Birthday ukemi traditions

In my dojo we do birthday rolls. Over a certain age, I think it's 40, you have the option of being Nage half of the time and someone else does the last half of the rolls. Frank Doran sensei visited our dojo on one of our sempai's birthday. Sempai had to do 53 rolls and 90% of those were high falls. It was an honor, of course, but . . .
If someone has a wedding anniversary both people do simultaneous rolls.

I have seen a breakfall per each year.

We do birthday nikkyos. After 40, I don't which would be worse!

Jeanne

For Birthdays, we do a back breakfall (koho ukemi) for every year.

Other traditions we have:

1. For the last class of the year we will do 10 x "#People on Mat" back breakfalls (koho ukemi)
2. If someone is leaving the dojo - ie. moving to another country but still planning on training - we will have everyone on the mat throw them once and then they throw everyone on the mat once.

I've just been asked to institute a "Number of Years in Japan" back breakfall tradition. He's been here one (1) year...somehow I think he's just trying to get out of the regular breakfalls we do in class.

I may have to change it to "one breakfall for every week he's been in japan" x "the number of people on the mat"...hmm...hmmm...thinking

--Mcihael

I just turned 50 and my next class is Tuesday. You people are supposed to be telling me this isn't good Aikido and that no one else does it. Thanks a lot!!!!! Maybe I can talk someone into taking my place... hey, who wants to make $10?

My birthday is on Thursday of this week. I don' t know what, if anything, I'm in for but I'm sure it will be a: fun and b: exhausting

We do a break fall for every year. But we're a college dojo, so most of us aren't that old.

The dojo I trained at in Seattle delivered double nikkyos for each year. Here in Boulder they make a circle and you get thrown once by everyone until you've taken a fall for each year. Very good reasons to keep your birthday quiet.

Not for birthday, but I like the 'aikido handshake' . 2 people grasp hands like a hand shake, then do simultanious breakfalls over their own arm. - Fun!

Heh. It's funny you brought this up, since it was just my instructor's thirty-fifth birthday on Thursday and we did this. It's supposed to be a breakfall for each year, but my instructor said, "Ok, we're going to do jiyuwaza from any grabbing attack and these three (referring to me and two other mid-ranks) will throw me 35 times. If they're all breakfall throws, I'll take 35 breakfalls." We couldn't come up with 35 breakfall throws, so he got to roll out of most of them. Guy got off easy! I had to take 22 breakfalls from him for my last birthday. Ugh! I'm never telling him it's my birthday again!

Sarah

When I moved from Indianapolis to Austin, at the end of my last class, sensei's instructions were "ok, everyone throw Jon 10 times."

It ended up being 40 or 50...

Michael Stuempel wrote: I've just been asked to institute a "Number of Years in Japan" back breakfall tradition. He's been here one (1) year...somehow I think he's just trying to get out of the regular breakfalls we do in class.

Now why would you think something like that?

By the way, if I stay here 11 years, I'll have to ask you to stop that tradition.

- Drew, whose birthday is absolutely not, in no way whatsoever, on a Saturday this year.

Andrew Hamilton wrote: - Drew, whose birthday is absolutely not, in no way whatsoever, on a Saturday this year.

Responding to my own post... when I got to the dojo on Saturday, class had already been in session for 1/2 hour (side-effect of my Saturday work schedule). I was sure that showing up that late would let me miss out on any birthday breakfalls... and I was right! Sensei opted instead for birthday hajime. We did shomen uchi ikkajo osae (1) 29 times. For all you experienced guys, that's nothing (Sensei's favourite joke that evening, repeated several times: "That wasn't 'hajime'; that was barely even 'ha'"), but it was sure enough to tire me out.

I must admit, that of the birthday hajime, birthday balloons, birthday cake, and birthday booze that I received that evening, the birthday hajime probably wasn't my favourite.

- Drew, a year older but not much wiser