Little House In Ise

Aaaah, my hands still hurt from a week ago, ushiro class of Seki and a huge strong partner. Otherwise, the best answer for weakest technique: ikkyo
a happy yonkyu (getting the diploma today!),
k.

.. and how to improve, the classic 4 P-s… but not the marketing P-s (product, place, price, positioning), nor even just repetition (practice * 4), but a “peaceful patient & permanent practice”

So far mine is has always been suwariwaza, because my knees are shot out. I don’t know quite how to improve it without injuring myself further.

Kadi:
I saw your name posted on the board and have been wanting to congratulate you. Very neat! One more and you can wear the skirt, right?

Autrelle:
Thanks for stopping by!

I can sympathize with your bad knees — that seems to be a common failing in Aikidoka. Is your problem moving on you knees or just plain bending them? If the former, knee pads and slooow understanding partners are about all that I can think of. But for unbending knees, there is a fellow at Honbu who brings a little camp stool to class and sits in the corner. He uses it for kokyu-dosa. Everything else he does standing.

Take care!
e.

High falls. Dislocated a toe on a koshi nage and have involuntarily been gun-shy ever since. Not because I’m afraid of the dislocation, but rather the inconvenience and burden of limping around. I just try to take easy high falls whenever I can (without tossing myself unnecessarily) and figure the more I do, the more natural it will become.

Userhacker:
If high falls are your issue, I highly recomend taking any opportunity to train with Frank Ostoff and Jan Nevelius that might come your way. Anyone who plans to continue doing Aikido as they age should consider the strains that ukemi repeatedly puts on their body. These sensei teach ukemi variations that are better suited to reduceing those stresses and that includes soft high-falls. Really, those guys are good!

Later,
e.

Koshinages are still my worst. I’m slowing them down and working on my balance.

Just found this link in my old email.
Have you any interest in Aikido?

I’m with Uchi Deshi; koshinage! But sometimes they are ok. My worst technique varies from day to day. Right now I am getting ready for shodan, so sometimes things go really well and other times, uh, not so great.

Hi Uchi Deshi:
Yeah, my buddies from jujutsu tend to ridicule Aikido koshinage a lot. Most of us just don’t train it that much. There are entire ryu where it’s pretty much been eliminated from the sylabus (Hi Dave!). In the short few months that I’ve been training at Aikikai Honbu, Koshinage have only been taught once that I have seen. So, if you’re interested in koshi, and I don’t want to sound like a broken record, Frank Ostoff and Jan Nevelius teach koshi nage in such a way that everything becomes koshinage. They are not my personal stylistic gurus but I respect them a lot. If you get a chance, try going to one of their seminars.

Howdy Karen:
Good luck on your test! Any idea what will be thrown at you? I look forward to reading about it.

Hey Colm:
No, I don’t have any particular interest in Aikido. I’m the missing fifth Cylon and am trying to throw everyone off the path. So far, it seems to be working pretty well. Aikikai Honbu moved to Reykjavik in 1972 and I’ve really been studying Pachinko for the last twenty years. How’s Toyama treating you?

Later,
e.

Toyohashi, and it’s pretty good. Don’t have an enormous amount to do in work though. Have a “band” if it can be charitably called that, and a football team that seems to be pretty decent.

Weird formatting issue, I can only see the first two thirds of the comment as I’m typing it here, the rest just goes over the edge.

Oops, sorry! In my defense, Toyama is the name of the park behind my house.
e.