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The Training
Carlos Escobar Sensei
Carlos Escobar sensei (4th dan; Kurita Juku Aikido; Mexico) taught
what seemed like a very traditional class. Escobar sensei's movements
were very large, pronounced, and very nice to watch.
Escobar sensei provided us with some points of practice from Kurita
Juku. Escobar sensei also worked on a lot of nice, big throws
involving body movement moreso than just trying to throw uke with your
hands and arms.
We went through a fair amount of suwariwaza from katatedori wherein
Escobar sensei emphasized movement of the body rather than being
caught up trying to move the arm itself. His taisabaki is very
elegant and wonderful to watch, and he went over a lot of great
fundamentals.
Chuck Clark Sensei
Chuck Clark sensei (7th dan; Jiyushinkai; Tempe, AZ) talked first
about his Jiyushinkai style of aikido while several of his students
demonstrated a few aspects of their systematic approach to aikido.
Unlike many other styles of aikido, Clark sensei's style incorporates
what he calls kata in order to teach his students the basic movements
and taisabaki of aikido. I thought this kata was very beautiful to
watch and contained a great amount of movements that are integral to
aikido. Unlike the Tomiki style of aikido on which his style is
based, Jiyushinkai aikido does not have competitions.
A couple of his students then went to demonstrate what I believe Clark
sensei called the "Jyunanahon no kata." With Clark sensei's son Aaron
Clark as uke, Mimi, who had just tested for nidan, went through a
variety of techniques. The one thing that really captivated me during
this was the zanshin displayed between the two; they never took their
eyes off each other and there was never a moment of slack between
them. At one point, Aaron "tested" Mimi when she displayed a moment
of hesitation and basically went right through her to land her right
on her back; I liked this as it really emphasized awareness for both
nage and uke (or, shite and tori).
His students then demonstrated their randori which I thought was
pretty awesome. Uke remains very aware of any openings which nage may
have and will take control of the situation whenever possible. This
makes for a very dynamic interaction between nage and uke with the
roles switching and, in the long run, becoming blurred.
We then worked on a variety of kaeshiwaza from ikkyo which emphasized
staying aware of the other person's intention and movement and moving
with it (both as nage and uke) rather than resisting.
Chuck Clark sensei told me that in his system, the person in the role
of nage takes care of where uke lands and is thrown. In this way, uke
can really just give his or her body to nage and not have to worry
about being thrown into another person on the mat or into an otherwise
dangerous place. I agree very much with this, and I hope other people
will incorporate this into their practice, too.
Rocky Izumi Sensei
If any of you have been on the list for any length of time, you'll
remember postings from the indomitable "Rocky." Rocky Izumi sensei
(4th dan; Regina Aikido Dojo; Regina, CA) signed off from the list a
couple of years ago, but he left all of us "old-timers" with a bevy of
stories and an indelible impression of his aikido experience.
Dennis Hooker sensei suggested that we dedicate one of the open mat
sessions to Izumi sensei and get him to teach. Of course, everyone
agreed, and we had the "Rock" out there in person as a special guest
instructor for an hour.
Izumi sensei's style of teaching is both very serious and very
humorous. Using Aaron Clark as his uke, he went through a lot about
body positioning as relative to uke. By keeping his foot, hips,
hands, and head in line through uke's center line, Izumi sensei went
through teaching tenchinage by using such ingenious images such as
"the Queen of England," "the Funky Chicken," and "Corn Holio." (Yes,
you had to be there.)
Izumi sensei also recalled talking to Kawahara sensei about whether
ikkyo was a "technique" or not. He said that when one of his students
asked Kawahara sensei in English, "Sensei, is ikkyo a technique?",
Kawahara sensei replied, "Of course it is." However, when Izumi
sensei asked him in Japanese if ikkyo was a technique ("Sensei,
ikkyowa waza desuka?"), Kawahara sensei replied, "You idiot! If
you're still thinking that way, you shouldn't be training in aikido!"
("Bakayaro! Mada sonnafuuni kangaeterunara, aikido nanka yamero!").
Izumi sensei went on to explain that ikkyo was, although technically a
"technique," in actuality an aikido principle.
All in all, a great class from an Aikido-L legend.
(I chatted with him in Japanese at the Saturday night dinner. He,
too, came over to the States when he was six years old as did I.)
George Simcox Sensei
George Simcox sensei (5th dan; Virginia Ki Society; Merrifield, VA)
started out his class by going through a few "ki tests." He led us
through the exercise of being pushed in the chest and shifting
attention from the hand doing the pushing, down to the feet, and then
back up to "center point" and noticing the differences it made in
dealing with the push itself. For me, it made a world of difference.
We then worked on moving through the hand that was doing the pushing,
noticing that it was difficult to start moving when you were "dug in."
Simcox sensei had us feeling light in more than one way; imagine
Simcox sensei waving his hands and arms over his head with a goofy
grin on his face, sort of doing a walking jig/dance and you'll get
what he meant by "light." He later commented that the schticks that
he did in front of class was completely optional when you practiced
the techniques themselves, but they certainly did get the point across.
Simcox sensei also went through some great ushirowaza including one
that he once taught to a bunch of girl scouts in 45 minutes' time.
The lasting image I have of these ushirowaza is of Simcox sensei
saying, "You really have to forget about your hands when someone grabs
you from behind. Just work your body backwards, and wedge your hips
back between uke's hands. This works really well if you have a pointy
butt like I do."
He then went on to explain about Ki Society's taigi. He had Craig
Hocker and Tim Gion demonstrate one set of taigi exercises which are a
set of 31 sets of techniques that are "graded" on a point system.
Points are taken off for technical merit, flow, and other aspects.
Simcox sensei's bubbly personality shone through his teaching and
warmed us all. So many times during the ki testing were there people
laughing at the unexpectedly effective results of "just" refocusing
your own attention elsewhere or thinking in a different, "positive"
manner.
Dennis Hooker Sensei
Dennis Hooker sensei (5th dan; Shindai Aikikai; Orlando, FL) started
out with some "very different stuff" as he called it. We worked on an
interesting transition for the pin for suwariwaza kotegaeshi that
involved leveraging uke's arm across nage's shin to turn uke over. We
also worked on a few variations for iriminage including a nice, direct
entry into uke's chin, and a variation from that into kaiten nage.
Moreso than just the techniques, I'm going to remember what Hooker
sensei said in his mini "sermons." These are from memory, so they're
not perfect quotes.
"If you're getting attacked by more than one person, you might
just have to break the first person in order to be able to
protect the second. I've been through Gravis, a broken back,
two blown out knees, and I now have tubes in my body from a
kidney surgery."
"You never, ever resist in aikido."
"Do not criticize anyone's teachings. Try it first. Feel
uncomfortable with it. If you like it, great. If you don't
like it, ignore it. But, don't disrespect anyone's teachings
or criticize it."
"There's a lot more I could be doing than aikido. I could be
visiting my grandkids. I could be scuba diving down in
Martinique. But I'm here."
"Do not judge my aikido with what I or any of the other
teachers this weekend are doing up here in an hour and a half.
I have thirty years of experience in aikido. Clark sensei,
forty-five. Simcox sensei, over thirty. What we're doing up
here is just an eye's blink of what we know."
Emily Dolan said to Hooker sensei after class, "Dennis, you're the
only person who has ever made me cry on the mat without having laid a
finger on me." I'll be honest and say that I had tears in my eyes a
few times, too.
At the end of his session, Hooker sensei accepted his "Dog God" award,
a harmonica wedged between a dog hand-puppet's teeth from the awards
committee, by playing the first couple of bars from "Amazing Grace" on
it. "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound / That saved a wretch like
me."
Chuck Gordon Sensei
Chuck Gordon sensei (Renshi (Chuden); Kokororyu Aikibudo;
Indianapolis, IN) went through techniques that were a lot more martial
in nature than the other teachers. His techniques included a lot more
atemi, joint locks, and bigger kuzushi than "usual" aikido techniques.
However, underlying all of this were the same exact principles with
which I have experienced in my own aikido training.
Gordon sensei showed us some really neat koshinage (which I might just
have to bring out for my upcoming test) including one from ryotedori
koshinage (with an elbow in uke's face (not as an atemi, but just for
positioning)) and another one like aiki-otoshi that was like a reverse
koshinage where uke lands directly behind nage.
What I got from Gordon sensei's class was that the same techniques
that I normally practice in my otherwise "soft" style of aikido can
easily be extended to become quite martial and vice versa. The armbar
technique that we practiced from ryotedori, for example, could easily
be extended to simply break uke's arm or it could be softened to just
raise uke's center off-balance for the throw -- all with the same
underlying principles of affecting a person.
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