These last days in Fukuoka have been great as so many of them before! People ask me what I will take with me home from Japan and I must say that I have experienced so much happiness from people. That this is what I will take with me, a picture of great people in a great country with great food.
Thank you everyone that I have met! You have been wonderful and I look forward to come visit again! 2 month´s have been too short.
On the aikido side of things I have been practicing with so many different people and learned much about myself and my ukemi. I can only hope that it has improved my aikido as it has improved my life.
Thank you!
Saturday 30 July 2011
Thursday 21 July 2011
Fukuoka, demo doko des ka?
Ok. Many people have asked me where I live in Fukuoka and how much the prices are.
First of all Fukuoka is not the same as Fukushima and I am more or less as far away from Fukushima as you can get in Japan. Fukuoka is in the west of Japan. It is located north on the Kyushu island is considered the main city on this island by many. Furthermore I live in the tenjin area and this is where everyone goes shopping. The weekly hotel mansion I stay at is called Access Tenjin and you can see pictures and stuff here: http://www.access-tenjin.com and if you are using google chrome as your web browser you can just translate it into english and understand at least most of it. There also seems to be a discount for people that are here to do aikido as well because I pay less than what is on the web.
If you get high enough you have a view out to the south of the area.
The staff is very friendly and there is no problem if you only speak english. They will take so good care of you that there will be no problems anyway. A real clean and easy place to stay. It is very short to two of the dojo´s (Takasago and Tenjin) that is about 10 min bicycle ride.
First of all Fukuoka is not the same as Fukushima and I am more or less as far away from Fukushima as you can get in Japan. Fukuoka is in the west of Japan. It is located north on the Kyushu island is considered the main city on this island by many. Furthermore I live in the tenjin area and this is where everyone goes shopping. The weekly hotel mansion I stay at is called Access Tenjin and you can see pictures and stuff here: http://www.access-tenjin.com and if you are using google chrome as your web browser you can just translate it into english and understand at least most of it. There also seems to be a discount for people that are here to do aikido as well because I pay less than what is on the web.
The staff is very friendly and there is no problem if you only speak english. They will take so good care of you that there will be no problems anyway. A real clean and easy place to stay. It is very short to two of the dojo´s (Takasago and Tenjin) that is about 10 min bicycle ride.
Tuesday 19 July 2011
Happy Birthday to Honbu Dojo, Fukuoka
A few days ago we had a big celebration starting morning practice with Suganuma Sensei followed by a great presentation of various techniques from all the dojo´s in Fukuoka area. The occasion was the 15. Anniversary of Honbu Dojo, Fukuoka. This was a day of entusiasm and happiness. Many people had practiced on their demonstations for weeks, for us to see. I feel grateful that I could be there to see what they have prepared and to participate in the celebration.
Later on that day we had a nice buffet with too much food and good company. We were only four foreigners attending, but we got the chance to honor Honbu dojo and Suganuma Sensei by singing "Happy Birthday To You" in 3 languages and in english.
And later that day I was invited to go to karaoke! Wich is by the way a great place to learn some hiragana. Why? Because you can hear what the person is singing and the hiragana is on the screen. This helps you know the sounds of a japanese word so later if you see the hiragana you will know what word it is. Hopefully you will finally know what the word means as well and not only how it sounds..
Later on that day we had a nice buffet with too much food and good company. We were only four foreigners attending, but we got the chance to honor Honbu dojo and Suganuma Sensei by singing "Happy Birthday To You" in 3 languages and in english.
And later that day I was invited to go to karaoke! Wich is by the way a great place to learn some hiragana. Why? Because you can hear what the person is singing and the hiragana is on the screen. This helps you know the sounds of a japanese word so later if you see the hiragana you will know what word it is. Hopefully you will finally know what the word means as well and not only how it sounds..
Friday 15 July 2011
Ushiro Ryokatatori - Sankyo Omote
Yes, I know. It is hard to pronounce and even to remember. The technique is the one where uke grabs your shoulders from behind. So ushiro means behind and ryokatatori means grab with two hands. In practice this technique is done by uke coming from the front and "running around" you to grab your shoulder. It really feels wierd that uke would go for the shoulders when in front of me. One thing that we practiced tho was moving a bit off the line and then uke had to grab the shoulder because everything was gone and uke would be out of balance.
This is a video I found on Youtube that shows the technique:
Why would you go around and grab the shoulders?
This is a video I found on Youtube that shows the technique:
Why would you go around and grab the shoulders?
Tuesday 12 July 2011
Intention, Depth, Ikkyo
Yesterday I attended practice at Takasago dojo in the morning and later in Tenjin dojo. While Suganuma sensei is in Israel there is other sensei taking responsibility on the classes. What was different for me yesterday was that we were did one technique for quite a long time during practice. This got us to really in to depth on Ikkyo. I was able to focus on being a good uke with intention and when I was nage I got to correct or change my approach many times before changing technique. I tried to be an uke with intention and not giving up my attack and also to get up after being thrown and attack again. In 30+ degrees celsius this is hard and you get tired, but I noticed that the techniques for nage was getting better when I as uke had this approach.
After class as I have mentioned before there is often plenty of time to work on the techniques that were shown in class earlier. Yesterday I was lucky to be able to practice together with a dan graded (black belt). I thought I would be brave and try out different techniques on uke doing tsuki. The biggest issue I have when someone is doing tsuki is that I do not know what to do else than Iriminage. We went through the attack many times and I got really good tips on where to put my focus. I often put my focus on the hand and then suddenly I had attackers hand in my hands and did not know what to do.. My very helpful and patient uke helped me to see that I need to not focus on the hand and instead see what openings there were. Being so occupied with what technique I should do really left me with tension in my body and when the attack finally came I would be stressed out trying to find the right technique. This does not happen as often on other attack types like shomen uchi or yokomen uchi. After a while I sometimes managed to let go of my control freak tendencies and just do what felt right. Suddenly I was doing very different techniques on tsuki that I before did not thought possible. A really nice session! And I think I suddenly understand why Ikkyo is called that name. It is not because it is the first technique you learn, but it is often the first you find when someone is attacking you with whatever.
So my tip to others having trouble on some attack type: Have someone throw it on you for a while and try different focus and speed. It really helped my yesterday and I hope to do it more tonight after class.
PS: I hope you guys at the NAF summer camp are enjoying the classes with Bjørn Eirik Olsen Sensei and Hideki Takemura Sensei.
After class as I have mentioned before there is often plenty of time to work on the techniques that were shown in class earlier. Yesterday I was lucky to be able to practice together with a dan graded (black belt). I thought I would be brave and try out different techniques on uke doing tsuki. The biggest issue I have when someone is doing tsuki is that I do not know what to do else than Iriminage. We went through the attack many times and I got really good tips on where to put my focus. I often put my focus on the hand and then suddenly I had attackers hand in my hands and did not know what to do.. My very helpful and patient uke helped me to see that I need to not focus on the hand and instead see what openings there were. Being so occupied with what technique I should do really left me with tension in my body and when the attack finally came I would be stressed out trying to find the right technique. This does not happen as often on other attack types like shomen uchi or yokomen uchi. After a while I sometimes managed to let go of my control freak tendencies and just do what felt right. Suddenly I was doing very different techniques on tsuki that I before did not thought possible. A really nice session! And I think I suddenly understand why Ikkyo is called that name. It is not because it is the first technique you learn, but it is often the first you find when someone is attacking you with whatever.
So my tip to others having trouble on some attack type: Have someone throw it on you for a while and try different focus and speed. It really helped my yesterday and I hope to do it more tonight after class.
PS: I hope you guys at the NAF summer camp are enjoying the classes with Bjørn Eirik Olsen Sensei and Hideki Takemura Sensei.
Saturday 9 July 2011
How to be uke on koshinage?
Yesterday we did koshinage in class and it is a good looking technique, but I have one big issue with being uke and how to do the ukemi. If you have not heard me before I can tell you again that the mats here in Japan tend to be quite hard. How can I protect myself as uke in this technique? The obvious would of course be to not fall at all and stop the technique on the back of nage, but this does not enable us to practice the technique to the end.
The fall kind of looks like a high fall, but it also seems to me that uke is turning a bit before landing. Have a look at the video.
The fall kind of looks like a high fall, but it also seems to me that uke is turning a bit before landing. Have a look at the video.
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