Firt Time of Fall

I am in no position to comment on how good Doshu is but the first time he ever threw me, it changed a large part of my outlook on Aikido. Up till that time I was unsure about what "strong" technique was. I would try to ensure that my technique was clean and crisp, and there was good extension of Ki.

Doshu indicated for a morotetori attack and I complied. As he led me around him, I thought: "Boy, there isn't much strength here. Grabbing him is like grabbing smoke. He isn't really even leading me around." As I was completing the 360 degree turn into the iriminage, I thought: "I guess I should look for a place to land so I can take a good fall for him." At that point, I found myself staring up at the ceiling. I didn't understand how I got there. It was kind of like a time warp. The instant I had thought about falling, I had already fallen, so smoothly and softly that I didn't notice having done so.

Was it a "strong" throw? Was it a quick one? I don't know and I figure it really didn't matter anyway. I was down there where I was supposed to be.

I still try for clean, crisp technique and good extension of Ki but if I can get a person to jump for me, regardless of their initial intent, it saves me a lot of work. I figure, in practice, you should practice for the worst-case scenarios. But reality hardly ever turns out into worst case (not best case either).

A lot of Aikido is about self-defense and self-defense is about your ability to control your own environment. How you control your environment is up to you and the knowledge, skills, and abilities you possess. Aikido provides you with another set of skills and knowledge to help you control your environment. Those skills vary from crash-bang to smoke and mirrors. You use the tools most appropriate for the situation and move on (you might wish to leave a silver tanto).

Rock

History of Aikido

Aikido's founder, Morihei Ueshiba, was born in Japan on December 14, 1883. As a boy, he often saw local thugs beat up his father for political reasons. He set out to make himself strong so that he could take revenge. He devoted himself to hard physical conditioning and eventually to the practice of martial arts, receiving certificates of mastery in several styles of jujitsu, fencing, and spear fighting. In spite of his impressive physical and martial capabilities, however, he felt very dissatisfied. He began delving into religions in hopes of finding a deeper significance to life, all the while continuing to pursue his studies of budo, or the martial arts. By combining his martial training with his religious and political ideologies, he created the modern martial art of aikido. Ueshiba decided on the name "aikido" in 1942 (before that he called his martial art "aikibudo"and "aikinomichi").

On the technical side, aikido is rooted in several styles of jujitsu (from which modern judo is also derived), in particular daitoryu-(aiki)jujitsu, as well as sword and spear fighting arts. Oversimplifying somewhat, we may say that aikido takes the joint locks and throws from jujitsu and combines them with the body movements of sword and spear fighting. However, we must also realize that many aikido techniques are the result of Master Ueshiba's own innovation.

On the religious side, Ueshiba was a devotee of one of Japan's so-called "new religions," Omotokyo. Omotokyo was (and is) part neo-Shintoism, and part socio-political idealism. One goal of Omotokyo has been the unification of all humanity in a single "heavenly kingdom on earth" where all religions would be united under the banner of Omotokyo. It is impossible sufficiently to understand many of O-sensei's writings and sayings without keeping the influence of Omotokyo firmly in mind.

Despite what many people think or claim, there is no unified philosophy of aikido. What there is, instead, is a disorganized and only partially coherent collection of religious, ethical, and metaphysical beliefs which are only more or less shared by aikidoka, and which are either transmitted by word of mouth or found in scattered publications about aikido.

Some examples: "Aikido is not a way to fight with or defeat enemies; it is a way to reconcile the world and make all human beings one family." "The essence of aikido is the cultivation of ki [a vital force, internal power, mental/spiritual energy]." "The secret of aikido is to become one with the universe." "Aikido is primarily a way to achieve physical and psychological self-mastery." "The body is the concrete unification of the physical and spiritual created by the universe." And so forth.

At the core of almost all philosophical interpretations of aikido, however, we may identify at least two fundamental threads: (1) A commitment to peaceful resolution of conflict whenever possible. (2) A commitment to self-improvement through aikido training.

Backround and Setting at Shodan Test

From last summer until earlier this year, I'd been what you might call a "ronin" in the Bay Area. I would travel from dojo to dojo, seminar to seminar, without having any particular dojo to call "home." In time, however, I found myself starting to train quite regularly at Aikido of Tamalpais.

From early on in the year, there were a handful of shodan candidates who were working very hard on their upcoming shodan tests in June at Tamalpais. For months before the test, whoever was teaching would ask, night after night, for each candidate to come up and demonstrate a handful of techniques, perform jiyuwaza, and then undergo one or two runs of randori. The atmosphere in the dojo was great; so many people were going up for tests that everyone was working with them during class and learning with them when they got corrections. It was kind of like riding this big wave of "test energy" in the dojo. This, along with a heart to heart conversation I had with a friend up at Tam, made me want to test for shodan.

In addition, during late March of this year, I found myself coming to a decision that I would join Tamalpais and ask to be considered as a candidate for shodan testing. The teachers there were wonderful, the training was lively, fun, and challenging, and the students were friendly -- all in all, I really liked the dojo. Unfortunately, my main instructor at Tamalpais, Wendy Palmer sensei, was away in South Africa until early April. I resolved myself to ask Wendy sensei to see whether I could join her dojo and be considered a candidate as soon as she came back.

It was an interesting week when I finally asked to join Tamalpais. On Tuesday of that week, I asked Wendy sensei if I could join Tam; she was very happy to hear this, and of course said yes. When I talked to her about being considered a candidate for testing, she said although she would be able to support my candidacy as she had seen my training for about a year at that time, she said would discuss this matter with George Leonard sensei, as they both had to agree on any decision made as far as the dojo went. George sensei told me he would like to see me in his classes for the next few weeks to see where I was in my training. So, on April 7th, I officially joined Aikido of Tamalpais and took off my hakama (as was the dojo policy at the time for mudansha).

That Saturday (April 11th), Tamalpais had a Shinto ritual with two Shinto priests who came to purify the dojo. On this date, Wendy sensei and George sensei announced that Tamalpais had been accepted into the ASU (Aikido Schools of Ueshiba) association with Saotome sensei. This was great news to me; I had been training in an ASU dojo previously, and I was acquainted with their weapons system. In addition, I got to put my hakama back on (as was the association policy).

The following Monday (April 13th), we held a farewell party that evening for Richard Heckler sensei who was leaving Aikido of Tamalpais after having cofounded the dojo and having taught there for over 20 years.

I kept training at Tam with both instructors for a few weeks until one night when George sensei told me that I should fill out a shodan candidacy form and put it up on the wall. I had been accepted as a candidate for testing for shodan.

Jun