Following: Now on to the "Aikido" part of the Aikido road trip!

Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Now on to the "Aikido" part of the Aikido road trip!

We stopped in last night at Aikido of Missoula, led by the warm yet formidable Raso Hultgren Sensei. The class was about half empty hand techniques and half weapons. We worked on musubi, or connection, with our partners. We found a group of really nice folks with generous training spirit and lots of good ukemi. In the weapons portion, we started with a familiar weapons form (Saotome Sensei's kumi tachi #1 for those who know about such things) and then branched off into interesting variations. It was a wonderful class and we so appreciate the warm welcome we received, as well as their enthusiasm for the idea of a long Aikido road trip.

Evie here, just for this paragraph. First of all, it was a great class at Aikido of Missoula. Everyone was very welcoming, and if you're in the area, it's definitely someplace to visit. It was really interesting for me to visit another ASU dojo (ASU = Aikido Schools of Ueshiba = our organization, for those who aren't familiar). Generally when we've traveled in the past, it hasn't been to train at specific dojos, we just pick a place, and train if possible, which usually means lots of different organizations. This is great, to get a totally different view of things, and it can also be good to train somewhere you're not always totally lost (for example, somewhere in your organization). Seeing Hultgren Sensei's take on familiar techniques was interesting to compare to what we see at home. Everyone at Aikido of Missoula definitely had a "style" which was very similar to Hultgren Sensei's, probably due to the fact that--as far as I can tell--she teaches most of the classes. The variations on the way we do techniques normally will certainly be interesting to bring home.

We also poked around downtown Missoula a little bit, walking back and forth from dinner at a nice pan-Asian restaurant. It's a cool town--a groovy mashup of a college town and a cowboy hub. It's a long way from anywhere, but if you're in the neighborhood, it's a great stop.

Tonight--Seattle!

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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.