Kansai annual training...

with the Doshu Sensei!
So today I got up early, ironed my clothes, ironed my gi, and went outside to catch the bus. Went back inside for my belt. Missed the bus, and biked downtown. Whatever, I still got there 45 minutes early.
So today, my Himeji Aikido dojo and I went to the faraway land of Osaka (oooosaka) to have a special class with all of Kansai taught by the Doshu Sensei. It was, quite frankly, awesome. It was about as crowded on the mat as training with Saotome Sensei in Chicago. Maybe a little less, but the mat space was way the hell bigger. I like to play the game, try to figure out what Sensei is talking about. sometimes it goes better than other times. So afterwards, we had a banquet in a nearby hotel, my dojo drank a ton, and, and, and, I had my picture taken with the Doshu Sensei and his son (seperately), and poured Doshu Sensei some beer. It was the first really social time I've had with my dojo, and quite frankly, I love them. One of my teachers was falling asleep, so I went over to harass him, and we spent forever trying to communicate the idea that he was especially tired because he was doing sword cuts before class. Not just any sword cuts though, apparently he trains with an extra special long sword- that they then explained was not practical to use, since it's too long, but it's good to train with 'cause it's extra heavy. One could then say (I didn't) that training with any sword may be impractical for anything other than training. Then we boarded the train, and everyone slept on the way back to Himeji and my gaijin friend Steph woke me up.
Picture, from left: Yamada Shihan, Steph, Colelan, The Doshu Sensei, Iizuka Sensei, me.
Yamada Sensei is head of Hyogo aikikai, and is my teacher here in Himeji. Steph just started aikido last week, with her husband Colelan, who started in January. Iizuka Sensei is a 4th dan at my dojo, and my supervisor on the board of education (eeks!). And me. I need to get a haircut.