ballen0351
Sr. Grandmaster
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2010
- Messages
- 10,480
- Reaction score
- 1,249
So I was taking Judo classes but it was located on a military base. The base decided to no longer allow us to take classes because of liability issues. So I was looking around for something else and found an Aikido dojo in an old textile factory. I took Aikido fr a little while few years ago until the teacher retired and none of the students wanted to take over but I liked what I had learned and wanted to find another dojo before. So last night I went and checked it out. 1st impression was its in an old drafty building. You go up to the top floor using creeky old stairs. No heat or AC in the building. It reminded me of a dungon lol.
The dojo room itself is small with a thin mat across the training floor. There are massive wooden support beams around the training floor. I was curious how they work around them. There was the normal photos and weapons on the walls you see at other Aikido dojos. Nothing fancy at all it just looked like a place to work.
Its a Aikikai affiliated dojo. The Senesi has been doing Aikido for over 40 years. I get to class a little early and am talking to him and I tell him I train in Goju. He says "oh, so do you know Tensho?" He says he loves that kata and you can find alot of Aikido in that kata. He asks if I would show the class Tensho.
Class began and he asks me to preform Tensho. He tells the class to pay close attention and as Im doing the kata I hear several making comments how the movements are very similar to different techniques in Aikido.
The after some warmups we start working on techniques. So Im trying to go along and go easy as Ive never been there and dont know the dynamic. They pair me with one of the higher ranking guys in class. He keeps stopping me and telling me to attack harder resist more stop giving the technique to him. This goes on for a while and I go harder and harder until Im going almost ful power and hes thanking me for going hard. We then switch partners and they all thank me for going hard and correct me when I dont. The big wood support beams were incorporated in training you needed to be aware of where you threw your Uke and keep them safe. "Obstacles are reality" I was told. you dont always get a nice large clean area to defend yourself. We also worked on striking to set up techniques. We compared styles and they had me show some strikes from Goju
All in All I had a good time and will go back gain.
The dojo room itself is small with a thin mat across the training floor. There are massive wooden support beams around the training floor. I was curious how they work around them. There was the normal photos and weapons on the walls you see at other Aikido dojos. Nothing fancy at all it just looked like a place to work.
Its a Aikikai affiliated dojo. The Senesi has been doing Aikido for over 40 years. I get to class a little early and am talking to him and I tell him I train in Goju. He says "oh, so do you know Tensho?" He says he loves that kata and you can find alot of Aikido in that kata. He asks if I would show the class Tensho.
Class began and he asks me to preform Tensho. He tells the class to pay close attention and as Im doing the kata I hear several making comments how the movements are very similar to different techniques in Aikido.
The after some warmups we start working on techniques. So Im trying to go along and go easy as Ive never been there and dont know the dynamic. They pair me with one of the higher ranking guys in class. He keeps stopping me and telling me to attack harder resist more stop giving the technique to him. This goes on for a while and I go harder and harder until Im going almost ful power and hes thanking me for going hard. We then switch partners and they all thank me for going hard and correct me when I dont. The big wood support beams were incorporated in training you needed to be aware of where you threw your Uke and keep them safe. "Obstacles are reality" I was told. you dont always get a nice large clean area to defend yourself. We also worked on striking to set up techniques. We compared styles and they had me show some strikes from Goju
All in All I had a good time and will go back gain.
