Duathlons, aikido, and the like...

hmm... been awhile (june) since i last posted...

Any how first off once again this year I participated in the Minneapolis Duathlon. Even with a lack of training I actully did my best time wise this year (2 hours 24 minutes). Yes I was sore the day after, but overall felt pretty good. Now to try to make the running more regular. Really need to do it to get and stay in shape...

Aikido wise went to a "double" class last week (regular, followed by a beginner class). Sore legs on the day after, but again good overall.

Long term goals right now...
Test for "pre" 2nd Kyu in Aikido in December
Run a full 5k (or longer) this fall. Run as in I still walk part of a 5k, used to be able to run theh whole thing and want to get to that point again.

Cycling has been on the low side... if the weather is good try to sneak in a ride Sat. morning.

Saturday's class and such

Youth Aikido
Daughters got more bokken practice in... giggle. And the technique was a shihonage which can be bit on the complex side. But all of the students were coming along nicely. Considering that it was Marian's third class and Laura's seventh, I think they're making nice progress. Lot of mistakes but they are starting to show muscle memory and getting some of the etiquette down. Most importantly they are both still having fun.

Beginners Class
Actully did a technique my body remembers from the old days. Chest grasp second control pin... pin was a touch different. But still felt good. Straight forward class overall, nothing odd or strange from my "elderly" point of view. :-)

Annual Demo
The annual opening of the dojo was today so they had an "in house" demo...

Genbu Sotojutsu
This is a sword style passed down through the Kushida family. It consists of both iaijutsu and kenjutsu forms from my point of view. Lot of little differences from my Musoshinden point of view. Like not a lot of saya biki on the noto, They seem to lean forward a titch after the kiri oroshi. Foot is turned out slightly. But nothing major. The two person forms were interesting with a mix of iai and some fencing (as most two person forms are.)

Might see if I can watch a class as I didn't get a sense of the arts main focus (e.g. 80% iaido in practice or more kenjutsu, etc.)

Bojutsu
On wednesday nights they have a bojutsu class and so the group demoed what they do. I don't have much experience so no clue what style they are, as they didn't say. Based on 9 sets of forms, techniques come off one of the sets. The sets consist of four strike/blocks that you do before the technique. Kinda like doing kihon dosa before a technique. Again interesting and would like to hear more about them.

Aikido Instructor's Demo
Nice demo, they ran through bits of each kyu level and then did some round robin at the end. Most of the group seemed stiff but I think it was more a choreography stiffness, e.g. they had just learned some of the moves and such. Third through first kyu seem fairly complex this year, and even some of the lower kyu levels had some complex choreography. But looked good overall. Nice to see some throws show up that I normally only see in high level demos. And a good overview of what I'll have to work through if I want to test again.

Overall happy to be back in it, both Aikido and Iaido... Next up need to find time to go to a Ki Society beginners class to finally see what is different and similar.

NHK Series - Samurai Spirit

NHK did about 4 of these...

First part on Iaido (my wednesday night thing...)




and the first part on Yoshinkan Aikido (which I do an off shoot of on Saturdays w/ the daughters...)




Though the english speaking presenter is being directed to act like a new guy, he does get in some good questions... the other two parts of the series are on Kyudo and Kendo which I also suggest watching.

Update on Aikido/Iaido training

Youth Aikido class -
Laura is still liking it... I think her favorite part is playing tag before class thought. :-) But after about 8 classes or so (really starting in Jan.) she is showing improvement. Her backwards roll is starting to come together. It's still a way off, but in a short time she is showing that she is getting elements of it down. Her bokken work in improving (my daughter likes swords, wonder where that came from) too. She is remembering basic etiquette and how to do a front strike.

In Feb we started Marian in the youth class also. She has only had two lessons so far, but she is also liking it. Also she seems to be grasping shite's part, and uke will come along in time.

As long as they are both having fun, we'll continue to take them (which I hope is for a long time.)

Beginners Aikido class (a.k.a. Paul remembers that he is old now) -
Slowly coming together... in my opinion they are doing more complex techniques for the equivalent level from when I practiced in the late 80s early 90s. More movement, more little details than I recall. Feels good and its slowly coming together. I miss that for kihon dosa they don't do shumatsu dosa (finishing exercise or after class exercise ). Now maybe it's done in the regular class or just to emphasize a technique being taught that day... dunno.

Rolls are o.k., just trying to get the body back into it.

Iaido -
Slowly coming along... I'm up to doing the first four forms of the shoden waza. The fact that I can do atarito (180 spin, draw, from kneeling) and not fall over makes me happy. Class is small so there's a lot of one on one with the instructors. This is still the most calming art of the two I do (and couple others I've tried.) At least for me...
Just have to make sure I don't cut my thumb. :-)

This week in Aikido

So went to Aikido with eldest daughter this Saturday. She had fun in the Youth class and then I attended the beginners class that comes after hers.

It was... interesting. The warm ups, basic exercises, and weapons practice were all what I'm used to. For the weapon portion we stuck with bokken and basic front strike.

The open hand technique was the odd part, to me at least.
Cross wrist grasp - o.k. standard opening I remember those.
Elbow power #1 and then finis breaking their grip with your off hand - hard to explain, but again nothing new
Cross step, step-in-throw - interesting, in "the old days" I don't know if that would have been a 6th kyu technique but memory fades.
After throw move in for Achilles tendon pin- and my head when waaaaa??? I don't recall any leg pins from back in the day, let alone having a pin off a throw be on something as low as 6th kyu. Wow....

Talking with some students after class (brown belt, and a shodan) found out there are now choke holds, some sort of cross body pin, and a host of other things. Plus more is being added.

So yeah post split in the 90s Yoshokai has gone in an interesting direction imo. My current feeling is they are trying to go more into the pre WWII style of Aikido. We'll see though.

But overall class was good both daughter and I had fun. Still like it. :-) (oh and the brown belt I worked with had wrists as big as Mr. Bedor's!)

Aikido Yoshokai curiousity...

So started back at Aikido with eldest daughter... and now the "academic" brain has started going...

She had her second class this last Saturday, and I attended my first beginners/basic class in ooooo... 18 years give or take (my 3rd kyu test was back in 90/91 just before the split.)

Eldest had a good time (the important thing at this stage) and even convinced the instructor to show her the use of the bokken. The instructor just showed her basic etiquette, which was a good call. I attribute going for the weapon as being indicitive that she's my daughter. :-)

As for the basic class, it went pretty well considering I'm out of shape and out of practice. The technique was familiar, nothing new except the ending pin. It was slightly different than what I expected (but don't have any recollection of what I might have done in the past.)

So the academic part I mentioned. It's been just shy of 20 years since AYANA split from Yoshinkai and became Yoshokai. I'm curious if any differences have developed, at least noticeable ones. Somme pins seem different, but just curious if anything else has changed especially since Kushida Sensei's son is pretty much head instructor (though there is is a claim that there is a governing body too.) What little I find on line seems to think there is little difference between the two except that AYANA is still highly centralized and controlled. For example test standards are very strict and still are sent out from the head dojo in the case of AYANA.

Also wondering how IYAF is doing, as there were some concerns, back in the day, that standards for dojos were going to become a little more loose (or allow for more independence depending on you view.) So wondering how that is going.

And again I view this as very academic as what matters on the ground is that the dojo I go to is run by good teachers, and that my daughter and I find it fun to do. Also eventually we'll introduce daughter #2 to Aikido, once I have #1 fully hooke. :-)