Aikido: My Triumphant Return

Earned the rank of rokyu (6th kyu) on January 26th.

Got bronchitis and missed two weeks of class. Almost went back on February 6th, but was exhausted and not into dealing with the inclement weather. Last week, I was in Columbus. So, yesterday, I attended aikido keiko for the first time as a rokyu, after having missed lots and lots of class.

As an aikidoka with rank, I am now not only permitted but required to wear hakama during practice. Luckily, there was a loaner hakama available, as I hadn’t ordered mine yet. Phil was kind enough to show me how to tie the hakama (which is quite the production, let me tell you). I was being frank with Phil-san when I informed him that the whole process would be a lot easier if I didn’t have boobs getting in the way. I don’t think he quite knew how to react to that.

I actually felt a lot more… at ease? Normal? Accepted? Clothed? …while wearing the hakama. I hadn’t realized that part of my unease in class had been the fact that I was dressed differently than most of the others. I consider it a giant stroke of luck that I didn’t trip over my hakama once during class — which, incidentally, was taught by one of the yudansha (black belts), as Sensei was out of town.

My loaner hakama did give me some neat bruises, though. There’s actually a rigid plate in the back, called a koshiita, which Phil told me is supposed to protect your lower back. All it did for me was give me bruises on my back, on either side, just above my ass. Fantastic.

As for class itself, we did a lot of rolling. While I am getting better at taking rolls, especially from my left side, it does still make me dizzy and nauseous. We also did a little work with the jo (staff), which was totally new to me. During our warmup, Phil led us in a jo exercise with which I wasn’t familiar; it looked like everyone else knew it perfectly well, though. I had a hard time following along and reminding myself that Phil was NOT a mirror.

After class, I finally got to participate in the folding of the hakama. The whole class gathers by the edge of the mat and removes their hakama (hakamas?), and folds their hakama on the mat while chatting and having a grand social time. Petra was kind enough to help me out with the removal and folding and tying of my hakama; I would have been totally lost without her help.

Aftermath? Sore everything. Shoulders, arms, sides, back, abs, ass, calves. My abs and arms/chest were already sore from Monday’s and Tuesday’s homegrown workouts, so it’s hard to tell how much is aikido and how much is my other workouts finally catching up to me. What I can ascribe to aikido, though, are the bruises. The nifty matching ones in the back from the koshi plate, and the ones on my wrists from grabs (ryote-tori: two-handed grab, one on each wrist; katate-tori: one hand grabbing one wrist; and morote-tori: two hands grabbing one wrist).

So, yeah. Successful, if exhausting. Thanks to another business trip, this time to Chicago, I won’t be attending keiko again until after the Weapons Seminar on March 1st. So, I’ll have to really start training hard after that to be ready for Gleason-sensei’s visit at the end of March. He’s teaching a gasshuku, an intense weekend of aikido training, and I’m worried that I might not last the entire weekend. I’m going to give it my damnedest, though.

I’ll have to bring my camera to the dojo and take a picture of my name up on the wall, with the other students’. I’m officially a rokyu. That was fun to see.

Highlights from Kyu Testing

The especially good parts:

0:24 to 0:40 – Check me out with my shomenuchi ikkyo omote osai. OMG, does my gi make me look fat? 😉
2:00 to 2:25 – Parts of Rich’s test. He really had the energy happening. Fun to watch.
3:30 to 3:52 – Part of Andy’s test. This part involves some fun hip-throws and breakfalls.
4:28 to end – More of Andy’s test, starting with jo (staff) work and ending with randori (multiple attackers).

Andy was on his third round of randori by this point, and these were the black belts (yudansha) coming at him for his final test. If he looks a little exhausted… that’s because he is. 🙂

And that’s what I did on Saturday the 26th. If it looks like fun, maybe you should give it a go.

Rankless No More

Saturday the 26th was the long-awaited day: the day I tested for my rank of rokyu (6th kyu, the lowest actual rank) in Aikido.

The day started with a Basics Seminar from 9am to noon, wherein we spent the first two hours learning kneeling techniques. I was already familiar with most of the techniques we reviewed, although we did manage to go into more detail than I ever had previously. I also became familiar with techniques that I won’t have to know for another few ranks yet, which was fun.

After the morning session, I asked one of my classmates to help me with my rolls for a few minutes. He did so gladly, and even pulled out one of the tumbling mats for some extra cushion. With his guidance, I finally managed to figure out where I was going wrong with my rolls, although I could tell it would take some time before I could consistently fix the problem. (For those of you keeping score: I was turning myself just before my shoulder hit the mat, so my forward roll turned into more of a sideways roll. The key is to keep forward momentum and think about looking at the knot of my belt.)

The entire dojo usually goes out to lunch together after the morning session; to a local buffet, either Indian or Chinese. I ended up passing on lunch with the dojo, and instead drove home and had a light lunch with my sick hubby. Then, per Sensei’s instructions, I laid down on the couch and just chilled out for a while, letting my sore muscles rest. Once it came time to go back to the dojo for testing, Aaron actually seemed well enough to go along to watch me test. So, after running past Kroger to pick up a veggie tray for the post-testing potluck, the two of us headed over to the dojo just before 3pm.

The first half hour or so was used as a loosening-up period; we paired off and took some rolls, did some basic techniques, and Sensei answered specific technique questions from people who would be testing. Then, after a short break, formal testing began.

The five mukyu (those of us with no rank) went first. I beelined for the side of the mat closest to Aaron and furthest away from Sensei — not so Sensei wouldn’t see me, but so Aaron would. Five volunteer uke presented themselves, we made our formal bows to begin the testing, and so it began. The ten techniques I’d been so worried about flew by in a matter of minutes, and before I knew it, it was time to take my ten rolls. After the first three or four, I felt like I started to understand how forward rolls are supposed to feel, and I got into a bit of a rhythm.

(Unbeknownst to me, several people in the dojo were specifically watching me to see if my rolls had improved. From their comments after the test, it sounds like I have indeed improved. I still need to watch the video for myself, though…)

We formally ended our 6th kyu test with bows to the front of the dojo (the shomen) and to Sensei, and we were done. We returned to our places with the applause of the dojo.

Every other level of testing only had one aikidoka at a time — it just happened to work out that way. Highlights, for me, included Rich’s test for… fourth kyu? Third? I forget. At any rate, I enjoyed watching him really get into his technique. Plus, he got his glasses knocked off halfway through his test. ^_^

The real highlight of the day, though, was Andy’s test for ikkyu — first kyu, brown belt, just one step down from black belt. Not only did we get to watch Andy do sword (bokken) and staff (jo) work, but we also got to watch him perform randori, or fending off three attackers at once. I hope Sensei posts the video to YouTube; if he does, I’ll embed it here for your viewing pleasure. Because it was indeed a pleasure to watch.

After the formal end of testing, there was much congratulations by all. Then there was much food and drink, and some live music provided by members of the dojo (including Sensei, of course).

Thanks go out to Rich and Chelsea for helping me out with my forward rolls, and to Robert for volunteering to take ukemi for my testing. Thanks also to Aaron for coming to watch and cheer me on! That really meant a lot to me.

Maybe I’ll post a photo of me in my fancy hakama pants (not to be confused with Hammer pants) once I get them. ^_^

Aikido Recap

Wednesday, Jan 2: Reviewed suwari waza (kneeling) techniques for sixth kyu test: shomen uchi ikkyo omote and shomen uchi ikkyo ura. Spent the full hour working on just those, with occasional moments of showing sensei the same techniques tachi waza (standing). Learned a lot, refined my skills. Realized later that I had developed blisters on my knees that had since burst, leaving my knees skinned.

Saturday, Jan 5: Returned to Aikido class for a second time in one week, which is not the norm for me. I need to prepare for my test on the 26th, though, so I stepped it up. My knees sported standard band-aids.

Before we broke into ranks to study for the testing, my fate was foreshadowed by unexpected bleeding from a shaving oopsie on my ankle. Later, once we broke into ranks, we once again started with suwari waza; within ten minutes, my band-aids had failed and my knees were bleeding all over my white gi. That class ended up being pretty much a wash, as I kept having to leave the mat to re-band-aid or re-secure said band-aids with medical tape. After class, everyone claimed that I was “hardcore,” although I knew that the initial blisters that had caused the bleeding had to be a result of poor or incorrect kneeling technique on my part.

Wednesday, Jan 9: This time, my knees sported the proper wound attire: large, fabric band-aids made especially for knees. i brought one extra, just in case, and left it in my bag in the changing room.

Again, we mukyu (unranked students) began with suwari waza techniques; this time, though, I was basically forced by my now-delicate knees to use proper technique. I made sure to keep my toes curled up under me, and to walk purposefully on my toes and knees, rather than just scooting and pivoting myself around. I also found myself pulling up my pant-legs and checking my knees whenever I got a free moment; the left knee was generally fine, and the right knee did start bleeding, but not enough to soak through the band-aid.

We then spent some much-needed time on two tachi waza techniques: mune tsuki kotegaeshi (the link shows a slightly more physical version than we practice) and yokomen uchi shihonage. Near the end of class, while I was acting as uke (the attacker/throwee), I felt my ankle scrape across the mat. I’d already gotten a mat burn on that ankle recently, and it hadn’t quite healed, so I wasn’t surprised when my training partner pointed out that I was bleeding. I excused myself, ran off the mat and into the bathroom to clean up, then into the changing room to apply my Band-Aid Of Awesomeness. Once I got myself all squared away and back on the mat, it was time to line up and show the class what we’d learned.

The mukyu demonstrated the two tachi waza techniques we’d studied. It was the first time I’d done any techniques in front of Sensei and the entire class, and it was good practice for how testing will feel. After we were done, the other ranks showed what they’d learned. The next rank up from us did a more advanced suwari waza technique, and the rest all demonstrated weapons work. I see now why we’ve been focusing on weapons more than before: weapons work is apparently a major part of testing for some of the higher ranks.

Assuming I go to two classes a week from now until testing, I have four classes left until testing day. If I step it up and attend three classes a week, I could make it six classes total. I could probably use the extra classes; there are ten techniques total that I need to know, and of those ten, I only feel totally confident with seven. I’m not entirely sure what the other three are. I probably know the techniques, but don’t know them by name. Actually, after a YouTube refresher, I’m feeling OK with identifying most of them, but I know I need some detail work with the techniques.

I also need to get some more practice with rolling, as I haven’t really had to roll for some time now. I was feeling fairly confident with it at one point. In the test, I’ll have to do at least ten forward rolls consecutively (not like these, thankfully — something similar to this, but more of a roll than a breakfall), and I don’t feel comfortable enough with rolling to do that right now. I will in a couple of weeks, though.