I just got back from the Boulder Aikikai Thanksgiving seminar with Hiroshi Ikeda sensei and I thought I'd share some of my experiences from it.

The weather in Boulder held out just beautifully for the entire weekend as Boulder Aikikai held its yearly Thanksgiving seminar. Blue skies and the snow-capped Rocky Mountains greeted the visitors as they came to the dojo from around the country for the seminar.

I've been to quite a few seminars with Ikeda sensei (a little less than 20 seminars now), but he always shows something different at each one. This weekend seminar was no different -- the entire weekend was devoted to his showing us nine hours' worth of kaeshiwaza (reversal techniques).

Ikeda sensei emphasized over the weekend for nage to actually try to make their technique work, rather than just going through the motions of the technique. He said that uke must not anticipate the technique being put on them but rather feel what is happening and respond to the technique as it happens. He also reiterated that uke must retain the same principles that we work on as nage. Just as we try as nage, uke must also move their body and not just try to effect the technique with their arms. Go with the movement. Use your center. Stay relaxed. Take your partner's balance. And so on.

We went through a whole variety of responses ranging from reversals from ikkyo, nikkyo, sankyo, iriminage, shihonage, sumiotoshi, and kotegaeshi. The responses themselves ranged from all of the above techniques to others like hijinage, kaitennage, a plethora of kokyunage, and even one sutemiwaza.

We also did a lot of kaeshiwaza with shinai as well, working off of when uketachi does a simple guard to a yokomenuchi strike. The responses here varied from simple shomen and yokomenuchi to kabutowari, urakote, and other fun stuff. We also used the shinai to throw our opponents into a few kokyunage as well as learning a few techniques involving just dropping the shinai after the strike so as to repsonded empty-handedly.

Some people may consider kaeshiwaza to be an advanced technique, but I've always considered it a part of the awareness process enclosed within the role of uke. Although I may not actively seek to employ a certain technique during my role as uke, I still often recognize certain places in nage's technique that are often "open" to a reversal.

All in all, the seminar was very enlightening yet confusing. Pretty much everyone with whom I spoke said that their brains were more tired than their body, most likely due to our having to switch our regular uke/nage roles throughout the weekend. A group of about 20 of us went on Saturday night to a local Moroccan restaurant where we enjoyed eating with our fingers, a belly dancer who sure could use her hips, and some pretty neat tea pouring techniques. The weekend was a great way for everyone to work off their Thanksgiving dinners, and it seemed like everyone went home in good spirits.

Jun