I just got back from the 1998 Thanksgiving Seminar with Ikeda sensei here at Boulder Aikikai, and I thought I'd write up some of my experiences from it.

First off, I have to say that being injured is extremely frustrating. During the weekend, the number one priority for me was to protect my elbow; I first put my elbow into a neoprene tube-like thing as a pre-wrap (since the pre-wrap tape I used to use didn't hold too well), then I used about four to six feet of athletic tape to render it basically immobile, then on top of all that, I wear a neoprene/velcro elbow brace. Basically, it's as if I'm doing "unbendable arm" all the time. Even with all of these prophylactics, I ended up with an elbow that now hurts more than it did last week. Sheesh. I think I'll be sitting out again for a while...

Anyway, the seminar started out on Friday night with around sixty people or so. I actually expected more people from Boulder Aikikai to show up, but I guess a lot of them were either out of town for the holiday weekend, or they thought they see enough of Ikeda sensei during normal classes that a seminar wouldn't be much different.

Now, I'd have to disagree on that last point. I think up until now (especially since I haven't trained much since I've come up here), I've logged more hours with Ikeda sensei during seminars than during his normal classes, and I have to say that Ikeda sensei does teach differently during seminars than during his normal classes.

During his everyday classes at Boulder Aikikai, Ikeda sensei will generally show a technique about four to eight times in front of the class without much explanation, then he'll train with the person whom he used to demonstrate the technique. So, not much explanation and not much getting to feel him unless you were called up for ukemi. During his seminars, though, Ikeda sensei explains a lot more about what he's doing. Since much of what he does is so small and difficult to see, listening to his explanations, I think, is very important to understand what he is teaching. (Of course, I've picked up other methods of figuring out what he's doing watching where uke goes when he throws to get some understanding of the direction of his tiny spirals. The best way, of course, is to feel him....)

On Friday night, Ikeda sensei went over the notion that nage should affect uke at the instance of being touched. He demonstrated how receiving the attack straight on resulted in nage very often getting overpowered. Rather than trying to absorb uke's attack on uke's line, Ikeda sensei demonstrated redirecting uke's attack on an angle so as to disrupt uke's center. For example, when being grabbed in katatedori, nage can turn his wrist just slightly to affect uke's shoulder; this will take out a lot of the power that uke intended to force upon nage.

Ikeda sensei then went on to explain that only after nage has affected uke in this manner should nage try to throw uke. Most importantly, although the arm and hand is used very often to disrupt uke's balance and strength, Ikeda sensei emphasized that it should be nage's entire body, especially the hips and the legs, that should deliver the power of the throw itself. Ikeda sensei demonstrated this by showing various "stages" of ikkyo in which nage just used his wrist/arm to disrupt uke's center, then nage used his hips to further throw uke off-balance, then nage used his legs (bending his knees) to drive uke down onto the mat. (Having been on the receiving end of this before, I have to say that Ikeda sensei's ikkyo technique is more than adequate to bury me a foot or two into the mat.)

I unfortunately missed Saturday morning class as I was taking the GMAT at that time, but I heard reports from others that he did a bit of bokken work (bokken vs bokken). I'm sorry to have missed it, as I really do love doing bokken stuff.

Saturday afternoon was very interesting, though. Despite the fact that the seminar announcement flyer that was sent out said something to the effect of, "Although tanto will be required, please do _not_ bring your bokken, jo, or shinai," Ikeda sensei proceeded to go over tachidori, jodori, and tantodori. (At least we didn't practice randori against three attackers with shinai...) Ikeda sensei showed us quite a lot of "defenses" (more than I've seen before, at least) with a sheathed sword (tucked into your hakama straps) against people grabbing you, from both katatedori and kosadori. Most of these turned into ikkyo or nikkyo, a few utilizing atemi with the protruding sword hilt.

For the empty-handed techniques, Ikeda sensei emphasized that each movement that you do should serve a function and not just be movement for movement's sake. For example, in the tenkan portion of yokomenuchi shihonage, nage should take uke's balance during the tenkan so uke is in a disadvantageous situation upon the completion of the tenkan; if uke continues to maintain balance, there is no point in performing a tenkan movement.

In the same manner, Ikeda sensei demonstrated that the ikkyo movement that we practice during our initial phases of training development is merely that -- just an exercise in learning about movement. Rather than trying to affect the arm itself, nage should use the arm to affect uke's center. If nage does not affect uke's center, uke continues to be strong, balanced, and able to attack with his or her other arm and legs. Nage must unbalance uke (kuzushi) before the rest of the technique is applied.

On Saturday evening, Kevin Keilbach of Boulder Aikikai organized a dinner in honor of Ikeda sensei's 30 years in aikido. We gathered at Attuso's, an Italian restaurant near downtown Boulder where over fifty people showed up to celebrate. A cake with a frosting-picture of Ikeda sensei throwing Tres Hofmeister was presented; everyone in attendance remarked that poor Tres's figure was headless and must have gotten buried into the mat. Tres presented a brief speech in which he thanked Ikeda sensei for his thiry years in aikido, 18 of which were in Boulder, and wished him health for thirty more years. Ikeda sensei joked that he'll be happy to teach a 60th year anniversary when he's 78, as long as Tres comes out to be uke for him with his walker in tow. All in all, it was a great dinner and a wonderful get-together; I think Kevin did a great job.

Sunday was a lot more intensive workout. Usually, it seems like Ikeda sensei teaches his first day of class a lot less intensively, as I heard that he wants people coming to his seminars from out-of-town to get over their travel weariness. Sunday was full of great techniques that built upon all of the principles Ikeda sensei taught over the last two days. From breaking down kokyu-dosa into some of its basic components to a great exposition of controlling uke all throughout ushirowaza, Ikeda sensei taught a intensive, sweat-producing two hour class fitting as a conclusion to a great seminar.

Jun