Following: Home tomorrow

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Home tomorrow

It's Thursday evening, and we're in St. Louis, within striking distance of home. Evie is out visiting with a friend from Japanese camp, so we have a few minutes before we have to go pick her up again.

With the Aikido portion of the trip behind us and lots of time on our hands, we've started to reflect on what we have experienced. Our Aikido of Madison dojo mates will surely hear some of this, but one of the biggest things that we've been talking about is what it means to welcome visitors to your dojo. We had a range of experiences, and it's given us ideas about how we could be good hosts.

We also experienced a broad spectrum of ukemi, and it has helped us (probably more me than Evie, who doesn't have a lot of problems in the ukemi department) to clarify the kind of partner I want to be.

Technique-wise, we both have things that we thought were fun or interesting or worth sharing. While a library of techniques and variations is useful and nice to have (or it seems to be in Evie's case--I don't really have one yet), there are some bigger ideas that I think I will be focusing on, one of which is a greater emphasis on irimi, or entering. Nevelius Sensei had some demonstrations that really shows the value of it and I'll be doing some practice drills to beat it into my body.

I also feel that Nevelius's concept of the meeting place, and its corollary the axis of the meeting, really resonated with me. It's quite different from the Mary Heiny Sensei/Linda Holiday Sensei concept of "I am the center of the universe". It just makes more sense to me. The techniques end up looking quite different. Time will tell how well I can integrate the idea into my training.

I was also glad to see that Evie has no trouble finding a welcome for herself in a wide range of dojos. She was counseled once that if you have good etiquette and good ukemi you will be welcome anywhere, and she works hard on both. So as she moves into a phase of her life when she may be traveling around the country and the world, it's great to have confidence that she can make a place for herself.

I'm sure Jen and Evie will have more thoughts as we wrap up the journey, but for now, I'm looking forward to sleeping in our own bed!

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Aikido Glossary

These are the most common terms you'll see here. We've also prepared a more detailed glossary (see below).

Dojo: “The place of the way”. The training hall where we practice our art. In the US, many dojo are decorated with a Japanese aesthetic, but some are in racquetball courts or gyms. In the end, the dojo is wherever the people are who show up to practice.

Gi: Training uniform consisting of jacket and pants (normally plain white for aikido) and an obi, or belt. In our federation, belts are either white or black, but in many federations, there are colored belts, most commonly blue and brown, but sometimes there are more gradations. Some aikido practitioners also wear a hakama.

Hakama: The pleated pants (that look like a skirt) worn by some aikido practitioners. In some organizations, it is (or can be) worn by students of any rank. In others, it is reserved for black belts, and in still others, there are different rules for men and women (which are derived from some interpretation of Japanese ideas of modesty). It has no real practical purpose, but serves as a sort of historical link to samurai tradition.

Hanmi: “Half body.” We use it to mean an aikido stance which is sort of triangular. Front foot faces the partner, back foot points out at about a 45 degree angle. It provides a great balance of agility and stability, while offering only half the body as a target for attack.

Musubi: “Connection” or “joining”, although the word is also used to mean “knot”. A key principle of aikido because it helps avoid confrontation and collision, which lead to destruction.

Nage: The person “doing” the technique, generally the person being attacked in some way.

Seiza: Formal sitting posture, kneeling with a straight back. Tough on the knees if you are not used to it.

Shomen: The focal point of the dojo, the proper direction to face. Most aikido dojo have some sort of shrine to the founder on the shomen. Shomen is also shorthand for Shomen uchi, which is an overhead strike to the forehead with an open hand, like a classic karate chop. It's a stylized attack when performed with an empty hand, but would be devastatingly effective with a weapon.

Uke: The person taking ukemi. A good uke is more precious than gold, because he or she will help you learn better aikido not by teaching, but by creating the conditions that allow you to discover how to make sense of Sensei's teaching.

Ukemi: “Receiving” is the closest translation from Japanese. When someone performs an aikido technique on you, your are taking ukemi. It encompasses a lot of stuff, including the punches, grabs, and kicks that we use to simulate attack, as well as the falling and rolling we use to keep ourselves safe.
On a deeper level, it refers to the act of connecting with and following your partner. Great ukemi keeps you safe, allows you to be alert for opportunities to reverse a technique, and helps your partner learn better.