Shinsa!!

I’d been fluctuating between dread and anticipation for months, and this weekend it was upon me. So Saturday night I spent my 23^rd birthday not out in celebration and revelry, but quietly at home. My Shodan test was the next day.

Sunday morning I woke up and fortunately go to talk to Jim Sensei in Ohio, who gave me some wonderful words of encouragement,

“You’re going to pass. It’s just a matter of how well. Own the f***ing mat. That mat’s yours. Tell them that, but be sure to do so in a peaceful and harmonious manner”.

A bit before noon I hopped on my bike and sped to the south side of Himeji where testing would be held. Now, testing didn’t actually start until about 3 but I was dressed and on the mat by noon. There were a few people to throw around with at first. One of my favorite teachers, Kuramoto Sensei (unfortunately from a different dojo), and one of his (very cute) students, Takuya, were there. I threw around with them and the successive aikido practitioners that wandered in until about 1:30, when the official, pre-testing class started.

This class could really be changed to “seiza” practice, ‘cause that’s what it ended up being. An hour of sitting in the most painful position possible, listening to lecture I couldn’t understand. Ahhhh Japan. After seiza, we had a short rest before testing started, beginning with the lowest grade of white belts and working up.

For the aikido people, my test consisted of suwariwaza ikyu through yonkyu, zagi kokyu, a minute of hanmi handachi jiyowaza, and four minutes of standing jiyo waza. In practice my problem has always been tensing up and doing the same techniques over and over again. So for my test I really tried to be relaxed. Didn’t work though. I felt like I was being very rough on Kobayashi-san, my uke (partner attacking me), on the seated techniques. I should have slowed it down more, worked on precision of movement. For the jiyowaza, I got a bit nervous and was very stiff, although I never stopped moving, and I felt like I kept doing the same techniques over and over again. The four minutes went by very quickly. Before I knew it my Shihan had called out time. My thoughts at the time were something like, “Over! I’m not quite ready for it to be over, I could do better. I could be more flowing, have more variety, lead more. I was just getting into this. Oh well. Over is good.” Pass or fail I did it, I took a shodan test in Japan. That’s good enough for today. I sat down, bowed to my partner, bowed to the Shihans, bowed to the Shomen, and jogged off the mat.

I had no idea how I did, I was just happy to have gotten the chance to test. As I sat back down in the rows Kuramoto Sensei gave me a "Okay" sign behind his back so the Shihans couldn't see. (Kuramoto Sensei is a story himself, he's part of the J-Tai, or Japan self defense forces and leads 2 platoons).

Two other people tested Shodan at the same time as I did, and one more tested afterwards. There was one last nidan (second degree black belt) test and the promotion grading was over. Afterwards, Nakamura Shihan (testing official) gave a lecture, which of course I couldn’t understand, and suddenly I heard my name. I had no idea what it could be, did I do something wrong? Did I pass? What could he be possibly be talking about? After class I helped sweep the mats before seeking out my boss and sempai, Iizuka Sensei, to act as translator. Apparently, after testing Nakamura Shihan praised five peoples' tests. Mine was one of them. Iizuka Sensei told me I should feel honored to be praised. Yay!

After testing, and any special practice, we usually have a drinking/dinner party. At Japanese drinking parties, it’s polite to go around and pour everyone drinks and sort of chat them up for a little while. So finally Iizuka Sensei translated between Nakamura Shihan and myself. Nakamura Shihan told me that I had the top Shodan test of the day. I couldn’t believe it. It’s really hard to say, “no no no, I’m not that good”, when you just want to grin like an idiot.

Another thing about Japan, they love speeches. They love to make foreigners give speeches too. No idea what they're about though. No one bothers to translate them to English, so I have no idea what I'm supposed to be saying when I’m asked to stand up, but what I say gets translated. So I had to stand up and give my impression of testing, or the dojo, or maybe the state of international affairs. I really have no idea. So I stood up, thanked everyone for their teaching, their ukemi for my test, and the warmness and welcome they showed me. I think I was on track with that one. So I sat down, and Iizuka Sensei announced that Saturday was my birthday and he somehow got the whole dojo to start singing "Happy Birthday" to me in English. Afterwards, my Sensei gave me a birthday present! I got 2 "Burberry" brand silk handkerchiefs his wife picked out, a box of cookies, and a towel/cloth that Jikuhara Sensei was given for participating in the World Aikido Exposition in Tokyo last year. I love my dojo! I don't know if they've given anyone else presents, but I felt loved. Somehow everyone knows my weakness, sweets. curses.

So after a few more speeches, the drinking and pouring of drinks started up again. I sat down to pop a few sweet fried tofu enwrapped rice balls into my mouth and realized that Iizuka Sensei and Nakamura Shihan were talking again. Iizuka Sensei turned to me and asked, “So, do you want katakana or romanji on your certificate?” I had been asking Iizuka Sensei if I’d passed all night, but he kept telling me I’d find out later. Now, no one is actually "told" that they pass until/if they get their certificate. But after Nakamura Shihan’s question about my certificate, Iizuka Sensei said he was positive I passed. So I'm not "officially" a black belt for another month. "Officially".

Though writing this blog Wednesday night, after class Monday and Tuesday, they’re calling me a Shodan at my dojo now. Which just makes me really happy.

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And with that, I think the best birthday presents came from my dojo. When Yamada Shihan was stepping off the mat, he held out his hand (surprisingly, not to throw me in some bizarre and totally painful way) and said "Yokkata". Or, Good Job. Now, don't jump on me about "defeating the ego" or "Shodan's only the beginning" quite yet. I know these things! Let me talk about how great I can sometimes, if very rarely, be.
(The mere mention of pain reminds me of Yamada Shihan's new favorite pin we've been working on this week, kneeling on the shin between muscle and bone of uke. This is from a front leg "sweep" from shomenuchi ikkyo. Try it, it hurts!)

The second best thing was the birthday present from my dojo. It sounds weird to most people I'm sure, but it meant a lot to me. In Japan it feels like I'm always on the outside. Not speaking much Japanese, it's kind of hard to communicate and I often feel kind of awkward and out of place.

One last thing, want to see something really funny? It's my hakama. Well, precicely the kanji on my hakama. Or, the amount of kanji on my hakama. Check it check it out yo.
Okay, so the story is this. I realized that I needed a new hakama. Mine (Alex's old one) was a bit too faded to be acceptable in Japan. However, ordering one posed a bit of a problem because the shop owner of course, spoke only japanese. (this being japan). Soooo, I asked my friend Kobayashi to come with me. Kobayashi doesn't speak English very well, but he's enthusiastic. Anyway, so we were at the shop, and he asks, "What kanji? ummmm, hakama?" So I reply, "Well, what do people normally get?" Kobayashi, "Name, dojo" Me, "Okay, how about that." Kobayashi, "Himeji dojo, or Hyogo Aikido". Me, "sure. that sounds good. Whatever you think would be alright." And well, this is the result. Lots of Kanji. Lots. Lots. I was thinking of cutting out everything but my name, but that would leave it off center. But would that be better or worse than having a plethora of kanji?

Leave your comments yo! I always feel loved when I get a new message from someone out there!

Love, Allison

Yatta! Yokota Shihan from Tokyo visits Himeji

Okay, so I haven't been posting the best entries lately for a couple of reasons. To start, I've been lacking in inspiration and also have forgotten to bring my camera around with me. Hopefully I can come up with some interesting things to mention, but unfortunately I haven't brought my camera with me to anything. So no pictures.

I'll start with the amazing aikido seminar this weekend. Our dojo hosted Yoshiaki Yokota Shihan (7th degree black belt) out of the Tokyo home dojo. I got to the budokan (building dedicated to martial arts) here in Himeji at 11:00 Sunday morning to have lunch and help set up for the seminar. It's a beautiful brand new building, with several enormous rooms for large martial arts demonstrations and seminars. Let's just say it was amazing. Yokota Shihan had this amazing fast, smooth, powerful aikido. At one point he was jumping behind his attacker/partner before tossing him across the room.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. We were supposed to be putting out mats, about 250 of them or so, but somehow I got assigned to serving tea to the Shihans with another girl, Miho.

Serving tea.
Somehow this turned into a very sureal experience. At one point I was wandering the corridors that were circling a room filled with 100 people in kendo armor beating each other with sticks, holding a tea kettle and trying to figure out where the shihans were. How did I get to this point in my life? Now, normally things in Japan seem to run extraordinarily smoothly. Probably because stereotypically, they practice for events over and over and over. I'm not kidding. Anyway, after a long hunt for the Shihans, a search for tea cups, another search for Onishi-san, who had the hot water, a tray to carry the tea cups on, and ten minutes spent trying to open the bag containing the tea, we finally got the tea and all served. Note- Miho almost walked in on a room full of male shihans changing clothes before quickly backtracking and muttering "abunai, abunai, abunai" (dangerous!).

No suits!
Another delightful morning occurance was that everyone, not just me, showed up underdressed. Yatta! Normally, JETs and other foreigners all have an experience or two of showing up in jeans or something casual, to be the only person not in suit and tie. At which point they feel mightily embarrassed and the feeling of not fitting in really sinks in. But there was something uniting for me in having about 10 Japanese people all wishing they'd gone more formal. Really, this discussion about what to do lasted all morning. But that's really just a point for other people in Japan.

Practice!/ Keiko!
Anyway, so after serving tea and all we started practice. First there was a kids class, which about 100 people (not kids) participated in. It was great. We had a short break, then the adults class started. ahhh! It was amazing. Yokota Shihan was just tossing his ukes around. A couple of times he came over and tried to give me some pointers. I felt special. A little background for the non-aikidoists reading this... At seminars, here and in the US, there is always some point the teacher is trying to make about a technique. So the teacher speaks and demonstrates, then I quickly try to find the closest black belt to me and bow to them, forcing them to work with me. So I got to work with some really great people and aahhh, they are so good. So after class we picked up mats, sociallized, changed and moved on to drinking.

PARTY!!!!
After cleaning up mats I went to the locker room and changed and hurried off to dinner. I sat down next to Murayama Sensei and two seats down from Jikuhara Sensei and some more people from my dojo. I love these two guys. They are both completely hilarious in totally different ways that they are totally unconcious of. Murayama sensei is a 4th degree black belt and Jikuhara Sensei a 3rd. Murayama sensei will be totally quiet for a bit, then will really really rapidly say or do something. Jikuhara sensei always tries to speak with me in broken English and only now seems a little less nervous in doing so. Like, everyone here can speak a little bit of English (except Yamada shihan), but they all get really nervous and jittery at the prospect of doing so. It's great.

Anyway, I should wrap this up- this has gotten to be an absurdly long entry and I doubt anyone is still reading this. I mean, I wouldn't be. Last thing- the party. Food was uncharateristically scarce, the "viking" food selection ran out pretty quickly. "viking" here means all you can eat/drink. I'm still trying to figure out how they came up with that one. Anyway, at least the beer/sake didn't run out. At Japanese drinking parties everyone sort of makes rounds and socializes/ kisses up to seniors and pours everyone drinks. I got to talk with Yokota Shihan for a bit, he was really enthusiastic about practicing English. Apparently he'll be in Chicago at Midwest Aikido in the fall, so everyone back home should find out where and when that will be.

I also got to talk to this guy, Fujita Sensei, who's running a dojo in Kobe. I talked with him at our last drinking party in November. (Another thing, Japanese people all remember if they've trained with me, talked with me at a party, anything down to just seeing me entering a convenience store. I mean, how many blonde foreigners do they see? I'm memorable. But dammit, how do they expect me to remember every Japanese person I meet?) One of Fujita sensei's favorite activities is grabbing any of the shy Japanese men that are terrified of talking to foreigners forcing them to "practice english" with me. At one point, he was holding a college student down in his chair because the student kept trying to jump up and run away. We have fun.

Oh my God! I almost forgot, the best part. My dojo keeps suggesting I come up with a nickname, but I'm determined to make them pick one for me if I'm to have one. So Sunday they suggested one. Ar-chan. Which is HILARIOUS. Because they all call me Arison, due to some confusion about last/first names and Japanese pronounciation. So Ar-chan would be an abbrieviation of the mis-pronouciation of my first name. I hope it doesn't stick. I think it's worse than Baaksan, which is what my vice principal at school shouts across the staffroom when he wants me. Anyway, this is an incredibly long entry, so I'll cut out now. Did anyone make it this far?