I just got back from the San Rafael Summer Camp with Hiroshi Ikeda sensei, Bob Nadeau sensei, Frank Doran Sensei, and Julio Toribio sensei, and I thought I'd write up my experiences from the camp.

The camp itself ran from Sunday through Saturday (6/14 through 6/20). On Sunday (the first day of camp), there was only an hour long class with half of it taught by Nadeau sensei and the other half taught by Toribio sensei. On Saturday (the last day of camp), there was only an hour long class with half of it taught by Doran sensei and the other half taught by Ikeda sensei. All of the other days (Monday through Friday) had each of the instructors teaching an hour each; Doran sensei taught at 10am, Ikeda sensei at 2:30pm, Toribio sensei at 4pm, and Nadeau sensei at 7:30pm. There was also a thirty minute 7am class taught by other instructors who attended the camp (including Cindy Hayashi sensei, Danielle Evans sensei, Craig Fife sensei, and Michael Friedl sensei), but I skipped all of them, needing to keep up on my beauty sleep.

The camp was held at Dominican College in San Rafael, California. Although this location was about a ten minute drive away from my current dojo (Aikido of Tamalpais), I live about an hour away, so I decided to partake in their on-campus housing. I'll have to say that their dorm rooms were actually not that bad; they had a shower and bathroom for each room and were actually pretty spacious. The food at the camp was great, as their cafeteria was professionally catered, was all-you-can-eat (very nice, especially for all the hungry aikidoka), and had a good selection of vegetarian entrees including a salad bar every day.

The campus itself is very beautiful, nestled amongst some impressive looking trees. Very often, you could see deer prancing through the campus. It was also very close to local amenities such as a Whole Foods supermarket and Rite-Aid drug store. It was also close to my friend's hot tub which I used on Tuesday night.

The weather turned out to be wonderful throughout the week. Up until the Saturday before camp, we had been getting a lot of grey, overcast days. There was plenty of sunshine throughout the week, and many tired aikidoka could be seen napping on the lawns of the college in between classes (myself included).

Rather than try to go through each and every single day of camp, I'll just present a summary of the impressions that I got from each of the instructors. Besides, I wouldn't be able to be all that specific any way...

Doran sensei (6th dan, Aikido West) is like a walking encyclopedia of aikido techniques. His aikido techniques are very precise and are beautiful to watch. Even more amazing than his aikido techniques is Doran sensei's ability to break down a technique and provide a clear manner of explaining its many points; he very often presents ways of visualizing the movements of a technique which make it easier for people to learn the movements. I have heard he often calls himself a "technician" in aikido; I'll have to say that being in his classes throughout the week helped sharpen up a lot of my otherwise kludgey techniques for my test.

Ikeda sensei (7th dan, Boulder Aikikai) usually teaches his "tiny spiral" aikido during his seminars. Luckily, I've had some experience with his seminars, so I wasn't as lost nor as frustrated as a lot of other people on the mat. Ikeda sensei emphasized the importance of "catching" the other person at the point of their contact with you. Rather than they grabbing you and taking your balance, you should strive towards affecting them before they become strong to take their balance. This, he says, does not take a whole lot of movement -- very often, just a minuscule turning of the hips is all that it takes. No matter how hard you grab that man, he seems to be able to affect you.

Toribio sensei (4th dan, Seibukan) is quite a trip. He's ranked in other martial arts (karate, jujutsu) and knows a whole variety of martial disciplines from grappling to punching/kicking to weapons. Through the week, he showed some really neat and interesting variations to the aikido theme, including the use of the tanbo (14" stick) and the hanbo (36" stick). He taught some great variations to the normal aikido pins, including the "turn-over" for kotegaeshi that Dennis Hooker sensei taught at the Aikido-L Seminar as well as a totally cool "turn-over" for the kotegaeshi pin that involves nage performing a forward roll over uke's arm. He also showed some redirection exercises in which you redirect uke's punch away from the body while staying on the line without touching the punch; I went after the Friday afternoon class and tried pretty darned hard to hit the man with a munetsuki, but he was able to redirect the punch without touching me. Neat stuff.

Nadeau sensei (6th dan, City Aikido) is the person most involved in dealing with "energy" with whom I've trained in the field of aikido. He very often "taps" into some of the more esoteric stuff in aikido, using terminology such as "becoming clear" (or, "Clear I Am"), "marrying the male and female energies" in a technique, and his "Lolita theory" of aikido (don't ask; I missed that class). Despite all of this, I actually like training with him. It takes a different mindset, say, than taking a class from Doran sensei or Ikeda sensei, but I find it interesting to see just where he's going with all of his stuff.

I have to say that the most memorable event for me during this camp actually occurred on Monday evening, the first real evening of the camp. Since I had trained in all of the other three classes (with Doran sensei, Ikeda sensei, and Toribio sensei), I had thought about taking it pretty easy during Nadeau sensei's class. I was starting to warm up when I hear in Japanese, "Akiyama-san, let's train together." ("Akiyama-san, issho ni keiko shimashou.") I turn toward the voice (which, I already had recognized) to see Ikeda sensei smiling at me. Nothing much more that I could do than to turn to him and say "onegai shimasu." (When I said to him, half jokingly, to please take it easy on me ("Oteyawaraka ni"), he smiled and said, "No, I wont' be easy on you" ("Yawarakaku shimasenyo").

Basically, I got to work with Ikeda sensei, one on one, for one hour of ikkyo and nikkyo. Those were definitely the most powerful throws I've ever felt in my life; I was having to breakfall on almost every one of his ikkyo techniques. He did let up with me during the middle of the class and just started to take balance, but only for one or two rounds of ikkyo. His nikkyo were all very compelling without causing undue pain. (People came up to me after class and thanked me for training with Ikeda sensei (instead of their training with him) during that class.)

Trying to throwing the man is just about impossible for me (at this point in my training), although he did start going down and actually rolling for me for ikkyo-nage. I had told him that I was going to be testing on Saturday after camp, and I think this was his way of softening me up for it. I will have to say that after that hour, I had absolutely no fear of trying to throw people during the test, even if they were 6'3" and over 200 pounds.

All in all, I have to say that training with Ikeda sensei was the most intense hour-long practice that I've ever had in my training, kind of like an hour-long roller coaster ride. (Frankly, I don't remember anything of what Nadeau sensei was teaching in that class.) I hope to be able to do that again.

Other memorable events include:

• The Aiki-Follies "talent" show on Friday night. Many very funny skits including "The Wizard of Waz...a" (wherein Dorothy finds herself in the land of Waz...a and befriends four sensei in her quest to find the Wizard), "Samurai Sports Follies" (featuring Danielle Evans and Jamie Zimron playing aiki-tennis and aiki-golf (including a tennis racket takeaway and 31-golfclub kata)), and "Aikido Wizard" (to the tune of "Pinball Wizard" including the line, "That Ikeda Shihan // Sure has a mean Ikkyo"). Musical numbers included Ikeda sensei's amazing whistling (including the theme song to the Andy Griffith show and "Amazing Grace"), Teija Bell's wonderful guitar, and a great summary of the entire camp done in blues style.

  (At the Sunday brunch after the last class of camp, Ikeda sensei walked into the cafeteria to be welcomed by a whole bunch of people whistling in unison the Andy Griffith theme song. He acknowledged this by reprising his performance from the night before of the theme song to a whole round of applause from everyone in the cafeteria.)

• Toribio sensei teaching a total beginner white belt to do a breakfall ukemi in front of the class in less than five minutes.

• Doran sensei telling us: "In aikido, you can have a Clear Mind. You can have a Clear Body." He waited a few seconds for people to digest this, and added, "Take your pick."

• Craig Fife showing his hanbo technique of getting set, dropping the hanbo in front of uke, turning, and running.

• The "healing circle" for Molly, a local aikidoka who has been attending the camp for 14 years, despite being involved in a car accident on the way home from camp a few years back and becoming paralyzed and wheelchair bound. She also sang quite beautifully at the Aiki-Follies.

• Hugh Young from Utah showed some of us his "roly poly" ukemi and another "soft breakfall" (noiseless) which I will definitely be practicing. Tim Gion, interested?

• Toribio sensei calling up Michael Friedl to demonstrate a technique he had just been taught. Michael was partnered up with Ikeda sensei during that class, so he just used Ikeda sensei as uke, threw him into a beautiful highfall, and turned to all of the applauding people and bowed in his ever showman-like manner.

• I continued the tradition of not asking Ikeda sensei about the reason why the pleats on his hakama are reversed. I'll have another chance next week when I see him in DC.

• And, of course, meeting all of the wonderful people with whom I trained, talked, and had a great time throughout the camp. I hope to be able to see you all again on the mat and off.

Jun