“If any of us has done Judo for any amount of time we have probably done Judo on a myriad of different types of surfaces. I have done Judo on sawdust covered with canvas, to horsehair mats, to wrestling mats to the latest vinyl covered tatamis made specifically for Judo.
Our Judo club decided to re-do our floors after we noticed the foam under our tatami was starting to break down and our surface was becoming uneven and falls were starting to hurt more and more especially to us adults
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“Watching the Nihon Kobudo Embu Taikai the other weekend, and seeing a couple rather lackluster demonstrations (only a couple, mind you, out of 40) got me thinking about efficacy in martial arts – again! It’s a strange cycle to fall into. On one hand, after thinking about things for a long time, I finally conclude that “combat effectiveness” doesn’t matter one iota to what we’re doing. And then, I see a demonstration of something that strikes me as obviously bad, and I start to criticize it as ineffective.
“This question is constantly in my mind, being a schoolteacher. But in terms of martial arts, where we put our faith and decades of training in the hands of one person, how do we know if we have a good teacher or not?
The other day with some new people on the mat, the instructor, James, took a couple of minutes to say something about ukemi. He pointed out that Uke’s role on the mat doesn’t usually get as much attention as Nage’s. In fact, as he said, “learning to do aikido” often amounts to learning to do what Nage does in a technique. And yet Uke’s attitude and actions are very important to the exchange. He made the point that Uke needs to cultivate a determined strike that doesn’t stop short of its target, and that in a technique like kotegaeshi he or she needs to persist in the intent of the attack even beyond the point of connection. It occurred to me that the case could be made that there’s appropriate advice for Uke that is specific to every aikido technique, advice which is not confined to taking falls.
“The moment I step into the dojo, I change. In fact, the change begins even before I set foot inside. As I walk to the dojo, perhaps limping a little bit due to some new, random pain in my foot, or ankle, or knee, hunched over slightly, looking at the ground a few paces in front and lost in thought, my mind graduallly starts to clear; my sightline raises up until I’m looking forward. My spine straightens; I begin walking with purpose, ignoring the nagging pains in my stride. I start breathing from deep in my belly.
“Kenji Shimizu was borne in the year 1940 in Fukuoka-ken Kahogunhonami-machi Tendo in Japan. With 13 years he started practicing Judo and reached the 4th dan Judo by the Kodokan after 10 years. 1962 he graduated from the Meiji University.
Nice video clip of the “Koru Dojo” of David Lynch Sensei of New Zealand. It is a unique structure, set in a beautiful natural environment, well worth visiting, even if you do not have time to stay and train. “Koru” is the Maori word for the curled fern tree frond and signifies “new beginnings” or “creativity.” Also known as the “Aiki Dome,” the new dojo is an ideal venue for gasshuku training camps. 
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“Now that more and more people are expressing a desire to follow a holistic medical model and lifestyle, phrases relating to the union of “mind and body”, seem to pop up frequently.
“I studied Aikido from Morihei Ueshiba, here again doing everything first and questioning later. Ueshiba Sensei was a master of Ki, as well as the founder of Aikido. However he was also a devoted follower of the Omotokyo Religion, and this influenced the way he taught Aikido. Often it was impossible to make any sense of his esoteric explanations. I rigorously trained in all of the exercises he had us do, though many came from the Omotokyo Religion, and made no sense to us. For example, we were expected to recite the alphabet in a different order. Rather than saying the vowels of Japanese as ”AIUEO” we were made to repeat them over and over as ”AOUEI,” as if this new sequence had a deeper meaning. He would tell us that we should become one with the Ki of Heaven, but not how we were to do this. You could learn much more by watching him do Aikido than you could by listening to him explain it. The one essential thing I learned from Ueshiba Sensei was how to relax. He was always relaxed in the face of conflict, which is why his Aikido was so strong. He would do this himself, but he encouraged his young students to hold with as much strength as possible. In Aikido if you are not relaxed you cannot throw a person. It seemed a mystery to us that Ueshiba Sensei could always throw, could always get out of a hold.”
“What makes Henry Kono’s experience truly special is that he was the only foreigner to be able to speak Japanese. According to Kono himself, it was this very capacity to understand both Japanese and occidental cultures that allowed him to make a unique interpretation of what O Sensei was really doing. For the last ten years, Henry Kono has been regularly visiting Ireland and it was during one of his visits to Dublin that I got the chance to sit down with him one afternoon and talk about it all. Henry usually stays very discreet but he kindly accepted to spend a few hours explaining me, one more time, what it was all about. We ended up spending over 3 hours together on a rainy morning of April drinking gallons of tea and smoking rolled cigarettes, with Henry never hesitating to get up and demonstrate his concepts, either on my good friend Daithí, who hosted our meeting, or myself. to teach “whoever wants to learn.”
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