Takemusu Aikido Society

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...

After I knew that quarantine is no longer necessary for fully-vaccinated people with negative PCR tests, I decided it was time to go to Japan to get a fresh “Aikido-air” from the first hands. My flight was rescheduled and rerouted due to the war in Ukraine, but we arrived in Narita in time. Japan was still closed to tourists, so Narita was terrifyingly empty. It was more staff than passengers, but it was the swiftest passing through all customs and security I have ever experienced in Japanese airports. I left my staff in the hotel, ate lunch, and headed to Hombu Dojo, where Fujimaki sensei led afternoon practice at 3 pm. Previously I met him in Iwama in Ibaraki Branch Dojo, so I was happy to see him again. Poster of Aikido Hombu Dojo at Wakamatsu-Kawada station Unfortunately Japanese are still very concerned about COVID, so they were practising wearing masks. Luckily Fujimaki sensei almost immediately put his mask on the chin, so most students did the same. Nevertheless, it was swelter...