badly done but if more dynamism was considered by all it would be great!

The weapons hour started with practice of shomen uchi with a partner (of course not hitting your partner with a bokken, but won't mind doing that to Daniel ;) if he allows me) and followed by a session of uchi no tachi. Practicing with different partners made it better but at the same time challenging.

An extra 30 minutes was dedicated to teach Sempai Daniel iwanami and ukifunegaeshi. I need to learn how to sheath my bokken!!!

Shiun

Jus in case you missed it - we (Birankai Europe) have a newsletter called Shiun. Please feel free to collect your copies here.

Our Second Anniversary

Tomorrow we will have second anniversary of this event which introduced Aikido in Kenya. This has been quite challenging time for me, also for some of us. Many people came to join our practice, few students stayed for longer... There were many boring classes, a few fun and interesting ones (those were mostly run by Piotr Masztalerz sensei). but for me - personally - it was fun. I also think it brought new dimension into my understanding of Aikido. I would like to thank all of you who make this possible. Because - please remember - it is your coming to classes and spending several hours a week sweating in pain that make all of this possible. But let's skip the official and boring speeches (but how Kenyan it is, huh?). Let's just meet on Sunday, October 16th at 20:00 in Havana (Westlands) to celebrate with a glass of something golden and sparkling in hand.

Facebook Page

Any of you guys up for creating a facebook page? Piotr Sensei suggested it...

Monday, October 10, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

This was one session that featured mainly my most challenging techniques:Yonyko and Sankyo.
After the usual conditioning exercises,the two hour session got underway with Daniel Sempai taking over the first hour and Sensei taking over the second hour.

Here is a list of the techniques that were on offer:
a)Yokomenuchi Yonkyo Omote
b)Yokomenuchi Sankyo Omote and Ura
c)Yokomenuchi Nikyo Ura
d)Gyaku hanmi Katatedori Yonkyo Omote
e)Gyaku hanmi Katatedori Kokyu ho
f)Ai hanmi Katatedori Shiho nage
g)Gyaku hanmi Katatedori Shiho nage.

Sensei stressed the importance of performing the techniques in a continuous motion and Tori should be cautious as not to add anything onto Uke's motion....I must admit it will take me some time before I can blend into Uke's motion while being relaxed.

Another thing Sensei pointed out was that when Uke is performing an Ura motion he should avoid stopping midway but rather continue with the motion towards Tori's centre and also when intercepting Uke's Yokomenuchi motion,it is essential for Tori to move out of line and enter forward thus throwing Tori out of balance.

O yeah....my 'cutting' motions still leave a lot to be desired but I believe 'practice makes perfect' and time will tell how well I shall have grasped these essential moves.....Great class!!!

@ Goan Gymkhana 3 Oct 2011

The first hour was mainly conditioning exercises by Daniel. They included ukemis, push-ups and others that can only be demonstrated (don't think they have a name for them yet :) ). More familiar ones were Ushiro katadori and uke does an ukemi, and gyakuhanmi katatedori kokyunage which sensei insisted on fluidity, of movements in this and other techniques, later on.

After a well deserved 5 minute  break, the 2nd hour was underway, with Sensei taking us through Ikkyo, Nikkyo, Sankkyo, and Yonkyo revisions.

Next was ushiro ryotedori attack with the techniques being Shihonage, Kokyunage, Iriminage, and Jujinage. All seemed to work for me as tori, well to some extent I must add, but only on one side -when I open to the left side-

The last attack I believe was Shomenuchi and a technique whereby uke finds his hands tangled (not sure of the name)

Last and certainly not the least, a brief history of aikido in Kenya. In Oct 3 1992, a certain young man found his way to an Aikido dojo (intentionally or by chance only he can clarify that) for the very first time. He has been practicing the art since then and on Oct 6 2009, introduced Aikido to certain enthusiastic young men and women in a far away land known as Kenya.

That means on Oct 3 2011 he was celebrating 19 years in active aikido and on Oct 6 2011 Aikido in Kenya will be 2 years old. The young man mentioned above is Mateusz Tomasz Waga our Aikido sensei.

Three cheers for the sensei, HIP HIP!!.... HOOOOORAY!!!   HIP HIP!!.... HOOOOORAY!!!     HIP HIP!!.... HOOOOORAY!!!

Friday, September 30, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre hall

For starters,I would like to congratulate Tony,Bartek and Douglas for passing their kyu grading exams.

To set the day rolling,it was Mae Ukemi from both Suwari waza and Tachi waza followed by Hanmi handachi Kokyu nage.
Tai no Tenkan Ho prepared us for various Kokyu Nage techniques of which Ai Hanmi katate dori Kokyu Nage stood out for me.

Other techniques of the day were:
a)Shomen Uchi(Omote and Ura)
b)Ryokata dori Kokyu Nage(Omote and Ura)
c)Soto Kaiten Nage
d)Kata dori Kokyu Nage...Oh yes! There was Shomen Uchi Irimi Nage from Tachi Waza and then Uke ended up being pinned down in the Suwari Waza position-Wow!

The two hour session was crowned by Sensei presenting Tony with his Yonkyu certificate...awesome!

Exams

Yesterday we had a small exam session. Tony passed 4th kyu, Bartek and Douglas passed 5th kyu. The exam was very good. Congratulations ;-)

Aikido National Geographic

I saw this great video last week about Aikido on National Geographic and I thought it best to share it with you all....Cheers!

Sketchy duel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi2kaDzGh9A&feature=player_detailpage

i found the above video interesting. check it out.

Ben's contact

Ben's phone number is +48698058338. Please feel free to either call him or SMS him to express your respect and support. But do everyone a favour and do not overuse it - the less distractions he has the better.

Friday, September 23, 2011

It was a national holiday in Japan(Autumn Equinox day) and therefore there was no class.

Wednesday, September 21, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

Tony sempai took us through some warm up exercises before Daniel sempai 'officially' took over the session.
It all began with Mae and Ushiro Ukemi from Suwari Waza in addition to various warm up exercises we went through including my favourite-doing a hand stand against a wall.

Ryote Dori Shiho Nage in both Omote and Ura and Tenchi Nage made me sweat as we embarked on some Yonkyu techniques.

Next up was all about Kokyu Nage in Morote Dori and Gyaku Hanmi stances with the former giving me quite a hard time!
We went through Shomen Uchi Nikyo:Omote and Ura before calling it a day with a review of the eight Bokken Kata(without any Bokken).

The exercise that made my evening was the one where my partner dragged me on my back on the 'dojo' floor-Phew! After being dragged across the floor at high speed,I thought my Gi was worn out at the back and I had to budget for a new one(lol)!

@ Gymkhana 19 Sept 2011

The class was mainly to prepare Douglas for his 5th Kyu exam.
Ukemi lessons warm-up were in order for starters.
Stance: Gyaku hanmi     Techniques: Ikyo, nikyo, uchi kaiten, and kotegaeshi all in ura and omote

Thanks Daniel for handling the class! and Ohhhh....thanks for the Japanese sweets!!!

Friday, September 16, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre hall

The Friday session was dominated by Sankyo and to set the ball rolling it all began with Ai Hanmi and Gyaku Hanmi Katate Dori Sankyo in both Omote and Ura and apart from the 'cutting' motion towards Uke's centre,I guess it went down well for me.


Next up was Yokomen Uchi: Shiho Nage,Kote Gaeshi,Kokyu Ho and Sankyo(Omote and Ura) not forgetting Shomen Uchi Sankyo where we began by locking up our forearms in front which always reminds me of the late Bruce Lee's classical movie 'Enter the dragon'.

As the session ended with the Haishin Undo,I was pleased to note that everyone had a great two hours...

Our Ben

Where is our Ben? Has anyone heard from him yet?

Wednesday,14 September, 2011 advanced class at the Goan Gymkhana

It was all about Ryote Dori this Wednesday and the techniques on the 'menu' were:
a)Shiho Nage(Omote and Ura)
b)Irimi Nage
c)Ikkyo(Omote and Ura)
d)Kote Gaeshi and my favourite-Ude Garami.

The first hour came to a close with a version of Kokyu Nage whereby Tori clutches Uke's arm close to his body before propelling him(Uke) forward using the hips.I almost damaged a colleague's wrist but thankfully it did not happen.

As pertains to the Weapons hour,apart from Jo basics;Kesa Uchi no. 1 and 2,Maki Otoshi no. 1 and 2 and Junte Uchi Otoshi,Sensei guided us on how to perform Shiho Nage,Sumi Otoshi and Nikkyo using a Jo! Awesome session!

Monday, September 12, 2011 beginner's class at the Goan Gymkhana

Once again Ben Sempai was in charge of the class and as customary,the session began with a jog around the 'dojo' followed by warm up exercises before embarking on Mae and Ushiro Ukemi from Suwari waza and Tachi waza positions.
The second hour began with a review of Friday's techniques and it was Ai Hanmi Katatedori Ikkyo in both Omote and Ura versions that set the ball rolling.
What followed were two techniques:Morotedori Shihonage and Morotedori Kokyunage(or is it Kokyu Ho?)....the stretching of Uke before the throw being emphasised.Next up wasGyakuhanmi Katatedori Rokkyo and once again,the pinning of Uke's elbow under the armpit proved to be a challenge.
The technique that made my day was Katadori Ikkyo(in both Omote and Ura) especially the part where Uke is thrown off balance by the power of Tori's hips.After this technique,I realised that it is imperative to learn techniques in both Omote and Ura since one way or another,when faced with a real life situation,your attacker will either pull or push you....hmmmmm....that is some food for thought.
The class ended with the good old back stretch-Haishin undo which came in handy especially after two hours of rolling forward several times.

Friday, September 9, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre

Sensei informed us that he would be away during the Friday session thus,Ben Sempai took over during the two hour session.
All began with Mae and Ushiro Ukemi from both Suwari waza and Tachi waza not to mention several warm up exercises including the familiar Ikkyo Undo and the like. The first hour was mainly composed of warm up exercises.
During the second hour,the main techniques were from the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance:
a)Ikkyo(Omote and Ura)
b)Kotegaeshi.
It was a rigorous two hours and my Gi was drenched in sweat by the time we left the 'dojo'.....The Ura version of Ikkyo proved quite a challenge for me but all in all,I am sure I shall soon grasp the whole movement....

Wednesday, 7 September, 2011 session at the Goan Gymkhana

During the first hour of the class,Sensei took us through the paces performing Mae Ukemi from Tachi Waza as we prepared for more Ukemi in the techniques that followed.
From the Ai Hanmi Katatedori stance,the techniques were:
a)Jujinage
b)Kotegaeshi and
c)Iriminage.
We then performed a version of Kokyunage whereby Uke is spiralled down to a hold.Next up was Uchi Kaiten Nage from the Gyaku Hanmi katatedori stance and the first hour ended with Koshinage except that we skipped the last bit of throwing Uke from Tori's hip since the surface at the Goan Gymkhana was not suitable to complete the technique.

As for weapons,it was a review of Jo Sansho one(all parts) and since I am only familiar with part one,I took the opportunity to fine tune my knowledge of the first part....

Aikijutsu

F**k, my stay is over. Yeah, i cursed alright. Getting to the point, we had Japanese culture orientation classes yesterday, where i chose to participate in this thing called aikijutsu. Everything looks more or less the same as aikido, save for a few variations. Which made me really wonder why there is a difference. Though i should not admit this in public (just in case my Japanese senseis are reading this), it was all very boring,mainly because it was a sort of beginners class, and given we were not wearing proper clothes. Still, all was not lost since i managed to learn one more warm-up exercise.http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=156049954483756&set=t.1281471780&type=1&theater. Above is a picture of my very rusty ikkyo from said class...

Aikido girl

Monday, September 5, 2011 beginner's session at the Goan Gymkhana

It certainly was not one of my favourite Mondays but after the two hour Aikido session I must admit I felt much better.

Ben Sempai took us through the paces with a jog around the 'dojo' followed by some physical exercises and Mae Ukemi from Suwari Waza.We then went over some more physical exercises before beginning the techniques of the day.

It all began with Gyaku Hanmi Katate dori Soto Kaiten Nage and Uchi Kaiten Nage.I had a harder time with the latter but as they say,"Practice makes perfect" and time will tell how well I shall grasp the technique in the months to come.The first hour came to a close with Gyaku Hanmi Katate dori Yonkyo Omote which still gives me a hard time especially performing the 'cut' towards Uke's centre.

Sensei took over the second hour with the following techniques in the Gyaku hanmi Katate dori stance:

a)Uchi Kaiten Sankyo Omote and

b)Nikyo Ura.

Two other techniques from the Yokomenuchi attack were:

a)Tanto dori Gokyo Ura and

b)Ikkyo Ura.

Gokyo is usually among my favourite techniques especially when Uke is forced to release the weapon at hand(eg. a knife).

The day would not be complete with the good old stretch,Haishin undo.....perfect recipe for Monday blues.

Friday, September 2, 2011 session at the Japan Information and Culture Centre

As is customary with most Fridays,the session began with warm up exercises followed by Mae Ukemi from Tachi Waza.Immediately after that,the technique that set the ball rolling was Ryote Tori Tenchi Nage which I always seem to have mastered only to realise that it takes a lot of practice to master the technique.

The techniques that followed were based on the Chudan Tsuki attack and were as follows:

a)Irimi Nage

b)Kokyu Ho

c)Ushiro Kiri Otoshi

d)Rokyo

e)Two variations of chokes(I guess a choke is Kubishime)one which involved knocking the air out of Uke's neck arteries and the second one involved extending the arm as if performing a Kokyu Nage attack then Tori wraps his arm around Uke's neck and locks in bringing Tori to the ground and making him tap out by placing his elbow on Tori's thigh.

The other techniques that completed the Friday session were Gyaku Hanmi Katate dori Sumi Otoshi and Ai Hanmi Katate dori Shiho Nage which is one of my favourite techniques.....

Lovely stuff!

@ Goan Gymkhana 31 Aug 2011

Though having been a public holiday, that wasn't reason enough to keep Aikido 'enthusiasts' out of the dojo :)

Class started with a 'wrestling' session (kinda reminded me of my childhood fights, I lost count on how many I lost and judging from this session nothing much has changed.) where everything goes except blows of course. This was done in suwari waza. The aim of this was to make us tired thereby shaking off the stiffness before real aikido stuff began.

Stance: Aihanmi Technique: Irimi nage chudan, jodan, and gedan. Each performed in Ura and Omote.

All seem to go well, only that the ura part of these techniques proved difficult for me. 

Several points are worth mentioning for Irimi nage to be effective

1. One thing we tend to forget often is never let go the hand that is on uke's neck until you are ready to complete the technique!!!
2.  Tori decides where and when uke falls not the other way round.
3. Tori should make the technique as uncomfortable as possible for uke.

Weapon hour saw the use of our bokkens in ichi no tachi, not so bad I can say, getting somewhere at least.

Friday,26 August 2011 session at the Japan Information and Cultural Centre 'dojo'

I wonder if I am the only one but two hours of Aikido seem to fly so fast nowadays.Anyway last Friday we had a Kohai by the name of Yassin.

The first hour by Daniel Sempai consisted of warm up exercises followed by Ushiro and Mae Ukemi from Suwari Waza not forgetting the exercise whereby one attempts to lead the other down the imaginary triangle thus distabilising his balance.

In the second hour,Sensei took over and we began with Soto Kaiten Nage Omote and the Soto Kaiten 'stretch' whereby one stretches the other until he taps out.

There was also Soto Kaiten Kata gatame and I must say I found it quite a challenge bringing down Uke but I hope to perfect that in the sessions to come.

Other techniques of the day which were mainly from the Shomen Uchi attack were:Iriminage,Kokyu Ho,Tenchi Nage,Kata Gatame and Sumi Otoshi and Gyaku Hanmi Rokyo.In Shomen Uchi Sumi Otoshi,Sensei stressed the importance of Tori keeping the arms straight when going for Uke's elbow.

I must say Gyaku Hanmi Rokyo made me sweat especially pinning Uke's elbow under my armpit but finally I managed to execute the technique.To top it up all there was the back stretch commonly refered to as Haishin Undo.......Great class!

Advanced class

Pointers;(1.) When doing yonkyo, keep your movements forward to give uke no time to counter. This means keeping uke occupied all the time, which is easier said than done.
(2.) In the same vein, the grip is important. First, you have no time to change grips, so make sure you hold tight. Next, hold very close to the wrist, just like you hold a sword. Uke's hand becomes the handle, while the part of the arm between the wrist and the elbow becomes the blade. (3.) Make sure uke's arm is vertical just before doing the cut. (4.) Make the cut decisive and convincing. In order to do this, you have to make sure that uke's elbow ends up pointing downwards. (5.) In regards to shomenuchi kokyuho, move in with your whole body, and keep your movements forward to avoid tripping uke on your knee. (6.) Lastly, the more relaxed you are, the easier the movements.
Techniques: gyakuhanmi katatedori yonkyo omote and ura, gyakuhanmi katadori kokyunage, gyakuhanmi katatedori katagatame, shomenuchi kokyunage, and ryotedori kokyunage omote.
Comments: To be very honest, I didn't manage to move my body correctly enough to do yonkyo. I think i have the motion in my head, but my body just doesn't respond appropriately.
Weapons(Jo); We reviewed what we did last time and added the last of the kesa techniques. I won't go into names since i am quite sure none of us remembers even a simple one like, say Kesa uchi no.1. Of course maki otoshi no.1 doesn't count because we have done it countless times for it to be permanently etched in our memories.

Beginners class at Goan gym

From aihanmi katatedori attack, we were able to revisit nikyo (omote and ura), yonkyo omote and iriminage omote. We finished off with shomenuchi kokyunage, which is very difficult because it requires perfect timing, and also very taxing for uke due to the element of collision. By this i mean the idea of both uke and tori attacking at the exact same time.
Challenges included the yonkyo cut. Most of us (maybe even all of us) have a problem when it comes to leading uke's arm down. The cut is just never convincing enough, and apparently there are some very honest guys who will reverse the technique on you if you are this sloppy. The other major challenge was the timing for kokyunage, just as i have mentioned above.
An important tip for beginners would be; try to find your center (not my words). This is also not easy since most of the times i (having practised for almost 2 years now) am all over the place, but at least by now i have an idea of where my center is. Trust me, it helps to locate it.

Advanced Class at Goan Gym

This time the attacks were varied. Starting us off was gyakuhanmi kokyunage, which was a review of what we have been doing the last several classes. Then we moved to ushiro ryote dori attack, from which tori had the option to do shihonage or kotegaeshi. Of course the conditioning exercise for this is ushiro ryokatadori, and it is neither easy for tori nor for uke, because timing is crucial. The last technique of the day was aihanmi ikkyo from an ura kind of attack. This means using the funakogi undou movement to counter uke's attack. One thing i have to mention was that in the middle of class we had this conditioning exercise where we played lets pretend. We were soldiers on the field, and were taught various ways of behaving while on the ground. Anyone guess who the last man standing was? Anyway, after this exercise, we were effectively tired. Tired enough such that when doing a technique, brute force will not help. So much for that. Personally i was beat, and i realised how soft i have allowed myself to become, especially after my uchideshi experience.
Weapons class was dedicated to bokken, where we revisited ichinotachi and shohatto. In general, it was a tiring, eye-opening, sweaty, painful and confusing class.

Beginners' class

Attack; gyakuhanmi katatedori
Techniques; shihonage omote, uchikaiten sankyo omote, sotokaiten sankyo omote.
Emphasis; Necessity for tori to move, since very little (or no movement at all), has little effect on uke. Also, it was pointed out that when doing atemi, a fist is more effective than an open hand. It is equally important for tori to feel in control, otherwise there is no point for all this fuss, classes, and so on.
There was also hanmihandachi shihonage. With this technique it is easy to leave oneself open to a counter-attack by leaving hands behind when doing the shihonage turn. Knowing this, i know where to concentrate my efforts.

@ Embassy 12 Aug 2011

Really sorry for posting this late.
The ukemi we did was mainly gyaku ukemi, then followed by a brief ai-hanmi ikyo ura and omote in suwari waza. Was shocked to learn that suwari waza is easier than tachiwaza???

Then we did a kind of opening using tenkan, and out of this the techniques covered were kote gaeshi, irimi nage, kokyunage, kokyuho, shihonage, and my favourite a kind of lock that leaves uke gasping for air (locally referred to as Ngeta )

A good back stretch summarised the whole session.

Beginners' class

Attack: gyakuhanmi katatedori
Techniques: various forms of kokyunage, shihonage, kotegaeshi and kiriotoshi.
Points to note: (1.) We should strive to cultivate fluidity in our movements. This is one of the ways we can come to appreciate the use of aikido in 'the streets'.
(2.) 2 ways of dealing neutralising an ura attack (when uke pushes against tori) were shown; either stiffly force it, or relax and move correctly.
(3.) The above can also be applied in kotegaeshi. You can painfully force uke down, or gently guide them downwards with the correct grip.
(4.) With kiriotoshi, it is important for tori to realise where uke will naturally fall. This will help tori move out of the way of uke's fall, hence avoiding injury.

@ Embassy Friday 5 Aug 2011

The ukemis were practised to some extend this Friday. Mae, Ushiro, Gyaku and the strangest of them all.... Yoko!!

Due to presence of quite a number of beginners, we stuck to the 'basic' techniques gyaku hanmi kote gaeshi, aihanmi kokyunage, gyaku hanmi Irimi nage, Uchi kaiten, the two compositions of tenchi nage, i.e the first one stand in aihanmi, and push uke to his weak spot, and the second one aihanmi and move like you are going to punch, slap, scratch uke's face. Uke should not let tori reach his face. Then finally combine the two and do Tenchi nage!

We also did  a bit of stomach exercises for noise making in the dojo.

Session ended with a massage session, niiiiice :)

wonderment

Wonder what guys were upto on Friday...

Wednesday Class at Goan Gym

Attack; aihanmi katatedori
Techniques; shihonage,kokyunage,kotegaeshi and iriminage.
Bokken; ichi-no-tachi review
Next time; Sansho one (Jo)

Monday Class

Attack; Gyakuhanmi katatedori
Techniques; Ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo and yonkyo (both omote and ura).
Others; aihanmi katatedori kotegaeshi, gyakuhanmi katatedori shihonage and this interesting version of what i think is kokyunage, but looks like a 2-handed nikyo.

@ Embassy 29 July 2011

First of all, two things: Four beginners in today's class including little David, how many will remain? Time will tell.
Secondly, Sarah has a Gi!! sparkling white, guess the message on her  red T-shirt didn't work :)
Back to training issues, ushiro ukemi was the starting point after the usual warm-ups proving that more work still need to be done!

First technique was gyaku hanmi katate-dori  kokyunage which was done to almost perfection apart from the usual things which Sensei keeps drumming to our heads, DON'T do the technique with hands behind your back and STRETCH uke to make it uncomfortable for him!!

Then followed gyaku hanmi katate-dori kotegaeshi. In kotegaeshi, some things can't be stressed enough, such as don't raise uke's hand when almost completing the technique, and step back to give uke space to fall!!
Now the technique that seems hard for me to perform on some guy in the dojo (name withheld) is gyaku kotegaeshi. seems am not the only one with this problem.

Another technique was sankyo in which one is required to 'cut' towards uke's centre, a thing to keep in mind

Uchi kaiten was probably the last technique to be practised, fairly well done and finally, in uchi kaiten just before the throw by tori, he would go to the other side of uke and stretch his hand backwards, this was just a stretching exercise in itself.

Monday Class

As is customary, the first hour was spent on very basic movements which will (hopefully) improve the contact between tori and uke. These are also aimed at giving a 'feel' of the aikido movements, one of them being something that sounds like funekogi undou.
Anyway, lots of serious questions had previously been raised concerning sankyo. It therefore follows that this was the technique of the day. This was executed from an ai-hanmi katatedori attack. Common mistakes noted included: (1.)wrong opening which leaves tori exposed, (2.) wrong sankyo grip (3.) wrong sanyo 'cut'. I have to mention here that the cut should be towards and into uke's center. Most of us tend to make it a round motion, which really doesn't work. If you know how to 'cut' with yonkyo, then it is the very same 'cut' even with sankyo. (4.) wrong finishing. When bringing uke down, tori should be in front, leading uke's elbow in a pulling motion. Maybe it is also worth noting that the grip should not change at any time during this technique. It is best to imagine your hands are glued to uke's. Quite obviously if you let go, nothing prevents uke from retaliating and delivering what may be a very vicious blow.
A change of pace was created with shihonage. The idea of this was to show how tori should create the opening.
The need for seriousness was emphasized since we put so many hours a week into this thing. It doesn't make sense to put so much time into something and not progress. This progress may be fast or slow, depending on the individual, but it is natural that whoever puts honest effort into something never comes out empty-handed.

Friday class

I don't really know how many techniques were covered, but at least in my presence we did aihanmi katatedori sumiotoshi, shomenuchi sumiotoshi, aihanmi kokyunage(a variation) and this very interesting technique from ryotedori. This latter one requires tori to raise both hands and do some sort of nikyo on uke. Not easily explained, you just have to see it.

A short story by Terry Dobson

Ohayou-gozaimasu my fellow Aikidoka.I came across an interesting story below please if you get time read through....Dewa mata.

Here is a story from Terry Dobson, a master of Aikido and conflict resolution.

A Shorty Story by Terry Dobson: Read by Ram Dass

THE TRAIN CLANKED and rattled through the suburbs of Tokyo on a drowsy spring afternoon. Our car was comparatively empty – a few housewives with their kids in tow, some old folks going shopping. I gazed absently at the drab houses and dusty hedgerows. At one station the doors opened, and suddenly the afternoon quiet was shattered by a man bellowing violent, incomprehensible curses. The man staggered into our car. He wore laborer’s clothing, and he was big, drunk, and dirty. Screaming, he swung at a woman holding a baby. The blow sent her spinning into the laps of an elderly couple. It was a miracle that she was unharmed.

Terrified, the couple jumped up and scrambled toward the other end of the car. The laborer aimed a kick at the retreating back of the old woman but missed as she scuttled to safety. This so enraged the drunk that he grabbed the metal pole in the center of the car and tried to wrench it out of its stanchion. I could see that on of his hands was cut and bleeding. The train lurched ahead, the passengers frozen with fear. I stood up.

I was young then, some 20 years ago, and in pretty good shape. I’d been putting in a solid eight hours of aikido training nearly every day for the past three years. I like to throw and grapple. I thought I was tough. Trouble was, my martial skill was untested in actual combat. As students of aikido, we were not allowed to fight.

“Aikido,” my teacher had said again and again, “is the art of reconciliation. Whoever has the mind to fight has broken his connection with the universe. If you try to dominate people, you are already defeated. We study how to resolve conflict, not how to start it.”

I listened to his words. I tried hard I even went so far as to cross the street to avoid the chimpira, the pinball punks who lounged around the train stations. My forbearance exalted me. I felt both tough and holy. In my heart, however, I wanted an absolutely legitimate opportunity whereby I might save the innocent by destroying the guilty.

This is it! I said to myself, getting to my feet. People are in danger and if I don’t do something fast, they will probably get hurt. Seeing me stand up, the drunk recognized a chance to focus his rage. “Aha!” He roared. “A foreigner! You need a lesson in Japanese manners!” I held on lightly to the commuter strap overhead and gave him a slow look of disgust and dismissal. I planned to take this turkey apart, but he had to make the first move. I wanted him mad, so I pursed my lips and blew him an insolent kiss.

“All right! He hollered. “You’re gonna get a lesson.” He gathered himself for a rush at me. A split second before he could move, someone shouted “Hey!” It was earsplitting. I remember the strangely joyous, lilting quality of it – as though you and a friend had been searching diligently for something, and he suddenly stumbled upon it. “Hey!”

I wheeled to my left; the drunk spun to his right. We both stared down at a little old Japanese. He must have been well into his seventies, this tiny gentleman, sitting there immaculate in his kimono. He took no notice of me, but beamed delightedly at the laborer, as though he had a most important, most welcome secret to share.

“C’mere,” the old man said in an easy vernacular, beckoning to the drunk. “C’mere and talk with me.” He waved his hand lightly. The big man followed, as if on a string. He planted his feet belligerently in front of the old gentleman, and roared above the clacking wheels, “Why the hell should I talk to you?” The drunk now had his back to me. If his elbow moved so much as a millimeter, I’d drop him in his socks.

The old man continued to beam at the laborer. “What’cha been drinkin’?” he asked, his eyes sparkling with interest. “I been drinkin’ sake,” the laborer bellowed back, “and it’s none of your business!” Flecks of spittle spattered the old man. “Ok, that’s wonderful,” the old man said, “absolutely wonderful! You see, I love sake too. Every night, me and my wife (she’s 76, you know), we warm up a little bottle of sake and take it out into the garden, and we sit on an old wooden bench. We watch the sun go down, and we look to see how our persimmon tree is doing. My great-grandfather planted that tree, and we worry about whether it will recover from those ice storms we had last winter. Our tree had done better than I expected, though especially when you consider the poor quality of the soil. It is gratifying to watch when we take our sake and go out to enjoy the evening – even when it rains!” He looked up at the laborer, eyes twinkling.

As he struggled to follow the old man’s conversation, the drunk’s face began to soften. His fists slowly unclenched. “Yeah,” he said. “I love persimmons too…” His voice trailed off. “Yes,” said the old man, smiling, “and I’m sure you have a wonderful wife.” “No,” replied the laborer. “My wife died.” Very gently, swaying with the motion of the train, the big man began to sob. “I don’t got no wife, I don’t got no home, I don’t got no job. I am so ashamed of myself.” Tears rolled down his cheeks; a spasm of despair rippled through his body.

Now it was my turn. Standing there in well-scrubbed youthful innocence, my make-this-world-safe-for-democracy righteousness, I suddenly felt dirtier than he was. Then the train arrived at my stop. As the doors opened, I heard the old man cluck sympathetically. “My, my,” he said, “that is a difficult predicament, indeed. Sit down here and tell me about it.”

I turned my head for one last look. The laborer was sprawled on the seat, his head in the old man’s lap. The old man was softly stroking the filthy, matted hair.

As the train pulled away, I sat down on a bench. What I had wanted to do with muscle had been accomplished with kind words. I had just seen aikido tried in combat, and the essence of it was love. I would have to practice the art with an entirely different spirit. It would be a long time before I could speak about the resolution of conflict.

Terry Dobson

Wednesday Class at Goan Gym

I believe if you go to all Birankai dojos, the way they do things is the same because aikido is passed down from the master. So, there is this custom of bowing to the weapon and the sensei before practise. The procedure was explained to us; i never knew why we did it the way we do it. When standing, the sword/bokken is held on the right hand, with the blade facing backwards (to your back). To do the bow, shift it to your left hand, (handle on the left), and hold the weapon horizontally in front of you with outstretched arms. The blade should face you. Then bow. Reason for handle being on the left is so that you cannot use the weapon at short notice. I guess it shows honor, that you are not going to attack at the wrong time.

When sitted there are a few differences but that is for another day.

We went through the first tachi, called ichi no tachi. Apparently there are 7 of them, and if we are lucky, we will get to practise all of them. We also did some conditioning exercises,(the ones from last week), which were quite tricky, but we managed somehow.

For the techniques, we started with ushiro ryotedori shiho nage. pointers included, (1.) the 2 authorised ways for tori to get out of uke's grip. and (2.) the necessity for quick movement to avoid uke counter-attacking. and also (3.) the necessity to not stay in place. It is vital to first move off the line and then forwards. this keeps uke occupied. This was best demonstrated by a conditioning exercise from ushiro ryokatadori, which requires uke to do ukemi over tori's shoulders.
The next technique was yokomenuchi tenchinage. Pointers included tori neutralizing uke's attack by attacking uke's elbow at the moment of uke's attack. Then tori has to keep both hands in front and outstretched, just like in normal ryotedori tenchinage. Another point is that the stike to uke's face is like an upper cut, which means it is an upward movement. It is not a karate punch. This is necessary in order to keep in line with aikido's 'opening' as opposed to 'striking'. (Hope this makes sense).

Ok, at the end of class there was one broken bokken and a few minor injuries, but nothing worth noting. I have seen injuries during iaito class, where people use live blades, so...For what its worth, injuries are never intentional, with a few exceptions as can be expected in life. So if something bad happens to you, take it all in stride and move on. I think.

@ Embassy demonstration Saturday 9 2011

Just A few more pics from Sat. Never mind the date as imprinted on the photos :)

.

Wednesday Class at Goan Gym

Tori holds a bokken as if drawing out a sword. Uke stops this by grabbing tori's hand (aihanmi stance). Since tori has to counter, he/she does nikyo the normal way, only this time a bokken complicates life a little bit. This was the first thing in class.

Next up was gyakuhanmi katatedori uchikaiten sankyo. The steps involved were so many as to confuse things a bit, but one would do well to constantly practise until it becomes second nature.
From this we moved to aihanmi shomenuchi kokyunage. Anyone familiar with kokyunage knows that it is one of the most dynamic because tori blends into uke's movement and tries as much as possible not to give anything. To me it is the most basic aikido ever. This is the stuff you imagine when you hear the word aikido. It was a challenge doing it on a hard wooden floor, but we survived.
The last technique of the day was ryokatadori kokyunage. Again same challenges as with the former technique. With the last two, if tori doesn't get close to uke, it doesn't work very well. The idea of blending in should be taken literally as to become vulgar at some point. You have to move as one, and this is only possible when contact is so personal as to look almost intimate. I can't explain it any better than this.

On to some even harder stuff. Bokken. Most of us have forgotten even how to hold it. Understandably. Don't ask whose fault it is. Anyway, after a few kirikaeshi, we tried a form. I will have to check the name. This one involved a cut through a cut. Obviously both partners are equally at risk, but the brunt is borne by the one receiving the final blow. Since i don't have the words to describe this form, suffice it to say tsuba comes in handy, and the shomen uchi is trickier this time round because it has to be in tune with the other shomen uchi.

Martial Arts demo at Japanese Embassy

Thank you all for participating. Seems like we were the show...
Unfortunately I have only two pictures...





Please feel free to share if you have more pics

Beginners Class at Goan Gym

It is during this class that Sammy was officially conferred gokyu status. Once again, congratulations! Keep up the spirit. The techniques of the day were uchikaiten and sotokaiten from a gyakuhanmi katatedori attack. So we did sankyo, yonkyo and kaitennage (both omote and ura) and katagatame. Some very valuable tips were offered, e.g. doing some motions in a synchronised manner so as to stretch personal limits etc. It was also mentioned that Chiba Sensei says a gyakuhanmi attack is always an ura attack (uke pushes) while an aihanmi attack is always an omote attack (uke pulls).

Common mistakes we were warned against include uke sticking head on tori's knee, hence missing the point that kaitennage ends with a knee strike to the face. Another has to do with the cut during yonkyo. If you don't cut forwards and downwards it just won't work. Its just like sankyo, only a little bit harder. This is better explained practically.

On Ki

There were several questions about the mystical super-powers of Aikido.
All I can say is this - if you feel that you personally feel something special and it works with Łabędzki - fine. But unless you know what you are doing - do not make the mistake of running into something like this:

For you might end up like this:

So - while philosophy-ing, fooling around and bullshitting might be fun - stick to something painful and physical. Like - for example - yonkyo:

Aikido demonstration at the Information and Culture Centre of The Japanese embassy on 9 July 2011

Our Aikido demonstration stole the limelight and no sooner had we exited the tatami,everyone in the crowd came after us especially the lady 'journalists' from Precious Blood Girls who surrounded Sensei wanting to know more about Aikido.Some two ladies from the same school also interviewed me and for once I felt like a 'super star'.....

Thanks again Sensei for awarding me Gokyu...my journey in Aikido has just began.

@ Gymkhana Jul 6 2011

Think Daniel has covered everything on the day's lesson.
Sensei showed us a good example of what Aikido IS NOT... Thanks Nick for being the subject of humour, we owe you one :-D

Wednesday Class at Goan Gym

The big day is nigh, and we did a number of intermediate-level/advanced-level techniques such as gyaku-hanmi shomen-uchi kokyu-ho, ai-hanmi chudan-tsuki kote-gaeshi, ai-hanmi katate-dori ikkyo omote, ai-hanmi katate-dori nikyo ura, among others. There was also shiho-nage and a variation of some techniques. Question is, we had enough problems during class, so can we pull this off successfully in public without looking overly amateurish? Arguably, aikido is not for public demonstrations but it would be nice if every one of us would struggle to grasp these techniques.
We practised the whole sequence of sansho 1 with jo for the last half of the class. Its not perfect yet, but at least we are practising and can remember most of it.

How did this happen?

When you enter Google.com and then select images, then do a search for Kisshomaru Ueshiba and then select Large images then... on second search page there will be a photo of mine. How did that happen?

The last couple of classes

This post should cover all the sessions from last Wednesday, but due to my poor memory i will only stick to what appealed to me, or rather what left an impression. We have gone through a number of techniques, most of them not very straight-forward, even for me. By this i mean that the movement is difficult because the techniques have mostly been variations of the basics. Attack has been everything from morote-dori, to kata-dori, shomen-uchi to yokomen-uchi. Basically we have been going wild, within reasonable limits. Take Friday for instance. We did ai-hanmi nikyo, shiho-nage, kote-gaeshi and kokyu-ho. These are basic techniques, right? What was different was the opening coz if i recall well, the attack was ai-hanmi katate-dori. Tori had to open with a tenkan very much close to the opening for ai-hanmi ikkyo/nikyo.
Yesterday we had an interesting session which i am sure will remain long in the minds of whoever was paying attention. We had a session like no other where we had to deal with a chudan-tsuki attack. So we had techniques like gyaku-hanmi kote-gaeshi, ai-hanmi ikkyo, and variations of irimi-nage and kokyu-ho. Then there was a variation? of kata-dori shiho-nage where tori has to literally ATTACK uke's elbow with the chin. This is not the first time we have covered this technique but it sends chills down my spine every time i see it. Just like koshi-nage. Or a perfectly executed sankyo, irimi-nage. Anyway, some aikido techniques just look overly lethal from an observer's point of view.
The reason for all these not very palatable techniques (for beginners and intermediate guys) was the upcoming event on saturday. I can't wait to see how it goes tomorrow.

Beginners Class at Goan Gym

Honestly there were no beginners. Not a single one, i think they prefer fridays at the embassy. Ah well, this meant learning normal techniques as opposed to...Anyway, the attack was gyaku-hanmi katate-dori and the techniques were uchi-kaiten nikyo, uchi kaiten yonkyo and soto kaiten sankyo. We finished with morote-dori kokyu-ho. For the first time i kinda had some bit of fun with yonkyo. It was explained that this technique is very rarely taught, mostly due to its complexibility, or boringness? Am not so sure. But it was fun raising up uke's arm and cutting diagonally into their centre. Watching someone fall in a heap like that just sends... down one's...Moving on, mizogi. This is done during special days like Japanese Holidays, or when there is a special need for celebration. The idea is; when practising with someone you now very well, you are uke for like a whole hour, and only one technique is performed for the whole period. with a stranger, the technique is repeated over and over again with constant change in roles. Say, ikkyo omote and ura. You do both versions once, then change with partner, and so on. Sounds like fun.

At Goan Gym

Admittedly, one major problem with me is forgetting too fast. But that is a story for another day. The attack of the day was gyaku-hanmi katate-dori. From this we were able to get into the intricacies of kokyu-nage and shiho-nage. It was not all smooth-sailing though as the hip movement involved, especially in kokyu ho, proved to be quite taxing. All in all, the basics were very clearly laid out for us. Don't stay in the line of attack, it is vital to move off this line; use your hips as much as possible and always keep your hands in front of you; keep contact with uke until he/she is down. Simple,no?

With bokken, we had to start with the basics again, given that it has been quite a while since we last did this. So we did some little bit of kiri-kaeshi and the beginning of ichi-no-tachi. This is to be continued...

Beginners Class at Goan Gym

Essentially we covered 3 techniques; ikkyo, kokyu-ho, and irimi-nage. With Ikkyo, the challenge is in remembering the whole process and not skipping a single step; meet the attack, tai-sabaki and kuzushi. These 3 steps are the toughest but most basic in any martial art. With kokyu-ho, the movement comes from the hips. A common mistake is getting too much carried away with making uke fall and forgetting that you are the one who should make the latter fall,hence the lost contact. We were shown the conditioning excercise for kokyu-ho and it would be best to remember this always. The irimi-nage versions covered were gedan and chudan. I had a problem with the gedan version;my hand always gets entangled in uke's elbow. Talk about self-immobilization...

@ the Embassy 17th June 2011

Considering Daniel has covered the last hour of the class, I'll try and remember what we covered on the first hour.


After the warm-ups, the classes started with ukemi exercises both mae and ushiro in suwariwaza and tachiwaza. But that was the easy part. Two more ukemis were introduced; Gyaku ukemi (left foot forward and roll over your right arm and vice versa) and yoko ukemi (rolling sideways!!)


In yoko ukemi, one is supposed to roll sideways on a straight line, but most of us....no, ALL of us were doing something from "our own worlds", rolling to an angle almost doing mae ukemi. Well didn't work this time, maybe next time.


Next followed shomen uchi ikkyo both ura and omote, not bad, but a little more practice and we will be ready to go!


Finally on the 1st hour we did shomen uchi sumi otoshi whereby tori has to keep arms straight but not stiff and throw uke downwards to his weak spot, the imaginary triangle.

At Embassy

Granted i was very late for class. Again. Friday is just not working for me, is it? Anyway, in the last half that i attended we did gyaku-hanmi katate-dori kokyu-ho, then ryote-dori kokyu-ho (omote and ura) and finally ryokata-dori kokyu-ho (omote and ura). I understand am not the only one with a slight discomfort in the back due to our ukemi on hard floors. Any remedies?

At Goan Gym

Warm-up involved a variation of gyaku-hanmi katate-dori kokyu nage. This was to help in ukemi. We started with a variation of ai-hanmi katate-dori nikyo omote, followed by various techniques from a yokomen-uchi attack;namely nikyo (omote and ura)and sankyo (omote and ura). Then we moved to a shomen-uchi attack and did kata-gatame and sumi-otoshi.
We did not have a weapons class due to some power/electricity hiccups, which forced us to sometimes practise in darkness for upto like 2 minutes or more. Come to think of it, it wasn't so bad. You don't always have to see, sometimes you just move instinctively.

Begginers Class

This is just a follow up of Daniel's post earlier on...
The more one learns (aikido) the more you realize how much you don't know (or maybe it's just me). Ikkyo techniques are some of the basics in Aikido, but after doing them in Suwari-waza, thanks to Daniel for sore knees, I realized just how much more their is to learn, e.g straighten your hands as Tori when performing it or uke will easily turn things around (I learned it the hard way)

The next hour was Shomen-uchi techniques that included kotegaeshi, sankyo, kaiten nage(?) and finally what Sensei described as the most dangerous technique in aikido, Koshi nage, which for obvious reasons (read, lack of tatamis) couldn't be performed to its deadly end.

Next class on Wednesday, boken techniques are back!

Aikido words

I do not have any knowledge,working or otherwise of Japanese.And this,I convince myself is the reason I still have not mastered the names of most of the techniques and stances.
I refuse to believe it has to do with my lack of concentration in class.Most of the time,one joint or other in screaming in pain or am wondering what'll I will have for dinner(Disclaimer-the information here shall not be used against me)
So maybe,a tiny percentage(o.1-9.9%)can be blamed on me,the rest is because I do not know Japanese.
Then I read somewhere that when u write down something,it's harder to forget so I will write and see if this will work.
Common names used in Aikido-Nikio,Ikyo,Kokyo,Rokyo,Yakohami,Aihami,Omote,Ura,Kote nage,Tenkan,Shiho nage,Uke(am assuming Japanese is like Swahili where the how the word is pronounced is the same way it's written)

To be continued...................

Beginners Class

On Monday evening, we had the premier of our beginners classes. As expected, the pace was gentler than normal classes since more emphasis is put on basics. So there was ikkyo. Starting with suwari-waza and followed by tachi-waza, we got to understand a little bit more about shomen-uchi ikkyo omote. The second half of the 2 hour session was spent reviewing what we have been concentrating on for sometime now, namely shomen uchi kote gaeshi, shiho nage, sankyo and rokkyo. Finally, we were introduced to one of the most dangerous aikido techniques of all;koshi nage.
For this wednesday's class, guys were advised to dust their bokkens and come with them.

At Embassy

Despite being very late for class, i was able to learn a thing or two. I must have missed a lot (translated its never good to be late), because several guys had some minor injuries. So there i am full of energy and i realise guys are not so...physical. I move from person to person and its the same story. Only later did i realise what had transpired. Keep it up people. Remember, no pain no gain. So if you got injured, take it as a lesson and use it to grow stronger.
Anyway, the attack was yokomen-uchi, and from this we were able to do shiho-nage, kokyu-ho, kote-gaeshi and rokkyo. Unfortunately with some techniques like these, uke is under much more stress than tori. As uke, if you attack blindly and don't pay attention to what's happening to you, a number of very bad things could happen. Like getting slapped on the face (if tori is being very nice to you).And you thought Aikido was defensive?

At Goan Gym

On Wednesday we practised a number of techniques ranging from ikkyo to rokkyo, and not exactly in order. I believe the point was to get past the surprise/shock one gets as soon as a technique is mentioned. During exam time people are keen on the names of techniques, but this is not so during normal practice sessions. Ever considered that during a real encounter there will be no time to play out the techniques’ name and motion in your mind?
There was no weapons class due to the unavailability of the said weapons. Guys were encouraged to dig out their bokkens since it has been quite a while since we had a bokken class.

Wednesday class

Irimi nage. Hmmm, what to say? An interesting fact about this technique is that several aikidokas have experienced the bitter version of it. Obviously every aikido technique can cause death if executed perfectly. With irimi nage, the class version usually ends up with uke's broken nose, if the latter responds too late. But in Kenya we don't worry about this for obvious reasons. Despite this, sensei tried as much as possible to tune our minds to the idea that uke needs to respond appropriately. This was achieved by tori making uke's life as hard as possible. Uke was slapped in the face if they did not move as instructed. In this way, we were able to practise shomen uchi/ai hanmi irimi nage omote.

Since some of the more experienced aikidokas knew the whole sansho 1, the last session of the class was spent practising this. It was mentioned that the rest is up to us now. Knowing all this stuff is useless if we don't make constant use of it...

Secret Sunday Class

No, we did not practise the mystique art of disappearing in a puff of smoke. I just gathered students who are familiar with first and second part of sansho one and I passed on the third part. So now we have quite strong group of people who are familiar with whole sansho one. All we need to do now is practice, practice, practice...

There were some minor accidents, some blood was spilled, someone was hit on the head... Tony - you need to control your stick! That - of course - on top of some fingers hit by jo, which actually is a part of this whole package called sansho one ;-)

Afterwards we had traditional beer and snacks. Generally it was a very nice afternoon...

At Goan Gym

To be brief, we covered shomen uchi irimi nage and kote gaeshi;omote versions. For jo, we reviewed the 2 parts of sansho1.

At Embassy

A summary of Friday’s class is as follows; we carried on with the basics of a shomen uchi attack and systematically went through ikkyo, nikyo, sankyo and yonkyo. At some point we tried shomen uchi ikkyo suwari waza, but most of us did this rather unwillingly due to the discomfort induced on the knees. On a side note, I wonder how many understood the mechanism of yonkyo.

This week's classes

Hi guys!
It's been quite a while since i last posted something here. Usually I just read. Anyway, from Wednesday we have been learning the basics from a shomen uchi attack. But since shomen uchi is a very quick and precise attack, we have been taking baby steps so that we first get used to the idea of shomen uchi. This means we have been doing the techniques starting from a position where uke and tori have their arms raised. Furthermore instead of uke attacking, tori takes the initiative(kinda boring actually, but good for beginners). Of course the ideal situation would be if we had like separate classes for each level, such that everyone can practise and grow with people of equivalent experience. Understandably we are a very young group and it is my hope that in time conditions will improve. So far we have focused on ikkyo,nikyo and sankyo, in each case doing both omote and ura versions. The jo session on Wednesday was a review of the basics from a kesa attack. My head has totally refused to wrap itself around the names of these jo techniques and it looks like i have to show who's the boss.

Seminar photo

This is group photo for May 1st Birankai Kenya seminar.