little orcs kick ass

[kirkcudbright]

0. I won't repeat everthing lyonesse said about aikido camp in her journal. This is just my own wanking, mostly random.

1. I tested for ikkyu, and she tested for shodan. Go us!

1.1 In aikido (and probably other martial arts), the point where you get your black belt is the zero-point in rank. That is, we count down to it, from 6th kyu to 1st kyu, then count up from it, from shodan (1st dan) to nidan (2nd dan), sandan (3rd dan), etc.

1.1.1 WRT the zero-point: Traditionally, getting your black belt means that you are now qualified to be a student. The closer I get, the more I grok this.

1.1.2 Counting down the kyu levels means you can adjust the starting point. As I understand it, styles with kids' classes start at 8th or even 10th kyu, so the kids can test more often, and have concrete proof and reward of their progress.

1.1.3 In contrast, Kokikai Aikido tries to conserve fabric by using the same belt for every two kyu levels, so orange is 6th and 5th kyu, blue is 4th and 3rd kyu, and brown is 2nd and 1st kyu. So I advanced a level, but continue to wear the brown belt I got last year.

This is probably of no interest to anyone, but I realized the wife and child were unclear about what test I was taking, and what it all meant. So there it is. I'll be testing for black belt at summer or fall camp next year.

2. I took a bunch of pictures of lyonesse's shodan test, but most of them are far too blurry to be useful, not least because I had just come off the mat from my test, and my hands were shaking like crazy. In a couple cases, the results are at least amusing.

Introducing uke to the ground, abruptly.


This is freestyle. It feels a lot like this looks.


3. They back-loaded most of the testing to the very last class, on Sunday morning. But of course they didn't share the testing schedule with anyone. I have two gi (uniforms), and I was determined to wear the good one for testing, so I ended up wearing for 5 classes in a row. Even with a t-shirt on underneath, it was pretty skanky by the end of the weekend. I just ordered a new gi.

4. Now I want to go to fall camp, in San Francisco. I mean, why not, I've got the frequent flyer miles.

In fact, I want to prioritize in favor of more aikido in the coming year, so I can be ready to test.

Comments

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

whee, yay pictures! :)

elf my elf ordered a new gi last night. me, i have enough gi, so you know what i ordered too :)

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

It amazes me that you can create so much motion without you yourself moving hardly at all. Just, wow.

And the pictures are really neat, kirkcudbright.

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

heh, you should see the people who are actually *good* at this.

and that notwithstanding, when i'm not throwing, i *should* move around more!

irrelevantly, this is why i hated all the yoda-combat in star wars. he's supposed to be such an amazing warrior; why the heck is he wasting so much energy....?

[whitebird.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that people who are not *good* at Aikido do not make it to black belt status. And I'd also say, that if you can plant yourself that firmly so as to move that little while in the middle of a throw, that too is *good*. But, yeah, if you're moving while not throwing, you're a harder target.

Perhaps Yoda took lessons from another great Muppet Jedi warrior, Gonzo...

[lyonesse.livejournal.com]

*giggle* oh, no. black belts aren't necessarily good. black belts are *persistent*, which is different ;)

i think you're quite right about the moving/not moving thing. but i am not really quite good enough to say for sure :)