Aikido in Kyoto
My friend Troy, from the Tulsa Aikido Club, came to Japan. He wanted to do some aikido training and sightseeing.
We made it back from Kyoto without a scratch or any broken limbs. We also made it back without having done any aikido. However, I did get to watch two classes. They were both held in the Kyoto Budo Center. The budo center is part of the Heian Shrine and the grounds are awesome. There is one huge temple-looking kendo hall in the middle of it. There is also a thoroughly modern building that makes up part of the complex. One of the classes I watched is headed by Okamoto Sensei (http://aikidokyoto.com/). She is by far one of the best aikidoka I've had the pleasure of seeing in person. I was sick and freezing while I watched but neither stopped me from taking notes. She did a lot of kokyu-related techniques and I filled up about a page of written notes. Check out her bio on their homepage. She has quite a bit of experience. On the mat, she was pure aikido. Nothing distracted her. That I heard, she can speak Japanese, English, and French. She walked over to ask me if I wanted to train and also wrote out directions to her other dojo in case I could make it to that one. One thing I noticed, was that most of the yudansha in her class were female. Also, the majority of the class was gaijin.
The second class was also held at the Kyoto Budo Center. I'm not sure who Okamoto Sensei is affiliated with, but the other group was from Osaka Aikikai. All of their literature lists Nomura Sensei as their leader, but I heard that he was asked to stop teaching at the budo center. There was a healthy group of about thirty- half of which were yudansha. The best I could figure, was that, this group is made of up senseis from the local Kyoto dojos. On this particular night, maybe they all go to the Budo Center to train.
While I didn't get to train, I feel that I got something from watching the classes. I've done all the techniques that they showed. The end of the techniques are usually the same. It's the beginnings that are different.
While I was away, Noriko was hard at work converting and old kimono obi that we bought in Kanazawa into an iaido sword bag. Now, if I ever have some aikido kids, I can say, "Back in my day, your mama had to make my weapons bag! She also made one for Troy.
We made it back from Kyoto without a scratch or any broken limbs. We also made it back without having done any aikido. However, I did get to watch two classes. They were both held in the Kyoto Budo Center. The budo center is part of the Heian Shrine and the grounds are awesome. There is one huge temple-looking kendo hall in the middle of it. There is also a thoroughly modern building that makes up part of the complex. One of the classes I watched is headed by Okamoto Sensei (http://aikidokyoto.com/). She is by far one of the best aikidoka I've had the pleasure of seeing in person. I was sick and freezing while I watched but neither stopped me from taking notes. She did a lot of kokyu-related techniques and I filled up about a page of written notes. Check out her bio on their homepage. She has quite a bit of experience. On the mat, she was pure aikido. Nothing distracted her. That I heard, she can speak Japanese, English, and French. She walked over to ask me if I wanted to train and also wrote out directions to her other dojo in case I could make it to that one. One thing I noticed, was that most of the yudansha in her class were female. Also, the majority of the class was gaijin.
The second class was also held at the Kyoto Budo Center. I'm not sure who Okamoto Sensei is affiliated with, but the other group was from Osaka Aikikai. All of their literature lists Nomura Sensei as their leader, but I heard that he was asked to stop teaching at the budo center. There was a healthy group of about thirty- half of which were yudansha. The best I could figure, was that, this group is made of up senseis from the local Kyoto dojos. On this particular night, maybe they all go to the Budo Center to train.
While I didn't get to train, I feel that I got something from watching the classes. I've done all the techniques that they showed. The end of the techniques are usually the same. It's the beginnings that are different.
While I was away, Noriko was hard at work converting and old kimono obi that we bought in Kanazawa into an iaido sword bag. Now, if I ever have some aikido kids, I can say, "Back in my day, your mama had to make my weapons bag! She also made one for Troy.
posted by Jory-san at 12:32 AM
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