Uchideshi Notes. Day 2. Tokyo
Despite the slight jetlag, I woke up at 5 am to be in time for early morning practice in Hombu Dojo. Commonly, the Friday morning class is led by Dojo-cho (Waka sensei, Mitsuteru Ueshiba, grandson of O-Sensei), but for some reason, Doshu himself took over the class. Usually, he recognised my face and indicated it during the practice, but not this time. Maybe because I did not appear in his classes for more than two years, or maybe he did not recognise me in the mask. As usual, Doshu demonstrated kihon techniques, this time from the ryokatatedori attack. And as always, his class was very energetic and dynamic. This morning I understood that proper heat came to Japan as I began to die of suffocation as soon I made the first move. I immediately developed the life-saving skill of taking the mask off the face during ukemi and momentarily putting it back while standing up.
I was so exhausted after Doshu’s class that I really doubted if I needed to attend the next class. I had a long arguing in my head. My lazy self tried to convince me that I must not do it as it is ridiculous nonsense to practise at such a temperature, but another part of me said to shut up and change my clothes for the next class. Finally, near the O-Sensei bust, both parts of me came to an agreement that I would choose a tiny old lady as a partner and not push too much.
With these thoughts, I came to Katsurada sensei’s class. But a second before the class began, I noticed how a big, bold man stepped on tatami from the student’s door. At the same second, I understood that all my dreams about relaxed training were gone because it was Kuribayashi sensei, and I could not miss a chance to practice with him. When Katsurada sensei offered to choose a partner, I ran to Kuribayashi sensei, ignoring a least two guys who tried to catch me. I don’t remember how good or lousy Katsurada sensei was, as all my attention was on Kuribayashi sensei. We did techniques from ryotedori and morotedori attacks. Sensei was so kind that he noticed my struggles because of the masks and offered me a sports mask instead of my FFPT2 one. It was a game changer – I could finally breath a least a little. After the practice, we chatted a little about Aikido in Ireland and Ibaraki. Kuribayashi sensei sent his greetings to Nemoto sensei and assured me that we would meet in Iwama as he would come there together with the Dojo-cho.
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| Raman Bekarevich and Takanori Kuribayashi |
After the morning classes and washing my gi at the recently discovered coin laundry, I ran to Seibu-Shinjuku station to pass a PCR test required to get permission to stay at Iwama dojo. Then I had a few hours to go to Iwata Shokai shop to buy new pants for my gi.
At the afternoon keiko at Hombu, Seki sensei taught kihon techniques against ushiro ryotedori attacks. I saw him once about ten years ago when he came to Shizuoka prefecture to teach at the seminar. At that time, he impressed me with his quick hand movements. Now I have seen what was behind it. Again I got a positive impression of Seki sensei, but I did not fully understand whether I liked him or not. I think I will try to attend his classes again if I have a chance.
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