Mission Accomplished

The three remaining kokusai senshusei: Akimoto, Ma-i-ku, (me) and Masa, following our graduation ceremony.

After taking a final written test, submitting an essay, and completing a final shinsa including kihon dosa, kamae, shitei waza, jiu waza, and self defence technique, I have successfully completed the senshusei course.  

Celebrating this time with Yoshioka, who graduated from the kenshusei program on the same day.

 A newly arrived senshusei took this picture of my back after we did a lot of koho ukemi.  My back was by far the most susceptible to becoming abbraided from that exercise.

 With a top sumo wrestler.  On that day, Yoshioka took us to visit a sumo stable.  We had to be there by 6am to watch them practice.  This was an incredible experience because it was so intimate.  We knelt silently and watched them practice for 2-3 hrs.  The first part was mainly grueling strength and conditioning training, and at the end they wrestled, which was incredible.  I could not believe the sound their heads made when they occasionally crashed into each other.

During the beautiful week when the Cherry trees bloom, I am pictured here with the Kuromizu and Hirayama family.  

My haiku:

Sakura flowers 

cloak each branch like drifts of snow.

All too soon, they fall

I have just arrived back in Hollywood!

Shodan Accomplished!

I am very happy to announce that I took and passed the test for first degree black belt.  The test was difficult and exhausting, but it was a great feeling of accomplishment when Chino Sensei told me I had passed.  The test consisted of:

~demonstrating kihon dosa with a partner
~each partner performing 6 set techniques
 ~shomenuchi as well as katate mochi jiu waza. 

Jiu waza means "free techniques", and it consists of your partner attacking you again and again, and each time you have to throw him down a different way.  When we perform the set techniques there is a very mechanical process to it, whereas with jiu waza, the idea is to focus on the timing.  Jiu waza was the hardest part of the test for me, because it is a real test of stamina.  First you have to throw your partner down something like a dozen times, and then he throws you down a dozen times, and then you both do the whole thing over again in response to a different initial attack.  The idea is to do it quickly and strongly, so needless to say I was huffing and puffing by the end.  I take my hat off to Masa and Akimoto, who had to begin jiu waza immediately after completing the preliminary part of the test (Bryn and I got to rest while they had their turn at jiu waza first).

So, now I've earned the black belt, but I don't get to wear it until the course is over.  It's a great feeling to have jumped this hurdle, but as Mr. Miyagi would say:

 "In Okinawa, 'belt' mean 'no need rope hold up pants!'" 

This is only the beginning of my Aikido journey.  My purpose in coming to Japan was to lay the groundwork for further study, and I think I've accomplished that.  However, I have to admit that Aikido's true essence still eludes me.  We`ve learned more than 100 techniques, but the real meaning behind them, the reason why we do things the way we do is going to require a lot more examination to understand.  Aikido is all about the harmony, the flow of momentum and power between uke and sh'te.  The idea is to "trap" the power that uke uses to attack you and then guide him down using very little upper body strength.  This light touch is the soul of Aikido; right now I still feel that my practice is rather primitive. 

That said, I have had flashes of insight here and there.  One day Yanagihara Sensei had us practice katate mochi sokumen iriminage while holding the bokken.  (Aikido has its origin in sword fighting; although we generally practice the techniques unarmed, virtually all of them can be practiced while holding a bokken, or wooden sword.)  This is a technique where uke grabs your wrist and pulls.  The idea is to keep your arms extended as you pivot your hips, leading uke's power in such a way that you can then turn it back on him and make him lose his balance.  I find this technique difficult, and just like everything, I really struggle to find the  perfect "touch".  However, when I held the bokken as sh'te, I found that I could unbalance uke entirely with my hip action and with almost no power from my arms!  I think there are a couple of reasons for this.  For one thing, in Aikido we are always working to coordinate the movement of our body parts so that all our power can be concentrated into one point.  When holding the sword, your two arms essentially become one unit, unifying both the left and right side of the body.  The other thing is that we were instructed to direct our attention to the tip of the sword.  The effect of this is that I imagined my body's energy extending forward and flowing out.  So often it is helpful when practicing Aikido to think of the sword.  Sometimes, I try to forget about accomplishing any result with uke and instead imagine that I am just wielding a sword.  It might not look like it, but Aikido is all sword techniques.  The only difference is that your arms have become the swords!

Incidentally, the cops completed their part of the course at the end of January, so now the only senshusei left are Masa, Aki, Bryn, and me.  With so few students, the teachers notice every mistake we make, but I think I've made a lot of progress under these conditions.  The other thing is that, since now 50% of the student body are English speakers, the senseis tend to use more English words in their explanations.  By the way, we still have one more test to do at the end of March.  Among other things, this test will require us to demonstrate a teaching method, and will qualify us to teach basic Aikido.

The last thing that I wanted to mention is that David Sensei (my teacher from LA) is going to be visiting Japan in early April, bringing Paul, a friend of mine from the dojo, and 3 other students along with him.  I'm looking forward very much to seeing them and practicing Aikido with them!

Holidays

In Aikido news, all the Keisho Senshusei (cops) now have their black belts.  The Kokusai Senshusei (Bryn, Masa, Akimoto, and me) will be having our test in February to give us more time to prepare. 

An unlucky incident occurred just before we went on winter vacation.  Oyamada Shihan was demonstrating a technique called Tenshi Nage on one of the female cops and unfortunately her collar bone ended up getting broken in two places.  She had to have surgery to put her back together again.  The good news is that she is now back at the dojo.  She doesn't practice techniques, but usually just works on her kihon dosa individually during class. 

The only other serious incident I've witnessed in Aikido since I've been here was at the demonstration I mentioned in the last entry, and was also suffered by a woman.  She is an extremely good Aikidoka, and takes ukemi from the dreaded Takeno.  During his demonstration he did a move on her that I've seen many movies of Gozo Sensei doing, where he drives uke's head backward and all the way into the mat.  This move is infamous for resulting in knockouts.  After the woman got her head slammed, she valiantly struggled to continue, but was simply unable to stand up.  She kneeled for the rest of Takeno Shihan's demonstration, and when it came time to leave the mat, she was still unable to get her balance and had to be helped off to the sidelines.  Later she was carried out of the building on a stretcher, but I inquired later on and it seems there was no permanent damage.

***

My mother, step-father, and brother came to visit me for Christmas and New Year's.  It was wonderful to see them and we had many adventures exploring Japan together.  The first part of our visit took place in Tokyo, where we went to see the temple at Asakusa, the Tokyo tower, and the Meiji Shrine.  Here's my brother Ian in front of the Meiji Shrine:

After spending a few days in Tokyo, we proceeded to Nagano and then Yudanaka, where we stayed for two nights at a traditional Japanese onsen, which is an inn that houses hot spring baths.  This was very enjoyable, and everyone got a real kick out of wearing the yukatas and dining at the low table on the tatami mats, etc.

One day we went for lunch at a sushi restaurant that was empty of customers with the exception of two ladies sitting at the bar.  One of these ladies was getting to be rather tipsy and was very loud and gregarious.  I guessed that she might be from Osaka, because Japanese people always say that people from Osaka are very funny.  At some point there was an exchange between us, and I asked her if she was from Osaka, and it turned out that she was.  She immediately came over to our table and sat next to Bruce, and began telling him how he looked like John Wayne, and was he a Hollywood actor, and that she wanted to take him for herself.  I thought it was hysterical but in the moment when it was happening Bruce seemed a little ill at ease:

The other thing my mother and I did was to go and see the wild macaques who hang out in the warm natural spring water in the mountains.  It was extraordinary to see these creatures, and we were able to get extremely close to them.  They simply couldn't have cared less that we were there watching them, close enough to grab them.

Next we went to Kyoto.  In Kyoto we visited the Kinkaku-ji, or Temple of the Golden Pavilion:

We also saw the Ginkaku-ji, or Temple of the Silver Pavilion, which was supposed to be covered in silver foil, but never was.

On New Year's Eve we went to a very nice restaurant.  In my god-awful Japanese, I asked the waiter to "bring us food like the people next to us have, but more".  The food was extremely tasty, although the portions of each dish were quite small.  Then the waiter brought out the ribcage of a tuna and provided us with seashells, advising through his gestures that we should use the shells to scrape the meat from the bones.  This was an extremely tedious and unrewarding exercise, and Bruce still insists that they did it just to play a joke on us!

On New Year's Day we went to visit the Yasaka-jinja.  There were many families out celebrating the day by tossing coins and praying at the shrine.  Many people were dressed in kimonos and we couldn't resist asking some of them for pictures:

Bruce took this picture of monks chanting, but I forget where this was:

For lunch on New Year's I decided to order chanco, the traditional meal of the sumo wrestler:

After spending a few days in Kyoto, we next proceeded to Hiroshima.  Hiroshima is a beautiful city that my mom compared to Paris.  I liked it a lot because it seemed more laid back than Tokyo.  The people there weren't quite as hectic, and the overall vibe just seemed more down-to-earth, more to my liking.  I discovered a great thrift store and bought some very inexpensive clothes.  We also visited Miyajima, which is one of the islands in Hiroshima Bay.  But certainly the most profound episode of the trip was the morning we spent with Aratani Isao, an 80-year-old survivor of the atomic bomb attack.

In the days leading up to the attack, Mr. Aratani worked with other young students in making "fire breaks" - gaps between structures that were meant to prevent the spread of fire in the case of bombing.  Actually, the people of Hiroshima felt that they were blessed, because every day planes would fly overhead and the alarm would sound, but while other cities in Japan were being destroyed, Hiroshima was always left miraculously untouched.  They thought that maybe the explanation was that there were many people in America who had come from Hiroshima, but what they didn't know was that the American government had decided to leave Hiroshima untouched until they dropped the A-bomb so that they could later determine exactly what the damage of the bomb had been.  The area where Mr. Aratani and his friends worked every day was located directly in the center of where the A-bomb was dropped, but on the fateful day, for some reason his teacher decided that they should go work out in a potato field that was far away from the city center.  This unlikely turn of events saved his life, although he was badly burned by the blast.

There is one building that was partially destroyed by the blast which still stands in Hiroshima as a memorial to what happened there.  Here we are standing in front of it.

In the Hiroshima Peace Museum is a watch that survived the blast.  Its face still shows the fateful hour.

After Hiroshima, we returned to Tokyo for one more evening together, and we were very pleased to be joined by Phil McGoey, an old family friend who now lives in Japan.  After saying goodbyes, I watched the shuttle drive off, taking them away to Narita Airport all too soon.

The first day back after the break was a shock. Chino Shihan had us do some serious "hajime!" training followed by a round of jiu waza, which involves getting thrown down again and again and again, and each time you have to pop back up as fast as possible and try another attack. By the end of my jiu waza session I came very close to throwing up. After the class I examined my knees and they had been torn to shreds. At this point I have also redeveloped my lovely red stripe abrasion down my backbone from doing situps and koho ukemi, and my feet are also cut up and I have to wipe up blood from the mat after class. But I am happy...

Long overdue update

Wow, this time two months have gone by since posting.  I'm afraid that in a sense my life is so repetitive that some of the inspiration for writing has subsided from the beginning, when everything was very novel and surprising.  Nevertheless, a lot has happened since the last entry.  As for Aikido, the most significant event was the successful embutaikai (or demonstration) that we gave at the end of October.  At that demonstration, the Senshusei performed Tanto Soho and Tanto Dori; a total of 14 techniques involving response to an attack with a wooden dagger.  This drill was highly choreographed down to the last detail, and was executed with military precision.  It took a lot of painful practice to prepare for a demonstration that lasted about five minutes.  Here are some pictures:

Right now at the dojo we are preparing for our next test, which will be for shodan, or "first degree black belt".  Needless to say the training is difficult and the techniques are hard to execute properly.  I now recall with great fondness the luxury of being taught Aikido in the English language, and I look forward to enjoying that privilege again when this is all over!

Apart from training, I am fortunate to have been able to accumulate numerous English pupils whom I work with after practice most days of the week.  Recently, Hiromi, one of my students, invited me to visit the Senso-ji Temple and gardens at Asakusa:

Summary of Recent Events

I am remiss in not having posted to this blog in over a month.  A lot of things have been happening, so I thought I would simply write a brief description of recent events.  The biggest news is that last week I tested for and received the rank of 1st kyu, which is the last rank that you can have before black belt.  In normal classes, we would start wearing a brown belt to signify this rank, but in senshusei everyone wears a white belt until the end, even those who already had black belts before the course began.  We are also currently in intense preparation for our next demonstration, the All-Japan Aikido Embutaikai, which will be taking place at the end of this month.  Our demonstration will include a very intense drill with the wooden tantos (or daggers), on which we have been working very hard. 

Apart from the training, one of the most interesting experiences I've had in the last month was having the honor to help carry a mini-shrine in a parade which was commemorating the Equinox Festival that they have.  The shrine is very heavy and is supported by massive wooden beams.  Everyone has to be in lock-step with one another in order to move it successfully, so it's kind of a lesson in how Japanese society works.  It's rather painful if you try to deviate from the rhythm established by your comrades.  Here's a video I took during the time when I wasn't helping to carry the shrine:

Another great experience that I had was journeying out to a sacred waterfall with my Aikido companions to practice misogi, which is a meditation/purification ritual.  You stand under the icy-cold waterfall and you say a verse along with the people who are watching and supporting you while you do it.  Apparently OSensei, the founder of Aikido, used to do this quite a bit.  It certainly wakes you up and puts you in the present moment.  Yanagihara Shidoin, our immediate superior, advised us to "let it all out" emotionally when we got under the waterfall, so I did some serious screaming while I was in there.  You have to be very quiet and polite here all the time, and plus the language barrier can limit one's ability to express oneself, so I guess I had some feelings to get off my chest!

Last weekend we went on a field trip with the dojo community as a whole, and spent a night at a ryokan, or traditional Japanese inn together.  This was a really great experience because we got to practice Aikido with the regular students, and I realized that I really have learned a lot since I began the course.  The regular students do not practice with the same intensity as we do, and generally don't put in anywhere near the same number of hours, so it was fun to feel like I was pretty good relative to everyone else.  There was a river nearby and I posted this picture of some guys playing around in the water because it looks like they are walking on the river!

 This little fellow didn't know quite what to make of me.  My ability to communicate in Japanese is still pretty wretched...

 Here Bryn and I are singing karaoke with Yanagihara Shidoin and Kancho.  Kancho likes the Beatles, so I think this was "Hard Day's Night".  In the foreground to the left is Kobayashi, the fearless leader of the cops.

 There have been all sorts of bizarre adventures that have taken place over the last month, but perhaps the most random was my participation as a judge in the "Ms. Gay Goddess 2011" competition.  The whole thing came about when I was en route to watch Warz Parrenas (Katsumata) box for a second time at Camp Zama, an American army base.  While on the train, I overheard my friend Mari being asked to judge the contest, but she said she wouldn't be able to, so I volunteered.  Due to the magic of Facebook, this one offhand exchange with someone I barely knew resulted in me being payed 20,000 yen to judge this astounding event.  I have never seen such convincing female impersonators.  I would say that more often than not when I was filling out my scoring cards (which graded them on such factors as "hair/makeup", "movement", and "elegance") I simply forgot that I was looking at men.  Here I am pictured with the winner:

Incidentally, Warz' opponent in the boxing match at Camp Zama was unable to answer the bell starting the second round.  Is he going to be the next Pacquiao?

Yamanashi

This weekend, Bryn, Masa, Aki, and me were honored to join Yanagihara Shidoin at an Aikido demonstration held by Takeno Shihan (a living legend) in Yamanashi, a city located about two hours west of Tokyo.  For our part of the demonstration, we performed a continuous version of the kihon dosa we have been learning, along with 4 basic techniques.  I wish I could say that I didn't make any mistakes, but unfortuntely my performance was not as good as when we did it in practice.  However, I believe we communicated the proper spirit and we will have a chance to give a better performance at the much larger All-Japan Aikido demonstration in a couple of months. 

Here is a picture of us standing beneath a statue of Takeda Shingen, a preeminent 16th century daimyo, or territorial lord.

Monkey Island

Last weekend I went on a bus journey with Bryn and some of our friends from the Filipino community to visit Sarushima "Monkey" Island, the only natural island remaining in Tokyo Bay. It was a very overcast day, but I went swimming anyway, and the water was very warm.  The island, which is just off the coast at Yokusuka (home of the US 7th Fleet), is very interesting because it was once a fortress and contains old walls and cannons and things like that.  Unfortunately, I didn't see any monkeys there.

Here are the other three "Kokusai Senshusei" - Aikimoto san, Bryn, and Masa.  We are the only non-police Senshusei this year. 

Actually, we've also been joined by Kudo san, (the guy I'm pretending to strangle in the end of the last blog entry) so he's the 5th Kokusai Senshusei, although I don't know if he's going to be around for the whole program.  He is extremely good at Karate and is VERY fast.