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Higher-ranking white belts sometimes ask me about our expectations to be allowed to test for shodan.

Here are the basics.

• Shodan is a special achievement, not an entitlement. If we don’t think that you’re going to do a successful test at any given opportunity, it is better if you don’t test and keep working until you are ready.

• There are posted minimum days of practice requirements for each rank. These are absolute minimums. The fact that you have the minimum days required doesn’t mean that you will be allowed to test.

If you have anything less than the minimum, you’re not going to test unless there are special circumstances — i.e., you are moving to another country. And even so, you’ll still have to do a good test to pass.

• Test candidates must train very seriously and consistently before the test. By that, I mean at least three months of attending the dojo routinely, building up stamina and improving and amending technique. This involves paying serious attention to instruction and corrections and implementing them, not just nodding and forgetting.

• We are also looking for correct etiquette — bowing correctly, avoiding talking during class, clean and mended gi, etc.

• We would like to see regular attendance at area seminars. Prospects should attend Osawa-sensei’s camps and seminars, though I know that it’s not always possible, due to distance. You should attend CAF Examination Committee seminars in Toronto and make sure you are paying close attention to the instruction, not just working out.

• I expect you to test at a seminar. There are usually a few opportunities during the year in Canada, and at least one in the Toronto area. This year, black-belt tests will be conducted at CAF Summer Camp, the CAF fall seminar and an Exam Committee seminar in the fall in Toronto.

• If you have a medical condition that prevents you from doing certain techniques (for example, knee problems preventing suwari waza) the grading panel will make allowances for this. If you are a senior, the grading panel will allow a somewhat slower pace of testing, but you still need the stamina to test for 15 minutes without resting.

• If even modified testing is not possible, we will consider promoting you without a test. However, you still have to meet the technical standard in your practice and I expect a higher number of days of practice than the posted test requirement. (Also, be aware that fees for promotion are higher than for testing.)

• On the other hand, sometimes students are qualified to test and are reluctant to do so. If we suggest that you test, plan to do so. It isn’t all about you…

• If you are interested in testing, let us know which seminar you would like to test at. We will advise you and be happy to help you plan and train. We like to see this kind of positive thinking.

Briefly, a black belt should be a model for behaviour and practice for junior ranks, not just someone wearing a hakama.

Yumi-sensei is back!
Nakamura-sensei, 6th-dan CAF shihan, is going to be teaching most of the 4 PM Sunday kids’ classes going forward. Yumi-sensei is looking forward to seeing all the kids on the mats again!
Tom and Igor-senseis will continue to teach the Saturday morning kids’ class.

EC seminar report
Thanks to everyone who helped with and participated in the CAF Examination Committee Seminar at J.C.C.C. Aikikai on Nov. 23.
It was a great success and everyone seemed to enjoy and profit from the classes.
Thanks go to the organizers, J.C.C.C. Aikikai, Aikido Tendokai and our members, and to the instructors, George Hewson, Alex Loo, Yumi Nakamura and Jim Barnes (all CAF EC members).
Congratulations go to the successful shodan test candidates: Alex Machin and Sumi Sato (Aikido Shugyo Dojo) and Victor Chau (Aikido Seishinkai).

Snow days
A quick reminder: During bad snow storms, the dojo may be closed due to unsafe driving conditions. If the authorities recommend against unnecessary driving, the dojo will likely be closed. We will try to inform everyone by e-mail as soon as we can and post the closure on the home page of the dojo website.

Please get in touch if you have any questions or concerns.

With tongue in cheek, here is a bestiary of a few rare types we see on the mat (and try to enlighten) from time to time, in no particular order.

Chatty Charles
Wants to discuss and debate every single point of a technique in detail before, during and after trying it.

Professor Perfectionist
Can’t stand seeing his partner doing anything that is not 100% up to his standards, and then expounds verbally rather than demonstrating through practice.

Gorilla in a gi
The whole point is smashing your uke into the mat as hard as possible, isn’t it? And why shouldn’t I resist if I can?

Cautious Calvin
Trains only with friends and juniors, actively avoiding practice with stronger, more experienced partners as possibly damaging to his ego.

Dirty Dan
Thinks washing his gi is optional, until it reaches the point where his partners are gagging and it won’t bend any more.

Cultural Tourist
What is all this bowing and scraping stuff for, anyway? And why can’t I wear shoes in the dojo? And why can’t I wear my undershirt and jewelry during class?

New-Age Nate
Thinks he will soon master levitation through breath control and relaxation. Then all that “martial” stuff will just fall into place.

Algophobic Al
The slightest bruise or scratch shakes him like a tiger. Thinks sweating and fatigue are precursors to death. Does not grasp the distinction between pain and injury.

The Hothouse Flower
Never trains outside the dojo at seminars — has no idea what practice is like under pressure among the weeds.

The names have been changed to protect the identities of the subjects. I’ll stop here, even though I am just getting warmed up.

Greetings to members and friends of Aikido Hokuryukai. Here are a few items of interest regarding the dojo.

This weekend is the time change. You should set your clocks back on Saturday night by one hour. See https://www.timechange.info/canada-2019/

Remember to attend the CAF Examination Committee seminar at JCCC Aikikai on Saturday, November 23. The details are at https://2ur2vm1m00jq27oqid12gpyd-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/2019novCAFposter_6.pdf. It’s particularly important to go if you have any interest in senior testing. Adult classes at our dojo will be cancelled that day.

The November schedule is online. There are no major changes, though the Tuesday night schedule has been changed from two, one-hour classes to one, hour-and-a-half class.  As mentioned, adult classes on November 23 are cancelled due to the EC seminar.
Check https://aikidoclub.ca/1993-2/

The Quebec seminar a couple of weekends ago was a fantastic experience. Congratulations to Ramunas and Jennifer from Aikido Tendokai on strong shodan tests!  For more, see https://aikidoclub.ca/great-seminar-in-quebec-city/

We had an opportunity to visit friends at Midwest Aikido Centre in Chicago last weekend. It’s an amazing dojo – there’s a post about it on the website: https://aikidoclub.ca/midwest-aikido-center/

It is not too early to start planning for the CAF summer camp in Halifax in June next year. It will feature a week of training under our technical director, Osawa-shihan, in a beautiful city that is well-known as a tourist attraction!

Please let me know if you have any concerns or suggestions.

Regards
—
Jim Barnes

We visited some old friends at Midwest Aikido Centre while in Chicago recently. We had never seen the dojo before. It is one of the most beautiful facilities we have ever seen.

We had three fantastic days of training under Osawa-sensei in Quebec City last weekend. It was a wonderful time in a beautiful city with great friends.

David Mooney-sensei of Aikido CEGEP de Ste-Foy and his students and friends did a great job organizing the event and in showing us hospitality.

Some pictures from the seminar and our visit to Quebec City are on Flickr.

I was talking to one of our beginners about the fundamental mindset of practice — of not smashing an attacker out of the way in a brutal confrontation, but being aware of and blending with his movement and intentions.

He said he had been practicing a discipline of “listening” in interpersonal relations, and said it sounded very similar.

I think that’s an excellent analogy. The fewer preconceptions and the more perception you bring to an encounter — being able to “listen” — the more likely you are to be successful.

Like most of Aikido, it is simple, but not easy.

The most difficult technique in martial arts is… walking through the front door of the dojo. Once you have done, that, the rest is possible.

It’s easy to use fatigue or minor aches and pains as an excuse. But if I had only taken classes when I felt fantastic, I would have taken about ten classes by now (over 40 years).

Oddly enough, I think I gained more by practicing under difficult circumstances than when I felt positive and energetic. Somehow, it just registers differently…

Consistency is the most powerful tool there is in training.

I would like to congratulate our friends at JCCC Aikikai on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. They celebrated with a very successful international friendship seminar last weekend.

When I first moved to Toronto as a junior white belt, I tried to attend as many seminars there as I could. (Who else out there remembers the rock-hard, abrasive tatami in the original dojo?)

I am still grateful for the kindness of Obata-sensei and Ochi-sensei in helping with my training.

For those of you who don’t remember Kenji Ochi-sensei, he was a mainstay of the dojo for many years. He was an absolutely amazing aikidoka to practice with — extremely precise and vigorous, but patient with inept beginners like me. He moved back to Japan many years ago and has since passed away, but I still have many fond memories of working with him on the tatami.

This dojo is one of the seminal Toronto dojos, teaching and inspiring generations of Aikidoka, and we look forward to training with them for years to come.

I remember in my early days of practice, being blown away by the abilities of the shihan. Everything they did seemed so effortless, natural and powerful. I really felt like they were born with some special gift.

I came across something in “Daily Self-Discipline” by Martin Meadows that sheds some light on this:

“What an average person sees when she looks at an elite performer – say, a world-class tennis player – is that his abilities seem natural, easy. She concludes, “He was born with it. It was given to him.”

And she couldn’t be farther from the truth. What she sees is an event – the act of winning. What she doesn’t see is thousands of hours of practice. His sore body, countless hours of drills, lost matches, and everything else that has made him the tennis player he is today. He had never been born with his abilities, and neither is anyone else. It’s the result of a long process taking years or decades, not mere days or weeks.

Substitute “shihan” for “tennis player” and this certainly applies to Aikido. Even the gifted had to put in the consistent, hard work.