Bugeisha
10-03-2005, 12:45
A little background:
I've been studying in Hirakata City (Japan) for the last month and a half. As much as I'd like to say that my academia has been my major focus, in the spirit of makoto I must confess that one of the major draws to studying in Japan was the opportunity to train in the martial arts here.
I've sampled a range of budo in the last month- mostly striking arts like Nippon Kempo, Seidokaikan Karate, Shorinji Kempo. The only Japanese budo I have any experience with back home is aikido, which made me particularly interested in "tasting" the aikido here.
The university I'm at has an aikido circle (like a club in the 'States, while "clubs" here are more like varsity sports back home. A circle will train maybe 9-10 hours a week, while a club meets 2-3 hours a day, often 6 days a week).
I was honestly disappointed in the aikido circle. It looked like they had taken all of the "fire" out of the techniques. The spirit of non-resistance was taken to the point where the waza was not even actually being applied. They go through the motions, but nothing seems "real." It was a pretty dance, but not as pretty as the ballroom dance club next door. To add to the atmosphere, the foreign student that had been training with them regaled me with tales of how the sensei can stop people from picking him up or pushing him. He was not happy that I wasn't blown away by tales of ki powers. I told him that what always impressed me about good aikidoka was that they could move around my attacks and control the situation, not that they had and unbendable arm. Power in movement is much more impressive than demonstrations of "ki." I was pretty disappointed at how dead the training felt, to say the least.
Anyway, this weekend I got a taste of the other side of aikido training. I was fortunate enough to be invited to train in at the Himeji Shodokan Aikido Dojo, run by Peter Rehse, who I met through Budoseek. I went to the dojo to get a taste of what Shodokan Aikido was about. It was almost completely the opposite end of the spectrum in as far as training methodology goes.
Overall, the training at the Shodokan dojo was pretty rigerous. I've been run harder, but if what we did was typical, it is certainly more intense than many schools. The time was used well- Peter told me that Shodokan has a systematic curriculum, and it was certainly evident. One of the most interesting points about that was that it seemed that everyone at a given level was capable of roughly the same thing. One class is obviously not enough to judge the level or the quirks of everyone involved, but when everyone of a given rank is obviously competent in a certain set of material, that speaks well of consistent, systematic training. I personally like seeing that kind of internal consistency (that's why Kano implemented ranking in the first place, right?).
Most of the class was fairly similar to the structure of the classes at the dojo I attend back home. Of course there were different drills, and different nuances in the technique (I really enjoy they way they deliver shomen-ate, by the way...) but the overall feel was similar. It was the last 1/2 hour or so where I actually got a taste of what make Shodokan aikido unique, I think. We trained a little bit of tanto-randori (I'll call it,since I don't know the actual name) with increasing levels of resistance.
The really fun part was when I got to spend a round with one of the Yudansha, who's name unfortunatly escapes me. It was the first time I've had one aikidoka tell another to kick my butt. It was also the first time said second aikidoka proceeded to do so. It was very exciting to train in a resisting environment, and to be thrown by an aikidoka when I was trying very hard not to. I'm grateful the gentleman I was working with was taking care of me, rather than just breaking me. I'm also grateful to my sensei back home for ensuring that I'm comfortable with yoko ukemi, or those kotegaeshi and hiji otoshi would have been much more painful.
I think what impressed me the most about the randori was the fact that the ego did not get in the way. It was an example of how you can train in an intense manner and incorporate full resistance without it becoming a conflict. It was resistance training, not competition. Where the yudansha I "sparred" could have just thrashed me, his attitude allowed it to be a lesson rather than a beating, although the outward appearance may have remained the same.
I thought it was pretty cool to see both sides of the coin. You can train aikido in a high-resistance manner without being unduly dangerous and without getting lost in a competitive conflict. In addition to the physical development that comes with hard training, I think that training aikido in a martially intensive environment can lead to the kind of stability and comfort within conflict that will allow for the resolution of that conflict while keeping with the ideals of aikido.
Ah well, it's late, and I don't really know how to finish this post. Thanks again, Peter, for letting me come an hang with your guys.
I've been studying in Hirakata City (Japan) for the last month and a half. As much as I'd like to say that my academia has been my major focus, in the spirit of makoto I must confess that one of the major draws to studying in Japan was the opportunity to train in the martial arts here.
I've sampled a range of budo in the last month- mostly striking arts like Nippon Kempo, Seidokaikan Karate, Shorinji Kempo. The only Japanese budo I have any experience with back home is aikido, which made me particularly interested in "tasting" the aikido here.
The university I'm at has an aikido circle (like a club in the 'States, while "clubs" here are more like varsity sports back home. A circle will train maybe 9-10 hours a week, while a club meets 2-3 hours a day, often 6 days a week).
I was honestly disappointed in the aikido circle. It looked like they had taken all of the "fire" out of the techniques. The spirit of non-resistance was taken to the point where the waza was not even actually being applied. They go through the motions, but nothing seems "real." It was a pretty dance, but not as pretty as the ballroom dance club next door. To add to the atmosphere, the foreign student that had been training with them regaled me with tales of how the sensei can stop people from picking him up or pushing him. He was not happy that I wasn't blown away by tales of ki powers. I told him that what always impressed me about good aikidoka was that they could move around my attacks and control the situation, not that they had and unbendable arm. Power in movement is much more impressive than demonstrations of "ki." I was pretty disappointed at how dead the training felt, to say the least.
Anyway, this weekend I got a taste of the other side of aikido training. I was fortunate enough to be invited to train in at the Himeji Shodokan Aikido Dojo, run by Peter Rehse, who I met through Budoseek. I went to the dojo to get a taste of what Shodokan Aikido was about. It was almost completely the opposite end of the spectrum in as far as training methodology goes.
Overall, the training at the Shodokan dojo was pretty rigerous. I've been run harder, but if what we did was typical, it is certainly more intense than many schools. The time was used well- Peter told me that Shodokan has a systematic curriculum, and it was certainly evident. One of the most interesting points about that was that it seemed that everyone at a given level was capable of roughly the same thing. One class is obviously not enough to judge the level or the quirks of everyone involved, but when everyone of a given rank is obviously competent in a certain set of material, that speaks well of consistent, systematic training. I personally like seeing that kind of internal consistency (that's why Kano implemented ranking in the first place, right?).
Most of the class was fairly similar to the structure of the classes at the dojo I attend back home. Of course there were different drills, and different nuances in the technique (I really enjoy they way they deliver shomen-ate, by the way...) but the overall feel was similar. It was the last 1/2 hour or so where I actually got a taste of what make Shodokan aikido unique, I think. We trained a little bit of tanto-randori (I'll call it,since I don't know the actual name) with increasing levels of resistance.
The really fun part was when I got to spend a round with one of the Yudansha, who's name unfortunatly escapes me. It was the first time I've had one aikidoka tell another to kick my butt. It was also the first time said second aikidoka proceeded to do so. It was very exciting to train in a resisting environment, and to be thrown by an aikidoka when I was trying very hard not to. I'm grateful the gentleman I was working with was taking care of me, rather than just breaking me. I'm also grateful to my sensei back home for ensuring that I'm comfortable with yoko ukemi, or those kotegaeshi and hiji otoshi would have been much more painful.
I think what impressed me the most about the randori was the fact that the ego did not get in the way. It was an example of how you can train in an intense manner and incorporate full resistance without it becoming a conflict. It was resistance training, not competition. Where the yudansha I "sparred" could have just thrashed me, his attitude allowed it to be a lesson rather than a beating, although the outward appearance may have remained the same.
I thought it was pretty cool to see both sides of the coin. You can train aikido in a high-resistance manner without being unduly dangerous and without getting lost in a competitive conflict. In addition to the physical development that comes with hard training, I think that training aikido in a martially intensive environment can lead to the kind of stability and comfort within conflict that will allow for the resolution of that conflict while keeping with the ideals of aikido.
Ah well, it's late, and I don't really know how to finish this post. Thanks again, Peter, for letting me come an hang with your guys.