eigoku bansen kai » blog

Protected: Grading Waza 2009

PM — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 10:02:31 +0000

Discipline

PM — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:17:05 +0000

While practicing it is easy to become distracted. Particularly if you’re tired and going through apparently endless repetitions of a technique you don’t like. It is precisely thoughts like these - My legs are killing me, when will this end, I really don’t like this technique - that give you the opportunity to practice the most essential of the spiritual aspects of Aikido.

Cut all these thoughts away. The moment you notice them, drop them. Refocus instantly on what you are doing. When you do Aikido, do Aikido. 100%. It is simple. There is nothing to think about.

Over time you will develop an ability to focus totally, without doubt or hesitation. Relentless. This is discipline. This is sincerity. For Budo it is essential.

Step in Time with the Universe

PM — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 22:48:09 +0000

Recently we have been focusing on this cut-away katata defence. This defence formalises how the entrance and the offer should work in an ideal situation.

The most important thing here is maai. Where you are and when you are. In normal practice it is all too easy to loose focus of when a defence, the offer or a technique should begin. It is much earlier than you might think. In addition, you need to be out of range and at the right distance. This is the way to correct timing.

Maai, the offer and initiative misdirect the uke. While they are focusing here you have moved there. By the time they get there you are over here. Always this step ahead. Always early. Leading, offering. Maintaining the initiative.

These are the most important things to take away from tanninzu practice. Fine-tuning your distance and your timing. Forcing yourself to think ahead and in this way finding a path through the melee to step in time with the universe.

Protected: Spa Waza Sep 2008

PM — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 12:37:20 +0000

Shakey’s Pizza, Kyoto vs Joe

JW — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 12:45:20 +0000

There are rumours that the fantastic Pizza Emporium, Shakey’s Pizza in downtown Kyoto could be facing an uncertain future following a recent trip to Kyoto by a few members of the Exeter Aikido Dojo.

James and Lucie took Joe (known affectionately to some of his friends as tank) out on a day of culture, taking in Temples, Shrines, and for a bit of more down to earth culture, a trip to Shakey’s (we took Michael there last time and he was so impressed with the custard and brown sauce pizza… at least I think that’s what it was… that we thought Joe might appreciate it).

As they run an all you can eat deal, for…. well, not very much yen, we thought it would be a good way of building up carbs for some serious practice sessions. Joe seemed to think so too…

It was amazing, how much pizza noodles and potato he managed to get on his plate…. what was more amazing, and I was truly impressed, was the number of heads he turned when he went back for a second helping… Truly amazing! Well done Joe!

I think it was when he went up for the third plateful that Shakey’s problems began though…

JW

New EA website… Finally.

PM — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:18:47 +0000

So, I finally got around to updating the website. The previous effort just became too much of an embarrassment. This one I hope is not too shabby.

It has been tested on Firefox 3.0, Flock and Safari on the Mac. And also on IE 6/7 and Firefox 2.0 on Windows. Which is not to say that I haven’t missed something. Or a few things. If something looks not quite right please let me know in the comments here. Other comments or suggestions regarding the design or content of the site are also welcome.

PM

Protected: Grading Waza 2008

admin — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 12:01:01 +0000

TL: good ninja / bad ninja

admin — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:00:07 +0000

The Lexicon

Good ninjas disappear. Bad ones don’t.

Particularly noticeable with stepping soto, diagonally outside, the attack. That second step is too straight and the tori has entered only to exit and once more presents themselves as a target. Also in kotegeishi techniques when the tori fails to go back-to-back with the uke.

PM

Ask a Ninja

admin — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 11:09:00 +0000

Budo. It’s complicated. Lots of questions, some pretty obscure answers. But now you can get help: Ask a Ninja podcast. PM
P.S. I am not a ninja.