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Hi everybody,
Thank you to _everyone_ for the many congratulations (even if the 'Yaahhh!'
thread turned into gun talk ;-) And a special thank you to Margo and Jun
who came to support me - oh - and see Toyoda Sensei instruct also ;-)
Margo's enthusiasm and Jun's serenity were the perfect combination for my
pre-shodan jitters (Jun had to quietly remind me to eat breakfast about
three times that morning). And of course, an extra special thank you to
Kjartan because...well...because he's extra special.
I'm in digest mode, so here's one response to a bunch of mails.....test
synopsis follows. It's long, but hang in there.
JoTo - no notation, only words. Sorry. But I am trying to figure out some
'across the board' aikido movement to analyze for my movement analysis
certification. Jun says it's going to be impossible <pessimist> so it you
have any bright ideas, send them my way.
Beate - yes, I'm going to be there in November. I'll be the one tripping
over her hakama who's got the Norwegian by her side. Oh, and I _finally_
mailed the article I said I would a looong time ago. Did you get it yet?
Chuck Gordon - Nooooooooo!!!! Pleeeeeeaaasssee don't throw me any harder
than last time! I went sailing across the mat the first time; next time
I'll land in some faraway place, never to be seen again. Then how would I
ever test again? ;-)
Jun - I trust your judgement on whatever digital pictures you took.
Ok - the test.
AAA shodan tes...errr...demonstration requires a minimum of the following:
five defenses/arts against each of four attacks (yokomenuchi, tsuki, ushiro
tekubitori and ryotetori), bokken dori from shomenuchi, tsuki and
yokomenuchi (at least three defenses for each attack), jo kata #2, hanmi
handachi free attack (one attacker), a four-person randori, two written
essays and anything else the testing committee chooses to ask.
[As an aside, I had my paperwork filled out, essays typed and had brought
them on Friday but was told to hand them in on Sunday. On Sunday morning,
halfway to the seminar, I realized I left them on my coffeetable and Jun
and Margo had the wonderful opportunity to see me flip out. What a joyous,
lose-your-center, pre-test moment that was.]
<back to our regularly scheduled test review>
Toyoda Sensei's aikido is big, flowing, and dynamic and he likes to see
lots of koykus going in all directions with intervals consisting of a
short, quick throw. Most important to him is the overall flow of a
demonstration (I hate that "t" word) and that nage keeps moving and leading
uke.
The test was run in pretty much the order I listed above, and I was most
nervous about the randori. Our dojo is too small to practice four-person
and I had only done it once before (we do three-person, though). The empty
hand techniques went quite smoothly at the start - or at least it felt
good. My mind didn't get stuck anywhere like it does during practice. And
when I screwed up, which I did a few times, I just continued. That in
itself is sort of one of those little 'personal accomplishments' since I'm
one of those "hold on to my mistakes just a little too long" kind of people.
What felt really neat was being ready mentally as uke attacked, and
knowing exactly what technique I wanted to do and having my body
simply respond. I tried to think of throwing 2-3 times followed by a
short, quick technique and also to move inside, outside, tenkan, etc,
but I don't know if that's what it came out like. What was really a
drag was that I didn't get to demonstrate all that I had practiced
before they stopped me and went on <not that I wasn't exhausted or
that it was a short test by any means>.
But like I said, every technique didn't go exactly as planned - I let
go too early for a jujinage so it looked like a kokyu nage, didn't get
uke's balance during a sayu-undo throw and probably screwed up other
things as well.
Hanmi handachi is a pain. I'm already shorter than everyone anyway, so I
think I should be exempt from doing hanmi handachi ever again (Jun, how was
that for 'princess-like'? ;-) But somehow I got through it - pretty much
moving to the inside of the attack and doing nothing so special, mostly
kokyu-nages, maybe a shiho-nage and a nikkyo thrown in. I just remember my
uke coming in with strong, forceful attacks over and over again and
thinking to myself 'just keep moving'.
Bokken dori, which pre-test frightened the heck out of me, during the test
actually went ok. I did the same 'plan the technique before the attack' as
the empty hand, trying to move in different directions (tai sabaki is
_very_ important to us, as Jun will probably mention).
I had practiced jo kata _many_ times (like we all do) and if I messed it up
on the test, I knew it would only have been my mind freezing. It didn't
and the kata went ok. Then again, I learned this kata differently than I
did others (more through doing it and having it in my body before it was in
my head, so the movements flow and I don't really think about it).
[Oh, and I took every opportunity possible to breathe, especially during
transitions from one thing to another. Somehow, what normally comes
naturally all of a sudden I had forgotten how to do.]
Ok, now we're up to the four-person randori. They called four ukes, but
somehow got five. There was a bit of confusion, and I laughed saying that
I really didn't want five and that four would be enough. Luckily for me,
Matsuda Sensei, who ran the tests, also laughed. He has a wonderful sense
of humor, but I don't know how he would have reacted if I had run out of
the room during the randori like Emily did so I didn't even try it.
For those who aren't familiar with our 'style' of randori, it's fast,
furious and the object is to throw as many ukes as possible in different
directions with pivot throws, short irimi movements and if you have the
time and space, sudori. No 'standard' techniques, per se. It lasts about
60 seconds, and within the first 5 seconds, you could essentially have all
four of them on you.
I can only remember throwing a few, entering with a few, and at some point,
trying to kiai to defend myself. The kiai came out a shrieking, Xena-like
yell that scared me, if no one else ;-) (A fellow female aikidoka later
did end up calling me a warrior princess as a result ;-) I have no idea
what it looked like, how long it lasted or anything. I'll have to defer to
the spectators and the videotape for this one.
Thankfully, they had seen enough and didn't ask for more.
Jun and Margo - you two are free to add anything.
I couldn't have asked for a better test and I can honestly say that I was
pleased with how it felt. We had four dan tests (two shodan and two nidan)
from our dojo, and everyone did an excellent job. Jun and Margo got a
demonstration of Shihan Toyoda's aikido from both him and the dan testees.
Sure hope you two enjoyed yourselves :-)
Thanks for reading to the end, all of you who made it.
Ahhhh....onto packing for the ultimate vacation...
Maria (T-17)
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