Just back from...

...the Nariyama seminar at Dartford.

Wow.

David Sim wrote: Wow.

Hi David,

Where do you practise? I spent a little while with the guys and gals down at London Shodokan - great bunch of people.

Are you new to the Shodokan system and the hombu group?

(I assume we're talking about Nariyama Tetsuro here?)

Best,
Dave Findlay

Dave Findlay wrote: Hi David, Where do you practise? I spent a little while with the guys and gals down at London Shodokan - great bunch of people.

I'm at (the university of) Nottingham... this was the first time I've been down south for aiki reasons. But hopefully not the last.

Are you new to the Shodokan system and the hombu group?

Well, I'm newish to aikido in general - about 1 year, all spent doing shodokan. This was the first thing I've been to on this scale and it was an absolutely amazing experience.

(I assume we're talking about Nariyama Tetsuro here?)

Yep. (Three days on and I'm still basically overexcited!)

David Sim wrote: I'm at (the university of) Nottingham...

Hey that's cool. Is that one of Scott Albright's clubs? You're lucky.

Yup, seeing someone of Nariyama's calibre for the first time is a bit of an eye-opener. I remember thinking the guy looked like he was on rails or something - the stability of his hips was really impressive.

I recall I once saw him demo continuous changing of techniques (renraku or henka waza?) - as opposed to individual waza one after the other. That was very cool. He obviously had a very good feeling for uke - something that is not necessarily apparent in the demonstration of standard kata.

Props of course to all the good shodokan people in the UK, but if you like that sort of thing... get thee to hombu!



Cheers,
Dave Findlay

Dave Findlay wrote: Hey that's cool. Is that one of Scott Albright's clubs? You're lucky.

It's an offshoot of one of his or something I think - I don't really know the prehistory... but we keep up links with Sheffield, which is cool.

Yup, seeing someone of Nariyama's calibre for the first time is a bit of an eye-opener. I remember thinking the guy looked like he was on rails or something - the stability of his hips was really impressive.

Seeying Nariyama was amazing of course, but just being on the mat at an event like that and practicing with so many new and really good people over the course of two days would have been worth it in itself. I wondered before I went whether I'd get much out of it as a relative newb, and can now say to everyone in the same position that yes, you really do.

Props of course to all the good shodokan people in the UK, but if you like that sort of thing... get thee to hombu!

One day...